Why does it only rain on weekends around here?

cropped graffiti pic
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

It's not just in my head.



There are people who've done statistical analysis of the phenomenon.

Notes to self

Smallpox Hospital
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

1. For years now, I have been hearing about zinc as an accelerant to recovery from the common head cold. It's as dandy an idea as anything that might actually decrease the duration of a cold. Sadly, in reality, the zinc-related nausea is worse than the cold.

2. I wonder about grape seed oil? Lisa the Wunderparalegal has given me some startling doses of it in recent days with great assurances as to its effectiveness. Maybe I'm not giving it a chance, but here's the status:

Throat: still scratchy.
Head: still achey.
Ears: still itchy.

It is an antioxidant, so maybe it's at least busy preventing cancer.

3. Opinionista unanonymizes herself. But will her blog still make for such delightful reading?

4. What's the verdict on echinacea, anyway?

Head colds?

Well dressed.
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

Suck. Thanks for the sympathy.

Pray for the pumpkin.

Pray for the pumpkin.
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

So, I was thinking about fire hydrants the other day...

Fire Hydrant: Montreal
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

And I was wondering why they were different from city to city. Like, there's no standard design for the fire hydrant. This one is in Montreal. I didn't think about fire hydrants until a couple of years ago when I started noticing them in every space I was considering parking in Alphabet City. (Most of which were clearly non-functional, but you still can't park by 'em.)

I would document the phenomenon of hydrant variation for you through photos and essays replete with speculation, but I have a short attention span and anyway, the good people at www.firehydrant.org already did this. I had an ambition earlier today of sounding all knowledgeable for y'all by relating the manufacturer, model, and history of this particular hydrant, but see above re short attention span - I got distracted by the design of the hydrants in Bergen, Norway, and the moment for in depth research on my own picture passed.

Glow-in-the-dark pigs!

Seriously. Breeding jellyfish DNA into pigs makes 'em green and phosphorescent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4605202.stm

Link courtesy of J.

Not helpful.

metaplaque
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

Are these my favourites?

darkpurplegrapes
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

The colour is excellent. The form of the grapes, great. Pity the leaves were lost somewhere between New Orleans and New York, and they bear the scars (i.e., paint splatters) from my hostile permahungover former superintendant's premature attempts to hasten my departure from Hell.

Helpful.

Drink Me - bathroom
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

A Bear-y Xmas, and Cheers

IMG_2450
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

I think it's so nice that my local bars are resplendent with illuminated, cuddly, giant inflatable seasonal joy. It's enough to make a heart grow at least 3 sizes, an effect which sometimes lasts a whole 37 minutes into the holiday shopping experience.

For Roro.

Let's not call this a new beginning.

Planting Fields Broken Pool
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

Hello, my lovelies! Witness my impressively pretentious pictorial metaphor for the destruction of previous blogging efforts. Now, here we go with attempt #2 at the blogging thing. (It isn't a new beginning. It's just that in a fit of "meh!" I put away all my previous posts, and this time I am proceeding without any theme or plan.)

I believe that I may lack the blogging gene. People who kept diaries in their youth seem to be most up on the blogging thing. I never kept one. I had notebooks in my youth, with things ripped out of magazines and random quotes and song lyrics that I thought were profound or particularly stupid, or that I practiced my mad German translation skillz on, but no diaries.

But, lack of desire for online confessions aside, I like the idea of having a blog, if only as a means of indirectly communicating with the four people who might look at it, and so I can post marginally less anonymously on others' blogs.

I will post more pictures, just as soon as ever I can get around to it. Roro, my dear, I have one for you I'll put up soon with one of those inflatable lawn decorations you expressed an interest in.

Love love,

Me.

How did "seafoam green" ever gain a reputation as an actual colour?

Seafoam
Originally uploaded by Chezza Pezza.

Sometimes the human-created version of a colour actually does better than Nature. This is seafoam here, people. You might recall a particular credit card commercial which was played, and replayed and replayed again about the pricelessness of something (I decline to mention the brand because I am not their shill, but y'all know what I'm saying) and it involved a "seafoam green" bridesmaid dress with matching shoes, and possibly a matching mani-pedi. And what I was pondering earlier today (I am wont to ponder on the train) was bridal party dresses (because that's right, pumpkinheads, WANNABE IS GETTIN' HITCHED! and she's got the bling to show it! and I am so there in the DR for the big day in '06!) which led my train of thought to possible colours, which led to thinking about colours to avoid, which led to the commercial about the seafoam green. And then I started thinking, "hey, when I saw seafoam, it wasn't that colour they used in the commercial. It wasn't even green. In fact, the seafoam I saw was a sickly yellow-tan, and it jiggled in a disconcerting fashion in the winter breezes."

It's about the ugliest colour I could think of for a dress. I've seen some spectacularly hideous ones. In my old office, bridal parties would come to get their pictures taken in the "tropical rainforest" on the ground floor. (Why a "tropical rainforest" in an office building located in the armpit of Long Island would be an appealing location given the ready accessibility of the beach, the parks, or even a nice shrub in someone's yard, not to mention the other available indoor locales, including old estates, botanical gardens, or a pleasantly blank off-white wall in one's aunt's house) was always beyond me.) I think the most memorable dresses I saw were the gold (a shade which is fetching on very, very few people, and even then it depends on just how much gold we're talking about) satin ballgowns with the gi-NOR-mous bows, which looked like wings. Mind you, they weren't supposed to be wings (unlike the wings Roro & Carleybean wore to a friend's wedding) so the effect was neither interesting nor fanciful - just plain unfortunate.

I am pleased to report that Wannabe is allowing me to choose my own dress for the big event. Of course, she trusts me not to pick purple plaid (although some people might find that an irresistable choice), so I like to think this trust is properly placed. I should mention here that the two previous times I've been a bridesmaid, I've been very fortunate with the dress choices - the one that was selected for me was beautiful and not too bridesmaidsy for re-use, and the one I got to choose for my cousin's wedding was the prettiest red I ever did see and off a department store sale rack so totally cheap. Nothing that needs to go in the archive of ugly wedding party dresses in my past. I am a lucky, lucky girl.