by sheila morris
horseshoes moved in with Pride
getting ready for summer in South Carolina
I’m so thirsty…
hey, can you drink this stuff?
I’ll give it a whirl…
OMG, that water was n-a-s-t-y
“The Calla Lilies are in bloom…”
Does anyone remember that line from a famous old movie?
Hint: Katherine Hepburn was the actress who recited it.
Happy Mother’s Day to every mother wherever you are from the children who were your worst nightmares and, often simultaneously, your dreams come true. Thank you.
“Hey, Dorothy? What’s up?”
“I’m off to see the Man in the White House because I’m lost and can’t find my Auntie Michele,” said Dorothy. “Do I know you?”
“Yeah, you know me. I’m Silas Crow. I sit on the back row of your English class and make strange noises.”
“Oh, of course. The notorious Silas Crow. You don’t have a brain in your head,” said Dorothy.
“I know, I know. That’s what I’ve been told. Do you think the Man in the White House could give me a brain?” asked Silas Crow.
“Tra-la, tra-la. You are welcome to come with me and find out. The Man in the White House is supposed to be very wise.”
Dorothy and Silas Crow began to walk together. They walked and walked.
“Hey, Dudes, take a hike. Get outta my space. Where you going?”
“We’re off to see the Man in the White House,” replied Silas Crow. “Dorothy told me the Man was very wise and could give me a brain.”
“Oh, she did, did she? Well, this is where you little numskulls took a wrong turn,” growled Tim Mann who took a menacing step toward Dorothy and Silas Crow.
Dorothy looked straight at Tim Mann and said, “Looks like someone has no heart. Shame on you for being so mean. Silas Crow may not be very bright, but at least he’s not a bully like you. If you go with us, maybe the Man in the White House could give you a heart.”
Silas Crow nodded vigorously. “You need an attitude adjustment, Dude.”
Tim Mann rolled his eyes but then studied the two standing before him. Finally, he shook his head and thought, maybe I need new friends.
“Let’s roll before I change my mind,” he snapped.
“Tra-la, tra-la,” said Dorothy. “We are off to see the Man in the White House who is supposed to have a very big heart.”
By and by the trio came upon a very large grey dog with huge floppy ears. He was sitting in the middle of their path, staring at them out of one blue eye and one brown one. He looked quite ferocious. Dorothy, Silas Crow and Tim Mann stopped in their tracks.
Dorothy was the first to regain her composure and whistled for the dog to come to her. The dog bolted in the opposite direction.
“Fraidy Dog, Fraidy Dog,” mocked Tim Mann who had no heart.
Silas Crow joined in the chant because he had no brain.
Dorothy gave them an icy stare and called after the frightened animal, “Please come back and go with us. We are going to see the Man in the White House – maybe he could give you courage.”
As the group turned to resume their journey, the cowardly dog followed a few paces behind.
“Tra-la, tra-la,” sang Dorothy happily. “We are off to see the brave, kind, wise Man in the White House who will give Fraidy Dog courage, Tim Mann a new heart, Silas Crow a new brain and me a map to find my way home to Auntie Michele.”
The little foursome traveled far and wide, thither and yon, until finally one day they reached the White House. Much to everyone’s surprise, the White House was surrounded by a very high fence and armed guards at the gate. Silas Crow, Tim Mann, and Fraidy Dog looked at Dorothy.
Not to be outdone, Dorothy boldly approached one of the guards and asked, “Excuse me, kind sir, but we have come a long way to speak with the Man in the White House. Do you know where he is?”
The guard shrugged and said, “You might try MahRahLahgo.”
Dorothy woke up.
Thank goodness for T-E-N-N-I-S on TV – more specifically thank whatever stars there are for the first Major of the year…the Australian Open. I’m so happy for this distraction from weightier matters, including my own questionable New Year’s Resolutions that are rapidly slipping and sliding into the oblivion of past years. Hooray for the Australian Open in the beautiful city of Melbourne!
Angelique Kerber the defending champion
Serena Williams – always a threat
newly engaged to be married
and chasing history for Open title # 23
I love Chris and Darren
It’s like having old friends drop in to visit
at Casa de Canterbury
made it through Round One…
which made me even happier
Pretty and I still cling to the slim chance that Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal will make it to another trophy…but reality is that will not happen again for either so we are thrilled to see them playing in the early rounds.
Regardless, the Australian Open is a tradition at Casa de Canterbury much like the Golden Globes, Oscars and of course our current favorites: the women’s basketball team at the University of South Carolina – go Gamecocks tomorrow night – we will see you at Colonial Life Arena for either Kiki’s chicken and waffles or Cake Lady’s chicken salad…let’s hope our Gay Boys Basketball Buddies bring their appetites…it’s embarrassing to eat fried chicken wings in front of them.
Not.
P.S. Shout the Good News – Will and Grace are coming back for a new season 2017 – 2018!!
And so apparently Pretty and Slow’s Chicken Road Curse for the Lady Gamecocks is officially stomped out with another road victory yesterday at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Great Balls of Fire – the girls in the Lady G uniforms finished with an 81 – 62 win against a very good Florida team and three very busy refs who loved to blow their whistles more than most refs will do all season. I’m not kidding.
Hey, there – we’re the refs…
and we’ve got these shiny new whistles we like to blow
Please don’t play nice –
we can’t wait to blow our new whistles
Lady Gs warm up – Gators bonding
Coach Dawn Staley had her 200th. win at Auburn Thursday night and kept right on sizzling for number 201 Sunday afternoon. Pretty and I love our coach and have to confess we drive by her house sometimes since she lives a few blocks from Casa de Canterbury – no sightings other than seeing her jog by our house early one morning last summer. That was fun. Thanks, Coach Dawn, for keeping us all on track.
Hey, there – old lady with the white hair…
You look familiar – do I know you?
Coach Staley has a teachable moment during the game
Everybody, listen up
Associate Coach Boyer has a word with #22 A’ja Wilson who scored 23 points and had 13 rebounds
(and also scared us to death with an ankle injury in the 4th. quarter – sending good wishes for her speedy recovery)
Bianca, did you understand what she just said?
#10 Allisha Gray had a big game with 18 points –
(everybody takes plenty of notes)
The halftime entertainment was an amazing woman
who committed unnatural acts right in front of us
Never in my wildest dreams
When the game was over, Pretty and I made our way back to our dogs who had spent two hours in the car with the windows properly ventilated and were thrilled to have our company as we started the 400-mile trip home to Casa de Canterbury.
All’s well that ends well, as The Red Man was fond of saying, and we arrived home safely in time to catch Meryl Streep on the Golden Globes last night. Wouldn’t have missed her for the world – she was a wonderful reminder of the importance of our resistance to inertia in the days to come in the face of what we know is wrong. Everybody, listen up.
Finally, there is good news and bad news for us as we settle back in at Casa de Canterbury. The good news is I was able to purchase a new Road Atlas at a truck stop in Georgia yesterday on the way home – that makes me very happy and eager for another road trip.
The bad news is Pretty has a horrible cold which puts a damper on her usual good spirits, and Charly destroyed two leashes by chewing them in pieces that can never be put back together again – much like Humpty Dumpty after his great fall.
Bless us for a safe trip, as Granny Selma used to say when she was in her right mind.
Stay tuned.
Two possibilities exist to explain how any road trip from Auburn, Alabama to Gainesville, Florida passes through the tiny (pop. 683) town of Plains, Georgia: (a) you are way lost or (b) you really want to go there. For Pretty and me yesterday, it was a little bit of both.
For most of my life, I’ve traveled with a Road Atlas the size of a very large paperback book bound with plastic spirals – the kind with each state on one big page (or two if it’s Texas) and the most obscure county roads shown on the maps as well as the state highways and interstates with the little numbers in red or blue showing the distance from one town to another. As a matter of fact, I used one so much in the past five years, it disintegrated and I had to throw it away last year.
No need for another one, said Pretty, since we have all directions in our GPS cyberspace maps now. The GPS knows where we are and if we know where we want to go, a pleasant brilliant woman tells us how to get there. This is, indeed, a fine system as long as we know exactly where it is we want to go.
If, on the other hand, we are on a road trip without a specific agenda and only a vague idea of where Gainesville is in relation to Auburn, I personally would prefer a Road Atlas to get the general lay of the geography before I strike out. But, then, we might have missed our detour to Plains.
Plains is the home of President Jimmy Carter
Pretty and I have visited Plains two other times and when we found that our GPS navigator sent us east of Columbus, Georgia yesterday through the peanut farming country, we remembered we were near Plains and decided to take a detour to visit again. The brilliant woman told us just how to get there.
Plains is one main street – no stop light
One Historic Inn with Antiques
(note the one vehicle parked in front – ours)
Pretty walked through the store while the dogs walked me and my camera outside in the drizzle.
Not much going on at the Plains Pharmacy, either
Hey, but don’t worry about business in Plains because this weekend former President Jimmy Carter will be teaching his Sunday School class at the Maranatha Baptist Church, and the Plains Historic Inn is full… with a waiting list, thank you very much. People still come from all over the world to hear this peanut farmer who became the 39th. President of the United States in 1976 and chose to come home to live where he grew up when he left the White House in 1981.
My love for the Carters is no secret, but I had to marvel again yesterday as we wandered around Plains, at the simple country school house and the memory of “Miss Julia,” the school superintendent who told those little peanut farmers’ children that one of them could grow up to be President of the United States one day – and one did.
It’s a long way from Trump Tower
And so are we. We did make it to Tallahassee last night…and will use our GPS to find our way to Gainesville today.
Stay tuned for Lady Gamecock updates tomorrow.
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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