Touch of Grey will, well, touch upon the rainbow that is life. Good music, good times, and good friends combine to make all the splendid colors. Touch of Grey will celebrate this beautiful rainbow.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Popcorn and Soda....

And dad. Saturday night, my dad and I partook in a rare luxury - we took some time to watch movies. I do love watching a good movie and although we very rarely frequent the theatres anymore, we do take part from time to time in some pay-per-view and Showtime/HBO offerings. So....the two movies we saw were "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage, and "The Road" with Viggo Mortensen. If anybody has seen these movies and would like to discuss them here, please feel free. They both left me a little stunned. I would say that I favored "Knowing", but I cannot get "The Road" out of my head. While "Knowing" sped along at a great pace with some unexpectedly excellent special effects (one scene in particular astounded me and I have not seen anything like it before; if you have seen the movie, I am sure you will know the one I am talking about), "The Road" was a bit more plodding and stark. Both movies held similarities. At their hearts, they are about relationships between a father and a son. I just want to warn you that "The Road", if you haven't seen it yet, can get quite depressing, and this goes on for nearly two hours. It is heartbreaking, in fact. But I don't want to give away any plots or "spoilers". Have you seen these movies? Do you enjoy a certain type of movie? Lately, Nicolas Cage's track record has not been impressive, and when I hear the terms "science fiction" and "Nicolas Cage" together, I think, "oh, boy". But not so for "Knowing". It was intelligently done and very absorbing. I was truly surprised by the quality of this film. "The Road".....well, I don't know yet what I think of the movie. It was a real downer for the most part. But it dealt with its subjects and storylines in an intelligent, non-condescending, realistic manner. And it's the one that stays with me today.

If anyone likes Roger Ebert as much as I do, I have his movie review website for you here. I also have his blog to link here. I do so enjoy his writings, and although I may not always agree with him, he brings a level of insight to movies that I do not have. He always sees things that I don't, and I also appreciate the feedback from all his readers, as different people have so many different points of view on what they see.



So....seen any good movies lately yourself? Share here. I would enjoy reading your opinions on your favorite movies. Or, even your least favorite.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Daily Dose of Humor


OK, maybe that's more like.....weekly. But you get the idea.

Speaking of coming back from the dead (or something like that).....I have hope yet that my Confederate Jasmine will make it after all. As the comic says, long story short....I have no luck with plants. Except one. My confederate jasmine I bought as a wee baby back in Conroe about ten years ago has thrived in spite of me. By the time I moved down here, it was getting quite large but still potted. When I got settled, I decided to take a chance and plant it in the ground since it had outgrown its pot. Dad made a trellis for me by the carport and so we planted. And it grew. And grew. Seems it likes the South Texas climate even better than that of East Texas. And it has rewarded me with beautiful, fragrant blooms each April since then.


(Picture of my jasmine a few years ago)

OK, so here is the sad part. A few years ago, mother and I happened upon a lovely purple passion flower vine at a nursery and couldn't resist the flowers. So we bought it. Within a week, it was looking very droopy and sad. So we decided to plant this one in the ground too. If you know anything about passion vines (which we didn't), you can see the rest of this story coming. Not only did it perk up, it became THE most aggressive little sucker I have EVER seen. Soon it was twining all over the place, sending out its evil tendrils to wrap around anything in its path. It grew all over the fence, all up an adjacent tree, and soon wormed its way over to my land. We had to constantly cut it down, as it was choking the life out of everything in its way. This has gone on for years, and a couple years ago, dad and I decided that we would just uproot the whole thing and be done with it. And we did. But we weren't.

I'll be danged if that thing hadn't taken root in places we never even knew it crept. This year, its target was my jasmine. Foolish, stupid, distracted little me, I should have yanked that sucker right away. But I didn't. I have been so busy with other yard things (we have been staking out areas for tree planting, and now we have a problem with that.....stay tuned for Lazarus, part two, soon to come). SO.....as aggressive as it is, within weeks, it had COMPLETELY covered my jasmine and intertwined itself with my lovely plant, and nearly CHOKED the life out of it. In fact, the passion vine by this time was full of buds that would have put on a spectacular show. Except, it won't. Because I spent the better of last weekend on a mission - to KILL this plant once and for all. After all, it was the passion vine or my jasmine. And I can tell you which one will die. Once I got the passion vine destroyed, roots and all, what was left of my jasmine was a sad sight indeed. Most of the remaining leaves were brown and falling off. There were a few green ones underneath it all, begging for sunlight and water. So I once again babied it. I watered it. Talked to it. Pleaded with it. After all we've been through together, this plant survived ME and it can certainly survive the passion vine.

Just today, I saw a few tiny flowers starting to emerge, and the green leaves are becoming more numerous. It will take a few years before it gets back to its former glory, but I am sure it will. It's my fault for buying the passion vine in the first place. And it's my fault for not being more vigilant. I hope once more that jasmine lives in spite of me. And blooms its beautiful, fragrant blossoms once again. In fact, at the nursery where I bought it, I smelled it before I saw it. And I followed that incredible smell that led me to that plant that now is fighting for its life in my yard.

So....long story not so short. NEVER buy a passion vine. EVER. I'm afraid it will pop up yet again in another place around here before long. Yes, it is beautiful, BUT.....never again will I even look at one. Unless I'm killing it.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The One. The Only.

How do you fill a giant's shoes?

You don't.

It's funny how such a challenging day can instantly become so rewarding. Mere moments after I got home this evening, an unexpected treat greeted me: On the Ovation channel was a Johnny Cash concert at the 1994 Montreux Jazz Festival. And immediately, my day was worth everything I had been through.

I'm not ashamed to admit I cried when he died. Even though he had been in bad health for some time, it hit me (and so many others) like a ton of bricks. I was brokenhearted. Thank goodness he left a legacy of music behind. His songs wove through my life like a silken, deep-voiced thread. I am fairly convinced that if there exists a God, this is his voice. Johnny's pure, honest, booming voice has no equal.

I will let the man's music speak for itself. Here are some of my favorites. They will never be duplicated. Johnny Cash was a giant. And there will be nobody to fill his shoes, ever.

One word of advice: if you have yet to see his video for "Hurt", prepare yourself. It is powerful. This is a cover of a Nine Inch Nails tune. In my opinion, it is the best video EVER made. I mean EVER. Recorded shortly before his death, it is the Johnny you never knew. And it is the Johnny you always knew. It is honestly heartbreaking, and heartbreakingly honest. And you will never forget it.














Saturday, March 5, 2011

DOPE

You are what you do.

Think drugs are glamorous? Think they lead to enlightenment? Do you possibly even think that drugs make you more attractive, cooler, more suave?

Yeah, okay. Move on over to this site and see for yourself the ravages of the high life.

Still thinking about doing drugs? One more pic for ya:



Charlie Sheen looks older than Hugh Hefner and WORSE than Keith Richards! How is that possible? Courtesy of the ol' crack habit. It's just a matter of time until he, like so many others before him, becomes a living (and dying) example of the Darwin principle. He's writing his obituary every day, so to speak. This train wreck is a statistic waiting to happen. Think you're "winning", Charlie? Nah. You aren't a winner. Just another loser.

So, thinking of doing drugs? Yeah, you go right ahead. Just don't say you weren't warned....