HOW DO I NAME THEE?

While lunching with a friend the other day…

Who happens to hail from Long Island…

As I did before I moved to Ohio…

She was telling me a story…

Throwing out names like Richey, Tony, Ronnie, and Joey.

Ha!

I remember them well.

No, not those guys, the names…

They’re just so New Yorkish.

Having lived in the Midwest for many years though…

I hadn’t heard those names in a long time…

I was hearing names like John, Bob, Bill, and Dan.

Now here in Mexico I hear…

Servio, Enrique, Guillermo, and Romeo…

(gotta love Romeo)

And my favorite—Martin, pronounced Mar-TEEN.

And while I can’t speak or understand Spanish yet…

I do know great names when I hear them.

So? 

What names are regional where you live?

Or in your novels?

Or have you ever made up a name?

Always, Em-Musing

I'M FEELING THE FAT

Here in Mexico…

There are many festivals...

And Lent is no different.

Lent actually begins on Wednesday…

Ash Wednesday for Christians…

But here…

Why wait till Wednesday?

The celebration actually started last Friday...

And continues through today.

In New Orleans it’s Mardi Gras!

Otherwise known as Fat Tuesday…

The time to indulge before fasting.

Here in Mexico, it’s Carnival!

Or ‘carne vale’, meaning farewell meat.

And these celebrations are more family oriented.

The origin of Carnival in Mexico...

Is Roman Catholic, as is Mardi Gras…

But in the Caribbean islands….

Some claim African and Indian influences.

For me?

Growing up Lutheran…

A thumb print of ashes on my forehead.

And giving up candy was all Lent meant.

And the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday? 

Well, was just Tuesday. Nothing more.

Here in Mexico, all of the Caribbean islands…

And many parts of South America…

Tuesday is 'the' biggest party of the year!

What about you?

Celebrating Fat Tuesday or Carnival?

Always, Em-Musing

IT'S GREEK TO ME

It snuck in…

Almost unseen…

But not quite…

Because…

I found it!

The Greek!

Yogurt, that is…

Here in Akumal, Mexico!

Finally!

I’m so excited!

Since moving here a year ago...

I’ve been on the hunt for Greek yogurt…

But nada…

OK, there was one store that caters to gringos…

It was 20 miles away…

And always by the time I got there…

The Greek yogurt was sold out.

And yeah, I’ve have made my own yogurt…

But to make it Greek…

There’s a lot of straining involved…

a.k.a lots of time involved...

Time I don’t want to spend over a cheesecloth.

So there I was the other day…

In the dairy section of Chedraui…

(a big brand supermarket here in Mexico)

When what to my wondering eyes should appear?

But containers of Greek yogurt by Nestle!

I almost did a happy dance right there in the aisles.

Yeah, I know, Nestle isn’t the most authentic brand…

But it is thick…

And has that same creamy, not too sour taste.

And…

It has an expiration date.

Because the other downside of making my own yogurt…

Is I never know when the expiration date is…

So I wind up throwing half of it away…

For fear of getting food poisoning…

From my own food!

So?

Are you a yogurt fan or aficionado?

Or what’s your favorite gringo food…

You wouldn’t want to live without?

Always, Em-Musing

SPUNKY FRIDAY

Other than *emusing* myself with my blog…

(and hopefully you too)

I like to promote other authors and their books…

Today is L. Diane Wolfe...

Blogger at Spunk on a Stick 

 

 And her new book entitled:

 

$14.95 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-9827139-5-2
$4.99 Ebook ISBN 978-0-9827139-9-0

Purchase at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle UK, and Powell’s.

In this era of self-published books…

Her words of wisdom are a welcome tool.

Please check it out.

That’s it for me this Friday…

I’m off to social network.

I love, love, LOve reading other's blogs.

Have a great weekend and...

Doing anything special?

Always, Em-Musing

MONSTERS, EEEK!

I’m getting bolder…

Not such a sissy…

At least now I don’t screech out anymore...

When I kill a spider.

And let me tell you…

Texas ‘bigger’ ain’t got nothing...

On jungle ‘bigger’…

When it comes to spiders.

I’ve learned to scan floors, ceilings, and walls…

When turning on the lights.

I’ve learned to bang my shoes…

Before putting my tootsies in…

And not just for spiders…

But for little scorpions who have a mean sting.

This morning…

As I went to make my coffee…

I saw movement on the floor.

Two monster spiders!

They looked at me…

I glared at them…

I could tell they were calculating where to run…

And I was calculating if I moved fast enough…

I could get two spiders for the price of one stomp…

And then I realized…

I had flip flops on..

The odds of missing one or both of the spiders…

Was 50/50...

The thought of these monsters trickling over my feet?

EEWW!

Or getting spider guts exploding on my feet?

EEWW!

And then they seized the moment...

They made their move…

Each scurrying in a different direction…

The 'ole divide and conquer maneuver.

Smart spiders.

Fine!

Today they live…

But tomorrow morning?

I’ll be stomping ready…

I’ll be wearing my boots.

So?

What’s the biggest thing…

You’ve stomped with your foot?

Always, Em-Musing

P.S. I’ll be calling the pest control today

THAT'S THE JACK, JACK

There’s something about land…
That’s feels stable…
And not just under your feet…
But in your hand... 
As in landline phone.
Since living here in Mexico…
My communication to family back home…
Has always been by cell phone…
Iffy and pricey to say the least.
OK, I have used Skype at times…
But not everyone has or hovers over their laptops.
Then recently…
I brought a Magic Jack device back from the States…
And while the Magic Jack connection is via the Internet…
The phone I’ve plugged into is a landline phone.
SQUEE!
It feels great having that phone in my hand. 
It makes me feel, well—grounded.
And…
I can talk unlimited for less then 20 bucks…
A year!
Gotta love that.
And I do.
I love my Magic Jack.
And soon I’m going to figure out…
How to apply the Magic Jack app…
To my iPhone.
So?
Anyone else enjoy Magic Jack?

Always, Em-Musing

HOW THE WEST WAS WIPED

Didn’t watch the Super Bowl last night…

(although I did watch some of the commercials this morning)

Instead…

I watched a few episodes of Into the West on Netflix.

It’s an amazing mini series of how two families…

One white, the other Native American…

Become mingled through the momentous events…

Of American expansion.

And while watching the story unfold…

And how arduous, dangerous, and often tragic…

Their life was…

All I kept wondering about was toilet paper.

OK, when the settlers were in the woods…

There were possibilities…

But on the plains?

With nary a tree in sight?

Or in the snowy mountains with pine trees?

Um, what did they use?

So while I believe I could survive…

On beans, bacon, bread, and dried fruit for a year…

I would not survive one day…

Without toilet paper.

And that got me thinking of paper.

I think paper is one of the most important…

If not THE most important…

Inventions of modern man.

Because I wouldn’t want to be in a world…

That didn’t have paper that I could write on…

And books made of paper that I could read…

And most definitely…

A bathroom without paper to…

Well, you get the picture.

So?

What do you think the most important invention…

Of modern man is?

Always, Em-Musing

DON''T MIND MY GAMES

My mind likes to play tricks on me…

Like seeing words that aren’t there.
For instance, yesterday…
I was researching ‘capitalizations’ on Google…
And this web-site came up:
‘Capitalization after colons’
But what my mind saw was:
Capitalizing after colonoscopies.
Say what?
Is that like now that your colon is clean...
it's a good time to have booty sex?
Knowing my mind plays these tricks…
I stared at the phrase…
Until the real phrase became clear. Duh. 
My mind does this all the time.
Here’s another instance…
Down the street from my house...
Is an Orgasmic Yoga center. Not.
What the sign really says is, Organic Yoga.
But I always see Orgasmic Yoga. Cool concept though. 
And to think…
I used to do voiceovers for a living…
Thankfully, I usually got the script ahead of time…
But sometimes when I didn’t…
I’d be interrupted by the engineer in the booth…
Who’d say, “That sounded great, Leigh…
But I have no idea what you just said.”
Also…
When I’m talking…
I’ll often think of two or more similar words…
Like dove and jump…
And I guess my mind can’t pick which word to use…
So I’ll wind up saying something like...
I dumped in the pool.”
Realizing that sounded stupid I’d then say...
“Sorry, I meant to say, I jove in the pool.”
People look at me like, whaa?
I also talk in half-speech…
Like not finishing a sentence…
Expecting the listener to finish it in their head.
Again, people look at me and go, huh?
But then…
My sisters and cousins all do it too…
Maybe it's a rogue speech gene?
So?
Anyone else with a practical joke kind of mind?
Do you know what this trickster affliction is?
Have a great weekend.

Always, Em-Musing

STINKY, SWEATY BOOKS

Yesterday in Playa del Carmen…

I strolled the book section…

Of a department store called Liverpool...

I didn’t expect to buy anything…

Because all the books are in Spanish…

But even so, I like to look at the cover art…

And then…

*heart races*

I came upon a measly little orphaned shelf…

With some books—in English!

And they were current!

There was John Grisham…

Tom Clancy…

David Baldacci…

Nicholas Sparks…

Anne Rice…

Even Jodi Picoult.

SQUEE!!!

Now mind you…

I have devices to read e-books…

And I understand the convenience of e-readers…

And how many books I can store on them…

(and I have)

But still…

It’s not the same as…

Being drawn in by the book’s cover art…

Picking the book up…

Reading the back cover blurb…

And then…

Smelling the book.

(hope the security cameras didn’t catch that)

Kindle, Nook, Kobo Glo and all other e-readers…

May change the way people read books…

But they can’t change the way I feel about books.

And really…

What do e-readers smell like?

Stinky, sweaty palms?

So?

Ever sniff a book?

If you have an e-reader…

Have you ever sniffed it?

Always, Em-Musing

BOOK KILL

Saw a dead dog on the highway…

Which made me think of agents.

Oh, wait…

That doesn’t sound good…

Actually, seeing the dog got me thinking…

That even though there are deer here in Mexico…

I’ve never seen a dead one on the highway.

I guess they don’t go running out in front of cars…

Like they do back in the States...

They stay in their own habitat...

Because the jaguars and pumas...

Keep their population in check...

And that’s what got me thinking about agents…

And publishing houses too..

You see….

Just like big cats...

Agents and editors keep mediocre…

Or worse—the real stinker books in check.

Well, they used to…

Now anyone can print anything.

Is that a good thing?

Is an over population of books…

As bad as an over population of deer?

Is keeping the book herd thin best?

Oh, hell…

I don’t know.

It was a bad night tossing and turning.

Before I fell asleep last night…

I had asked my muse…

To come up with a post for my blog today…

And this is what she came up with…

Maybe I need a big cat…

To keep my stinker blogs in check.

Always, Em-Musing