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Tchotchkes

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Location: Connecticut, United States

marybb1@gmail.com

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Blog Bogged


Sometimes I think blogging is not a good idea.

For example, I took some time this morning to read some of my archived material and realized that once I blogged with humor and wit; said fuck a lot; made my own self laugh; tackled controversial subjects; wrote with passion and pizzazz.

Now I seem to have given up blogging for bogging. I don’t care that Blogshares says this is a growing blog and HOLD…I say it’s a sinking blog and DUMP.

It makes me wonder just what is so damned different this year from last year. Why was I spirited and sassy then - when now my writing is more like an annoying faucet drip?

I can’t blame it on posting photos as I started that one day when I had nothing to say. Well, that’s not true, I always have something to say, but suddenly I decided I wasn’t going to share it anymore.

Did I get too polite to rant and rave or too tired of ranting and raving and finding no solutions to my constant fear that our country is going to hell?

I don’t want to live in a country where homosexuals have fewer rights than I have.

I don’t want to live in a country where innocent people are killed because of a George Bush lie.

I don’t want to live in a country where every other civilized nation is aware of global warming except us and our administration.

I don’t want to live in a country that does not offer health care to all people who need it.

I don’t want to live in a country where a woman’s right to choose the destiny of her own uterus is being questioned.

I don’t want to live in a country that has no middle class, only the elite and the poor.

I don’t want to live in a country that trods on personal freedom with fascist-style boots.

I don’t want to live in a country where news is entertainment and no one is ever to be believed.

I don’t want to live in a country where the majority of the people thought electing Bush was a good idea.

But I want to live in America! – the America that was once a symbol of good and decent people who cared about the world but didn’t impose their military might unless absolutely necessary.

The America that promised freedom of religion including freedom from religion; the country that led other nations in concerns over the health of our planet, the health of our citizens and our neighbors.

I’m beginning to think that America packed up and moved north to Canada as that might be one of the few nations that seems to honor personal freedom; take care of their sick and their elderly and grant the same rights to same sex people including the fundamental right to marry the person you love.

I want my America back, dammit, but I have a feeling it is going to continue to hide in Canada until we all demand it back.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

It's Cat Photo Day in the USA or so I declare.

I thought if I published his hideously dirty paws it might shame him into better personal hygiene.

Notice that he is still chewing on anything he can sink his teeth into.

Count those toes, it's amazing. The black fuzzy thing is his tail, so long it's a disability.











Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Faint



How totally humiliating; how ridiculous; how cheek-reddening foolish I felt when I took a nose dive onto my friends’ deck. (Thank god it was Doc and DJ who I know so well!)



Oh I’d had a faint or two in my life, a near faint or two too, but this one took me by surprise and that’s why I’ll share it – because it has or will happen to someone else and they’ll be able to find some information here that I couldn’t find anywhere.



I spent Saturday as a total slug in front of a roaring fire. I literally didn’t move off the couch from 8 am till about 6 pm. Husband brought me a tray of one perfectly poached egg on one piece of homemade bread and a small glass of fresh squeezed tangerine juice over cracked ice.



At lunch time he brought me a bowl of his freshly made Italian rice/potato soup, (shhhhh don’t tell, I don’t like this soup so I had very little of it, enough to show I tried to eat it but not enough to count as a decent lunch.)



I tell you this because I believe that the lack of food and drink and the exposure to the oxygen eating fire all day set me up for this unattractive swoon that was to come.



At 7 pm feeling just wonderful we arrived at our friends’ house for dinner. I had one black Russian cocktail and maybe four cashews as I was pretty hungry and didn’t want to spoil my dinner since DJ had made roast turkey and tons of delicious veggies.



I sat down for dinner with five big men (another couple had been invited) and ate them all under the table. I couldn’t seem to get enough of the delicious dinner DJ’d prepared. Many comments were made that they couldn’t believe I was eating so much and that they’d never seen me eat two full plates of food. (Remember, I’m five feet tall and 106 pounds.)



I also had a glass of wine with dinner, maybe two, but I think one.



Then we moved out of the dining room and back into the kitchen for coffee – decaf. I lit up a cigarette and listened to the coffee perk.



I was sitting on the stool at the kitchen island and my first feeling was holy crap I’m hot, so I removed the jacket I had on and was now in a short sleeved, but long dress.



I drank my coffee and all of a sudden I felt “not right” – can’t explain it as it was a feeling I’m not familiar with. I decided I’d go outside for air as I felt so warm.



Went out onto the deck and the cold air wasn’t touching me. I felt so odd. DJ went to the door to see what was the matter as it was pretty cold outside to be in short sleeves and when he opened the door, apparently I fainted after saying: I don’t feel well.



The guys got me inside, put me on a kitchen bar stool and I fainted again or continued to faint – can’t know because I was out of it.



I awoke on the floor, feeling nauseous and hearing DJ talking on the phone to a 911 operator.



OY Vey!



I did two lady-like barfs into a bag ( hahahah) and instantly felt so much better.



The EMS came and bless their hearts, tried to get me to a hospital. They stayed for 40 minutes trying to talk me into going, but I didn’t feel the necessity. The oxygen they gave me raised my blood oxygen level and my color went from chiclet white to pale like I always am.



The blood pressure cuff was too loose to take a good reading; the heart monitor thingies were falling off and frankly I had recently heard of two other people who had a vaso-vagal faint and ended up spending hours in the hospital and then being sent home.



At this point I just wanted to go home and get in my own bed and forget about it all.



After pissing off now let’s see about 8 men, husband, Doc, DJ one cop and 4 EMT people, I had my way and they finally left. I did too.



I have felt fine since then except for a slight wrench of my knee when I fell.



The excruciating details are recited here because I think (like chaos theory) a series of events led to this vaso-vagal syncope as it is called.



One, too much heat and too much fire which dries you out and lowers oxygen levels in the room.



Two, not enough to eat all day and certainly not enough to drink…I don’t remember drinking anything all day except my morning juice. Maybe a small glass of water with my vitamins, which leads to dehydration.



Three, a hearty drink dumped into an empty stomach.



Four, a huge gluttonous meal after eating little all day.


That’s what I think made this phenomenon occur.


I won’t do any of the above again, I promise you!

So anyone else have any fainting stories? Any vaso vagal stories? Any post-prandial swan dives? Okay any stories of gluttony or stories of barfing at a friend's house?

Friday, January 19, 2007


I Feel the Love, thanks Linda, Bradley et al!

Monday, January 15, 2007

For Ilanna

Cat as Counter Appliance

















Cat as Slinky or Cat as Inchworm








One kitten takes up three stairs.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

A Real Post

I'm so sick and tired of sending more troops to Iraq; I'm sick and tired of people pretending there's no such thing as global warming; I'm sick to death of Joe Lieberman and sick that my fellow residents of CT voted this guy in knowing that he'd want to escalate the war. I am beginning to believe what others have pointed out about him: he's really the senator from Israel and his concerns for CT or the US are always secondary to his love of Israel. Why not make him ambassador to Israel and get someone in that seat who cares about our state in particular? Guess it's too late for that.

(See why I've opted to post cat pictures rather than say what's on my mind?)

I'm astounded that the electric company can raise their rates by 60 percent in our state and Lieberman and others seem to think this is a fine idea.

I'm shocked at the rude people I encounter every single day: sick sneezers who spray their germs all over you rather than turn away; drivers who cut you off, drive on your side of the road if there's an impediment on their side; speed down the road until they're in your trunk even though speed limits are low.

Grocery shoppers who nip at your heels with their carts and restaurant patrons who bellow into their cell phones while you're trying to eat.

Mostly the Iraq war has me miserable all the time. More young lives are now to be sacrificed and the thought of it makes me sick. But, we fire the best Iraqi translator in the military because he's gay.

I'm sick of law suits and malpractice suits and insurance companies who have collectively made health care no longer the work of doctors and nurses, but CPAs and lawyers.

So, now that I've said this I'll go take some more cat pictures.

Monday, January 08, 2007






No balls but one long tail!

Thursday, January 04, 2007


The song below is dedicated to Finbar who is resting comfortably.











No Balls at All

Now listen my children, a story you'll hear.
A song I will sing you; 'twill fill you with cheer.
A charming young maiden was wed in the Fall.
She married a man who had no balls at all.

cho: No balls at all. No balls at all.
She married a man who had no balls at all.

The night of the wedding she leaped into bed.
Her breasts were a-heaving; her legs were well spread.
She reached for his penis; his penis was small.
She reached for his balls; he had no balls at all.

``Oh mother, oh mother, oh, what shall I do?
I've married a man who's unable to screw.
(For many long years, I've avoided the call,
Now I've married a man who has no balls at all.'')
or (Oh mother, oh mother, I wish I were dead
And buried along of my poor maidenhead.)

``Oh daughter, oh daughter, now don't feel so sad;
I had the same trouble with your dear old dad
There are lots of young men who will answer the call
Of the wife of a man who has no balls at all.''

Now the daughter, she followed her mother's advice,
And she found the proceedings exceedingly nice,
And a bouncing young baby was born in the Fall
To the wife of the man who had no balls at all.
(or, "The bouncing young bastard had no balls at all.")

Spoken: No testicles whatsoever!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007


He might look like a little angel saying his prayers but it's not so.


He's fresh, you can tell by the other more true to life photos, but tomorrow he'll be neutered and we'll see how it changes his wild behavior. I will not miss the chewing of the lampshade nor the leaping onto the mantle and then falling off taking a few cherished objects with him.

I won't miss the blitz attacks on my ankles nor the banana gnawing that he does if he can locate one on the counter.

What I will miss is Finbar himself as he'll stay at the vets for the bulk of the day. It's for his own good, I tell myself. Still I feel badly for messing with nature and taking something so important from him without permission.