jmh123

Thanks!!

Can this be the first time I've added a photo since the upgrade? Tsk tsk tsk. I went out and rescued the nicest of my winter-blooming camellia blossoms before the weather kills them. The red one is probably the only one of those I'll see this year, and almost every year, sadly. That one always buds at a dangerous time, but this one will fully open in the house; it's not there yet. The pinks ones won't, but this year I've had a good year so far. The pink ones in a mild winter can keep coming until March, but I doubt any will survive a layer of ice (which is falling now) and the zero degrees to come. I was too lazy to get out the good camera so did these with my iPad, but can't upload with it, so from there to google docs and then to my computer for editing--anyway, it's nice to have them here and thought y'all would like some flowers in the winter too. The camellia bushes came with the house, but coincidentally my mother had the same kind and used to bring blooms in and put them in water. They keep pretty well for at least a week.

So cool that he's nearby, ninna. Ldyj, wishing you all the best!! I don't know how you guys deal with the cold, cold weather there. We're expecting a nighttime low of zero in a few days and I'm freaking out. Also have snow coming, which happens only a few times every winter, and this was just posted from Clay's NC home turf:

They may not add him to the table on a daily basis, being that he's a guy and the panel being all women is a premise of the show, but it looks like he's going to be a regular. And he always does such interesting and important things!! Go Clay!!

Hope everyone is having happy holiday fun!!

We used to fantasize about being able to watch concerts as well as hear them live - but I never thought I'd be watching it right on FCA! Off to see if I can reconnect with her now. OK, now there are a bunch of choices. And it is still Beautiful!!

I saw it too!!! YAY!

Getting lots of PR: https://www.yahoo.com/music/a-very-idol-xmas-ruben-studdard-team-for-first-tv-duet-in-16-years-203850758.html I don't think Clay looked ill or that there's anything dire going on. He wasn't wearing any makeup on his eyes, although he is in the first photo, he shaved off his sideburns, drastically, and the hair was a not-good color job that must've happened after the first photo. (Or a bad wig?) So I was curious about those changes, which I thought not for the better. Ruben looks better in the first photo as well. Neither were flattered by the matching burgundy sweaters. But I don't think there's any dire meaning to it all or that anyone cares outside the fandom. It certainly hasn't slowed down the PR! I hope they get invited to sing together some more!! ETA: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/12/15/clay-aiken-ruben-studdard-reunite-christmas-song-view http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7625274/clay-aiken-ruben-studdard-perform-together-the-view

How in the world did Clay go from hot in picture number one to what? in picture number 2 and on TV?????

How cool!! YAY!

Ben and Sean are really talented guys! Not that many musicals on Broadway ever become big hits, and Sean was drummer for two: Spamalot and Book of Mormon (is he still?) and Ben musical director for Wicked and now Dear Evan Hansen, which got an absolutely rave review in the NY Times. When was the first time we "met" them? Was the DCAT tour before Spamalot? I remember seeing the two of them on QVC publicizing ATDW On My Way Here (that's where I was getting confused).

I'm thinking that was the finale last year. Still not all the NC contestants--missing Fantasia and Anoop that I remember, might be more? Who's the guy to Scottie's right?

ldyj made the cool new banner - love his expression in those pictures!! Thanks for the thanks on the new colors. There are parts I still can't find, like the grey color outlining this composition box, but I did find a place to change the background color of the long box that says Quote above the quote box today. Billboard - hooray!

Finally I watched the View. It was so well done! I thought the production was excellent, the mix of longer scenes and quick comments, and of course Clay always does so well expressing his views. Good discussion - actually got the folks at the table thinking about their own conversations. The Bold Media thing was good too, excellent idea and I'm so glad they're doing this. Go Clay!!

I really want one of those cookies.

Happy happy happy birthday ldyj!!!

It was gorgeous! "Not shouty" he said - lol. His hair was pretty bad for the camera angle, not that I care.

Fear, thanks, but it's about 140 miles each way for me. Can't do it. I'm freaking out about having a drs. appointment in Raleigh one day and Northern Durham the next in a couple of weeks--for me that's a lot. Maybe they'll sell streaming video tickets. Glad to hear your hip is doing so well. Can you still do tai chi? WIsh Mr. Fear was having similar fortune! 8 surgeries - yikes!! For all of us:

Depends on where the gif came from. It has to be stored somewhere - either on your computer and transferred here, or someplace online that has a web address. If it's an emoticon, it needs to come from our site, or be added to our site first This one came from my computer.

It's very strange. This is the second time this has happened. See post at the end of previous page and another farther up. Being a source code nut, I had to go look at it, and it looks like this: <p> <img alt="imagejpeg" src="webkit-fake-url://6804764c-6eb7-4741-98ca-982b34bcf0f7/imagejpeg"> </p> At first I thought I could fix the broken link; I'd just sneak in a period between image and jpeg in imagejpg which you see after the first = and at the very end, but no dice. It didn't work. Tonight I realized of course not, because the filename would have to be unique, and in both posts it's imagejpeg. So the problem has to be in the url. It says its a fake url and I guess it really is - lol. I check image codes and Instagram and Twitter and our emoticons and they don't look that. Help! Oh, Fear, I am so sorry for what you want through. Do you know why you were throwing up? Are you better? Is Mr. Fear willing to listen if you tell him, do not drive. Call in and explain. Poor Mr. Fear, his body is failing him and it's so hard. How many knee replacements now? I hope your body is faring OK since the hip replacement and that the bad night was an unfortunate case of eating the wrong thing. Otherwise, you should go to the doctor too!! I was checking to see if we had a Gala thread this year so I could know when it is, and I saw that you opened a thread and nobody answered. That's kind of sad. I just haven't been willing to admit I can't do it. Sadly, this offer made me realize that. Even at $100 I can't do it. I think if it were in Raleigh I would've gone, but there's transportation and a room and meals and so forth. But Fear, I really miss seeing you!! I'm poorer than ever but happier these days as I am writing a book! Fifteen years ago I signed a contract to write a book, an academic book, textbook and libraries kind of thing, not a "best seller." I've worked it off and on ever since, but shit happened. More than once. Eventually a few years ago I gave up, thought they wouldn't want it anymore anyway. Then they emailed in July and said they'd really rather have the book still, but if not they want the advance back. ACK!! So I'm writing a book. And I have accepted and admitted to myself that it will just never get done if I keep trying to do other things at the same time, like earn money. It will take me about a year to finish. It's going to be really good for my poor addled old lady brain. I was really excited at first, digging all the stuff out and being amazed at how much I could remember about what research I'd done and where everything was stashed, doing more research and reading, planning the chapters and that kind of thing. When it was time to actually start writing I got stuck, but then I got going and am slogging away. I'm about half way through one chapter and about to decide it really should be at least two because it's getting long.

Missing preview button: I did some research after I noticed that we no longer had an option to "preview" a post. I found that in upgrade 4.0 they took it away, but now they have added a newer fancier version of preview. But you have to add it to your board manually. So I've added it. It's on the toolbar above the post window, third button from the right. It shows you how the post will look on desktop, tablet and phone. To edit your post afterward, you must close the preview (X on upper right).

I'm late, I'm late. I was mesmerized by that picture of Clay. Hippy happy birthday merrieeee - I know today was hard.

Thanks! That was quick!

Thanks for the heads up y'all. I would've missed it otherwise, just heading into my back room where I can't hear the iPad - so I took it with me and darned if he didn't sing to me. Sigh. That was a really pretty song. Has anyone identified it yet?