I did not take these pictures, they’ve been floating around for years and I used to collect them on my PC and I just found that directory, so I’m posting them here. I did take the one of the Brawny Towels sign on how to wash your hands in a Disneyland bathroom.
It’s Sunday, May 24 and Susan Boyle’s much anticipated semi final performance on Britain’s Got Talent, came and went. She looked quite apprehensive as she made her initial approach to the stage and her less than ideal song choice of Memory from the musical Cats got off to a pitchy and painful to watch start but she brought it together in a mediocre sort of way in second half of the song.
From the looks on the judge’s faces, you’d think they were reliving her first awesome performance six weeks ago and tonight they all gave her a standing ovation, including Simon. The judge’s praised her after the performance, and Simon apologized for their treatment of her in her first audition.
The moment of truth came at the end of the show when the mercy of the public vote would put Susan through to the finals. All I can say is, the other performers must have been pretty bad, and some were and actually should never have been there in the first place, but that’s another subject.
After hearing she won the first semi final round and would be moving on to the finals, she seemed to feign surprise and then got a little cocky and started shaking her hips like she did in the first performance, but more irritatingly so now and it was directed mostly at Judge Piers Morgan, calling him Piersy Baby. The judges then got to vote through another act and they chose the dance troupe Diversity.
I like Susan and she definitely can sing, just not tonight. Still, I wish her well and I hope she brings a more deserving performance to the finals next Saturday. BTW, great job on the brows and hair and makeup and dress Susan, you looked great.
Cheers,
Maggie Williams
I went out for my exercise hike this morning and when I got home, I realized what a beautiful day it was turning into and got the urge to head out again. I’ve been doing so much traveling this past year, why not get out and see my own town and take some pictures. So, I hiked around town for about six miles till my feet got sore, then I got in the car and drove around a bit.
Lynden is in western Washington, due north of Bellingham and just south of the Canadian border on the Nooksack River. This small Dutch town of about 12,000 is surrounded by a large farming community. Lots of dairy farms here and berries of all sorts grow well here as does corn and various other produce. And we have a few windmills, big and small, just decorative though.
We have festivals and parades all year round including the Lighted Christmas Parade, Holland Days Festival and parade, the Raspberry Festival, the antique tractor and machinery show, lawn mower races, and the mushball tournament. Lynden is the home to the Northwest Washington Fair grounds which hosts the fair in August and a number of other events throughout the year.
It’s a nice quite town with lots of churches. Everything is closed on Sundays and you can’t mow your lawn or make other significant noise on Sundays. But, be sure to mow your lawn on another day; if you don’t, the city stops by to mow it for you, and then they send you a bill. You can’t dance in public within the city limits without a permit. When people find out that I live in Lynden, they always say “really, you live in Lynden?” I never have figured out why they say that…
I live in the La Villa apartments and have a great back yard and a creek running through it and a big picnic shelter. Every spring, a pea patch garden is started and everyone has fun with that. The landlords keep the place up real nice.
The Lynden Municipal Airport is in the middle of town, the runway runs right between two rows of houses. Kind of weird. Here’s a video of an approach and landing in Lynden. Read Full Article & Comments…
I was not born here, I was not raised here, nor did I go to school here. I have no family here, and I may or may not die here. I don’t really fit in here either; let’s just say I’m not one of the left majority and I loathe being green.
I’ve lived here longer than in any other state or country though. I was married here, and then not. I owned my first house here, and then didn’t. I went away for two years, and then came back. I’ve lived in eight different places in this state and most of my friends are here.
The weather is awesome; mild summers and mild winters and it doesn’t really rain all that much, that’s just what we tell people. Oops. Within a two hour drive, we have flat lands, desert, farmlands, big cities, rain forest, two major mountain ranges with volcanoes, beaches and rocky coastlines, international borders, and hundreds of islands. Wineries, tulips and lots of apples prevail here. Were I a coffee drinker, I reckon I’d be in heaven.
We have no state income tax, fairly clean air and we often add the word state to our name to distinguish ourselves from a similarly named capital. Even though I often long to visit the state I grew up in and where much of my family is, I’ve just reached a turning point in my life; I had an epiphany if you will. I am officially declaring myself a Washingtonian. This has been reinforced in my mind since I’m looking for a job and I’m really hoping I don’t have to leave this state. I do so love the Pacific Northwest and Washington State.
I remember as a child watching the TV show Here Come the Brides that took place in Seattle and I remember that catchy tune (The bluest skies you’ve ever seen… in Seattle…., and the hills the greenest green… in Seattle…). I can remember thinking back then, someday I’ll live in Seattle. Of course, I had no idea where Seattle was back then. It’s not like I had some big plan to wind up here, I only recently had that recollection and thought it quite the coincidence. But, here I am.
Spring is here, it’s warm and sunny out, the trees are full, the bird’s are a chirpin’, the brook is a babblin’, and there’s a nice breeze, and that’s all I have to say about that.
Cheers,
Maggie Williams
(There are about 200 pictures in the gallery attached to this post)
In the fall of 2007, my friend Terry and I took a two week road trip from the lower BC mainland north to Williams Lake, Prince George, Chetwynd and Dawson Creek in Eastern British Columbia, where we caught the Alaska Highway. Then north and west through Fort Nelson and into and through the Northern Rockies where we encountered caribou, bison and black bears, then to Watson Lake and the Signpost Forest and then Whitehorse, Yukon.
Along the way, we made a stop at Liard Hot Springs where we found a short hike along a boardwalk through the swampy woods to a small paradise, with changing rooms and all. Later in the day, we made a stop at a great river side and pulled out the grill to cook up some chops for lunch.
From there, we went west to Haines Junction, then through Kluane National Park Reserve and north to Alaska and stopped in Tok for food at the famous Fast Eddy’s. We then headed west and north to Delta Junction where the Alaska Highway ends; we felt quite the accomplishment having traveled the 1,398 miles since the beginning of the highway in Dawson Creek, BC. To Fairbanks and then south to Denali National Park where we spent a couple of days.
An adventurous and spectacular drive east across the Denali Highway (135 miles, 22 of which were paved) was next. It’s a brutal drive but well worth it if your car can take a beating. There are times when you truly feel on top of the world. At one point, I stood on the road and turned 360 degrees around and counted seven different storm systems in the distance. Different mountain ranges and glaciers in the distance leave you in awe of how big an expanse you can get in an eyeful. Read Full Article & Comments…
I’ve received a couple of emails recently asking if there are any Hulu like streaming TV apps available for the iPhone as well as a bit torrent app.
Keeping in mind that Hulu like, implies free, there are a couple streaming TV apps out there like I.TV which plays mostly trailers and not so much full episodes and CBS bought tv.com which plays CBS and Showtime shows (iPod / iPhone app here). I’ve tried tv.com and they have a decent selection of shows, but the downloads are excruciatingly slow over wi-fi.
I can’t find anything like Hulu, other than Hulu itself. As it turns out Hulu is apparently working on an iPhone app that should be available in the next few months. It will likely run under iPhone version 3.0 due out this summer.
And no, you can’t just go to the Hulu web site on the Safari browser because it requires Flash Player which isn’t available for the iPhone, which is what brought us here in the first place. These are primarily streaming TV apps. I don’t think any of them can download and save an episode for later viewing.
As to bit torrent apps, most I’ve come across require you to jailbreak your phone or to use your PC as a server, and I’m just not in the mood for that until I see what 3.0 will give me. I just ran across this article though published today over at WIRED stating that Maza Digital has a bit torrent app called Drivetrain coming soon. iTunes has apparently rejected it, for obvious reasons, but you should be able to get it directly from MD when it’s available. Since I don’t plan to use my iPhone for peer to peer downloads except when I’m on the road perhaps, I’ll wait and see.
If anyone knows of other streaming TV apps or bit torrent apps for the iPhone, please leave a comment and let us know.
Cheers,
Maggie Williams
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