Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Thursday Thirteen 157: On My Mind



01. Why do people COMMENT on posts they HAVE NOT READ? I love comments, I really do, but please take the time to actually read a post so that you can comment on it intelligently.

02. I seem to run into this irritation most on Teaser Tuesday posts. I always write a short one or two sentence blurb in LARGE BOLD FONT above my excerpt as to when I read a book and what I thought of it. Is it really that hard to read two whole sentences??

03. I went on a guided walking tour of Greene Prairie, part of the UW Arboretum's smaller Grady tract, Sunday afternoon. As expected with a small group, I did not see the fox as we wound through the woods to get to the prairie. However, one of the ladies in the group picked up a "hitchhiker" on the return trip—a cute little inch worm.

04. Out of the 25-30 names thrown at us, I can now positively identify at least a dozen wild flowers and grasses on my own. Expect more in a future post!

05. Why do people going on a walk through woods and prairie wear open-toe shoes, as three women did in our group Sunday? Part of the narrow path in the prairie was muddy or under 1-2 inches of water due to recent rains. People: you need to wear socks and good walking shoes or boots when hiking through any wild area. You never know what might slither across your foot!

06. We finished the 2-hour walk just as (more) rain was coming in. I never walked the mile home so fast! I wasn't home five minutes before the thunderstorm broke around us.

07. I know we really need it, and the gardners and farmers are happy to get it, but I'm a little sick of rain now. It rained part of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Rained all day Tuesday. More rain is expected Friday through Sunday. Any more and I'll need an ark!

08. During Saturday's bout of rain, friends and I went to see Letters to Juliet. Excellent romantic comedy. Must add to Christmas wishlist.

09. Don't you hate it when an actor looks familiar, but you can't place face or previous work and it nags you the entire movie? I had that problem Saturday with actor Christopher Egan. Where I'd seen him? Eragon and the short-lived TV series Kings.

10. Am I the only one irked by hidden comment verification? Believe me, I understand the need for word ver (my own blog gets inundated with x-rated spam without it), but please don't hide the fact you use it. Do you realize how many comments you lose because people don't know there's a word verification after they hit post/send?

11. I found another new flavor of M&M's: Pretzel. In a word? Yum!

12. Another irritent? People who refer to any book as "fluff." No reading is fluff. All reading is worthwhile. Be proud of what you read, whether it's a classic, lit fic, sci-fi, romance, mystery...whatever!

13. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "The only thing worse than the man who cannot read, is the man who can and does not."

What's on YOUR mind this week?



LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Deb * Brenda * Alice Audrey * Kristen * CountryDew
Adelle Laudan * Joy Tamsin David * Colleen
Shelley Munro * JourneyWoman * Elise Logan
Kimberly Menozzi * Tatiana Caldwell * Darla M Sands
Harriet * Paige Tyler * Jana * Inez Kelley * Jehara
Janice Seagraves * Jennifer McKenzie * PM Rousseau
Sasha Devlin * A Catherine Noon

You can find more Thursday Thirteen participants HERE




39 comments:

Joy Tamsin David said...

Hi, popping in from Divas. So you enjoyed Letters to Juliet? I've been thinking about seeing that movie!

Heather said...

Hi, Joy! I loved Letters to Juliet, and it received thumbs up from both my friends as well. Christopher Egan really knows how to deliver a comedic line - and he's not hard to look at, either. *g*

Mia Celeste said...

I don't know why people comment on stuff they haven't read really. I guess it might be that many people like to talk more than they like to listen or read. :) About number 4, I too get excited when I can identify plants and flowers. I will look for your future post.
Happy TT!

Heather said...

Thanks, Brenda! It's amazing how many different plants there are to see viewing a prairie close up. Some of the grasses go back thousands of years, and one in particular is found the world over. Definitely going to have to go on more of the Arboretum's guided walks!

Unknown said...

Great list. I want to see that movie Letters to Juliet. Pretzel flavor?? hmmm
Sounds like you had a great hike. Glad you made it home before the rain.
HappyT13!

Heather said...

Adelle: I was a bit skeptical on the pretzel M&M's as well, but I really like them. But then, I often eat Goldfish pretzels with Dark Hershey's Kisses. Both the movie and the walk were well worth the time!

Shelley Munro said...

We don't get all the different flavored M & Ms down here in NZ. Just the plain ones. :(

I really admired all the wildflowers and grasses we saw in the National parks in America. They were really pretty.

Heather said...

Shelley: Hey, I just left your blog, lol! The prairie I visited this past Sunday is the oldest restored prairie in the US. It was planted and tended by one man (Henry Greene) during the 1940s and 50s. Apparently he subscribed to the maxim, "if you want something done right, do it yourself." Some of the flowers are just beginning to bloom.

Alice Audrey said...

You're sick of rain? At least it's not abnormal in Wisconsin. We've been getting a minimum of one shower a day for over a month now. Around here, that is just weird.

Heather said...

Alice: Wow, every day?? That is unusual for your area! You might need that ark before I do. ;)

Deb said...

It was starting to rain this afternoon, we have never walked home from school so quickly!

I find those comments that just say "Cute!" really annoying, I feel like I'm being used for a link.

colleen said...

Joe and I once convinced ourselves that we personally knew and had met an actor that looked so familiar. Our conviction was contagious. But it turned out to not be true and we figured out what we had seen here in before.

I love your 13 and wanted to say more...it's not that I don't read but that I forget what I wanted to say by the time I'm in the comment section.

I'll write down that movie. Sounds good.

Kimberly Menozzi said...

So, it seems we've all been hit by folks who comment but don't really read the posts, huh? LOL!

I still can't believe anyone would wear open-toed shoes on a nature walk. That's just NUTS!

I laugh a little every time I see anything about Letters to Juliet. Not because I've seen the movie, but because in the original drafts of my novel "Ask Me if I'm Happy", Emily was one of the volunteers who answered the letters! *giggle* Glad to see other folks know about that now (and that I took it out of my story - lest folks think I stole the idea!).

Oh, and yeah - I hate the hidden word verification, too.

Happy TT! :)

Tatiana Caldwell said...

Heh, I probably would have screamed and jumped at that "cute little inch worm" hitchhiker. I'm such a wuss.

I'm terrible at identifying flowers. Just terrible.

Adding "Letters to Juliet" to my movie list. And I've yet to come across an M&M that I don't like.

Journeywoman said...

I always liked Mark Twain's quote about reading.

Happy TT.

Darla M Sands said...

I once went hiking with the right shoes but wrong pants. They were loose, and I ended up with a tic. Ew. Fun list! I hate it when the comment area is hidden. Maybe it's operator error, though. :) I do like leaving comments.

Alice Audrey said...

You should see the river. Much more of this and we'll have flooding. Not me, of course. I always live on ground that's just a little higher than my neighbors. But the main access road could go under.

I am Harriet said...

We have Prairie here as well. It is nice to walk through.

Have a great Thursday!
http://harrietandfriends.com/2010/06/want-to-get-famous-13-blog-tips/

Paige Tyler said...

Love open-toed shoes, which is why I don't go walking in the woods. I'm so not the outdoor type! LOL! Totally want to see Letter to Juliet! That looks so romantic!

*hugs*
Paige

My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/

Inez Kelley said...

Pretzel M&Ms? Oh god, there went my butt, expanding over the chair. And yes, hidden verification irks me.

soleil said...

I can't imagine that it would be comfortable to take a walking tour in sandals. I'm as baffled as you are. I like to call fun, escapist books my chocolate reading. I don't really like the word fluff yeither. Like chocolate, escapist novels are pure delight and make the world a more enjoyable place. ;)

CountryDew said...

I saw those pretzel M&Ms yesterday but didn't try them because I am on a diet. May have to give in on the basis of your "yummy."

We need rain badly in our area - send some of that our way, okay? I'm in VA. We're heading toward drought if the skies don't sputter soon.

Heather said...

Deb: Oh, yes - posts that simply say "cute" can be annoying. Hello - there are lots more adjectives in the dictionary than cute. *g*

Colleen: I'm so bad at not knowing celebrities that I could walk past someone famous and never know it. I know what you mean about having more to say about a long post but either forgetting what else you were going to say, or not wanting to take up a lot of space. Thanks for reading me!

Kimberly: I can't believe the open shoe thing, either, and I was there, lol! I had never heard of the Secretaries of Juliet before the movie, or that people from all over the world send letters to Juliet. I'm sorry you felt you had to remove mention of them from your novel or risk being thought a copy cat. I saw on Amazon that there are a few different books that mention them, including a YA.

Heather said...

Tatiana: Aw, but he was cute! When I let the woman know he was there, she swooped him onto a finger so we could all have a look at him. Wish I'd thought to get a picture of that. I've never been much of a gardner so can't identify most flowers, either. Like the pretty orange ones I posted over the weekend.

Journeywoman: Isn't that a great Twain quote?

Darla: Big EWW on the tick. Thankfully, insects have been a bit late in arriving here this year.

Alice: Yikes! Hope your road doesn't get flooded. We've had a few stray sprinkles here this afternoon, which is nothing compared to what's coming. I really don't like the look of the weather map right now.

Heather said...

Harriet: The prairie is amazing, especially in how it literally changes from week to week, but I have to say - I'm glad there is a nice path through this one, even if it is rather narrow. I would not like wading through all that tall grass the way our ancestors did.

Paige: You are such a girly-girl sometimes, LOL. Hope you get to see the movie soon!

Jana: You will absolutely *love* Letters to Juliet. And I would think someone living in the area you grew up would know better than to wear flip flops in a wild environment. Oh, wait. Idiot. Right. I remember. LOL...

Heather said...

Inez: ROFL... So I guess that means you don't want to hear how much fat and sodium are in these? But hey - the pretzel ones have 1g of fiber! *Snicker* Glad I'm not alone in disliking the hidden word verification!

Jehara: Yes! Exactly what you said about novels and chocolate. Personally, I don't find walking in sandals even for short distances comfortable, so definitely can't imagine hiking in them.

Anita: Would gladly send you a bit of rain were it possible. Maybe you'll get something out of this big system currently moving across the country! They do have the small pretzel M&Ms in the small individual packages, so maybe you can reward yourself some time!

Sasha Devlin said...

Pretzel flavored M&M?!!? I'm not exactly a fan of any other than the originals, but these I have to try.

And kudos to you for being so "natureful." I like pictures, but I get hives just thinking about hikes like that.

Jennifer Leeland said...

I've got a laundry list of things on my mind....but my brain is pretty dead these days. LOL!
I envy your knowledge of wildflowers and grasses. I always have good intentions of learning...and don't do it.

Heather said...

Sasha: Yes, pretzel M&Ms - which, sadly, I am now out of. As for being natureful...I like walking; it's the insects (esp mosquitoes) I don't like.

Jennifer: I've thought about going on one of the guided walks many times over the last few years, especially since I am only a mile from the small Grady tract of the Arboretum. It's kind of nice to actually be able to identify some of the plants. Question is, will I remember them come next year? lol

Kaye said...

oh, if only enough people who use hidden word verification would see your post. I, also am one of those commenters who hate it!

Elise Logan said...

Oh, I don't know. I don't mind things being referred to as fluff. What I mind is the implication that there is no role for fluff or that fluff is, for some reason, worthy of contempt. It isn't. Fluff is good. No fluff means boring and cranky people. :)

Alice Audrey said...

The rain is on top of snow melt, though frankly it's been cold enough to form glaciers at the mountain tops.

Heather said...

Kaye: It's good to know I'm not the only one who dislikes the hidden word ver. Thanks for visiting!

Elise: You make a valid argument, but I still don't like the term when applied to books. "Fluff" implies that it takes no more brains, skill or effort to write it than it does to read it, and we all know that isn't true.

Alice: Hey, I didn't tell you to move to the mountains! Speaking of flooding, though - did you see the news this morning about flash floods down in Arkansas? Horrible!

Alice Audrey said...

I don't watch TV at all. I'll have to google it.

Kristen said...

I enjoyed Letters to Juliet as well. I am glad you actually took the time to figure out where we had all seen the leading man. I have been wondering, but haven't bothered to look him up.

Heather said...

Alice: I first saw the flash flood news on Yahoo, but it's all over the place now.

Kristen: Wasn't LTJ a great movie? Glad to solve the Chris Egan mystery for you!

Jana said...

ROFL Yep.That's me. Idiot.

The only time I don't wear my flip flops in summer is if it's storming out. Then I carry them with me so that I can change into them once inside the building and will have them if it stops storming.

Flip flops are the next best thing to bearfootin' it...which is how I roll. ;-D

Heather said...

*Rolls eyes and shakes head*

Why am I not surprised? You do know those things are bad for your feet, right?

Jana said...

But they are good for my SOUL! hehehehe

'sides, I'm flat footed so there aren't any shoes are actually good for my pitifully disgusting feet. :-D