Jargon is slang that relates to a specific activity, profession or group. It's a language designed to keep the insiders in the know and the outsiders out of the loop. It's the adult version of the secret handshake or password that identified you as a member of your favorite childhood hero's fan club. Hackers, techies and trekkies use jargon. So do drug dealers and pimps, but that's another story.

In recent years there has been a growing nostalgia, if you will, regarding the small town diners and greasy spoons so popular in the 1950's. When I lived in Massachusetts the favorite spot to eat in the small town I lived in was a restaurant designed railroad car. They seemed to be a favorite style of building for the small town diner and could be found all across America. The waitress would take an order and pin the order form to a wheel separating the kitchen from the diners at the counter. While she would do that she'd yell out a phrase that bore no resemblance to what you just ordered. The kitchen staff would be alerted that an action needed to take place before the cook started the rest of the order, and the clientele would not have a clue as to how long it might be until their order was served.

Needless to say, this was before the fast food business took over as America's place to eat. We still have 2 of these old railroad car diners in my area. Hubby likes the OK Corral for breakfast. Unusual name for a greasy spoon but the coffee is excellent.

I found some of the more interesting "euphemisms" used in those days on a website and thought that if these diners did really come back, we might want to know what it was the waitress told the kitchen so we could figure out how long we might have to wait. Can't have any of my blog friends dying of starvation now can we?

Next trip to the diner, I might try to burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it but you'll never catch me putting out the lights and crying. Next time your significant other or spouse tells you they're going out to look for a blonde they might be going to the local diner for a cup of coffee. Although it might be a good idea to go with him or her...just in case.

1 Adam and Eve on a raft--------------------2 poached eggs on toast
2. Adam's Ale-------------------------------Water
3. Axle grease------------------------------Butter
4. Bailed Hay-------------------------------Shredded Wheat
5. Birdseed---------------------------------Cereal
6. Blonde and sweet-------------------------Coffee with sugar and cream
7. Blowout patches--------------------------Pancakes
8. Bossy in a bowl--------------------------Beef stew
9. Burn one, take it through the garden and pin a rose on it----Hamburger with lettuce, tomato and onion
10. Clean up the kitchen--------------------Hash
11. Deadeye---------------------------------1 poached egg
12. Dough well done with cow to cover-------Buttered toast
13. Drag one through Georgia----------------Cola with chocolate syrup
14. Draw one in the dark--------------------Black coffee
15. Eve with a lid on-----------------------Apple pie
16. Eve with a moldy lid--------------------Apple pie with cheese
17. First Lady------------------------------Spare ribs
18. Foreign Entanglement--------------------Spaghetti
19. Frenchman's Delight---------------------Pea soup
20. Gravel train----------------------------Sugar bowl
21. Hemorrhage------------------------------Ketchup
22. Keep off the grass----------------------No lettuce
23. Knock the horns off and drag it through the garden---------Rare steak with lettuce and tomato
24. Put out the lights and cry--------------Liver and onions
25. Zeppelin in the fog---------------------Sausage and mashed potatoes

I could have gone to Youngest's yesterday to hunt for the missing box. I have been told that everything taken out of my home in September before the move has been returned, as far as they know. Well I hate to tell them, something is buried in their boxed possessions that doesn't belong there. Hubby thinks he put it in the loft over the garage, but there's so much "stuff" in the garage that he can't get to the loft stairs. Listening to the "excuse" gave me the idea that I had a perfectly good reason to make a trip to our local AC Moore for supplies. That place has an allure that I don't understand. I go there with good intentions that go out the window as soon as I enter. Every time, I say I will purchase only those things I really need. Yet, every time, I buy something that I don't really need right now. Maybe it's the potpourri they keep the store scented with?



In order to stick to my resolve, I made a list. Two colors of paint to replace the two that dried out beyond reconstitution. One bottle of sealer. One bottle of blending gel. One script liner brush to replace the one that's frayed. That was the list, and I was going to stick to that list. I walked into the store, list in hand, and headed for the art department. I arrive and the first thing I see is....New Products. (Breathe deep here Sherry, breathe deep) Slowly step away from the side of the aisle called New Products and proceed to the paints. (That's it girl, keep your eyes on the list.) Pick up the paint and leave this aisle. Carefully avoid the New Products. Go directly to the brushes. Do NOT pass the wood aisle, or the books. You don't need books. You need the items on the list. So far so good, the only additional purchase was one extra bottle of paint. Hey, I needed the color.

On my way to the fine art brushes I HAD to stop in frames. I'm looking at the possibility of working on paper in a month or so and I need to see what frames were selling for and how much precut matting is. I know how much I can get for a piece locally, and I needed to see if this would be a feasible medium for me. If frames would price my piece out of the market, then I needed to see what else might work. Frame prices were OK, so I rounded the corner and headed to the brushes. Unfortunately, brushes are located directly across from the floral design area. The floral design area is where the potpourri burner is located.



The first rule of thumb for any artist is do NOT buy cheap brushes. It makes a real difference in the finished work. Always buy the best brush you can afford, so my brushes range from $4 for a script liner to $12 for a glaze brush. The brush type depends on the medium you use and the style of work you do. Brushes used with oil paints usually have stiffer bristles than those used for acrylic. Acrylic brush bristles are nylon and the best of those brushes is a nylon called Golden Taklon. Love those brushes for stroke work with acrylic paints. The white Taklon is softer and best suited to glass paints and glazing. Softer bristles mean fewer drags in your brush stroke. Brushes ( yes I said BRUSHES) in hand I start for the check out. Oh, there's the drawing aisle, I need a new sketch pad, and while I'm there the tracing paper has to be replaced.

Total purchases compared to the list? Two colors of paint became three. Bottle of sealer stayed the same as did the blending gel. One script liner brush became two script liner brushes with an additional $12 glazing brush. Add to that the sketch pad and tracing paper and I'm now $25 over the intended amount of purchases. Plus tax. Yep, it had to be the potpourri, it gets me everytime.

Sometimes it really is all smoke and mirrors. Now you see it, now you don't. Optical illusions:



Some for fun...some not. It's all in how you look at it. If you don't know the difference, ask the Magic 8 Ball.



If that doesn't help.....Try listening to the music.

*Music will return next week.*

If life knocks you down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and have fun.

Just in case you're wondering what I've been up to, I'll show you. The piece that I scanned in and posted a couple of days ago was the unfinished piece I was working on in August. Now, I'm sure no one realized that it was unfinished, but there again it proves my point about art. It's a personal experience. Each of us sees what we see in any piece based upon our own personality. We can do that somewhat with the written word, but not nearly as much as we can with a visual art.

Here is the unfinished piece:



This is the piece fully painted the way I envisioned it. It lacks a few coats of matte varnish, but I put the laces in so you could visualize what it might actually look like hanging on a door.



A very welcoming piece of artwork if I do say so myself.

Last night as I was watching the news and being told that Barack Obama was a shoe in as winner in New Hampshire, I kept hearing a cautionary phrase that my Grandmother used to use. If any of us set a goal that she didn't feel was a reasonable one, under the circumstances, she would say "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip". We hated that phrase. Largely, it was her way of warning us to be prepared for an outcome other than that we were planning on. I often found, to my dismay, that Grandmother's knew whereof they speak.

This morning I find that not one pollster, prognosticator or political pundit got it right. The airwaves are full of Hiliary and John, the apparent winners of the New Hampshire primary. This will make a bit of difference to the other candidates, but it's early yet and Grandma's phrase does still apply. This may serve to narrow the field...some. It's a given that the bottom feeders will have difficulty with their finances. Money tends to glue itself to winners rather than losers. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer until they no longer can afford to keep their political machines intact.

Hiliary went into this race with a very large war chest. After losing in Iowa, she needed this win to keep the money rolling in. Did a few tears (almost) save the day for her? Obama has the backing of Oprah and her considerable pocketbook . Will the purse strings remain loose enough for him to dip into as needed? Not being a pollster, I don't know. I do know that she lost in Iowa, which had the largest turn out of women voters ever. They voted for Obama. In New Hampshire the women went in the other direction. After Hiliary choked. Interesting, very interesting.

I have said in a few places, including online, that I would love to see a female president in my lifetime...just not Hiliary...please. My reasoning for that happens to coincide with my knowledge that some of her "accomplishments" are not exactly as she says they are. Over all she has done a very mediocre job in New York state. Adequate, but not impressive by any means. She has in one instance claimed that she brought a business to the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, NY. She did try, however, that business didn't materialize. I can't understand why she claims it as a victory. When the city of Rome went to bat to try to retain the Defense Finance Office at the base, she seemed to think that Rome needed to get over trying to build Griffiss and get on with improving their finances elsewhere. Not only did BRACC allow Rome to keep DFAS, they enlarged it due to the care the local politicians were taking with their efforts to rebuild the area. A political victory there. One backed by Senator Schumer and NOT by Senator Clinton. She didn't get on board that boat until the finish line was in sight. At least she isn't claiming that as an "accomplishment"...yet.

All things considered, at the very least, this is an election campaign that bears watching. We voters have the opportunity to possibly elect the first woman president in history, or the first black president in history. If John McCain proves to be the Republican candidate, we might elect the oldest president in history. Maybe we'll elect the right person to the office of president, and given the circumstances of the time, prove to have elected the right person for the job for the first time in history. That is, if we can figure out who the right person for the job is. We just need to keep an eye on that "slip 'twixt the cup and the lip."