8/26: We celebrated C's first day of term with a lovely swim and supper on the deck.
On the menu-BLT's and peach crisp.
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Squirrel Nutkin was in the Back 40 and the Diner:
Mamachuck found the tomato the hornworms had attacked that I tossed on the brush pile. Yep, she likes tomatoes.
DHS keeping an eye on things:
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The next morning, 8/27, a thunderstorm woke us at 6.30 am. It rained hard briefly. Afterwards, it was overcast yet pleasant, with a nice cooling breeze.The Diner was busy with sparrows, redbirds and mourning doves.
A few hours later, the sun came out and became muggy. Bud stretched out under the table:
That afternoon, storms were brewing across the state with a line charging across to the North. When C got home from work, we hit the pool. Before we went in, I checked the radar and saw a blob beginning to fire and expand West of us. It became dark and we heard thunder rumbling. We finished cleaning and exited as a few drops began to fall. We unfurled the solar cover and got inside in the nick of time. The wind picked up and soon it was raining in sheets. Mr. Birch gave up a good sized limb and we heard branches hitting the roof. In the end, we didn't get much rain but there was a lot of stuff down. That evening, the clouds were reminiscent of Maxfield Parrish illustrations:
The next day, I went to work on clean-up and this brought memories of last year's giant late August storm. The damage was nowhere as severe although areas of Lansing and Okemos were harder hit especially with loss of power and downed trees. We lost a tithonia and the cup plants were blown over, too. Rain total was around 1/10".
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Pool Days
After a swim, they started supper. He went out to the garden and picked a ripe tomato. It was warm in his hand and when he came in, he pressed it to her cheek. She felt the radiance, smelled the fruit and was transported to her first visit to Tuscany as a young woman.
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| A painting done sometime in the early 1980's when she first visited |
They dodged yet another batch of thunderstorms and came out, wrapped in towels and dripping past the cat who had been sprawled on the lower deck the entire time. She took the first shower and as they passed each other in the hall, both naked, he admired her bikini tan and she smiled.
After his shower, he opened the door to let the
steam out. As he dried off, he looked out at the East garden, waning in
its late summer glory. He could smell the butterfly bush which he had
planted outside the window when they first moved in. It cast his mind
back to the house where he grew up. His father had done the same for his
mother, who loved the scent and the chance viewing of butterflies.
He heard murmurings out in the kitchen-she was talking to the cat, who was silent as she fixed its supper. She was washing up as he passed through the kitchen, the cat still working on its meal. She was wearing one of her summer caftans and he kissed her tanned, warm neck as she leaned back into him. They heard a jay call out and parted with a smooch. She went to her room for a yoga session and he moved to the living room to grab some peanuts that were in a bowl on top of the piano next to the slider. Out in the backyard, a squirrel saw him on the deck and ran towards him as he flung the peanuts in its direction. The jay called out again and swooped down to the grass for a peanut. He watched this ritual feeding with enjoyment and shifted his gaze to the bright mountains of cumulus that dominated the Northern horizon. Summer's end he thought. Labor Day was that weekend and she already was back to work at the U. A wave of melancholy came as he thought about his upcoming birthday-his 70th-and the inevitable following thought about how many more he might have. Thankfully, his mind shifted as another friendly squirrel came up on the raised bed next to the deck and rose up on its haunches imitating Oliver Twist with its outstretched small arms. Of course, he said out loud and turned back through the slider to grab more peanuts.
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From 1967, She's a Rainbow by the Rolling Stones-a wonderfully trippy vid. They do come in many colors indeed.
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Fun shorts:
The Pyramids Of Egypt-2013
Reminiscent of the film "Stargate"
Minuscule is a French animated series of shorts about the day to day lives of insects. They are a hoot and interestingly devised using animated bugs against a real background. The use of sound is cleverly integrated. They are simple stories told well and illustrate the fact that we all have struggles.
Honey Fly-2012
Once upon a time, a fly wanted to be a bee.
Fly Hunting
Ladybug is quite a character and in this short, takes on a group of pesky flies. They race around the countryside like rival juvenile gangs on mopeds crossed with the agility of Star War's fighters.
Top Guepe (top wasp)
A group of wasps who have "the need for speed" while one has a transcendent encounter with the moon.
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Gordon Goose: Risky Life! 2016
What happens when a remote worker wants to play hooky.
Weirdly prescient of worklife during and after COVID. Be productive!
Soar-2014
A young girl who loves to design flying machines (they all fail) must step up and help a downed wee boy pilot get airborne again and join his family.
Reminiscent and pairs well with this short that I posted a while back: La Luna
Whale-2017
A young whale is sad because he has no friends.
The sea bird with goggles cracks me up.
The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at The MET-1946
The problem with prejudices.
The Fox and the Bird-2019
Compassion pays off.
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Odds and ends:
To celebrate the orange roach coming within 11 miles of our home and stinking up the joint, some appropriate merch:
Remember Billy Bass? Wellll bunky, something new for you!
That's right, it's Trumpy Trout the Talking Presidential Fish Head. You can order yours here:
If you want to go all in, serve with this excruciating earworm from Barnes and Barnes, 1980: the "Fish Heads" song:
Gawd, it's not even Labor Day and I'm seeing Halloween candy displays in the markets. Then on YT, there was a Michael's ad featuring Countess Dracula and her young son. Oy.
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Space News:
Hopefully, coming near us at the end of September:
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) aka Comet A3
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| A3 as seen on 6/10/24 |
Becoming visible to the naked eye on 9/27/24 with maximum brightness predicted on or before 10/12. There are hopes that will be as good as Hale-Bopp in 1996-97 for us in the Northern Hemisphere but the viewing window is pretty small. Fingers crossed.
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Space X's Polaris Dawn flight has been indefinitely postponed. It's workhorse rocket, Falcon 9, suffered a recent explosion on a return mission. As a result, the FAA recently grounded the Falcon 9 in order to investigate the cause and determine remedial action for repair.
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Don't Forget The Driver
A 2019 BBC series starring Toby Jones as an overwhelmed and downtrodden coach driver in post-Brexit England. He has a Gen Z bi-racial daughter from an relationship in the past who can't seem to get her shit together and grow up. His mother has worsening dementia and is a racist. His car is a piece of shit that needs to have the engine struck with a hammer to start. He probably hasn't been laid in years.
Upon returning from France one day, he discovers a young African woman who has stowed away in the coach's luggage compartment. Now, this is at a time when the Conservatives were still in power and they wanted to install a scheme to throw illegals on a plane en masse and fly them to Rwanda. Pete is facing a severe moral quandary: despite his own personal problems, he has empathy for this frightened young woman. If he calls the authorities, she gets shipped back to Africa. If he does not and attempts to help her, he faces major legal consequences. But, he has a good heart, a conscience and wants to do the right thing.
So much is packed into these half-hour shows with funny and unique characters as well as surreal, absurd and slapstick situations. Highly recommended.
Available from Britbox via Prime.
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