I Won!!!!!

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When I turned down the offer for a partial refund for the huge bait and switch purchase I made from an outfit in China, I thought they’d probably not make a counter-offer, but just on principle I wasn’t going to let them get away with making me pay shipping for an obvious bait and switch shyster deal, but today I received this notice in my email:

So, I won one!!!!!! If you didn’t read my earlier post detailing the gross difference between what I ordered and what i received, see the photos HERE.

I have been feeling depressed all day. (Uncharacteristic for me.) But, this certainly made my day!!!!

Flower of the Day, Dec 22, 2020

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I love how the flowers in this arbor perfectly match the color of my friend Blue’s dress. I found this photo from a number of years ago on the old computer disc I’ve drawn some other photos from lately. No, that isn’t a mistake. I did not mean to say my friends’s blue dress. Her name actually is “Blue,” and her dress isn’t! ;o)

For Cee’s FOTD

Hopeful Holidays

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Hopeful Holidays

In almost every culture, at least once every year,
there is some celebration that brings on belly-cheer.
So bring out the turkey, the cranberries and beer.
Commence that over-eating that we all hold dear.

Over-feeding is a statement, a type of family caring,
as are the ugly Christmas sweaters you seem to be wearing.
After all the wrapping up comes all the paper tearing,
all the boxes opening and all the surprise-baring.
Then we dedicate ourselves to other acts of daring,
be it ham or goose or turkey, lutefisk or herring.
Lucky, lucky people to have family for bearing:
Aunt Stella’s time-worn stories and Uncle Herman’s swearing.
Each of us just wondering how far-flung friends are faring.
Here’s hoping you have friends and family with whom you are sharing.

Even though we may have  masks spread out from ear-to-ear,
let’s end the year departing from these months of constant fear
to shift our expectations into a higher gear,
hoping 2021 turns out to be less queer!!!

 

Prompt words today were caring, lucky, dedicated and belly-cheer.

Merry Christmas everyone. Treasure your families, even in their absence.
This, too, shall pass.  xooxox

For Jay, April 23, 1947––December 14, 2020

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For Jay, April 23, 1947—December 14, 2020

The billow of the curtains, the deep tolling of a bell
below me in the village, what stories they might tell
if I only knew their language. The voice of bronze and wind
may just be a passing zephyr, or the tale told of a friend
seven days departed, now reduced to ash and bone.
Words scattered by a priest, to bless and to atone
for some small ineptitudes, hardly sin at all,
now he sits upon a shelf in my entrance hall.
Does he sense our daily passing? Does he know we know his worth?
Does he long for his reunion with water and with earth?
Soon, my friend, you’ll be released for a final time—
freed from the ineptitude of flames and bells and rhyme
to record your passing in sermon or in verse
as you rise again once more to join the universe.

R.I.P. Jay—friend, father, brother, lover. Fellow expat, now a citizen of the Universe.

We spread Jay’s ashes in Lake Chapala on December 29, 2020. If you’d like to read about the ceremony and see photos, go HERE.

Prompt words today are billow, inept, admire and bells.

Hibiscus: FOTD, Dec 21, 2020

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For Cee’s FOTD

Moss Roses: FOTD, Dec 20, 2020

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For Cee’s FOTD

Buyer Beware!!!

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In September of this year, I ordered two handmade Waldorf dolls with complete wardrobes from a company in China. Here are the order details for one of the dolls:

And here are the photos of the doll and wardrobe I ordered:

 

Adorable, and I thought a good buy for $40, including shipping, so I decided to order the same doll to be sent to me here in Mexico, thinking I would wait until I found a little girl here to give it to. But, when two months later I still hadn’t received my doll and my great granddaughter Riley in Arizona hadn’t received hers, I decided to contact both the seller and Paypal for a refund. The company then said they’d sent the dolls, and a few weeks later, Riley received this junky little doll that looks like a prize in a ringtoss at a carnival. With no clothes, other than a twist of nylon net, it was a completely different little doll than the one I’d ordered.   Needless to say, I was furious. Finally, when it went into Paypal arbitration, the company agreed to repay the cost of the doll but not the postage. Meanwhile, they said my doll had been mailed to Mexico. I got it last week and no surprise, it was the same cheap little doll that Riley had received in the states. Beware this company. Much as I hate to support a monopoly, after this I order only from Amazon. This example of bait and switch is outrageous.
The only good news is that reports are that Riley loves her little doll and carries it everywhere with her. I was so looking forward to giving a very special doll to her and to some little as-of-yet unmet girl, but looks as though there are no guaranteed “good deals” when it comes to dealing with a fraudulent company.  Buyer beware.

Turn About

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Turn About

Your claims that you are virtuous are hard to reconcile
with the lurid stories told by victims of your guile.
Each one, in the beginning, considered you sublime,
an assessment always altered when they’d known you for a time.
All your avowed compacts of fidelity and marriage
voiced in times of passion in the backseat of your carriage
never were remembered in the glare of a new day.
Your women were like handkerchiefs—used, then thrown away.
All hope you’ll get your just deserts, with someone doing to you
what you have done to others—to first woo and then eschew you.

 

Prompt words are virtuous, compact, sublime and reconcile.

“Normal” Barbie

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I thought this would be my first Xmas of not having any gifts at all and it hasn’t mattered a bit to me. Never thought that would happen. Ha. But then, a friend gave me a “normal” Barbie doll when she came for comida yesterday––one that has real believable physical dimensions and I have it sitting under the tree, so it was an early Xmas gift. I guess long ago she told me about them and I said I’d like to see one. She came back after a delayed stay in the States due to Coronavirus, and brought it to me. Would you believe this is my first Barbie ever? She hadn’t been invented when I was at the doll stage. Must say I rather like this one. I put all the stickers on her big travel trunk and tried out all the accessories that snap onto her thumb for use–toothbrush, toothpaste, camera, guitar, cell phone. She even came with her own cat which does not connect to anything—you know cats.

Travel Challenge Day 10, Treking up to the Aqueduct

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Someone who reads my blog should recognize these photos. Nice trek up to the aqueduct. This is my last day doing this challenge and I invite anyone who wishes to to publish ten travel photos–one a day for ten days. You may either post just the photo or include whatever information you wish to.

Here is a link to day 1 of the challenge.