"T Stands For Teddy With Cat Tea Mug" - Photograph

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© All Rights Reserved

(Click on image to enlarge)

I am joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for this week's T Stands For challenge found here.

This is my summation of the past week:

Teddy will be serving double duty as my main image plus as my "T-Day ticket" for my T-Day posts for awhile.

Teddy said he knows the T-Group has some cat fans, so he thought they would enjoy seeing this mug. I told Teddy he has expensive tastes that not all of us can afford. Teddy thinks his shameless hawking of The Republic of Tea products will land him the position of their official spokesman spokesbear. I told Teddy to keep dreaming.

I created this post early and scheduled it, in case the Winter Storm knocks out my power. Right now, the forecast is still a bit undefined, with a mix of rain, snow, and sleet forecast. As of Monday (12/2) early evening, there hasn't been too much snow accumulation where I live, but I don't know what I will wake up and find, since the storm will continue overnight into the early morning hours. Tue 12/3 update: I got lucky and only have about 1 or 2 inches of snow. Some places north and west of me got a lot more than that.

I got a photo of the waxing crescent moon, before the storm clouds blotted it out.

The latest version of Symantec Norton (22.19.9.63) had a fix for their software bug: they now give a choice of ignore for 7 days, ignore for 30 days, or don't ask me again, for their annoying attempt to force one to install their Internet browser Add-Ons. (The last time I uninstalled Symantec Norton to fix their problem, I gave them feedback, telling them to fix their software bug, and included a link to my unflattering blog post about them. I wonder if that actually influenced them, because their update came out within a week of that.)

I had a quiet but pleasant Thanksgiving Day. Per tradition, I made my Great Grandmother's stuffing recipe. Thanksgiving Pilgrim Owls

After Thanksgiving, I started putting out some Christmas decor: Red Christmas Cactus and Red Poinsettia Glass Candle Holder.

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For another weekend, I spent more time dusting, vacuuming, tidying up, etc. But I must say that things are looking much better here, now that I've eliminated several clutter eyesores. But proof of creeping dust: places I dusted had a new thin layer of dust on them again, requiring another go around. (I think I kicked up dust from other areas and it landed in the previously cleaned areas. Ugh.)

And out of curiosity, to those who have a cat / cats: how do they react to the vacuum cleaner? Until my current cat, my experience has been that cats flee in terror from the sound of the vacuum cleaner. However, my current beloved furry companion is like a dog, so he crouches nearby, watching it with no fear whatsoever.

One thing led to another (which I won't bore everyone with the details of), and I discovered some new hiking trails in woods with old stone walls in them. Several people asked why a permit was required to hike on those trails, so I added this explanation to my newer posts: With regard to why a permit is needed on these particular hiking trails: they are on land that the public water supply flows through. So they have rules for what you can and can't do there, and if you get caught in there without a permit (which is the trail map), you can be fined / arrested.

The greatest discovery so far on those trails is a stone wall dam and waterfall: Waterfall Stone Wall Dam In Woods and Waterfall Stone Wall Dam In Woods. The north trail parallels the water, which is nice: Stone Wall Waterside Trail and Stone Wall Waterside Trail. There is also a Pine Grove In Woods on another trail there.

Teddy was with me during those hikes in the woods, and wanted to pose in some dangerous locations (the top of the dam, the wood bridge), but I refused to allow him to. So there won't be any photos of him from those trips. Teddy was crying and carrying on that I always say, "No," and I told him I would be crying and carrying on if he fell into the water and I lost him.

I made a few postcards: Three Little Wishes and Look Into My Eyes.

My Christmas artwork is at risk of not getting done this year. :-(

Over the weekend, we watched the following movies:

movies:

Othello (1995) DVD (Laurence Fishburne, Kenneth Branagh, Irene Jacob) - excellent

That movie is one of my favorites. There are several great quotes from the original Shakespeare play. And Iago is the original disgruntled employee, before the definition existed. Shakespeare was ahead of his time.

O (2001) DVD - good - "modern" version of Othello, with high school age people as the main characters. I could have done without the "F" word and the racist "N" word sprinkled throughout the movie. Some people see racism as the primary take away of the plot of Shakespeare's Othello, but when I read the play, I saw other themes as the primary points in the story.

If you only have time to watch one of those two movies, I recommend seeing Othello (1995).