Ah, memories of the old days… My cousin and I were probably about 5 or 6 so I’d say this was around the late 60’s.
Top and center photos: My cousin, Lyn and I were best buds. (I’m the terd with the darker hair.)
Bottom photo: It looks like my Aunt Helen (Lyn’s mom) is doing my mom’s hair. My mom looks thrilled, doesn’t she? They may just be getting drunk, who knows? Papa, (my dad’s dad) looks on. I wonder what he’s thinking.
Turkey Mae wasn’t a turkey. You’ve heard of a crazy cat lady, right? Turkey Mae acquired her nickname for her love of turkeys…and chickens, and geese. She lived in the Ozark Mountains, Ava, Missouri to be exact. She was related to my mother, somehow. Perhaps my mother’s great aunt…
Dad told me the story of the time he was on a research trip for his genealogy book and mom insisted on going, much to his disappointment. He knew that wouldn’t turn out well, but that’s another story for another day. She convinced my Dad that they should stop in Missouri to visit her family because she, too, was writing a genealogy book. (That was a farce in itself.) So, to appease the angry-at-the-drop-of-a-dime Medusa, he agreed.
They stopped in to see Turkey Mae, who lived on a hill, hidden from the main road. When they first stepped out of the car, they noticed the mostly dried up bird poop all over the yard. Crunch, crunch. There were chickens and turkeys everywhere! Dad said he even saw a few geese. They knocked on the door.
An old lady, of small stature, opened the door and peered at them. My mom spoke up and introduced herself and then Dad. They were invited in and, to Dad’s surprise, there were chickens all over the house! “Come on in and sit down,” Turkey Mae insisted. Mom and Dad looked at each other. They sat down on a couch that was just as crunchy as the yard!
About the time they sat down, Dad said a chicken jumped up on the back of the couch and about scared the shit out of him. Then another chicken followed. There were chickens everywhere in that house! Mom and Dad were in total disbelief because they had never seen such a thing before! Turkey Mae shooed the chickens off the couch, talking to them as if they were pets. She explained that when the weather is cold, she lets the chickens in the house so they don’t freeze to death. I’m not sure the time of year Mom and Dad were there but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t wintertime!
Dad said they visited a little bit with Turkey Mae, but his memory is a bit faded now. He doesn’t recall if she gave Mom any genealogy-related information, but he remembered the visit being short. Ha, I wonder why?! Can you imagine having chickens in your house?
Last week, I posted about my Top 5 Favorite British Actors, which was inspired by The Huntress. This week, I decided to try to pick my favorite 5 American actors.
I will start by saying there are so many great actors, this might not be an easy post! I mean, I know who #1 is but will it be difficult to put the rest in order? Oy. I’m going to try.
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#5. Vincent Price – I grew up in the 60’s and I always looked forward to the weekends when horror movies aired on the television! My sisters and I called them “monster movies” and while some were actually “monster” movies, some were just downright spooky and had the most awesome villains. My most favorite villain is Vincent Price. He was a master of his art. He was the ultimate villain, and there will never be another like him. I loved watching him in films such as, House of Wax, The Raven, The Fly, House of Usher, The Haunted Palace, and so many more.
#4. James Cagney – I was never much into Humphrey Bogart movies, like everyone else, except for African Queen. I was a Cagney fan, completely! He was not only a great actor, but he could also sing and dance! He was a Vaudeville singer and dancer. He was born in 1899 and was 86 when he passed away. He had an amazing career! One of my favorite movies is Angels With Dirty Faces. Other favorites include Yankee Doodle Dandy, Public Enemy, and White Heat.
#3. Robert De Niro – One of the greatest actors of all time, in my opinion, with many awards to prove it! De Niro has always been one of my favorites! Films such as The Godfather Part II, Bang The Drum Slowly, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Casino, Heat, Goodfellas, are just a few of his most excellent works! De Niro has also made comedies, which I didn’t think he could pull off but he sure as hell did! Check out Meet The Parents with the two sequels, Analyze That and the sequel Analyze This, just to name a few. The man is fantastic!
#2. Al Pacino – My daughter always teased me that I liked old men. I had to remind her that Al Pacino wasn’t always old. He was once young and gorgeous, and still not too bad for being close to my dad’s age! He’s an amazing actor and he still gets amazing roles, and a very recent role that he totally rocked was Amazon’s Original series, Hunters. Pacino caught my eye back in the day with Dog Day Afternoon and of course, The Godfather films. Some other fantastic films are ScarFace, Scent of A Woman, and one of my personal favorites, And Justice For All.
#1. Johnny Depp – This placement was easy, like I said when I started this post. I absolutely love and adore Johnny, since his days on 21 Jump Street. I love his innate ability to capture the uniqueness of the most eccentric characters! Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of The Caribbean series, The Mad Hatter in Alice In Wonderland, Tonto in The Lone Ranger, and so many more. I have many favorites but I’m pretty sure Benny & Joon comes in at the top, with What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Edward Scissorhands, Blow, Chocolat, The Man Who Cried…and…and…and I could never put them in any order! If you really want to laugh your ass off, check out Cry-Baby. It’s an oldie-but-goody!
Honorable Mention: Samuel L. Jackson – I always say, “There’s nothing better than the perfectly placed swear word.” And that’s why Samuel L. Jackson gets an honorable mention! Ha! Well, that and he IS a great actor! Shaft, Die Hard With A Vengeance, Deep Blue Sea, Jurassic Park, Kiss of Death, to name just a few are worth watching in my opinion. Oh, and don’t forget about Snakes On A Plane!! I can’t help but laugh because it was ridiculous, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
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In a nutshell, these are just a few of my favorite American actors. You may be wondering if I have any favorite female actors… Um…I don’t know! I never really thought about it before! That will be a good post for next week, after I’ve had some time to think about it!
CP was known to take on odd jobs, from replacing a carburetor to painting houses to doing a complete overhaul of a car’s engine. One time, being the “Jack of all trades” that he thought he was, he took on the job of painting a car.
He told a guy that he could paint his car for half of what the professionals quoted him. He said that would include banging out the dents, the whole 9 yards. Please understand that CP did not have his shop at this time. Where was he going to paint this car?
The guy took a chance – I can’t tell you why, other than he wanted to save some money. I had never seen a car that CP painted, nor had I ever heard of a car that he painted. I had a bad feeling right from the start.
CP took 6 weeks just banging out the little dents, that seemed to get worse as he fucked with them. I saw him sanding and buffing and whatever the hell he was doing, on our front lawn. He stripped the existing paint and got it ready to be primed. That car was an eye sore from the moment CP got his hands on it because we had a big picture window in our living room, which overlooked – you guessed it – our front yard. For 6 weeks, CP went out after he got home from work and on the weekends, but mostly the weekends because he was too tired during the week.
He proceeded to prime the car, sand a few rough spots and of course, this took him a few more weeks. So, now the owner of this car (if memory serves me correctly, it was a Mustang) has been waiting for 2 months for his car to be painted.
He finally finished prepping the car for paint, and I thought to myself, I wonder where he’s going to paint it? Well, take a wild guess. If you guessed our front yard, you are absolutely correct! In our front yard, right under the tree. Now, I know nothing about painting cars but any dumb fucking idiot could probably tell you not to paint it a) outdoors, b) under a tree, or c) when the wind is blowing. I guess he thought he could outsmart the wind, the birds, leaves, bugs and any other debris falling from the tree.
To my utmost horror, CP began painting that car, a very pretty blue, I might add, and even though the wind wasn’t blowing, there was just enough air movement to cause a problem. By the time he finished spraying that car, there was over-spray almost everywhere and bits and specks of this and that all over that damn car! He thought it looked great but it was a disaster. I felt bad for the owner of the car!
The car sat overnight, thereby collecting more bits and specks of this and that from the air and from the tree. After a few days, he called the owner of that poor Mustang and told him it was finished. I was mortified.
The owner came, looked at the car, and although I was in the house I could tell by his expression that he was not happy. Who in their right mind would be happy about such a shitty paint job? CP gave him excuses about not having a place indoors to paint…blah, blah, blah. I was so embarrassed to even know CP at this point I didn’t even dare let myself be seen by the owner of the car. I wonder if he asked CP why the hell he took on the job if didn’t have a place to paint inside? I guess I’ll never know!
Needless to say, CP didn’t get paid for that job. The only thing the owner of the car paid for was the paint. I’m surprised CP wasn’t sued over the whole thing but honestly, I think the owner of the car never wanted to see CP’s face or hear his name ever again!
I’ve been trying to get back into the swing of writing in my blog more often, as you’ve probably noticed from this week’s posts. I’m trying to come up with new ideas for writing and I think I have a few for next week, so be fair warned! I’m still having a hard time with this new editor. I can’t seem to figure out how to resize the photos while stacked, only if they are individually placed. You might know what I mean if you’re using the new editor yourself. (I always wonder why things have to be changed when they worked perfectly fine before. You know the old saying; Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke!)
Last week’s funnies didn’t seem to go over that well, so I’ll stick to what we like best: funny memes, cartoons, and photos. Enjoy! As always, please let me know what you think!
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So, there ya have it, folks! I think my favorite tonight is the sign with the bite taken out of it! I hope a few (or more) made you laugh. I try, but what’s funny to me may not be so funny to you!
I hope this week has been kind to you. Short as it was (with the holiday) it seemed to go by so freakin’ slow! Here’s to a great weekend, folks!
And I shall leave you with this cute little fella! Let’s celebrate with him!
Being Aunt Debbie 