Cordelia's Mom, Still

Eye Candy

Posted on March 28, 2015 by cordeliasmom2012

Getting better at those selfies!

Imagine my total surprise when Doobster, of Mindful Digressions, invited me to Yvette’s (Priorhouse Blog) 5-day black-and-white photo challenge.

Imagine Doobster’s courage in doing so – he knows I only just got my little point-and-shoot digital camera as a Christmas present from my three daughters. How does he know that? Because I’ve been boring the hell out of my readers by posting an overload of amateur photography attempts.

I’m excited to accept the challenge. The only problem is that my camera does not shoot in black-and-white. What to do?

I started looking around for black and white objects I could photograph, like this:

Sad attempt, isn’t it?

But then a light bulb (pun intended) went off in my brain:

I live in Buffalo, New York, where it’s STILL SNOWING! Snow is white! Hence:

Since you might not believe it’s snowing in March, I even wrote the date in the snow on the picnic table:

Unfortunately, I forgot to put the date-stamp back on (I’m still learning, dammit), so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

And, since everything in the world isn’t just black and white:

Remember that old joke: What’s black and white and red all over?

Ah, but then Doobster advised me that most digital cameras come with software that will allow you to save a photo in black-and-white instead of color. Say what? I started playing around with that, and ain’t technology wonderful? – I learned how to do something new. Here is the original “Cody in the Snow” photo, and the new black-and-white version (thank you, Doobster!):

So, now I am ready for my 5-day challenge. (Well, actually only 4 days now, because today is the first day, duh). Bet you all can’t wait.

The rules of the challenge are that each participant must post black-and-white photos over 5 sequential days, and on each of the 5 days, the participant must invite at least one other blogger to the challenge.

It was really easy to decide whom to invite today. When you think black-and-white, who doesn’t think of PANDAS! And who knows pandas better than Bob T. Panda (a/k/a Anne Belov). I don’t know if Anne will have time to accept the challenge seeing as she’s busy promoting her exquisite art work and her picture book, Pandamorphosis (available on Amazon, people – go get it!). But the invitation has been issued – Anne, if you have the time, we would very much love for you to join us in this challenge.

My next photo, and next invitee, will be tomorrow – you’ll be impressed by both, I’m sure!

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Pets, Photography, That's Life | Tagged Anne Belov, blogging, Bob T. Panda, challenge, Doobster, Mindful Digressions, photography | 48 Comments

Listen Up, Detroit! (or Wherever)

Posted on March 26, 2015 by cordeliasmom2012

My new[er] car has slots on the floor on either side of the front seats, just inside the doors, for the sole purpose of holding a folding umbrella. What a cool feature! No more throwing a wet umbrella onto the seat.

Had I been asked to list the features I want in a new car, that little detail would not have been included simply because I never would have thought of it.

However, it did get me thinking (always dangerous). If I could choose anything I want on a car, what kinds of features would I like? Here are some thoughts – bear in mind that I might have come up with some of these after a couple of glasses of wine:

An easily accessible hook on which to hang my purse while driving. Normally, I toss my purse on the front passenger seat – but if I have a passenger, then the purse must go onto the back seat. Which is not convenient should a cop pull me over and want my license. [Pardon me, officer, but do you mind if I get out and open the back door, or would you rather I simply climb over the seat to fetch my purse?]

A back-up camera cleaner. Now that I have a backup camera, I find I use it a lot. But it’s located under the back license plate, where all that road grit and slush are thrown against it. This results in me thinking that I have lost my glasses just before backing up because everything is just sooooo blurry. Or else I imagine I see a ghost standing behind my car instead of that garbage tote. How hard would it be to put a mini-squirter or mini-wiper on the darn thing?

Self-cleaning body panels. Sure, I can clean both the front and back windshields with the push of a button, but I still need to drive to the carwash to clean the rest of the vehicle. This is a pain in the butt and often makes me late for work because no one else has a self-cleaning car, either. They make self-cleaning ovens and self-defrosting refrigerators , don’t they? Why not cars? Which brings me to my next desired feature:

Self-defrosting car. I don’t have a remote starter, and even if I did, it still takes time for that ice to melt off the vehicle (waste of gas) – and the defrosters only clear the front and back windows. I want a car that automatically deflects all ice and snow, or at least one that is capable of self-melting the ice off those damn doors so that I can actually get in without tearing my shoulder out of its socket and then hearing that nasty door-opening “crack” which makes me think the hinges have failed completely.

Bigger sun visors, or automatically tinted glass. Us shorter people are not protected by those tiny sun visors that are in most cars these days. Sure, I could wear sunglasses while driving, or I could go out and buy one of those visor extenders (yes, there are such things – look it up), but why should I have to? If making the visors bigger is too much of a problem, then how about making the windshield tint automatically according to the amount of light? Eyeglass manufacturers have been doing that for years – how hard can it be?

Roof-top alert. How about an indicator that would tell me if I accidentally left my house keys, or a package, or my lunch on top of the vehicle when I took off? After my first child was born, I accidentally left her diaper bag on top of the car – thank heavens I noticed when it fell off a few blocks later. (And thank heavens it wasn’t the car seat, with the baby in it!)

A programmable horn. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to choose the sound of your car’s horn? I especially would like one that OINKS whenever I see someone throw a cigarette or garbage from another vehicle. (There should be a safety feature, however, so that I can’t use the OINK setting if there is a police vehicle within eyesight or hearing range of my car.)

A forewarning system. This may be my favorite, and would be beneficial to traffic in general. How about some kind of system that would let other drivers know I’m coming, so they can get off the damn road already!

How about you? What features would you like on your next vehicle?

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

Posted in Road Trips & Cars, Teddy Rosalie, That's Life | Tagged automobiles, autos, cars, Ford, Ford Escape, new cars, SUV | 44 Comments

The Green Event

Posted on March 24, 2015 by cordeliasmom2012

I heard on the radio that some scenes from the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie will be shot right here in my hometown – Buffalo, NY.

Everyone wants to know why Buffalo, NY was chosen over other cities. Is it because of our proximity to Niagara Falls? Or maybe due to our depressed economy (cheaper to film)? Or perhaps because we have some of the best pizza in the country, and everyone knows the Turtles love pizza?

I say no to all of the foregoing (well, ok, maybe pizza does factor in). The real reason the Turtles want to come here? They want to meet dear, old Cordelia’s Mom!

Granted, no one from the film company has as yet contacted me in that regard, but I know it’s only a matter of time. How could my name not have risen to the very top of the Turtles’ “must see” list? After all, I had turtles when I was young, and God knows, I had teenagers who made me old. I even know what a Ninja is!

I can picture it now: A stretch limo arrives at the chosen meeting place (not my house, I still wish to be anonymous, which is why I didn’t have the limo pick me up at my house, duh). The Turtles jump out and give little old me hugs. There’s a photo shoot (in which my oversized body is tastefully blocked by those large Turtles). A variety of pizza is served, along with everyone’s choice of beer and/or wine. I am given permission to not only write about the event, but to post a photograph to verify to my readers that said event did, in fact, take place (‘cause some of my readers refuse to believe anything I say, I can never understand why). Said event will result in thousands millions of Twitter tweets and Facebook shares. My blog followers will increase from 10 to 50,000. My pseudonym(s) (both of them) will become household word(s). (Yes, Not CM will be there, invited or not – she likes pizza, too, when she feels like slumming.)

So, come on Turtles, have your people contact my people asap! It will be a very special day for all of us.

And I will bring fresh-baked cookies – who can resist that?

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com or notcordeliasmom@aol.com

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Image by JD Hancock