Ten Words

OK, here comes a fun game from Venice. The rules: Comment on her blog entry and she will give you a letter. Write ten words beginning with that letter in your blog, including an explanation what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along.

But I'm a player, not a letter-giver. Go to Venice for a letter, please, I'm all out.

My letter was "B."

B'field - Town in which I live. Small, Mayberryish concoction of folks, everyone speaks and says hello, everyone knows everyone else's business. Has one grocery store, and a Wal-Mart. And a not-so-good video store. Still, it's home.

B'burg - My adopted town. Spend almost as much time there as here. Home of Virginia Tech, home of good coffee shops, home of Poderosa East, aka Mr M's house. Home of B'burg Community Band, though I doubt they like claiming us. And while we're at it....

Band - Love playing in my bands. The Community Band and then of course the Sauerkraut Band, those lovable loonies and purveyors of drunken German music.

Boys - I have two sets of boys in my life. The Boys, which are Sherman, Peabody, Huckleberry Hound, Mr Peanut, Gossamer, and good-luck baby Lily, they all live with me here at the Poderosa. (Yes, Lily is one of The Boys.) And The Boys, my favorite band, the Hackensaw Boys. Who I shall be seeing tomorrow night, in B'burg. At a bar once called Bayley's.

Bowels - Not a particularly lovely word, by any means. However, my last name is Bowles. And pronounced "Bowles," as it jolly well should be. You know, like things you eat soup out of. But Holy Jesus, the number of times in my life I've had to endure the "bowels" spelling and the "bowels" pronunciation. It's the bane of my existence. My dad has a line at the ready to use when telemarketers call him and ask if this is the "bowels" residence. "Sorry - the bowels moved."

Bluegrass - I like lots of music. Of all kinds. But I do have that special down-home fondness for the bluegrass music. It just makes me happy. Even when the songs are about dead crippled children and young girls being murdered. As most of them are, you know.

Bill - Many dogs throughout my lifetime, but my two favorites were my Westies, who lived with me at the same time, Bill and the Petster. Bill was a trip. He was the kind of dog who'd pull a pocket knife on you. He'd wag his tail and bite you at the same time. He did things just for spite. If Petster tried to eat her food while he was eating his, he'd walk over and pee in her food dish. That dog had the devil right inside him. God, how I loved him.

Barbies - Have collected them for about 20 years. The vintage kind, from 1959 to 1972. One of my favorite blogs was all about my Barbie collection. Haven't bought a Barbie in quite some time, owing to the fact that I haven't been anywhere to do so, and the fact that they've gotten very expensive. However, I did have a Barbie experience once one can only dream about. An auction with loads and loads of stuff, and only about three people bidding. I was buying dolls that normally go for $200 for about 30 bucks. Bitchin!

Book - I don't read all that much, it generally goes in phases. Certainly don't read as much as I think I should, as much as smart people do. But Stennie adores the way I say the word "book," and so that's good enough for me.

Bet - Hey. That's me!

So there you go. Ask Venice for your letter. She's very nice, she'll give it to you for free.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Visited my friend and workmate San today and had a lovely 2½ hours sitting on her front porch catching up. I miss San. I really miss San.