We also do not want to put pressure on Sylvain to feel he has to post every day regardless of other things he is doing (and he seems to stay very busy for someone who is supposed to be retired). He usually pops in most days and we know where to look each day to see if there is a Lucy update. To fill in the gaps other topics get discussed, but it seems to swing back to Lucy as it should. I am not aware at the moment of any unpleasant comments about anyone, but if so, we need to do better and concentrate on good topics (like cruises - Sylvain led off with that one). "Wandering about like cattle" is an interesting metaphor - too cold today to do much but sit around and chew my cud (as in hay and grass, not tobacco).

I suffered a stroke about 3 years ago. Gail found me unconscious on the kitchen floor. i remember nothing of the event. i regained consciousness at the emergency room. Only my balance was slightly affected. I was lucky it was the only sequel that remained with me afterwards.

Sometimes, my memory experiences a brain fart and I blame that on encroaching old age. I can't, for the life of me, remember any dissing taking place in this conversation. Am I missing something? Was it something I said? I'm always sad to see someone leave.

If you understand what was said above about dissing, please enlighten me. I would be thankful.

Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.

Sylvain - as we say back home (NC) - don't let it fret you. Fretting is bad for your health and Lucy needs you - where else is she going to find a Daddy like you? There are not a lot of true snake lovers in the world.

The only thing I can think of on this thread that might be called "dissing" was a reference to problems Lise was having. And for the folk new to ATP, you can get the attention of another member by putting an "@" (with no spaces or other punctuation) before their member name here. Such as: @Rainbow please don't leave, no one meant any disrespect to any one here or elsewhere.

Sylvain,
I was kind of confused too. I thought there was sympathy for Lise and your story told of a sad woman who came back to eat. Friends drift, but Gail was still reaching out. I'm assuming that was the diss.

As a newbie to the "chair" thread... I didn't perceive any "dissing" either. KD? I think Lucy went into her box and shunned Sylvain for a while, I'm sure she'll be back soon!

Okay........sorry, everyone! Somehow I read something more into what someone had said after the story of the cruise about Lise, and that wanted to know more and expressed her dislike about people like her. Guess I was overly sensitive. Pardon me, please. I was hoping this thread was not going to be a "Grumpy" thread. I do enjoy Sylvain's stories...just don't like it when people want to delve into more details and bring up negativism that take away from the jist of the story. But then again...that's my thoughts.

One sweltering summer, many years ago, I worked for a few hours each night on a very challenging, 1000 piece, black and white puzzle of concave/convex by MC Escher--finally got it all done except for one piece missing, just to the right of the middle never did find it. Of course I blamed it on the cat and haven't done another puzzle since, but I've always wondered if maybe the puzzle came that way intentionally...

LOL - I blame pretty much everything on "the cat" !!

@DirtDorphins - that sounds like a very Zen thing. A missing piece right in the middle - what does that portend or mean in the universe? Of course, it could just be the cat!!

We don't have a cat. Gail is unbelievably allergic to cat dander. And nobody can blame anything disappearing on Lucy because the poor little baby lives in a locked vivarium. And wouldn't you know it, dad found the missing jigsaw puzzle piece on the floor under his chair after dinner. Wonders of wonders. The angels were singing over our heads. I think there will be fireworks downtown tonight on account of this miraculous find. Dad obsesses about finding a specific piece that would fit in THAT specific location. He rummages through the pieces for hours, trying to find that exact piece. It's not rare that I'll walk by and ask what piece he is looking for. He points to its location with his index. I look in the box, find it and place it in there, tapping gently with my finger 3 or 4 times. Then, my good deed done, I walk away. They both hate it when I do that, and I do it often. It's a knack, I guess.

I became part of the Palm Beach Literacy Coalition last Saturday. I will start volunteering at a school here in Delray Beach tomorrow morning. I'll tutor 3 children who are experiencing reading difficulties, falling behind the rest of the class in reading. They each get 30 minutes with me, twice a week. I'll be there tomorrow morning, as my days have been set to Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30AM to 11:00AM. I believe in giving back to the community. I hope my help is appreciated.

I'm glad that the misunderstanding has been cleared up. The last thing I want is for this friendly discussion thread to become a grumpfest. I am not grumpy by nature. Dark clouds are fine in the sky, but not over my head. I won't fret about it anymore. But I freely admit that it did taint the enjoyment of my cigar and libation. I'm over it now, thanks to the clarification.

I made Italian sausage patties into hamburgers with Belgian fries tonight. You know the kind of hamburger: toasted Kayser roll, mayo, brown mustard, a thin slice onion, the meat itself, a slice of Provolone fainting on top of the meat, a thick slice tomato, a dash of Cayenne pepper, some lettuce and the top bun. They were too high to fit easily in a mouthful, but we managed it anyway. They were delicious.

Dad and Gail finished the brandied fruitcake I made at Christmas. It was all very good. Now dad wants to know when I'll bake another fruitcake. He knows I have all the dehydrated fruit. We have a project for the weekend. And he wants me to make more of those scrumptious bagels I made last weekend. He's going to get an education in kneading bagel dough. Never a dull moment in my kitchen, but we eat well.

I have to go pay bills now. After that, Lucy is scheduled to play with me. We should have a nice time.

Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.

lourspolaire said:......................................
I made Italian sausage patties into hamburgers with Belgian fries tonight. You know the kind of hamburger: toasted Kayser roll, mayo, brown mustard, a thin slice onion, the meat itself, a slice of Provolone fainting on top of the meat, a thick slice tomato, a dash of Cayenne pepper, some lettuce and the top bun...........................................
Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.

If I never read another post from this thread, this one will have been worth the effort! That makes me hungry and I've already eaten well enough!

Ah! The cream cheese lives to fight another day! Hmmm, Italian sausage patties? I have some Italian sausage in the freezer...

I bought the hot Italian sausage meat, formed it into patties, 6 to 7 ounces each, fried them gently over medium heat in butter (what else) and there you go. You could thaw the Italian sausage, remove the casings, form the filling into patties and go on a burger adventure. 'Twas just a hamburger. But man, was it good!

Lucy is giving me the eye. My snake fix begins in a minute or so.

Sylvain.

Well, actually, I suspect sabotage from my former-ex-alleged BF at the time but he swore he didn't take it.
And the cat is always guilty.

Livin' the life Sylvain!
enjoy!

we're off for Fondue--yum

Rainbow,
I try to be a Pollyanna. I like happy too :o) I'm glad you're back. I love your name!

Dirt,
I was rolling when I saw you blamed it on the cat! Mine were sometimes lost to the dog!

Slyvain,
Now I AM hooting with laughter! How fitting it be under your Dad's chair!
Those kids don't know how lucky they are. You will open their eyes to new ideas!
Oh, I am so drooling over your patties. Somehow, I don't think they would taste the same if I made them...

Donald,
Love your avatar!

Sylvain,
I have hot Italian sausage in the freezer too.
Gentle hugs to Lucy :o)

Have a great day!!

Hi, everybody.

It was another cool day here in Florida. I can't even guarantee that we hit 72 degrees F today. It was damp and cloudy. The wind is still blowing. When will that wind give us a break? Nobody knows. I stayed outside until 2PM but moved inside because it was getting uncomfortable and the temps were dropping fast.

I woke up bright and early this morning and made myself presentable so I could go and volunteer at the school today. When I got there, they were not expecting me. The three ladies in the front office had the same look on their face that a goldfish would have while confronted with a vintage roller skate key for the first time. The look on their faces: priceless! I am not making this up. They had no idea who I was or what I wanted. At one point, I told myself the receptionist might call the police on me. This was my first time at that school. My name had not been entered in the county's database, so I couldn't sign in to their computer system. It was one thing after another. I fully expected to see a police car drive up to the main office. Finally, I told them to get all this straightened with the Coalition and call me when they had figured it all. And I left, still expecting to hear the SWAT team yell FREEZE and drop to the ground.

This is the age of instant communications. Nobody in the office came up with the wherewithal to reach the Coalition and ask: "Literacy Coalition, we have a problem here. A good-looking big guy with facial hair and a shaved skull just walked in and claims to be a reading tutor. He seems nice enough and smells good. Please, oh please... tell me you sent him.". And this, in an age where kindergarten children have the world at their fingertips in their back pocket! I now sincerely believe the moon landings were staged and faked because they didn't have 1/1000 the communication power we now have and they apparently pulled off the stunt of the century with technology below that of a dollar store calculator. I swear, had the people I met this morning worked for NASA back then, they would have dropped the Saturn V rocket twice between the hangar and the launch pad. At any rate, I will not return to that school until they call me and confirm that I am expected next Tuesday. I have better things to do with my life than be oggled like a miscreant in a school's front office. I'm too good looking to end up in detention at the police station, or even worse: jail. I wouldn't last 2 days in jail, I swear.

Lucy is with me right now, slung behind my neck, her tail hanging on to my watch. She's being a good baby. So far, she explored the pile of scratch keeper I keep on the top of my desktop. She tried to reach into my glass of iced tea. She tinks my bosc pear smells right nice. She climbed down on my work table and slithered across my keyboard (a no-no). Now she has decided to climb on top of my head. I just removed my brand-new readers and replaced them with a pair old ones because she might rip them off as she ascends. Readers are not made to be leverage points for a snake climbing its owner's head. Gotta love Lucy, and we certainly do.

I received a Bluetooth dongle for my desktop computer today. I tried to figure it out this afternoon, but I only got so far. I can pair the desktop and my tablet. I can pair the desktop and the Bluetooth speaker. I can pair my dad's tablet with the desktop. I almost succeeded in transferring files from the desktop to my tablet. I transferred 5 ebooks and only 4 made it to the tablet. The last one is floating in the ether, somewhere. It will stay there until the end of time. I'll figure out the rest tomorrow. I also received a new set of color toner cartridges for my printer. All in all, it's been a busy day. Being this cool outside, we missed out on the late afternoon's ritual of cigars and rum & Coke. We'll survive.

Lucy is getting rambunctious. I'll return her to her vivarium. Tonight is a feeding night. She has got to relax a bit before the meal. Fingers crossed that she will eat.

Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.

Holy three-toed-tree-sloth batman!
we have a problem here. A good-looking big guy with facial hair and a shaved skull just walked in and claims to be a reading tutor. He seems nice enough and smells good.
He won't survive two days in jail.
No?
No--just look at him; smell him!
The cows wander all over the place. Sometimes they cross the river and bring back the strangest hitchhikers...maybe those are leaches and we should take them fishing! Better than worms

Okay--so, I don't smoke cigars, but one time I was walking the streets of Minneapolis, in the dark, in January, in all of minus something degrees, bundled up like the Michelin Man, with my drinking buddies--I forget exactly, scotch I think--and I was smoking a cigar, trying really hard not to inhale, but I did anyway, repeatedly, and then I passed out cold and tipped over into a 4 foot bank of ice--D'Oh!
Definitely, should have opted for the 6-month honeymoon in SA instead!

OMG -- Sylvain and Dirt --