FIVE SECOND STORIES

In the neighborhood: 

Thanksgiving Day: 

Mr. Young Finch's waistcoat is quite bright:

LG enjoying some thanksgiving peanuts-he's really bulked up:

Inside, we had a simple meal featuring a savory strudel as the main course:

The filling was a mushroom/leek base flavored with tarragon. C's had vegan boursin cheese added, mine had chicken and mozzarella cheese. Served with dressing, roasted asparagus and a tarragon/garlic gravy flavored with garam masala. Dessert was vegan dark chocolate/hazelnut bites. 

11/29-before the snow arrived: it was pretty busy at the Diner. A young nutkin:

 

Once the snow came, only the avians were dining-everyone else went home to hunker down. It was curious how slow and gradual this storm was in these parts. A mellow storm.

11/30: we ended up with 5-6" of snow-wet and heavy as it was 32° at 5 am.

The Diner was busy:

 

The Turkey Bros. were out and about:

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11/28: 100th anniversary of the founding of the Grand Ole Opry, a weekly, live radio broadcast in Nashville, TN.

~ 

End of a giant: it was reported in the LSJ that Sears only has 5 stores left in the US.

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12/1: 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger.

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A well-done cookie:

Every once and a while, one comes across a good baker who creates a chocolate chip cookie that hits all the four corners of flavor, in this order:

-brown butter

-sweet

-chocolate

-dough

C finds these at the ELFCO located at the Allen Street Market. One helluva cookie-rich and satisfying-you really don't need more than one. It's like a fine spirit, consumed in small quantities.

~

Earliest known depiction of human and animal found in Israel from 12,000 years ago:

https://www.bfhu.org/2025/11/20/the-woman-and-the-goose-a-12000-year-old-glimpse-into-prehistoric-belief/ 

~ 

I've been noticing a new Coca-Cola ad campaign reviving Mr. Pibb in the classic "new and improved" path  "centering on its return with a "revived taste,: 30% more caffeine, and a bold new look and brand identity." Mr. Pibb entered the soda market in 1972 as a competitor to Dr. Pepper. 

Frankly, I had no idea Pibb was still around. But then, I never cared for Dr. Pepper to begin with.

~ 

Surreal vid: In The Death Car from the soundtrack from the 1993 film Arizona Dream. Music by Goran Bregović featuring vocals and lyrics by Iggy Pop, channeling his inner Tom Waits.

 

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mADmen: Conquering First World problems by putting a sheet on it, will take care of that little static monster that your basic fabric softener sheet can't handle:

Clever, though my morbid imagination immediately went here with the tagline pun:

 ~

The problem with ChatGPT: I've been working on illustrations using this program and have learned a lot about its capabilities. In particular, one must be very precise when giving a command but even so, robot hallucinations will happen. Case in point: I was working on an image featuring a number of woodland creatures, both feather and fur, gathered together under a tree. Two problems: the robot's work was fairly accurate except for a bizarre cardinal hybrid who had a squirrel's tail! (red circle) Also, the critters were not in correct proportion in size with each other-the squirrel (blue circle)  is huge, larger than the raccoon. This was my fault as I did not include this in my order although one would have thought that this would be a given. The image:

After seeing this, I shudder when I read that government, businesses, schools and lawyers (oh boy) are using ChatGPT. They better proofread carefully!

12/1 Advent

 

FUBARland:

 

You tell me there's an angel in your tree
Did he say he'd come to call on me
For things are getting desperate in our home
Living in the parish of the restless folks I know

 

Everybody now bring your family down to the riverside
Look to the east to see where the fat stock hide
Behind four walls of stone the rich man sleeps
It's time we put the flame torch to their keep

 

Burn down the mission
If we're gonna stay alive
Watch the black smoke fly to heaven
See the red flame light the sky

 

Burn down the mission
Burn it down to stay alive
It's our only chance of living
Take all you need to live inside

 

Deep in the woods the squirrels are out today
My wife cried when they came to take me away
But what more could I do just to keep her warm
Than burn burn burn burn down the mission walls

 

Now everybody bring your family down to the riverside
Look to the east to see where the fat stock hide
Behind four walls of stone the rich man sleeps
It's time we put the flame torch to their keep

 

Burn down the mission
If we're gonna stay alive
Watch the black smoke fly to heaven
See the red flame light the sky

 

Burn down the mission
Burn it down to stay alive
It's our only chance of living
Take all you need to live inside