Where do ideas come from? The answer can be surprising, such as from the corner of my long-deceased grandmother’s living room. In that corner hung a curio cabinet, one of those small delicate affairs, once-common relics of Victorian furnishing. Among the knick knacks on Mama Johnson’s shelf was a four-inch tall replica of the Mannequin Pis, cast from metal and satisfyingly hefty for its size. Truly a quality objet d’art! Mannequin Pis, of course, is a famous statue from a fountain in Brussels, Belgium. I’ve never seen the original, but Arlo’s reproduction is about full size. My grandmother’s much smaller version was an incongruous souvenir of World War II, brought home by one of her returning sons, either my father or my uncle. I don’t know which. It inevitably piqued my childish curiosity, and I would fondle it (OK, what word would you use!?) and wonder what the heck it was. However, I never asked about it. Perhaps I took a clue from the fact my grandmother always turned the little fellow toward wall.
125 responses to “Comic Relief”
Morning Three:
To see ourselves as others see us is fatal; our lies keep us alive.
Of all the lies I’ve told, I like the ones I’ve told myself the best.
The secret to being happy is ignoring the obvious.
If you have not yet had the pleasure of listening to Toccata in Symphony No.5 by Widor, I strongly recommend it.
I heard it yesterday morning for the first time myself.
Good morning Villagers….
Gary…boy, did you drop a MOAB! Just what was in those smoked eggs? Sometimes we hit send before we REALLY think “should I, or shouldn’t I hit send”. I blame it on the smoked eggs and garlic. I didn’t really care for the ‘Zombie’ remark.
Nice Easter with the family, Dad is not a big get together person. He wants to leave when he’s ready, told me sisters he’s 85 and no one is going to change him. My sisters and their families strongly practice their faith. ..but for some reason, my sister’s only two grandsons reaped the bounties of a Christmas practice…toys, chocolate, and an egg hunt…they are two and three.
Last night, I stumbled across the Grammy special honoring the Bee Gees and their “Saturday Night Fever”. John Travolta could dance. Tuned in about the time this group, DNCE, was performing “Night Fever”….if I had not seen it, I would think it was the Bee Gees, they really did an excellent job on performing and sounding like them. The best I could find on them at Grammy special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjoUpPu8Lzg
…and tomorrow’s Tuesday…Jeep, jeep, jeep and jeep
today’s warm and fuzzy feeling:
http://cheezburger.com/1945861/this-husky-saved-a-tiny-stray-cats-life-and-now-theyre-best-friends
Good morning everybody. It’s a rainy night in Tulsa, with thunder and lightning, yet!
Hmmmm, wonder what Gene has up his sleeve? 🙂
I have several files of quotes, mostly lifted from Anu Garg’s “A Word A Day” and Garrison Keillor’s “Writer’s Almanac.” I had none from Thornton Wilder [“Our Town,” “The Matchmaker”], but today is his birthday, and now I have two.
Wilder, Thornton (17 Apr 1897-1975). Everybody’s talking about people breaking into houses but there are more people in the world who want to break out of houses. A.170417
Wilder, Thornton. “There’s nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.” Wr.A 170417
Rick: “… pleasure of listening to Toccata in Symphony No.5 by Widor.” Were you perhaps listening to Michael Barone’s “Pipedreams”?
“The secret to being happy is ignoring the obvious.” Maybe, but in the long run to our and our children’s / grandchildren’s and humanity’s peril on this grossly overpopulated planet.
Peace,
I can’t wait to find out what Gene has in mind. We know there’s a reason he’s taking Arlo away from his porch and beverage. Could it be restaurant related? Has the restaurant got a new name and sign? Is it “Chez Arlo”?
Hello all. It has been raining and thundering here. Good day to stay in bed, read, sleep.
Finally had brunch a little while ago. Honeydew, orange juice, English muffin, cheese bacon grits.
Actually healthy with whole grain muffins, fat free cheese, low fat bacon. Got ingredients chopped for mandarin orange chicken for the afternoon.
Gene just dyed his hair back from blonde to brown!!!! Will it stay that way??
That’s it, NK!! Gene has decided to open a hair salon next to the cafeteria….
Nancy and c-xp……too funny 🙂
3 @ 7 PM
“Live and learn.” Hmm… Is it even possible to learn and then live?
“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates.
“But the examined life will drive you crazy” – The Pessimist
But to a realist, it’s a glass that hasn’t been knocked over yet.
Perhaps the eyes are the window to the soul, but the mirror is the portal to our mortality.
Rick in Shermantown, does the fourth comment mean that most cats are realists? Since they never see a standing glass except as a challenge to see how much it takes to knock it over?
Sorry for the lack of clarity.
The middle three are supposed to be closely spaced so that it counts as one comment, the first leading to the second and so on. The spacing did not transfer over correctly when I copied and pasted.
Otherwise, you’re right, and I wish I’d thought of that.
We used to have five cats, and they put me to shame in terms of being a realist.
Quiet rainy day here. Finally went into town for errands and Cokes in 6 Oz. Glass bottles, mail and more large plastic bins to pack away winter clothes.
Going in shortly to stir fry chicken and mandarin orange Vegs with brown rice.
Just spent a pleasant 30+ minutes watching a barred owl, first in our backyard and then on our neighbors’ power line (very conveniently next to a streetlight). It didn’t seem to mind us standing fairly close, taking pictures, and sharing the experience with passersby.
Ruth Anne: There’s also this:
http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/43/Barred_Owls/
Just now 3 or 4 young bunched up in nest box, parent off seeking supper, maybe.
Peace,
emb: Thanks. We suspect there’s a nest near us; multiple owls have been quite vocal for several weeks. They’re more than welcome to reduce the local squirrel population, which has been having a field day in our garden and flower pots!
Unfortunately, owls mostly hunt at night, perhaps a factor in squirrels being mostly diurnal. A more important may be their unusual retinas: they are all cones, no rods.
Here’s another favorite topic among both botanists and zoologists: invasive spp.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/south-florida-green-iguanas-spread-suburban-scourge-143715772.html
Peace,
Dasn’t [ignorant speelczech] comment; might get sued.
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=43897856&nid=157&title=lawsuit-wells-fargo-banker-fired-for-not-scamming-customers
That newborn Reticulated Giraffe has gone viral.
Peace,
I have lived in this valley for 38 years and mostly enjoyed it, with its changing seasons, magnificent mountains and valleys, and fun people. From time to time I’d gripe about how any time I wanted to watch a lunar eclipse or see anything unusual that it’d be cloudy. Only now that I have a telescope have I realized just how cloudy our night sky is.
A few days ago the local paper reported how the local university’s astronomy department had played a role in finding an exoplanet… and the article mentioned that they had been hampered by having had only 11 cloudless nights during the first 105 days of 2017. I can vouch that only 3 of those have occurred since I got my telescope last month!
Three for the morning:
At one time, I was concerned about making it into the fast lane. Now, I worry only about staying on the road.
Senior Citizen: one who has lived long enough to lose all self-delusions and realize that everyone else is right about him.
When I was much younger, I used to say, “The best things in life are free.” Of course, that was when I couldn’t afford anything else.
Jimmy just went quintuple gold with Jimmy Buffett’s “Just got home from Illinois.” Special shout out to the guys at CCR, it’s comedic art.
Owl was back this morning getting a drink from our birdbath. After it flew up into a tree, we noticed that there was a second owl on the roof of the house behind us.