Here it is. The "arrangement" that I got for myself on Wednesday .....So very lush and beautiful...So very many lovely colors and shapes...So healing....just looking at it makes me feel so much better....Flowers, nothing like them....The above picture has been soft focused around the edges just for 'effect'....Here is the same picture below, without those soft edges....
The only reason I did that soft focus thingy is because my table is filled with shells and small sculptures, etc...(And then there's the rug, too....)and I found it a bit distracting...But I must say, the second picture really pleases me, a whole lot!Here below, is another view of this wonderful arrangement....
A closer look.....I just love all these flowers and the colors....this designer/florist does such beautiful work....and he delivered the flowers himself because I wanted him to see that dried arrangement that I have posted....I showed him pictures of the arrangement, (Another example of his artistry....) which I took on December 23rd, and then showed him the way it looks today.....He enjoyed seeing both!One more lovely view, below.....
And here, below, is a closer look at one of the pale green carnations....That is a carnation, isn't it? Oh, I just love all these colors together....it pleases the painter in me, more than I can say....
And yet another view of this yummy arrangement....these flowers look good enough to eat, I swear....There are more pictures and more views, of course....But I will only include one more for your pleasure, and mine. And here it is, below....
I am sure I will need to post more pictures of this very uplifting arrangement, but for today....join me in feasting your eyes on all of the above....and FYI: I am feeling so very much better, thank you very much....
More To Come......
See this tub? Well.....It's that time of year again. The first (well not really the very first...there was some other DVD about two months ago, but, but BUT, I honestly do not remember what the hell it was...), So...here is The First of the "For Your Consideration" EMMY DVD'S I get each year. The first of around one hundred or more dvd's----packaged to a fairthy-well! It arrived today. Look at that box. It is round and black and looks like...what? I don't even know...some cylindrical strangeness...It is not very attractive, at all! (Well, at least, not to me....)This is the beginning of the avalanche of dvd/program---packaged dvd's that I will receive over the next six or seven weeks because I am a Television Academy Member.....And if one is a "member" than you receive these unbelievable grossely-over-packaged DVD'S...like they think that if they come up with some NEW shape...(Impossible to send in the mail, btw....the postman forgot he had this on his truck, and he had to come back....OY, again ) that they think will catch your attention and then you will vote for their programs....WRONG!
That is not why you vote for anything! You vote for the programs and performances that you truly feel are worthy. Not the "packaging" that it is sent in which is impossible to store, by the way....
Who sent this?
SHOWTIME!I happen to be very p-o'd at Showtime at the moment....it is a service one has to pay for, on top of what one already pays just to have cable itself!
And they have taken to advertising their new shows in a similar manner to those on the other channels that you don't pay extra for. I.E.: In the middle of the show, using very very distracting pop-ups. And they do this while we are watching this other 'original programing' program that they too have developed! They seem to have no respect for their own choices here.....And consequently, they have beaten 'The Tudors' to death with these distracting and insulting kinds of interuptions----so much so that I do not even want to watch the damn 'Tudors', at all.....And these Pop-Ups are in addition to the l-o-n-g, fifteen minute promo's they have been doing on 'The Tudors' for months....I mean, they have driven this show into the ground with their incessant self-promotion to the detrement of the show itself, to my way of thinking.
Anyway....I looked at this tub and thought, what the......? And then I looked at the label. As soon as I saw the label, I realized that this was the beginning of these 'for your consideration' dvd's, because they are all sent out by this company, each year---year after year after year....
They actually come from the networks or production houses, etc. not the Academy. I am always overwhelmed by the cost of this packaging. And it gets more and more elaborate each year. And, I believe this is just the first box from Showtime. I think there will be another one. Showtime does a lot of original documentary's as well as specials featuring different comedians, etc. and it seems to me there are other things that should be submitted....we'll see. I'll keep you posted.
I think there will be at least one more of these round tub things....Above, is what was inside the outer black tub. Another tub! And hanging down the side before you took the top of this inner tub off, was this little metal something-or-other....
I don't know what you are supposed to do with this little metal thingy....use it as a book mark? Don't you love what it says? Hmmmm. 'Shaping TV's future', indeed. Well, maybe they are!
And these are the shows that are inside the second tub. (Now you know I will be taking them out of this plush interior and throwing the packaging into the Blue Recycling Bin...in fact----it is done!). There are eleven shows in this big box.....nine dvd packages with two shows packaged together on seperate dvd's----each in their own very overly produced sleeve....and along with that is a booklet---it too is overproduced----with all the pertinent info that you need to know on each show, including a short descriptive paragraph for each show. What is particularly distressing and rather disgusting too, is to think of the amount of money spent and wasted on this very elaborate packaging. Oy. Oy. Oy. Okay. I'll stop with the criticizing.
What have I actually watched already of these series?
Well, I have seen "Dexter" and I hated the premise so it was not a show I was attracted to...(that's Michael C. Hall of "Six Feet Under" fame, in the picture above---he plays the lead)...I watched maybe two episodes and that was enough for me. A forensic's expert goes about secretly killing 'serial killers'..help me!
"Weeds"...now, I love this series. It is a half hour comedy with the superbably talented Mary Louis Parker. The writing and the acting are outstanding! Besides Mary Louise, there is the lovely Elizabeth Perkins, and the wonderfully talented Justin Kirk, and the hilarious Kevin Nealon, plus the very gifted Martin Donovan---to name just a few! It's funny and often touching, too! I'll take that every time. And the best part....there is no laugh track! 
"Brotherhood". A very interesting series about an Irish family in Providence, R.I. One son is a Politician and the other son is an Irish- Mafia-type crook! It sounds terrible but it is very very very good. Again, good writing and very good actors. Someone I know, the extremely talented Henry Bromell is one of the Writer/Executive Producers....(He wrote and produced for "Homicide, Life On The Steeet", years ago). And this family drama has Jason Isaacs & Jason Clark as the brothers, with the wonderfully talented Fionnula Flanagan as their mother, and the beautiful and talented Annabeth Gish as the wife of the politico brother. Len Cariou, a superb character actor is featured in this series, too.
"The L-Word"....I like this show a lot! As the Chicago Tribune said about this show: "No longer a 'show about lesbians,' this series has evolved into a show about people, many of whom happen to be lesbians, which is as it should be"....They just finished there 4th season on Sunday, and it was a very good 12 weeks...I remember, back in the day, when a 'season' was 32 episodes...now, on these cable channels a season is 12 episodes. Too short for me. Besides Jennifer Beals, Laurel Holloman and Mia Kirshner, there is Pam Grier, Leisha Hailey and Katherine Moennig, to name just a few of the ladies. This past season there were some very strong performances by Marlee Matlin and Cybil Shephard, as well....
"Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" Excellent! Funny and telling, too. It has something to say and makes it's points every time. As the "blurb" on the little DVD jacket says: "......delivering a humorous expose of taboo topics using the duo's trademark humor and knowledge as well as hidden camera's and blatant confrontation...". They are right on about what this show does and it does it brilliantly, I might add. I have not seen "Ths American Life" yet....that is one I will watch, for sure.
"The Underground" is a Comedy series created by and starring Damon Wayons. (To the right of Cybil Shephard on the booklet cover, above) I saw a little bit of it.....it just didn't work for me, I'm afraid, and I like him a lot and think he is extremly talented. But, this was not Wayons at his best, at all, in my opinion.
Then there are those others. In truth, none of them interest me, (Well, "The Tudors" does, and hopefully I will get over myself and watch it...
it starts on Showtime on April 8th...And as you can see from the picture, it stars the very attractive Jonathan Rhys Meyers as young Henry VIII....).
So I am not sure I will take the time to watch those other shows knowing there will be another 100 to 150 dvd's that will be sent to me, and this includes movies for television, specials, etc. Bottom Line: I watch what I can. Mostly things I have not seen before, and that is all any of us can do, you know? And each year there are some very wonderful things that I discover---things I've missed when they were first on....Like last year's HBO Animated musical beauty, "Classical Baby"....
More To Come.....
Update: I am still under the weather, but feeling somewhat better---this seems to wax and wane....the strangest illness....throughout one day I can feel terrible, than better, than terrible again....Oy.
Thank you all for your kind words and good wishes for the improvement of my health---this means more than you will ever know. The Blogesphere is remarkable, particularly all of you regulars who always show me so much love and care----I thank you with all my heart for sticking with me here....I'll be by to visit or lurk, soon again, my dears....Cheers.
Nothing really to say today cause I am not feeling well, so I am sending these flowers from me to me....."Oh Thank You, Me....this makes me feel so much better...." (*cough, cough*).....And here are a few more.....
Oh I just love love love this arrangement above, but you already know that, don't you?....And you haven't seen the last of this, believe me.....
Oh, I think I am going to call up that brilliant florist tomorrow and get me a three dimensional arrangement....It's time. And I need it.
And if I am lucky, maybe there will be a beautiful flower like this one above....So lush and full and such a gorgeous color...Mmmmm, I'm starting to feel better already....
The other possibility is that I can just look at some of the flowers from my garden...flowers one would never find in a 'floral arrangement'....like these, below.....
Such delicate little complex flowers on this beautiful succulent---a succulent that grows like a weed, but isn't one, that's for sure....
And then these lovely flowers below....
I love these fat little colorful flowers...they are on a succulent, too, but a totally different kind of succulent than that other one....they have a soft fuzzy outerness...if you didn't know that these were flowers, well, you would never guess that that is what they are.....
And this last picture below....these little flowers are so tiny that this whole entire cluster isn't even an inch across....
And these sweet itty bitty flowers are from another very beautiful succulant...I'll show you the plants another time when I am feeling better....For now...'nite 'nite, my dears......
More To Come.....
Look who came to visit me on Thursday....! I was standing out on my Deck, looking out at this....
And then, looking down at this, too......
When all of a sudden, while looking down into my garden from this vantage point, (and luckily having my camera in hand...) I saw this!
Can't see what I am talking about....Well, check out the center of this next picture below....
And then, here below, is a slightly closer look at him, pretty much dead center of the picture.....
Still having trouble, well....here is a somewhat closer look at him/her further down the steps than he was before.....
And here below is another really fantastic look at him, if I do say so myself.....
I have lived here in my house on this hill for (43)Forty-Three(43) years...and I have never...I repeat, never seen this person or any of his relatives before---this is a First! I've seen Deer galore; Cayote's---even out in the street; Skunks, and all sorts of wild life, etc. But never this guy.He is a California Bobcat....!
To be this close to civilization.....Streets packed with traffic.....Huge big buildings.....The Kodak Theatre.....The Academy Awards just below.....and to see this magnificent creature right here in my own back yard-garden....well, that is pretty astounding, isn't it?
Astounding. Awesome. And just a little bit scary, too....but I must say I found it pretty damn exciting....It made my day, let me tell you!Read more about the California Bobcat here, and there is even a very very short little film piece.....
More To Come.......
Yes, yes. The Wonderful Beautiful Actor is Denzel Washington and the movie is "The Pelican Brief". Lyn came closest to the correct answers with all that she detailed in her comments....
.....including , mentioning that Julia Roberts co-starred in the film, along with Sam Shephard, who got killed off fairly early on in the film, as did Hume Cronyn, (almost immediately) playing a Supreme Court Justice who was Sam Shephard's mentor in law school.I happen to love this movie, which was based on the book by John Grisham,
and it had a fantastic cast including many of our best character actors, like Stanley Tucci and John Heard. And an actress who has since gone on to great fame in television, ("Sex And The City") and winning a Tony Award on Broadway, the wonderfully talented Cynthia Nixon, who played a classmate of Julia Roberts and who helps Julia out a bit without knowing what is actually happening to her friend.Who is Garcia?
Well, Garcia, a.k.a. Charles Morgan, was the key to the entire mystery of who was responsible for the deaths of the two Supreme Court Justices, back in the beginning of the story. He was a lawyer that worked for a big D.C. law firm who accidentally stumbled over information that was extremely compromising at the highest levels of government. Through a video tape that he has left in a locked Safe Deposit Box for his wife, we find out that the President Of The United States, (The wonderful Robert Culp) and his henchman (Tony Goldwyn and Anthony Heald) are the people responsible.....
The actor that played 'Garcia'?
Jack Weber, who currently plays Patricia Arguette's husband in the tv show "Medium". I found his performance in 'The Pelican Brief', quite memorable....and it's great that he went on from there to be involved in many many projects, ("Dawn Of The Dead") and now currently in the already mentioned 'Medium'.This was kind of fun, wasn't it? Maybe I'll try to do this again at some point....!
And here below is what the Cabbage Flower looks like today....But first, I'll remind you what it looked like exactly three months ago....
And as of yesterday, here below is what it looks like now......
I love that those inside leaves got greener as time went on but you see they were pure cream three monnths before.....And you see the edges where those little green dots had been lining the edge....well now those dots are pale pale tan---almost not descernible.
And....remember the pink roses.....?
Well, below is a picture of how they dried and look right now.....
They never opened up. They stayed as tight and closed as they had been and I found that very very beautiful....In fact, I found the whole thing very beautiful and it is still sitting exactly where I first put it on December 23rd, 2006.
More To Come.......
Just a word or two here: Forgive me if I have not been around to see you...I have been dealing with some things that have taken me away from my blog visits, but I hope that will improve in the next few days.....And about the next "Sammy" installment---I am still looking for a couple of pictures and until I find them and scan them in, the 2nd installment will just have to wait....Thanks for understanding, my dears.....
Just for fun:1) Who is this actor? (easy)
2) What is the name of this movie? (pretty easy)
3) And for Bonus points: Who is 'Garcia' and name the actor who played him. (hard)
No fair looking this up! If you don't know it, that's okay....because this 'movie game' is here only because I don't have anything else ready to post....(lol).
The answers will be forthcoming in my next post....!
And here is something for you to enjoy.....
And, then this, as well........
And last but not least, another view of these beauty's.....Oh, how I love flowers, and I know all of you do too.....
More To Come......
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