Happy Meme (Part The First)

Isabelle tagged me to list six things that make me happy. I am going to go for somewhat frivolous, not deep, since the deep list would be so similar to that of everyone else ("my partner, family, friends...sunsets"). Here are my six, in no particular order.

1 - Blustery weather: not necessarily the blow your tent away with you in it stupendous winds you get in the California desert (though I kind of love them too); I'm talking about the unpredictably gusty weather that makes me regret the inability to tie my hair back. Even if it's cold and I'm a little under dressed, I find myself feeling excited and stimulated by the whoosh in my ears and the feeling of the air rushing across my skin. Scottish? Me? How did you guess. I also like rain.

2 - My cats: prompted to add this by Marble depositing herself in my lap, with one haunch obstructing the mouse pad. We got these cats as a consolation for having to move unexpectedly, Tali picked Matt out at the adoption center by marching right up to him and walking figure-eights around his legs. Matt was new to cats and had to ask me if that qualified as "a good thing". We were looking for a bonded pair, so luckily the cat that picked Matt came with an eccentric sister who stuck her entire head into a basket of toys to fish out the one she wanted form the bottom. They are both very affectionate, you don't just get a cat in your lap, you get well and truly sat upon, with purring and snuggling. Both of them will occasionally look up and want eye contact, and have been known to gently pat at my face for extra attention.

3 - Socks: I don't actually like the way goofy patterned socks look with shoes, not on my wide feet, but I love walking about in sock feet in stripy, bright coloured socks. Right now I'm wearing hot pink cotton socks I kept concealed all day under low ankle boots and jeans. I have a set of black dress socks with sparkly toe and heel caps in either hot pink, sky blue, or silver, they are my favourite, because they are unobtrusive, but when I take my shoes off at the end of the day, or at the gym, I get a little giggle out of the silly sparkly toes.

OK, it's beddy-bye time, Marble left me, but Tali has take her place, purring and kneading on the crook of my elbow. I'm in my pajamas and the pink socks have been replaced with a pair of fleece-lined men's slippers. It's not that I can't think of three more things that make me happy, it's that I don't have the time to write about why they make me happy, so I'm off to go to sleep.

Part Davis after all...

Photo 102.jpg, originally uploaded by Rosemary Grace.

This is me bowing to peer pressure: wearing green on St Patrick's day.

Also please note the ruffle-butt cardigan, it makes me very happy.

Riveting History of Rosie (Now, with pictures)

I am very surprised that "Rosemary Riveter" is not already a common screen name. So I'm adopting it. "Rosemary Grace" is my first & middle names, but is not obviously a screen name. When searching for Rosemary Riveter all I found was a woman named Rosemary Corbin, who was they mayor of a town in California, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Rosie The Riveter Historical Trust. Who knew there was such a thing? The first image here is the original Normal Rockwell painting, I think it was a Time Magazine cover during the war, accompanying a story about women working in heavy industry "male" jobs during the WWII.

This image is more well known, a recruiting poster encouraging women to engage in "war work" in the US. I dressed up as Rosie the Riveter for Halloween a while back, and have a photo of myself in the classic pose, with the polkadot head scarf and signature red lipstick. My father insisted that I include red lipstick as part of the costume, which is unusual for a man who usually rolls his eyes when Mum and I discuss the merits of particular shades of red, or start debating exactly what to call the interesting blue/teal/slate colour of an armchair. I suppose Rosie is an icon he can relate to, my grandmother was a very strong, capable woman.