THE GASHLYCRUMB TINIES BY EDWARD GOREY

The A-Z tragic, untimely deaths of children. A precursor to Lemony Snickets, although in these books, the kids are much more clever to avoid their demise.

 https://onehundredpages.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/the-gashlycrumb-tinies-a-very-gorey-alphabet-book/

FEBRUARY THAW

 2/23-bright and sunny

As things began to melt, critters were out looking for food. In a bare area around the pool, a group of hungry robins pecked around for insects. The crabapple out front was picked clean by mid-January (as are other crabapples in the neighborhood) so this group is hurting for nourishment.

 

 

A couple of days later, more sun and warmth and a lot of meltage.
 

FIVE SECOND STORIES

We had a nice Valentine's evening in front of the hearth. Here is a beautiful card C gave me:

When opened, a tiny light within Mr. Moon comes on. V cool at night. What a lovely idea, thanks sweetie!

We watched a new animated feature Flow, the Latvian entry for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. Fabulous visuals (oh, check out the reflections in water) with an intriguing choice for storytelling: no dialogue, no narration. It seems to be set in some sort of post-apocalyptic world-humans are gone and a dark grey kitty is trying to survive. On this journey, he is eventually joined by a disparate group of animals: dog, capybara, ring-tailed lemur and secretarybird. They communicate with each other the best they can. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and somehow, they learn how to survive, together. Highly recommended. 

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2/16-more snow and cold. This morning, the Turkey bros visited everyone's Diner in the neighborhood and found some good eatin's at our buffet:

DHS kept an eye on them:

 

One of those afternoons where the sky is the same color as the snow

 

2/23-hopefully, the worst of arctic cold is over with little additional snow in recent days. The sun has been out and warm enough to melt the snow on the driveway and roads.

There's a quartet of squirrels these days at the Diner as well as the turkey bros.

Minn's grave

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Bizarre commercials: 

CeraVe, a skin moisturizing cream:

Let's hope that you never hear your skin speaking to you! If you do, please see a licensed professional as soon as possible!

 

What an opening!

My Dad always has his tool belt with him but now he's living with prostrate cancer... 

I guess this is for those manly men out there and now there's a new tool in his belt from those nice folks at Pfizer. My years of reading MAD magazine kick in whenever I see nonsense like this.

 

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FUBARland

 

Bizarrely disconnected, mixed-metaphoric concepts for GOAT:

Ostensibly, Project GOAT, which stands for the Global Offensive Against Trafficking, is an initiative where 75-pound goat sculptures are auctioned off to raise funds to combat child sex trafficking. These gilded statues are plastered with fake $100 bills which read In Trump We Trust. Evidently the creators, didn't think Christians would be offended either by the replacement of God with Trump on the bills or the glaring similarity to the Golden Calf-one of the Bible's big no-no's about worshiping false idols. Oi vey.

 

This poster appeared at the conservative's conference CPAC, again suffering from major disconnect: ok, you want Roach to be dictator for life, an American Caesar...

...apparently forgetting what happened to the real life Caesar in 44 BC. 

 

A reprise posting from December, 2016 in response to Trump and Vance statements making clear that defending Ukraine is not a priority to this administration. Our late buddy Bin provides commentary.

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Sark, one of the Channel Islands West of Le Havre, France does not allow cars much like our own Mackinac Island. This is a tiny isle-barely 2 square miles with a population of 500.

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Kelimutu-a volcano in Indonesia with three crater lakes whose water color changes due to volcanic vents which emit various gasses and minerals.

 

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Some much needed Summer imagery from Otava Yo-a Russian folk song: Ivan the Crayfish 

 

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I've been dipping into this travel vid from an earlier post. The other day, I began an imaginary drinking game: one shot each time the narrator uses the word surreal. Half an hour later, I was under the table after downing nine shots 🙀🙀.

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Switzerland has nuke shelters for 114% of it's population. While this nation may not be a member of the alliance but it has long been planning for all-out conflict. Under a 1963 law all Swiss residents, including foreigners and refugees, are guaranteed a spot in a shelter capable of protecting them from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as well as “close hits from conventional weapons”.

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Trapped astronauts get a reprieve: scheduled return moved up from end of March to mid-March. We'll believe it when they safely hit terra firma.

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Mammatus clouds and lightning. The appearance of this type of cloud is often associated with the formation of tornadoes.

Charles Peek

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Englishman creates unusual amphibious craft

 

On the other extreme, dangerous windsurfing on the Luderitz Channel, Namibia

 

WINTER STORM

Our first Winter storm of the season began in the pm of 2/12

When we finished watching a show, we saw Mama Doe and 3 of her daughters stop by the Diner then head over to Benny's.

The next morning-we had received 6" of snow. 

I had cut a path to the Diner and cleared out and area around the giving stone 

At least we got some sunnage, in fact the strong sun melted the drive I had cleared in the morning. The weekend promises up to another 6" and then another polar blast that will have lo's below zero well into late week.

FIVE SECOND STORIES

1/7-C and I are entering our third week of fighting a flu-like bug. Her version was shorter and less virulent, thankfully, as she is working. The weather has been mixed but happily, we have missed out on the ice. The Diner has been busy:

Buddy has been busy giving us purrrtherapy-he's such a good lad. Taking a break but still keeping an eye on the realm via the slider:

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Curious places:

Buzludzha Monument, Bulgaria

Glowworm caves, New Zealand

Blythe Intaglios, CA, USA

 

Stone Labyrinths of Bolshoi Zayatsky Island, Russia

 

Unreal places on the planet from Travpedia-a pleasant escape to destinations often unknown, complete with succinct, albeit flowery British narration. Still, nice to dip your toes into:

 

Hokkaido, the northern most of the Japanese main islands, is no stranger to snow. They got clobbered with over 50" in 12 hours. Yikes! Reminds me of UP Winters like around Copper Harbor MI. Count yer blessings...

Sparkle paper towel ad campaign with Kerri the Sparkle Fairy who saves the day!

If only this was true, a magic fairy cleaning up the shite in Washington for us. 

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The Celtic languages is divided into two groups: Breton, Cornish and Welsh; Manx (Isle of Man), Scottish Gaelic and Irish. A linguistic curiosity: English speakers when asked "are you going out?" and answer in the affirmative "yes", this latter group will say "I am".

 

A WORD FROM ABLE SEAMAN JOE

From the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World-Able Seaman Joe gives advice to a young Midshipman as he experiences his first time under fire:

 

TIME MAGAZINE

Get out a box of klennex for poor, poor Roach-his beautiful Time Magazine shivved him with this cover on their latest edition:

Up to now, Roach has adored Time-to be on their cover was an apex of achievement and attention-something Roach craves like a crackhead. He is known to have commissioned fake covers and has them displayed at Mar-a-Lago. Clever of Time to put this out there, just as a major chain-yank. Stay tuned for the retribution.

FUBARLAND: YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID

Commentary by Lawrence O'Donnell:

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY AND IMBOLC

2/1-Michigan weather at its finest: in just a few hours it went from heavy rains to ice to snow with East Lansing faring worse than our area.

It cleared to partly cloudy later in the day. The Diner was busy.

Tonight marks the beginning of Imbolc. For the Celts this marks the half-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Imbolc translates to "in the belly" marking lambing time where the ewes are coming into their milk. It also is the time of welcoming back the light as the days are lengthening.

2/2-Groundhog Day-Phil, the rodent in PA saw his shadow and with that, 6 more weeks of Winter. MI Phil, did not-early Spring! Woot Woot!

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Images of Jupiter's swirling clouds from NASA's Juno probe:

Potoo:

From Wiki: Potoos are nocturnal insectivores that live in Central and South America. They hunt from a perch like a shrike or flycatcher. During the day they perch upright on tree stumps, camouflaged to look like part of the stump.

Silbury Hill:

Jonathan C.K. Webb

Part of the Avebury/Stonehenge complex, it is the largest prehistoric man-made mound in Europe. Made primarily of chalk and clay, its volume is similar to Egyptian Pyramids and is thought to be contemporary estimated to have been built in stages 2400-2300 BCE.

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Navajo Nation flag

Diné or Navajo people's tradition with solar eclipses:

They believe that solar eclipses are a sacred time for reverence and reflection. They believe that the sun is a father figure who temporarily dies and is reborn during an eclipse.

Beliefs and practices:

• The sun and moon are holy beings 
• The sun protects the Earth from monsters
• The sun, moon, and Earth are constantly renewing themselves and that the eclipse is a time for the universe to be realigned and reborn
  
• Looking directly at the sun during an eclipse can harm your eyes
• Breaking the rules during an eclipse can cause spiritual, physical, and mental misalignment
• They believe that activities should cease during an eclipse and stay inside their hogans and sit quietly, fast, pray, and don't go outside, sleep, eat, drink, or engage in intimate relationships
• They recount traditional teachings about the origins of the sun and moon

A Diné custom:

Navajo believe that babies are in between the spirit world and the living world until their first laugh. It's a sign they've decided to stay. The person who elicited the first laugh is honored with the responsibility of hosting a celebratory party for the baby's family, signifying the baby's full acceptance into the community and physical world; this practice emphasizes the value of generosity as the baby symbolically "gives" food and gifts to guests during the gathering. Rock salt is one of the primary gifts.

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Diver encountering humpback whales:

 Mermaid in aquarium surrounded by small fish:

 School of mobula rays in Mexico:

 Dog being swarmed by butterflies: