Available from Prime-we suggest getting the original French language version and deal with subtitles. Hearing the native languages adds to the experience in our opinion. C loves catching the translator's choices. For example, there was a scene where a bad guy is confronted by the cops who, as C put it, nicely told him that he was not a good person. Actually, they said in French that he was being an asshole, lol!
With the cool, wet weather yesterday precluding a visit to the lake, we stayed in town to celebrate C's 63rd birthday. One of the things we did is visit Potter Park Zoo. Neither of us had been there since childhood. The zoo was established in 1920.
C rides a camel whose name was Molly!
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| Mr. Tortoise |
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| One of several peacocks wandering the grounds. |
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| Penquins |
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| Meerkats |
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| Mr. Black Rhino-not too happy, pacing. When asked, he growled: "Stupid apes, they put me downwind from a predator (Tiger) so I spend my days feeling anxious. Typical dumbass apes." |
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| The aforementioned tiger who, much like our miniature version Molls, takes a mid-morning siesta. |
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| A parrot of some kind. C used to have one in Paris. |
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| C in one of those cutouts where you place your face. Here, C becomes a red panda. This looks creepily photoshopped but it is not, just a trick of focus. |
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| Mr. Otter |
You could hear a pin drop at the summer reunion when a lascivious uncle asked his niece "where do you work, dear?
INSIDE JACKET BLURB: Janey's husband had gotten a deferment during the war because of flat feet and didn't even bother to join up and work stateside. What a snibbling coward! She worked in the defense plants and he sat home drinking up her paycheck. They had nothing! One day, she heard RW singing outside her window. He came by every morning and she began to believe he came to sing to HER. Oh, his sweet voice and he had stripes! Finally, a man in uniform. She began to set out sunflower seeds for him. Soon, she was feeding him by hand and he allowed her to stroke his silken, black feathers which caused him to click and whistle. She fell in love with RW and began to think about making some changes...
Brocade is the masculine form of lace.
Whenever he first encountered one of the young creatures out in yard, he would introduce himself: Hello, I am the giant you have heard about. I won't hurt you, I won't hunt you.
Ape drama:
Father: You're no son of mine!
Mother: Mute, crying-unable to find words to describe her pain and disappointment.
And with that, he was thrown out of the house.
He was 17.
Climate trade-off: stuff's dying but at least there are fewer mosquitos.
Grocery store fable: within the Focaccian Toast community, there was a competitive streak. Family dynasties were created by those from a long line known for their stamina: how many toasts in a package survived whole during the long journey from factory to consumer's table.
Watching "Sunset Blvd" gave him flashbacks to his time with the company whose CEO wore leopard print clothes and had a toxic personality disorder. All with a hint of a Boston accent.
Was the newly scrubbed deck going to have a different vibe when the wife did her yoga practice?
His wife delighted in playing "find the peanuts" with the squirrels, jays and crows who later would appear on the pool deck railing facing her office window, signalling the desire to play another round.
She was doing her evening yoga with Adrienne who one day directed all to take the deepest breath of the day. At that moment, a brisk breeze came up, seemingly having heard a need and stopped by to lend a hand.
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| Tim Marshall |
~It looked like this~
In my nearly 68 years living in the Lansing area, I've only witnessed a tornado once. This occurred the late '60s or early 70's when I was still at home. It was late in the afternoon when we heard the warning on the radio. My Mom went to the basement while I poked my head outside for a looksee. We had a wooded ridge to the SW and that is where I saw the twister, looking like it was ready to come roaring over the ridge. I scurried downstairs and we waited. Nothing happened. Later, we learned that it had touched down in a tiny burg called Delta Mills roughly three miles away as the crow flies! This was an important lesson for me about sight and distance.
Hailing from Grosse Pointe MI, this early garage rock/psychedelia was generally unknown during their active years of '66-'69. Their raw, primitive style was later re-discovered and their scant albums became prized possessions for collectors. Here, they cover The Byrds' "8 Miles High" on their debut recording known as "the black label album" (perhaps a tongue in cheek nod to Carling Black Label beer). It features an odd intro, Link Wrayesque lead guitar and a woefully under-miked vocal. The intro always reminded me of the pilot's dream (curiously nicknamed Blackie) in the film "Fail Safe". The cover is a hoot with the band members looking like IRS auditors based out of Omaha.
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| La Roche Posay |
When C was working in Paris, she would treat herself at the end of a term with a visit to the thermal spring spa at La Roche Posay, a couple of hours train ride south. Taking a "water cure" is a big thing in France and it's adherents divide into 2 groups: fresh water and salt water.
This might sound New Agey to Americans but it fits into one of the curious cultural aspects of the French people: they tend to be hypochondriacs. Further astonishing to Americans is the fact that taking a water cure is covered under the national health insurance! Yep, ask your primary to write a prescription and you're covered! In the French view, this provides a fairly cost efficient therapy for both mind and body which may prevent in the long run more chronic and expensive conditions. Read more in depth:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/30/seeking-a-cure-in-frances-waters
I'm pretty cynical about whether such a scheme would be able to take off here. For one thing, anything like this in the past has been associated with either wealthy elites, QVC snake oil scammers (many of whom are in jail,now) and their celebrity cousins GOOP etal. I think that in the American public's mind, all the news is and has been pretty negative about this sort of thing. And, the medical and pharmaceutical industrial complexes would mount smear campaigns to discredit the viability of anything that might draw customers away from their products. You got aches and pains, lady? You want to go to a spa? Naw-here's a vicodin.
The air has gotten close, still a breeze, though.
The cat is grumpy lying on her side in her fur pajamas.
Birds are nervous, squirrels move languorously.
It misses us, sliding north.
Those lucky bastards.
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| Todd hiding in shame |
Our other thought was that Todd was ill-he seemed ungainly on his feet and was doing odd flapping motions with his wings and tail. At least, upon researching, it probably avian flu, which is making the rounds again. So who knows what is up with this guy?
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| Molls in her stand |
She was dubbed by the
press as the "moon killer" as her victims seemed to meet their end as
the moon phases passed, about every seven days. In a later interview
with the authorities, it was revealed that she had learned to read
calendars which were always present somewhere in the house. These
calendars always had the moon phases included for each month. She decided to include a bit of flair in her efforts.
This has been a remarkable year for encountering this season's ground mammals. We cannot remember such a grouping of younguns. We wondered if the unusually cold and lengthy Spring threw off the birthing cycle of our neighborhood friends, compressing it so everyone birthed around the same time. In the photo above showing Young Nutkin and one of the fox squirrels, we thought perhaps they were the same age.
Evidently, the word went out amongst our critter friends that there was going to be an Independence Day Buffet Special at our house. Yesterday late afternoon, we had for a brief time a large and unusual gathering of folks in the backyard. This year's progeny from the rabbit and fox squirrel families came together around the giving stone and feeder. The young rabs, who we haven't seen out together in some time, hung out in the grass by the hydrangeas. Eventually the larger of the two wandered under the pool deck and nosed around the callas for a time. All three of the squirrel siblings, Sky, Bhadra and their unnamed sister hung around the feeder. Meanwhile, all sorts of birds were flying up to the feeder and partaking the bath. Then, Sky and his sister took off on their circular chasing games-in front of the shed, over the berm, across the berm. Bhadra sat calmly eating sunflower seeds under the feeder. A young chipper dashed up from under the pool deck to join everyone. Folks seemed to be a tad wary and didn't linger hence the lack of photographic evidence.
After this crowd had left, Squirrel Nutkin stopped by. Around 7pm, one of the Rockys visited for a snack. Later in the night, he and his bro brought down the feeder and baffle again. Sigh. I read where they do not like the odor of ammonia so I put a soaked rag under the baffle and sprayed the top surface. We'll see if this deters these guys who we think are the same young duo that hung out last summer. C named them Heckle and Jeckle-they were a bit of a pain. They got wayyyy too close in fact one walked up to C and stepped on her foot. He later decided that climbing the backdoor screen would be a load of fun.
The next morning, I am watering the tomatoes when I look up and see this:
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| My parents in 1948 |
