I am probably way late to the game, but these have got to be some of the ugliest footwear I have ever seen. They've aparently been on the market for awhile now but I am only just now discovering their hideousness and getting to participate in the laughing and finger pointing. And God help us if I ever see someone actually wearing these in public. I'll have to run away as fast as possible to avoid making a spectacle of myself.

On that note, I give you: Tube Flops

Avoid the whole grandpa-black-socks-sandals disaster and walk around with your own foot disaster. These are tube socks built onto a pair of flip flops. For what purpose, I haven't the slightest idea. But you can get your own pair at Zappos.

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I just finished reading Moon Pies and Movie Stars by Amy Wallen. It is a tale strung between Texas and California and involves Winnebagos, Trans Ams, and lots of bowling accouterments. The principal character, Ruby Kincaid owns a bowling alley in Devine, Texas and is raising her grandchildren after her daughter runs away.

Oh, and one of the best parts is the dogged determination of Ruby's sister Loralva to get on the game show The Price Is Right. Loralva memorizes the Sears catalog for prices while charming every male they meet between Texas and California. She gets on the game show and does a stunning job at winning.

I like that this book was not merely about one character but has many interesting characters fleshed out in its chapters. And the references to all things 70's were spot on. And finally, Ms. Wallen includes the actual names of the cars! You see, most books just have generic cars. But in Moon Pies and Movie Stars we actually know that Ruby drives an El Camino, Loralva gets a real Smokey and the Bandit (one of the best movies ever!) Trans Am, and the motel owner drives a Gran Torino. Those are the kinds of details I like in a book! I am a bit of a car nut so I like to know what everyone drives.

It would be great if Ms. Wallen comes out with a sequel to this book. I would like to see where the characters end up.

Here are links to articles/blog posts I have found interesting over the past couple of weeks:

Une femme d'un certain age  shares with us the beginning of her landscaping project that will transform her yard. This should be fun to watch as it unfolds like an HGTV special.

Une Vie Chic sets some goals for the year. I like this. I am a list person and a goal-setting person. It is how I get through life. And I like to see what other people are setting as their goals.

METSCAN is a wonderful new blog written by a woman in Finland who lives in the countryside and rides her horses. She shows pictures of her 100 year old house and shares her clothing choices and aesthetics.

Did you miss the National Cornbread Festival? Don't worry. Jen at Fiddle Dee Dee will give you the inside scoop on the cornbread cook-off held in South Pittsburg, Tennessee.

And finally, because we love travel so much, we continue to follow the Trans World Expedition as it makes its way up the eastern coast of Africa.

I decided to make a few changes to my website recently. I am not done yet but it is still a work in progress. I am testing out a new font that I got from Cool-Fonts.com. I have placed it in the banner pane of my site.

I added a new blog for my dogs. They are so funny and cute and have been begging me for a blog of their own. So Max and Rocky now write their own blog on this site.

And I had a food blog called La Wooden Spoon that I kept as a Google blog. But I decided to move it over here to my website. I will slowly be moving some of the entries from the old blog over here in the next month or so. I love food and I love cooking so I always have something to write in that area, be it about my cooking or restaurants we have visited.

I recently ordered a part that we needed for our pool cleaner. It came in a remarkably short amount of time. It was in this box:

The amazing thing here is that the part was made in South Africa. Not China, like everything else we get here in the US.

I have been meaning to post this for some time now but kept forgetting. It is the Muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody.

And here is the original, and still best version. By the best band of all time: Queen.

I love to have access to all sorts of random, but important information and trivia. Today I stumbled upon a world of information at Harper's Index. This is the index to Harper's magazine and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Harper's Index, they have published their entire database online.

I put in the word "Texas" and here are some facts that popped up (the first numbers are the month and year of the data):

2/1987: price of 12 ounces of drug-free urine from Byrd Laboratories in Austin, Texas: $ 19.95
9/1988: percentage of Texas voters who say they do not consider George Bush a "real" Texan: 57 %
1/1994: chances that a member of the Hempstead, Texas high school cheerleading squad was pregnant last fall: 1 in 4
11/1998: price a Houston company charges for sending a DNA sample into outer space for possible cloning by aliens: $ 50
3/2003: Amount the U.S. Air Force will pay a Texas woman this year for mistakenly hitting her home with a dummy bomb: $12,000
5/2006: Minimum number of ranches in Texas where one can shoot a zebra: 56
10/2007: Number of different reasons for having sex, as identified this year in a University of Texas study: 237

Visit Harper's Index and see what you can find.

On a recent trip to the library I picked up Swamp Gas by Nicole Paolini. It is a pretty funny tale of political abuse with lots and lots of Louisiana swamp cliches and Cajun food references thrown in. This is not heavy reading. It is deliciously amusing and light-hearted despite the frequent pokes at corrupt Louisiana politics. The main character Lana Pulaski has you rooting for her all along as you wonder what on earth could possibly happen next.

I do recommend this book. It was written more than ten years ago but doesn't feel dated. Get your copy of Swamp Gas at Amazon or find it at your local library.

Two Bloggers

One from France but living in America

One from America but living in France

Each week they compare life in their adopted coutries:

A Femme d'un Certain Age is the American in France

Through the French Eye of Design is the Frenchwoman living in America

Both of these blogs make for excellent reading