Saturday 9: Mama Liked the Roses

Saturday 9: Mama Liked the Roses (1970)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun… 

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Elvis tells us his mother loved tending the roses in the garden. Do you have a green thumb?

I have a black thumb… I’m the “hit lady” for plants. You want one killed? See me!

2) Mama would put the roses in a vase in the living room. Do you have cut flowers in your home right now?

Nope… and I won’t. But I was thinking about buying a single rose for Mother’s Day (I don’t know if florists even sell a single rose anymore.) to leave on her grave tomorrow.

 

3) Elvis sings that he found Mama's rose petals pressed in the family Bible. Have you ever pressed petals in a book? If yes, what occasion were you commemorating?

Nope. After my mother passed away I was looking though her diaries… out of curiosity I looked up my birthday. And there was a pressed four leaf clover in the page. It brought  a tear to my eye, I interpreted as wishing me a good life and hope.

4) OK, so now we know Mama liked roses. What about you? Would you prefer white, pink, yellow or red roses?

How about a red, white, and blue rose?

I saw how they do that, they split the stem and put each in a different colored water.

5) Elvis' own mother, Gladys Presley, had a major impact on pop culture. When her son was 11, he asked for either a rifle or a bicycle for his birthday. She deemed the rifle too dangerous and the bike too expensive, and so he chose a guitar instead. The rest is history. Tell us about a special birthday gift from your youth.

Oh that is hard… how ice skates that I hated?

I got them for Christmas one year (Now those who know me know that I do not like sports) so hockey skates were the last thing I wanted all my friends just skated on ice with figure-skates, not hockey skates. I want to say something like “WTF” but when I looked up at my father he had a big grin on his face so I said “That they were just what I wanted!” (I later found out that he picked them out, he asked the gym coach (Now my father was the high school principal at the school) what he should get me, hence the hockey skates.). That was one time when I was glad that my brain overrode my teenage instinct, it was the first time that my father bought the gift and not my mother.

6) Abraham Lincoln credited his stepmother, Sarah, for her lasting influence on his life, saying she ignited his love of reading and learning. Tell us about a woman -- mother, stepmother, grandmother, aunt, Godmother, teacher, neighbor -- who changed your life for the better.

My grandmother taught my cooking (Even though she didn’t know it)

My mother taught me to worry (My brother says I got the worrying gene from her) but worrying is good! It makes you think of the alternatives, the what ifs. And you plan for them.

7) Mother's Day is almost upon us. According to the National Restaurant Association, we like to eat out on this holiday, with revenue up more than 80% on Mother's Day weekend. When did you last dine at a restaurant? Was it a special occasion?

Nope, no special occasion, it was our “Senior Lunch” crowd. We try to go out to lunch once month.

8) Candles are a big seller for Mother's Day, too. What's your favorite candle scent?

I don’t really have a special scent. The last candle I got was a present “Sea Breeze” Hmm… I wonder if they have a candle scent called “Low Tide”?

9) Sam is celebrating Mother's Day with her mother's favorite, Hershey Bars. Would you prefer classic milk chocolate, dark chocolate or chocolate with almonds?

Yes.

Its chocolate right? That’s all that counts.

Well in reality dark chocolate is not a friend of mine.

A true story… at our New Hampshire cottage back around the turn of the century, I was laying on the couch on the porch reading and eating chocolate… dark chocolate.

All of sudden my heart does a flop, flop and skips a beat! Then another… then another! Whoa! I do my relaxing exercises… deep breaths and slowly let it out… relax. Relax. Slow deep breather and let them out slowly.

No more arrhythmias. Relax, deep slow breaths.

Whew. Lay back down on the couch and go back to reading. Pop another piece of dark chocolate. Thump, thump…. Thumpthump, thump…

WHOA what is setting me off?

I google what sets off arrhythmias… caffeine. Yeah, but I only drink decaf! Chocolate? Dark chocolate? I look at the half eaten candy bar of dark chocolate. I eat another piece… Thump, thump…. Thumpthump, thump… Holy s**t there is enough caffeine to to trigger the arrhythmia!

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!"