Dunno if (m)any people noticed, but I haven't been around much lately, but I thought I'd put why. The main reason has been that my daughter got married last week. Plus, last week, a good friend had to have a kidney removed due to cancer; he seems to be doing fine now, though.
Yesterday I took my ten-year-old car to the dealership (yeah, I know, but our regular mechanic's shop doesn't have the tools to get into the transmission); they called this afternoon and told me the repairs will cost $5000. (Actually, $4935.18.) So I paid for the diagnostics and drove it back home. It does run, if imperfectly, and the brakes do stop the vehicle despite the fact that the ABS no longer works.
When I got home, I sat down here at my computer for some needed relaxation...and found an e-mail from my special cousin, the closest thing I have to a brother and the one whom I named my son after, saying he'd had surgery for prostate cancer over the weekend. I promptly called him and we had a nice long chat, and, although he had some other difficult news to relate, he himself is doing well.
However, our new pastor made Bible Study quite interesting this evening, and as always, choir practice was fun. So I am kind of...shellshocked, I guess; but overall think I might be able to catch my breath over the next few days. I hope.

long distance hug!

ditto!

And then some.

Here's hoping you have a chance to put your feet up for a spell.

I have indeed noticed your absence. Hope everything settles soon.
best regards.

Ahhh...getting better already: thanks!

When you get time, tell us about the fun in choir practice. Seriously.

Congratulations on the main reason, Jackie! Wish the new couple luck and prosperity on the highway of marriage.

Some years ago, our director at the time asked us to sing short, sharp notes, something like a dog's bark; whereupon my husband piped up with, "Beware of choir"! The same director would sometimes want us to sound like Scandinavian opera singers, whereupon he'd cup his hands over his chest and sing, "Steel bra, steel bra" in a perfect fourth. (Think Day is Done, or A-hunting We Will Go.) We might announce something to the effect that no matter what the composer intended we'll do it our way. Mostly we just love wordplay and friendly teasing; for ex. my friend who isn't as big as I am but who nevertheless is not slender, accidentally sounded some piano keys when she stepped back; someone immediately said, "Well, that's using your assets".
That usage hasn't been forgotten! Another one that hasn't been forgotten came from the lady who is legally blind, but requires a bit of explanation first. We keep our anthems in 3-ring binders, and not all of us are good about keeping them in order. So when we're about to begin a different one, the question, "What does that one look like?" is heard fairly frequently. One of those times, the blind lady held up her brown Braille sheet and said, "It looks like this."
And, some of us frequently stand out in the parking lot afterwards and tell jokes; not always clean ones, either!

At least your fellow choristers spare the pieces being practiced and performed, as far as I can tell. In my youth, a fellow who stood next to me in church youth choir changed a phrase of a hymn from “no turning back” to “my aching back” during a church service.

We laughed our way through again last night. A good bit of it was over this word, alloy, in a really old anthem (it has nothing whatever to do with a mixture of metals, and just seems totally unexpected as well as odd); one person in particular gets the giggles over it every time, to the point where even our director did, which of course sent the rest of us off. And again when a tenor said...but first I have to explain that over 300,000 homes and businesses lost power Sunday afternoon (mine came back this afternoon) thanks to Hurricane Ike. So everybody everywhere I go has been talking about it: is yours back on yet? Wonder how long it will take? Etc. So one time when somebody mock-complained about something, this guy says, "Gee, I guess you want electricity with that, too." And we all just rolled!

So a few days on cardgames and candle light?
Alloy ;We have allooi in use, meaning fig. 'nature', 'sort '

"do not seek the company of friends of bad allooi"
(fits in a churchy setting well enough)

I'm glad for you you see the light again!

Glad you are alright,

and that you didn't share accomodation with a lion. (yahoo news blip that I couldn't get sound for on my work computer)

I've always been so impressed by these two newspaper pictures.
I have them pinned to the wall since their day of appearance.

power-transmission

Oh, cool! I mean, not that the power pylons were destroyed, but, since they were, it does make an interesting composition. I too thought the bottom one looked like a large stick bird, but bent double with the top of its head touching the ground.
And! I saved The Paleontology Portal to my Favorites!!

Whoa! Some of the fossils in the Silurian pages came from the Falls of the Ohio State Park, right here in the river at Louisville!!!

Edit--and Devonian.

As long as this (non-word-outlaw post)- posting goes this is one I just added to my favorites:

mars
1000 images! The structures and patterns are wonderful!