Earlier this week I thought of this song as I watched our dog navigate the space in our new home:
How much is that dog in the credenza?
The one with the beard that is grey.
How much is that dog in the credenza?
Why won’t he come out and play?
Kyrill hasn’t had much opportunity to look into mirrors until now. We had this curio cabinet with a mirror that we kept in the basement in our old house. The new house has more space upstairs, and we could move the cabinet upstairs. Kyrill saw the dog in the mirror, wagged his tail at it, and spent much of a day peering into it. He really loves playing with other dogs and wanted the dog to come out.
Kyrill’s breeder told me that his show Ceskys love to parade back and forth in front of hotel room mirrors. I wonder if they know that it is them or think it is some other dog?
What are your favorite optical illusions? How have your pets reacted to mirrors?
Once, when YA was about five, she didn’t want to turn off the light in her bedroom – her reasoning being that she didn’t want her stuffed animals (a prodigious crowd) to be worried in the dark.
I couldn’t really give her grief about it. After all, she comes by this stuffy empathy honestly – she gets it from me. I was quite active in the naming of all her stuffed critters and gave in to her desire to anthropomorphize them big time. Heck I once carried my stuffed javelina Henrietta in my carry-on bag because it didn’t feel right to close into the suitcase!
It shouldn’t surprise you then to know that I am having a little trouble dumping my flowering baskets this fall. I usually plant the baskets on Mother’s Day – sometimes a few days before or after depending on the weather. Then when the blooms fall, I stack up the deceased baskets alongside the garage in the back of the yard.
Here’s the problem; it’s been a full six months and five of the fifteen baskets still have flowers on them! I’ve been moving the baskets around, taking the empty shepherds pole away and storing them in the garage. With the temperature below zero more than a few nights now, I was worried about being able to wrench the poles out of frozen ground. But I just couldn’t bring myself to stack the baskets with flowers in the back.
So I set the baskets on the back steps (see the photo above). The last basket is on the front steps, which is where its shepherds pole stood all summer. Since it won’t be above freezing even during the day for a few days, I’m guessing the flowers are making their last hurrah but at least they will be making that hurrah on the back steps, being appreciated whenever I open the back door!
On Tuesday we talked about trick-or-treaters and Bill mentioned that he and Robin also ask kids about their costumes. I assume that most all adults do this. It’s a low-level way to make a short connection.
One of my last little groups consisted of a girl in a pink princess dress and a boy in some kind of princely attire. Knowing that I would never see these kids again and knowing that they won’t care a whit about whether I’m crazy or not, I started a conversation:
Me: What a great costume. Are you the Count of Monte Cristo? (knowing full well this kids wouldn’t know what I was talking about.)
Count: No, I’m Prince Philip
Me: Oh, from Sleeping Beauty.
Count: No from Maleficent.
Me: Silence for a bit.
Me: (turning to the girl) Are you a princess?
Count: She’s Sleeping Beauty
Me: more silence
Me: Here we go (handing out the candy)
While I was perfectly willing to be silly about the Count of Monte Cristo, I didn’t think I needed to get into an argument on my front steps with kids about Prince Philip trick-or-treating with Sleeping Beauty but not knowing they were in the same story.
Tell me about a costume you wore as a child (Halloween, school play, whatever…)
Eighty-five years ago last week, four teenagers accidentally changed not only the trajectories of their lives, but history as well. While hiking near Montignac, France, the four boys stumbled upon caves with a collection of cave paintings unlike anything ever seen. The paintings, known as the Lascaux cave paintings have been dated from 15,000 to 17,000 years back and turned the art world on its ear, proving that Stone Age peoples were artists and biographers.
The four boys ended up on different paths. Two of the boys were Jewish and shortly after the discovery, one boy was sent to Buchenwald with his family and the second boy ended up being hidden by a Jewish Children’s aid organization. The other two boys, who were from Montignac, guarded the cave over the first winter and eventually became tour guides of the famous caves and paintings. In fact, it was the two of them that noticed the condensation in the caves causing algae and mold growth. It was at this point that France closed the caves to the public to protect them from as much outside environment as possible. The cave paintings have been meticulously copied and can be viewed in a replica of the caves – Lascaux IV – part of the Lascaux historical center.
The two Jewish boys survived WWII and Buchenwald; all four lived into old age and were re-united in 1986. The last to pass was Simon Coencas, who died in 2020 at the age of 93.
The paintings were obviously modern art at the time they were created, but at 15,000 years of age, I doubt they qualify any longer. I have a few pieces of modern art but I also lean toward more classical representational art. Impressionism is a favorite and I am fond of a lot of sculpture. I particularly love this one that resides here in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts:
If you could go back in time and discover something, what would it be?
I read for a lot of reasons. One of them is to find new ideas or to be reminded of ideas I may have had in the past.
The book I just finished (not revealing the title as there would be spoilers otherwise) had a fairly absurd premise but then managed to present several trains of thought that were tantalizing. A huge asteroid is heading for Earth and scientists have determined that it will wipe out everyone and everything in two years, six weeks.
One character, who works in banking, came up with a scheme that basically defrauds people but will make the bank a ton of moolah. His theory is that by the time folks figure out they’ve been defrauded, the world will be ending. Sadly the other members of the board agreed with him.
Another character, an aging rock and roll star, was facing terminal cancer and decided to end his life so that his music royalties would go to his first ex-wife as soon as possible. He also made an extremely heartfelt apology to her for how he had treated her back in the day.
A third character, an anthropologist, was worried about the end of civilization before the end of the world. Why, he postulated, would be the incentive to keep working? Who would do the jobs that keep us all fed and clothed?
This last character’s questions have remained with me for days now. Whenever there is some news of an asteroid that’s coming close to the planet, I do muse about the end of days. But I have never considered what would happen if we KNEW it was end of days for sure. How could we keep civilization going? How would I personally get by until the end? Would I feel the need to atone for my “sins”? I’m not sure, but I think I would definitely make a trip to Alaska, the only state in the union I haven’t visited.
Anything on your bucket list you’d like to do if you knew the world was ending in two years and six weeks?
You all know I have an affinity for Godzilla movies. I don’t know why. Most of them aren’t all that well made and of course they are pretty violent. But like many of the mysteries in life, Godzilla and I seem to keep crossing paths.
It happened again last week when I stumbled across Godzilla Minus One, which came out in 2023, written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki. This is the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen most of them. While Minus One got great reviews, I wasn’t holding my breath.
There is much more of a human element to this one, although seeing the aftermath of WWII on the ordinary Japanese citizen was depressing. Then this massive, basically indestructible monster comes and destroys what little is left. And, as always, nobody can ever say why Godzilla does what he does.
I noticed right away that this Godzilla is a really good match for the earlier Godzillas. Of course, much better CGI and photography but his spiny back and the shape of his head and neck were just like the classic. And then towards the end, I thought “this music sounds so familiar”. After the movie was over, I found the original 1954 Godzilla with soundtrack composed by Akira Ifukube. This is apparently now known as The Ifukube March and has been used in several of the movies over the years:
The composer for Godzilla Minus One (Naoki Sato) did a great salute by incorporating the march into the final “battle scene”:
If you had suggested to me when I was younger that someday I would know enough about Godzilla to recognize his classic form and his classic music, I would have laughed until I cried. Guess I’d better get out the tissues.
When we talked about esoteric knowledge the other day, I would not have said that The Three Musketeers was a particular interest of mine. Then I stumbled upon a tv series from 2014-2016, a British production. Binge-watching is a perfect occupation when you’re nursing a knee.
This particular series is a little darker than I like, but I realize that I’ve seen quite a few of the musketeer movies over the years, so it’s intriguing to see this one. The production values are quite good – costumes and dialog seem more realistic than a lot of historical dramas. Of course, there seems to be at least one nubile young woman each episode who manages to fall for one of the musketeers in just a day or so. Then there’s the fact that all of the musketeers except D’Artagnan (the only character played by an actor who I recognize – Santiago Cabrera) have old, unhealed loved tragedies in their past. Athos in particular can’t seem to get over his.
And it’s VERY violent. I find myself listening more than watching every now and then. I’m not surprised that there were only three seasons. I’m about half way through the second season and I’m starting to wonder if Paris is going to run out of population, so many people get murdered each episode. Last night I actually muted it for about five minutes while Captain Treville was getting operated on. (Thank goodness I live in an age with anesthetic.) It’s another show that I can’t watch up until bedtime or I have dreams that are much too intense.
As I’ve been watching the show, it occurs to me that I can’t remember if I ever READ The Three Musketeers. All the comparisons that I’m making in my mind may be from other movies/series I’ve seen. And there is still the one big question of why Dumas titled his tome The Three Musketeers when there are clearly four of them? Maybe the book explains this? So I put it on hold at the library. I’ll let you know!
Did you have a play sword as a kid? Ever taken fencing or shooting lessons?
The legend of King Arthur has always appealed to me. From an early age I loved the Prince Valiant comic strip (and Robert Wagner in the movie) and when Camelot came out in 1967 I managed to get my folks to take me a couple of times. I’ve read Mary Stewart’s Crystal Cave series more than once and while the 2011 series isn’t quite to my taste, I have watched it – Joseph Fiennes playing Merlin was fascinating.
Had I lived in the legend, I could not have been a good Guinevere or lady-in-waiting. Although I’m not crazy about the violence part, I would have loved to be a knight. Fancy armor, horses, swords, cool knight friends and quests.
I am all about quests. Set me a quest and I am all in. So when the Hennepin County Library debuted their passport this summer, I had to play. The passport is free for all who want to participate, with a page for each of the 41 libraries in the system. There is a photo of the library and short description and each library has their own passport stamp. There is also a few blank lines if you want to add any notes.
You know I had to make a spreadsheet of the libraries that I can sort by how far they from my house and their hours. Don’t want to show up at a library that isn’t open yet! And of course once I’ve visited a particular library, I can highlight it! Quests and spreadsheets – I’m in heaven.
It’s been a joy to visit the various libraries (I’m about half way through). They are each unique, with so many different programs. Language classes, Lego Labs, chess tournaments, jigsaw puzzles (yes, every time I found one in progress, I had to find a piece or two), even community seed libraries. And the artwork is wonderful. There must certainly at some kind of art curator on the library staff. Whoever it is has done a masterful job.
Wall in Children’s section of Champlin Library
There isn’t a timetable on my library quest, although I’d like to be done some time in September. Once it’s cooler, I have lots of indoor projects. Also, I like stretching it out a bit!
Any quests that you’ve enjoyed? Any you’re looking forward to?
As bunch of errands had me on the freeway yesterday. A little congestion slowed everybody down in time for me to look up and see this on the highway signage:
Keep your speed down
Wear your safety gear
Get home in one piece
It was more interesting than the usual signage and as it was three lines, I automatically starting counting the syllables, wondering if it was MNDots idea of highway haiku. Not haiku.
When I got home, I wondered if I could find any information online about the signage. I was surprised to find out that there is actually a program called “Message Monday” that encourages safe driving. You can even submit your own idea for a message on the website. Some of the messages are actually quite funny:
Fly under
The radar by
Obeying speed limit
Give blood
The right way
Not on the highway
Don we now our
Fastened seatbelt
Fa la la la la la
I’m not sure I want to increase my highway time on Mondays to see more of these messages, but I do find it intriguing that this program exists. Of course, if I submit something it will have to be
Speedy Gonzalez
You’re not. Please keep the pedal
Off of the metal
Imagine my surprise as I was heading out to run some errands and discovered the little robot vacuum at the back porch door.
As I carried it back into the house and hit the “dock” button so it would return home, I felt a little bad. Was I keeping it from its freedom? Had it been trying to escape from the onerous duty of trying to keep the fur and dust at bay in our house? Did it hear the clarion call of others of its kind? Was it a quashed robot uprising?
What do you think? Should I have given it its freedom?
Trail Baboon 