Banking, Blog-touring, and a photo

I shot the photo this afternoon. This is January and this is in Michigan and the river really should be frozen at this time...

Today, while making a deposit at the bank, I couldn’t help but notice the artwork displayed by the teller. On an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper, a round shaped object was drawn with chicken legs and what appeared to be green feathers to one side. It had the perfect likeness of a turkey. I assumed it had been a left-over from Thanksgiving, or maybe her family had turkey for Christmas. Also by her window was a small frame with a photograph of a cute girl about three or four. This is the dialogue that ensued.

Me (pointing to portrait of young girl and the drawing): "Is that your daughter and did she draw this picture?"

Teller: "Yes, she’s four."

Me: "That’s a nice looking turkey, did she have help?"

Teller: "That’s me, that’s my face (pointing to the body of the turkey), that’s my hair (pointing to the green feathers) and those are my legs (pointing to the chicken legs)."

Me (fidgeting): "I’m sorry for unintentionally calling you a turkey. It must have been those legs; I can’t see your chicken legs from behind the counter." Actually, I didn’t say she had chicken legs, but I thought it, even while I was feeling like a jerk.

Murf, my very own personal stalker, is creating a time line of all my “women.” She would really like to have the dates of all the women I dated, something I’m not sure I have straight in my head, but even if I did, I wouldn't offer it freely. Just so that she can sleep tonight, I decided to give her a little help. Now she can fill out that long blank spot in her timeline, from my birth to the time I became a teenager.

1962 Noreen (the cute little redhead who lived next door)
1963 Ellen (my first older woman, the teenager next door who took me to the pool)
1966 Denise (another next door neighbor)
1968 Diane (I’ve already written about her)
1969-70 Cathy (I’ve also written about her)

While I’m onto what other bloggers are writing, let me steer you to these sites:

The Appalachianist (in my list of blogs, he’s AI from NC/Iraq) provides some good New Year advice in his recent entry from the war zone. I was reminded of the good advice in the movie “Secondhand Lions.” Here’s what Sarge has to say:

Some of you know this, I ain’t telling you your business, some of you don’t… Because you’re human. Stand up for your beliefs. Don’t impose yours on others. Do what’s right, even if it’s not convenient to. Don’t let nobody take advantage of you or push you around. Love somebody. Even if it’s just your Dog.

And just in case you have questions about the state of the world, Gautami from Dehli, India, has a poem about dozens of children from her city who have come up missing. Being poor, no police report was filed. Now they’ve discovered a huge pile of bones. It’s heart-wrenching; the parents need our thoughts and prayer. We do live in a depraved world.

On a lighter note, Judy (aka Kenju, a fellow Tarheel) is renewing her friendships for another year. She wishes that her friend’s jeans become magnet for $200 bills. That’s all nice and good, but I’d prefer 100 or 500 bills, and would be happy with even 20s and 50s, real legal tender.