Today’s post comes from Bill in Minneapolis
Reverend Van Slyke believed the Garden of Eden was in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. Arthur Conan Doyle and Henry Thoreau believed in fairies. A family in Winona, Minnesota believed their dead daughter was a vampire.
Most of us believe things unsupported by evidence. Me, I believe I’ll have a cup of tea.
What weird things do you sort of believe?
Today’s post comes from Jacque
I found this bench-sculpture across the street here in Fountain Hills. I think it is so funny and clever.
What is a heavy lift in your life right now? Can you make it funny?
Today’s post comes from Bill in MPLS
In the most significant and, needless to say, dramatic manifestation since Lourdes, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared this week in a Minneapolis neighborhood, her first stop on a nationwide tour.
“This really blows,” she announced with palpable agitation. “I hoped we were making progress, but now it’s getting ugly again.”
Have you seen her? What was her message to you?
Header photo by jatdoll via Creative Commons
Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.
The four of us (my sister and her son, Husband and moi) were on our own for five days in Paris.
We learned a lot about food and eating the Parisian way – picked up baguettes from the boulangeries (bread bakeries), croissants and other delicacies for our petit dejuener (breakfast) from patisseries (dessert bakeries), meats from boucheries, crepes and quiches from crèperies.
On our first day, however, we were lucky enough to come upon the neighborhood marché (market), which had on display all the spring (and other) vegetables you can imagine, plus sausages, fish, cheese, and our dinner – kabobs. Why I didn’t take more photos at the marché I don’t remember, but here is one.
And here’s how some of the bounty looked back at “our” flat (air.bnb, but that’s another story).
It was delicious, especially because it represented the success I had in asking the price.
Combien, s’il vous plait? (How much, please?)
Of course, the answer was spoken so quickly I couldn’t catch it, so I did what I had seen other tourists do – laid out my palm full of coins (there are 1- and 2- euro coins) and let him take what he needed. Then said “Merci.”
What’s your favorite outdoor market?
Today’s post comes from Verily Sherrilee
I’m not sure exactly when my family got our first game of Aggravation. It’s like Parcheesi; six players move their pieces around the board to their safe home base. Until you are home safe, if any other player lands on your space, back to the beginning you go. My father didn’t care for it much; he said that since it was a dice game, it was just a game of chance so not very challenging. For a while my sister and my mom and I played against each other – each taking two colors of marbles. After a few years my sister slowly withdrew leaving Nonny and me squared off playing three colors each.
We’ve played Aggravation for decades now – whenever we visit one another, out comes the game and the marbles. My game board had duct tape on the bottom side holding it together and for many years at her house, we had one oddly-colored yellow marble. We each have a favorite die (although I do trade off every now and then). Having gone up against each other for so many years, I can honestly say that Nonny and I play exactly the same game. Aggressive right out of the chute, addicted to the center spot and wildly competitive. Very very rarely does either of us make a move that the other can’t predict.
My dad was right – it’s just the dice. Nonny agrees with this assessment. But we keep playing anyway and while we do win about the same number of games, the pattern is weird. Two years ago when she was here, she won 8 out of 9 games but this past Thanksgiving week I won 10 out of 11. The fact that both Nonny and I remember these stats should probably be disturbing.
What board game makes you competitive?
Today’s post comes from Renee in North Dakota
Husband dines on Mexican food prepared in back of Pakistani-owned tobacco shop on a North Dakota Indian reservation.
He tells owner “We make chapatis and lamb curry”, and shows book of Arabic poetry.
Owner translates, then recites poetry in Urdu, and challenges Husband to read the Koran.
When have you encountered the unexpected?
Today’s post comes from Cynthia in Mahtowa
On Sunday I turn 75 years old. In the past I have celebrated “landmark” birthdays with gatherings of almost everyone I know. The first one was for my 60th. It was a potluck (I provided ham and turkey) in the basement of church-turned-theater. I called it “The Funeral of my Youth” and decorated with photos from my past. Since I have friends from several different pieces of my life, I asked them to wear a nametag indicating why they knew me and when they met me. I think about 50 people were there. Upstairs in the “sanctuary/theater” a couple friends performed songs they had written in my honor, another sang John Hartford’s “Tall Buildings” for me. A friend and I performed a short play (vignette?) of “I’m Herbert” by Robert Anderson (it’s one of a collection of four short one acts titled “You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running”). It is two old folks sitting on the porch trying to remember their past.
When I turned 64 I threw another party based on the Beatles song. Again in the basement of the small church-turned-theater. Less elaborate, again a potluck but no “performances.” Well, one. We had to hear the song, of course. A friend sang it right before everyone walked out the door.
Then at 70 I invited friends again, even more as my circle had expanded. The church-turned-theater had been purchased for a home, so I found another lovely venue nearby—the Scott House. It is a historic-once-was-a-stagecoach stop between St Paul/Mpls and Duluth/Superior. It was still beautifully decorated from the holidays. The entertainment was the movie “Lumber Jill” where I played a “Creepy Old Woman.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYf8quaYcGs ) Another potluck of exceptional tastiness. Another success…another group of 50+ or so. I promised everyone I would do it again…
But this year, even retired and with time to prepare, I opted for a less celebratory event. This year I decided I wanted to meet with people for dinner or lunch in small gatherings so I get to talk to everyone and enjoy their company more one-on-one and spread out throughout the month.
What do you do to celebrate those “special/landmark” birthdays?
way back when dale was first looking for a guest blogger or two when he was going to be away i was assigned was friday the 13th as my date and dale suggested that i do a friday the 13th blog to go with it.
today’s post comes from tim
clyde made a suggedtion the other day we do a 50 word guest blog offering
i blew past it because he also mentioned he was going to stop writing on his everything is south of here site and i recoiled
(please continue clyde)
so lets try in the same way haiku limits and defines i propose ee prepare 2017 posts of no more than 50 words (title excluded)
jerzy kozinski used to edit snd edit until no unneccessary was allowed to remain
based on that rule 1/2 this post goes along with 7/8 of whst i have to ssy in general
ready set blog
Today’s post comes from Wessew
I’m going to write about glue. All Trailbabooners know about glue. Some of you are/were teachers and may even have made your own glue using flour and water. I recall being taught the recipe in first grade to finish paper-mâché projects. At the time, it seemed rather messy so I have my doubts that process is popular today. The history of glue goes back thousands of years. Affixing one item to another was a challenge to be met by tool makers and construction laborers. Tar, eggs, starch all found their way into everyday use. For most folks their experience with glue is limited to the basics: Elmers and Super Glue. And typically their knowledge of glues is also basic: “Glue is glue”. Well, that is not true. Indeed, it can be quite confusing to go to the glue aisle of a Lowe’s or Home Depot and be confronted with a dozens of varieties of glue. As reading the fine print seems a lost “art”, I surmise that many failures arise from the assumption that all glues are pretty much the same.
In my floor covering trade, there are hundreds of different glues. Each has specific qualities and recommended usages. But the basic guideline for use is: Read the label. Well, back in the early 70’s, we were doing a project at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The material was delivered to the job site along with buckets of glue. It was cork tile. From Portugal. With instructions in Portuguese. There was no discernible contact information in the material so as Portuguese is not a common language in North Dakota, the University did put me on to a Spanish translator. As these languages are related, I hoped for the best in getting a fairly good idea as to how to use the glue. I missed a step in translation. The glue had to be used over a porous subfloor ie wood or properly prepared concrete. Our concrete was polished meaning it was now a non-porous subfloor. We came in the next day and found the tile we had laid expanded about 1/32 of an inch in each piece causing a peaking effect. The glue had no where to go except into the cork itself. I panicked. Then I remembered a little physics and what could shrink material: Cold. We obtained dry ice and moved the chunks around the floor for hours. It worked!
We still get material from foreign countries but most often it comes with instructions in multiple languages… including English.
Have you ever had a problem with translation?
Trail Baboon 