I bet you didn’t know that the famous New Yorker cartoonist George Booth was born in Cainsville, MO in 1926. The population was 290 at the 2010 census.
Here’s a long article about him.
This slide show will make you laugh. And we could all use a good laugh, right?
P.S. The first time I saw the cartoon at the top I thought I would die laughing. It is so the OM. What in hell is happening?
So did you know that last Monday was Star Wars Day? May the fourth? Get it? May the fourth be with you.
As a good Episcopalian, I always want to say, “And also with you,” but I digress.
The OM and I did not celebrate May 4 with a party or anything. Frankly, I was over Star Wars a long time ago. A long time ago.
But this is kind of funny. Especially #10.
On the other hand, we need to let these guys retire.
It’s too late for gracefully, but I’m just saying.
Anyway, after all this, now I am kind of in the mood to watch the original 1977 flick. I liked it in the first place because it is one big film homage to John Ford and better movies of an earlier era.
Han Solo even wears cavalry pants. And Obi-Wan says things like: “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”
Yes, it sounds like a plan. It’s not like there’s anything on the telly to watch.
Have a good Wednesday. May the Force be with you.
Today is Soren Kierkegaard’s birthday (May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855). Old Soren has always been a favorite of mine.
It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand, and what those things are. Human understanding has vulgarly occupied itself with nothing but understanding, but if it would only take the trouble to understand itself at the same time it would simply have to posit the paradox.
–Journals, 1847
Kierkegaard is like Thoreau or Emerson in that people take quotes out of context and think he is great (and that they are great for thinking so).
I have no doubt that he would hate that. Let’s try reading one of his books–the whole thing.
“Then faith’s paradox is this: that the single individual is higher than the universal, that the single individual determines his relation to the universal through his relation to God, not his relation to God through his relation through the universal…Unless this is how it is, faith has no place in existence; and faith is then a temptation.”
Well, at the very least I will toast him tonight. Join me, won’t you?
P.S. Why is Kierkegaard not listed on the Episcopal calendar of saints? If it were up to me, he would be.
On Saturday my girlfriends took me on a belated birthday adventure to the Shaw Nature Reserve in Grey Summit, which is part of the Missouri Botanical Garden. We walked around the Whitmire Wildflower Garden.
As you can see–absolutely beautiful!
From here we ventured to Washington, Missouri to have lunch at the Blue Duck Restaurant where we sat outside and enjoyed a lovely lunch and a view of the Missouri River.
To top off the day we stopped at–where else–an antique mall. Just perfect. Thanks, ladies!
Old ladies attempting a selfie. Haha.
Inspired by our adventure, I worked in the yard on Sunday and planted some geraniums in pots. My mother always thought geraniums were a bit bourgeois, and perhaps they are. Nevertheless, I like them. Don’t you? They are so low-maintenance and generous.
I also went to the Annual St. Louis Fine Print, Rare Book & Paper Arts Fair, presented by the Mercantile Library up at UMSL on Friday evening. It was right up my alley. All the exhibitors had great stuff, but nothing that my budget could handle. I bought a few used books at the Mercantile Library table and was quite content.
And on Sunday the OM and I went to Ted Drewe’s. A good weekend. How was your’s?
Have a good Monday!
Our mother loved to garden and she was good at it, too. I suspect she also enjoyed the solitude; no one ever helped her garden and it was usually too buggy to sit with her by our tiny fish pond. But we did accompany her on her many visits to Westover Greenhouse, a vast plant nursery on Olive Street Road not a far drive from home, but in an area we had little cause to visit otherwise. To this young dual personality, Westover’s meant adventure. I loved exploring the endless, dripping greenhouses.
It was like wandering through a giant, leafy mansion in which every room had a different style decoration. In one there might be pretty flowers; in another succulents.
If you followed the melodious sound of dripping water, eventually you’d find tucked into a corner a little pond full of carp and water plants.
The damp heat could be oppressive, but I found the rich, earthy smell of the place intriguing. Since I was just a little girl, the flower beds were at shoulder height so I could peer over the top and spy on other shoppers. Okay, I grew over the many years we visited the place, but that’s how I remember it best. I think my incessant running around and disappearing drove my poor mother to distraction, but we didn’t stop going. As far as I know, Westover closed many years ago. I could find no trace of it on the internet, so all these pictures are of other places. So it goes…
As soon as I finish this post I’m off to the Potsdam Garden Club’s annual plant sale. It takes place in the hockey arena and no doubt won’t be quite as heady as the Westover visits of my childhood. Still, it’s spring and time to get working in the yard. This year, with the help of a friend, I’m going to plant a flower garden. I think mother would approve, don’t you?
A few weeks ago I posted a picture of John Wayne and I was reminded what a great smile he had.
And that made me think of other great smilers of the silver screen.
Some actors are really too cool to smile a lot, but when they do, we are grateful.
And those English actors, with their British restraint and bad teeth, don’t flash their smiles constantly…but when they do…
Zut alors!
And while there aren’t many, there are still a few guys around today whose smile can still make my day. For instance, Nathan Fillion
Channing Tatum,
and, of course, Mark Harmon, alias Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
Funnily enough, the nerds are better looking now than the cool guys.
So, anyway–SMILE–it’s Friday!
(Who did I forget? Discuss among yourselves.)
dual personalities 