Wednesday, December 19, 2018

The Aggressive Adoration of Maybelline


Yesterday morning was very frustrating. The entire digital world seemed to be against me.

Remember how I recently tried to make my annual donations to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, and I couldn't get the transactions to go through from London? I thought the problem might be my British ISP, so I wanted to try again from here within the states. But no -- I couldn't donate from here either, and when I called their donation lines even they couldn't make it happen. Apparently their systems won't accept the British billing address on my credit cards. It's the craziest thing, considering I've had no problem at all in years past and the online donation form allows me to choose a foreign country as my address. I suppose I could send them a check, but geez, how archaic!

They need to get that fixed. I guarantee you many people are not going to work as hard as I have trying to get those donations processed.

I did succeed in solving another niggling problem -- the spontaneous reactivation of my long-dormant Match.com account. About a year ago I started getting e-mails from Match wanting me to meet available guys in and around New York, where I used to live. I was like, "Ummm, thank you Match, but I'm married now." Apparently my ancient account somehow became active again (though my profile was not visible) and I couldn't delete it from England, because the UK Match site is different from the American Match site. Argh! So yesterday I successfully logged in and cancelled my account, and supposedly I'll no longer receive notifications and my profile remains unavailable to others. (I imagine it's still out there, though, lurking on some server. Nothing ever dies on the Internet.)

Sorry. I know that's all incredibly boring. Welcome to my morning.

 

Here's a little bit of joyfulness -- family dog Maybelline, welcoming me to Florida. (Getting this video from Dave's phone to my YouTube account took another feat of digital gymnastics, but I'll spare you the details.) Maybelline is much slimmer than she used to be -- my stepmother has her on a lighter diet. That's a good thing when she barrels into me like William "The Refrigerator" Perry.


And here's Manny, one of the chihuahuas, looking at me menacingly as usual.

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful -- sunny and pleasant -- so I took a long walk around the neighborhood. At first I didn't take my camera, because sometimes I just get sick of lugging it around. But as I always say, if I don't have my camera, that's when I'll see three manatees doing a waltz in Dolly Parton wigs -- and sure enough, although I didn't see that, I saw a lot of other things I wanted to photograph. So I came home and collected it and walked a bit more. Walking is an excellent antidote to afternoon jet-lag fatigue.

Finally, because I had so many requests for a close-up of my stepmother's needlework:


She assures me that it is, in fact, cross-stitch. I know nothing about these yarny sorts of hobbies but hopefully this will assuage everyone's curiosity!

15 comments:

  1. Ha-ha! Maybelline really loves you man...unless it's just that she's detecting the new Christmas perfume - "Olga" from London, England - "There's an animal within us". That tail is beating like Ginger Baker's drumsticks!

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  2. Very nice, and those dogs are so cute...Hi June!

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  3. The top photograph is stunning. Just gorgeous. I want to stare at it all day.

    And is there anything more purely joyous than a DoG's love? It's amazing that Maybelline remembers you after all this time (some of my cats have a hard time recalling who I am when we cross paths between meals) but she surely must have a huge crush on you.

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  4. Well, glad you got your Match profile taken down. I feel certain that Dave will now breathe a sigh of relief.
    Maybelline is obviously in deep love. There just aren't enough ways to show you!
    And now I am even more impressed with that needlework! Wow!

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  5. That's pretty amazing cross stitch! I used to do that back before my lasik surgery - it was one thing that being extremely near-sighted was good for.

    Love the Maybelline video!

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  6. Beautiful cross stitch. Nice even stitches, good tension. Maybe I'll start again, now that I'm in a place with decent lighting. Maybelline seems very fond of you!

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  7. Love that video. Maybelline's love is so joyously rambunctious. Sometimes I wish we would all go back to just sending checks in the mail. All of our credit card data online scares me a bit. Love that photo and the cross-stitch art. Beautiful!

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  8. I love the Christmas tree out on the edge of that dock in the top photo. And Maybelline certainly lives up to her (Little Richard) name.

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  9. that first photo is awesome. and yes, cross stitch. I don't do it but my mother did and my sister does. she's working on a huge piece right now.

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  10. I LOVE that top photo! It is gorgeous! I also enjoyed seeing how happy Maybelline is to see you. Such canine exuberance is always fun to see.

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  11. Your title sounds like a satirical Southern bodice-ripper! lol But seriously, look at Maybelline's tail going!

    Your step-mother is a talented cross-stitcher. I've done very tiny projects and know the work that goes into even one of those. And one stitch wrong is a tear-or-swear-inducing situation if you don't catch it right away. That work is beautiful.

    I was really REALLY looking forward to the photo of the manatees. Just saying. :)

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  12. Wow! That top photo is stunning! So perfectly framed, with that golden Christmas tree tucked in there. Wonderful eye. And Maybelline just won my heart. She's so excited to have a playmate! You and Fred with dogs remind me of my daughter and her boyfriend with dogs. Dogs can sense the joy in true dog people.

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  13. Lovely needlework. I admire people who can do such painstaking work.

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  14. Thanks for posting the close-up of the Matisse fish--very nice!
    I looked it up and there are lots of needlework patterns that reproduce famous art--I had no idea.

    Maybelline looks like a lonely girl... If your stepmother gets a dog walker (as you mention in the next post), that would be awesome.

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  15. P.S. "Frex" is Fresca (forgot to sign in on Blogger).

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