Amy's Place ... Poetry and Potpourri ... June, 2008

June 1, 2008 | JustAmy; St.Louie1; MamaBear; Billie

[JustAmy]

Welcome To....


'Amy's Place' welcomes all poets
and those who enjoy poetry.
'Amy's Place' is more than just about poetry.
Come in, relax, and share with fellow FReepers
your thoughts about any of the things on the *Menu*.

Enjoy! :)











Never Forget!





Bad Penny



Amy's personal guardian ~
the ever charming, lovable, huggable,
LouieWolf




Many thanks for stopping by. : )

[Lady Jag]

Good morning, all! And a special wish for Father's Day!

[La Enchiladita]

Remembering Our Heavenly Father...

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

[OESY]

Hi jaycee,

This is what I found out: David “Dave” Barry (born July 3, 1947) is a bestselling American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist who wrote a nationally syndicated column for the The Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.

Barry was born in Armonk, New York, where his father, also named David Barry, was a Presbyterian minister. He was educated at Pleasantville High School where he was elected “Class Clown” in 1965. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Haverford College in 1969.

In 1975, Barry joined Burger Associates, a consulting firm. He taught effective writing to business people. In his own words, he “spent nearly eight years trying to get various businesspersons to ... stop writing things like ‘Enclosed please find the enclosed enclosures,’ but ... eventually realized that it was hopeless.” In 1983, Barry was hired by Gene Weingarten as a humor columnist for the Miami Herald. Barry won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1988, “for his consistently effective use of humor as a device for presenting fresh insights into serious concerns.”

For a 1992 American Booksellers Association convention, several authors including Barry formed a band for charity: The Rock Bottom Remainders (”remainder” is a publishing term for a book that doesn't sell). The members of the band, which has at various times included Stephen King, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, Mitch Albom, Kathi Goldmark, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver and Matt Groening, “are not musically skilled, but they are extremely loud,” according to Barry. Several high-profile musicians including Al Kooper, Warren Zevon and Roger McGuinn have performed with the band, and Bruce Springsteen sat in at least once. The band's road tour resulted in the book Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, which is now out of print.

CBS broadcast the situation comedy Dave's World for four seasons, from 1993 to 1997, based on the books Dave Barry Turns 40 and Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, starring Harry Anderson as Barry, and DeLane Matthews as his wife, Beth. In an early episode, Barry was cast in a cameo role. The program was canceled shortly after being moved from Monday to the Friday night death slot.

Barry's first novel, Big Trouble, was made into a motion picture; directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, it starred Tim Allen, Rene Russo and Dave's World alumnus Patrick Warburton, with a cameo by Barry. The movie was originally due for release in September 2001, but was postponed shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks because the story involved smuggling a nuclear weapon onto an airplane.

Articles written by Barry have appeared in publications such as Boating, Home Office Computing and Reader's Digest, in addition to the Chicken Soup for the Soul inspirational book series. Two of his articles have been included in the Best American Sportswriting series. One of his columns was used as the introduction to the book Pirattitude!: So You Wanna Be a Pirate? Here's How! (ISBN 0-451-21649-0), a follow-up of Barry's hand in creating International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Barry helps organize the Herald Hunt, formerly the Tropic Hunt, an annual puzzlehunt in Miami.

He has run several mock campaigns to be elected president of the U.S.

On October 20, 2004, Dave Barry announced that he would be taking an indefinite leave of absence of at least a year from his weekly humor column with the Herald in order to spend more time with his family. He said that he would continue writing humor and children's books and working on filming the screen adaptation of his book, Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys, which was released in 2005; it premiered at several film festivals, and is available on DVD, though a theatrical release seems unlikely. On December 28, 2005, Barry said in an interview with Editor and Publisher that he will not resume his weekly column, although he would continue such features such as his yearly gift guide, year in review, his weblog, as well as an occasional article or column.

Style: Barry has defined a sense of humor as “a measurement of the extent to which we realize that we are trapped in a world almost totally devoid of reason. Laughter is how we express the anxiety we feel at this knowledge.”

When distinguishing fact from hyperbole, Barry frequently asserts: “I am not making this up”. Among his favorite topics are exploding or flaming items (cows, whales, vacuum cleaners, toilets, Pop-Tarts, Barbie dolls, etc.), dogs lacking intelligence, live blogging the television series 24 and amusing government studies.[citation needed] He recently led the charge to save the Wikipedia exploding cow page, but other members of the Wikipedia community had that entry deleted. He labels various posts on his blog with long acronyms, such as OIYDWYMTTY(NY)G (”or if you don't want your mom to think you're (not your) gay”) and WBAGNFARB (”would be a good name for a rock band”), poking fun at long internet abbreviations.

He also enjoys making fun of South Florida where he resides. In “Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway,” he suggested that the solution to a great deal of America's problems could be solved if South Florida were literally sawed off from the mainland and disowned by the United States. He also has made fun of the region in “Dave Barry's Homes and Other Black Holes” as well as other books of his. Even his novels, Big Trouble and Tricky Business capitalize heavily in the absurdities that exist only in South Florida. In Big Trouble, for example, the ridiculous nuances of South Florida are expressed through the experiences of the two hit men, Henry and Leonard. They experience an irritating sports talk show host and a highly incompetent airport security detail before deciding that they never want to return to Florida again. Barry also uses Big Trouble to poke fun at the existence of a Russian arms black market, the corrupt political system (Puggy makes a living off being paid to vote), and the incredibly loose labor laws in the region.

The phrase “would be a good name for a rock band” is an observation Barry often applies to phrases that pop up in his writing, such as “The Moos of Derision” [4], “Decomposing Tubers” [5] and “Hearty Polyp Chuckles” [6]. In keeping with this, Barry's website contains a fairly sizable list of phrases that would be a good name for a rock band.[7]

In his humor books, Barry often cites a humorous phrase or image, which he then mercilessly repeats throughout. Notable examples include the Hawley-Smoot Tariff in Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States and giant prehistoric zucchini in Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway. He continues to reference these things, occasionally with fake subtlety (e.g., “The H*****-S**** T*****”) long after he believes the reader no longer finds them funny.

— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Barry (for links to his works: films, fiction, non-fiction, columns, etc.)

.

[JustAmy]

Interesting pictures.

Beautiful pictures of beautiful children.

Thank you!

[JustAmy]

A Blessed Sunday, Kitty Mittens.

Your roadside flower is lovely.

Thank you for the link, the flower and the scripture verse.

[JustAmy]

Welcome to Amy’s Place, Bannie.

[JustAmy]

Good afternoon Lady J.

Wishing you an awesome Sunday.

[JustAmy]

Good morning, Dolly.

Thank you for the Father’s Day Greeting.

Have a Super Sunday!

[WVNan]

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to Mr. Just and Mr. Bear. Hope they both have a day that is just right.

[Lady Jag]

A happy day to you as well.

[JustAmy]

ooooh ..... I love that color, Meg.

Thank you for the Father’s Day and Lord’s Day greetings.

Have a Blessed Sunday.

[JustAmy]

LOL

So true! Thanks, OESY.

Have a Beautiful Sunday! Happy Father’s Day.

[Cardhu]

Salons boom as girls yearn to grow up fast

Girls as young as six are wanting facials and manicures, and one child-only salon is now open - with dolls and DVDs as well copies of Vogue. But some parents worry where the trend may be heading

Olivia Gordon
Sunday June 15, 2008
The Observer

Christie Angelich (12) has eyeshadow applied during a makeover at the Belle Visage Day Spa. Photograph: Radhika Chalasani/Getty

Seven-year-old Scout Cockayne-Francis sat in the beauty parlour chair with dignified, almost adult elegance as the beautician manicured her fingernails and painted them a soft shade of pink.

In the past she has come to Tantrum, a luxurious child-only salon in London's King's Road, to have her curly hair blow-dried and straightened, but last Wednesday morning there was just time for a 30-minute manicure before she headed off with her mother for an educational afternoon at a museum.

Tantrum, which opened as a hairdressers six months ago, has just started offering manicures and pedicures in response to demand. 'We're getting customers who come in and ask more and more whether we offer these other services,' said co-owner Latasha Malik. 'Manicures are very popular. [Parents] ask about pedicures, they ask whether we can style and blow-dry hair for young girls, have a bit of make-up put on.'

Malik said British parents were still 'conservative' compared to Americans. So far his youngest customer for a manicure or pedicure has been six, whereas salons in Los Angeles and New York regularly treat children as young as two.

'Pamper-birthday' parties for young children, involving make-up, hair styling and manicures, have become commonplace in the UK, but out of this has come the demand for individual treatments, with parental consent. While Tantrum claims to be the first child-only salon, the sight of a little girl next to a grown woman at a nail bar or spa is becoming increasingly less surprising on this side of the Atlantic.

Child beauty has become big business. Research by market analysts Mintel of 6,000 youngsters from the age of seven to 19 found that more than six out of 10 girls aged seven to 10 wore lipstick and more than two in five wore eye-shadow or eye-liner. Almost one in four wore mascara and three in five wore perfume. According to a 2005 British Journal of Developmental Psychology study, almost 50 per cent of girls between five and eight want to be slimmer.

Recently, the launch of high heels for babies, the Miss Bimbo website, which invites users to create a virtual doll, keep it 'waif thin' with diet pills and buy it breast implants and facelifts, and padded bras for seven-year-olds sold at Tesco have all caused controversy. Last year, Barbie manufacturer Mattel announced it was teaming up with Bonne Bell cosmetics to launch a make-up line aimed at girls aged six to nine.

Children casually browse Tantrum's supply of Tatler and Vogue, watch personal DVDs and play Wii as they are preened by beauticians. The salon has Champneys hand moisturiser in the toilets, a fish tank containing stingrays in front of the basins and old-fashioned dolls with which the children can play.

'Grooming has really changed when it comes to young children. Everyone's very much aware of how they look at a very young age,' said Malik. 'They aspire to be grown up - a lot of 12- to 13-year-old girls are reading Hello! and OK! already. They bring in pictures of models, saying, "Can you do something like this?"'

Scout was brought to Tantrum from their nearby home by her mother Andra, 39, a psychologist. Scout's friends are into beauty treatments, too, Andra said. 'At quite a young age they really enjoy the whole process of being pampered. Nearly all Scout's friends regularly get their nails done, from about the age of five. Her friends do wear eye-shadow and blusher, not at school but at parties. I don't let Scout.'

Worries about children growing up too fast are 'a dilemma' for her, Andra said. She wouldn't let Scout have her eyebrows shaped or go for a facial until her mid-teens, and sees 11 as an appropriate age to start wearing make-up.

Yet, she said, there is peer pressure for children to fit in. 'I don't want my children to be the only ones that don't experience these things. When I allow [Scout] to have her nails painted pale pink somewhere like this for a treat, it takes away that feeling of being left out.'

Scout said: 'You get to see the stingrays and it's nice. It feels quite grown up. I like to feel grown up because I'm growing older, and I like to feel older.'

The child beauty treatment trend has started to emerge outside London, too. Children as young as seven have been going for facials at the JJ Hair and Beauty Salon in St Albans. The owner, Jacqui Benjamin-Moutrie, started doing pamper parties two years ago, and from this began to receive requests from parents for one-on-one treatments. She now only performs around 10 individual treatments per year but said: 'There is definitely a gap in the market.'

The Waterfall Spa in Leeds, too, reported that, as a result of demand, it has started mother-and-daughter days called 'Me and My Princess' that take place during the summer holidays, available to children aged between 10 and 16. Girls are offered 30-minute manicures, pedicures and facials, in addition to use of the spa facilities 'and a light lunch'.

In the US, children going to beauty salons and spas for individual treatments has been considered normal by many parents for several years, and the typical age range is significantly wider than in Britain.

The US child beauty market has snowballed in recent years, provoking controversy last April after a report in a Philadelphia magazine alluded to the bikini waxing of an eight-year-old girl in a beauty salon. A report on Good Morning America referred to nine-year-olds having chemical peels.

The Dashing Diva nail spa on Manhattan's Upper West Side is one of a number of upmarket beauty salons and spas that are now regularly treating children as young as two, one-on-one.

Four-year-old Drew Kleiner had a manicure while sitting on the lap of her mother Nina, 41, an estate agent. They were on holiday in New York and found the child beauty scene less developed than they were used to in their home city, Los Angeles.

Girls in LA start getting manicures and pedicures and wearing make-up at three, Nina said. 'It's pretty common; all Drew's friends go [to salons]. It makes them feel grown up and special.'

The child beauty hangouts in Manhattan include Cozy's chain of glamorous child hair salons, which also offer manicures, pedicures and make-up.

Jane Kantor, 43, who works in advertising, sucked a lollipop as she watched her seven-year-old daughter Caroline getting a manicure and her hair styled at the Upper East Side branch of Cozy's on a sunny afternoon. Caroline, an after-school regular, said she wanted to look like Hannah Montana, the stage name of 15-year-old US pop idol Miley Cyrus.

Salon founder Cozy Friedman said: 'Beauty treatments have become a fun activity, a bonding thing for moms and daughters.' And it's not just girls any more, she said. 'Boys are much more conscious of their styles now. We see little boys who know exactly what they want.'

The growing popularity of child beautification in Britain has caused concern among some parents. Sally Wray, 43, a book publicist, said: 'I recently took my three-year-old daughter to a birthday party and was horrified to see three girls from her nursery class had make-up on - it wasn't face painting, it was properly applied and blended eye shadow, blusher and lip gloss that had presumably been applied by the girls' mothers.

'It deeply disturbs me that girls are being sexualised in this way. I certainly would never take my daughter with me to a beauty salon, and I find the whole idea of little girls having beauty treatments both inappropriate and bizarre.'

Child psychologist and founder of Raisingkids.co.uk Dr Pat Spungin said: 'What are you going to be doing when you've got your nails painted at three? Are you going to be out in the garden digging for worms or in the sandpit? It's too much. It's encouraging children to become overly self-conscious and aware of their appearance. We already have enough evidence that children are feeling unhappy with themselves.'

[JustAmy]

OESY ... thank you for filling in the blanks.

I’m going to take this info as truth. It is a wonderful example of patriotism. A great poem for Flag Day!

[JustAmy]

Happy Father’s Day, Rus.

Thank you for Our Daily Bread.

Have a beautiful Lord’s Day and a relaxing Father’s Day.

[JustAmy]

There are so many people spending their “golden year” raising another family.

You are right ... there are times that it gets overwhelming. There are afternoons when I cannot keep going with stopping for a short nap. Thank God for Grampas. : )

I love Marissa dearly and feel blessed to have her, but it is not what I had planned for our retirement. I hadn’t planned on spending many evenings helping with second grade math. I think it will be worse next year. LOL

I’m so happy that you are here.

Happy Father’s Day to Granddad. A happy Sunday to you.

[Cardhu]

You are a busy gal Dolly — I am ashamed at how little I accomplish each day - but I will live with the guilt. :)

I look forward to the LINK when you have your completed your project.

[Cardhu]

PowerPoint Presentation.

RUSSIAN AIR SHOW
2007

After clicking on the picture click Download

Manual advance

For those of you that do not have PowerPoint
the FREE Microsoft PowerPoint Reader can be downloaded from Here or HERE


Click the picture to see the Presentation.

[bannie]

Thank you...I sneeked in the back door and out again!

[Kitty Mittens]

Thank you for your Compliments on the Picture I Snapped, Bannie! I Found it Growing on a Roadside in the Country, and Thought it was So Pretty. : )