The passing show
Or: Life as we know it
No Sued Name: “I stepped out onto my back porch (golly, I love that porch!) to breathe in the wonderful fresh air. (Wednesdays are about the only time I don’t have to be out and away early.)
“The sun was shining; the temperature was just right; several birds were discussing life.
“One neighbor walked back to his home, with two little dogs who were enjoying being out and about.
“Then I spotted another neighbor, sitting on her front steps, drinking coffee (maybe tea?) and enjoying the day, also. I like her house —just the right size for her; lovely yard, with colorful flowers and shrubs. Then I noticed two kitties were with her: one orange and one a grayish tabby — walking around a little, but mostly sitting near her and looking about. I’ve not noticed them in the neighborhood, so I’m assuming they are indoors for the most part. I was glad to see they did get some guarded outdoors opportunity.
“I so wanted to take a picture of all this — but she was about a half block away, and my phone camera isn’t up to that. But I will have this memory in my mind a long time. I’ll drag it up next January, for sure!
“Oh, yes — the kitty-lady neighbor and I did exchange waves; the dog-walking neighbor didn’t look my direction, so we did not wave, but we usually do. I do like my neighborhood, even though I live on the East Side of St. Paul, which is definitely becoming a challenging location.
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!”
See world
Another close encounter of the natural kind, reported by D. Ziner: “Subject: Matching grays.
“I was not familiar with this creature, so had to do some research.
“It seems to match the description of a gray tree frog, and I suppose weathered teak furniture serves well as a gray tree. I learned that its camouflage properties allow it to change to green if need be, but its patience outlasted mine and I never did see it move to any green area.
“What was most striking is that those little bumps on its skin have a faceted, reflective quality, and when I got close enough to see it move slightly from breathing, it was a micro-sparkling display in the sunlight.
“Still things to learn in our own back yard.”
The verbing of America
Red’s Offspring, north of St. Paul, notes: “On Page C11 of the Sports section in Sunday’s STrib, Twins’ catcher Chris Gimenez described what happened after Jose Berrios struck out the Giants’ Brandon Crawford for the second out in the third inning of Saturday’s game, leaving the bases loaded: ‘”I immediately went out to the mound. A lot of times young guys like that will let their guard down after a big out. . . . I said, ‘You’ve got a really big out still to get.’ He threw a changeup for strike one, and then he breaking-balled him to death,” getting Hunter Pence looking at a slider that curled over the plate.'”
Joy of Juxtaposition
The Retired Pedagogue of Arden Hills: “Subject: A mockeroserous (‘a group of mockingbirds’ — Answers.com).
“The first item in Monday’s Bulletin Board was a submission from The Daughter of The Gram With a Thousand Rules, which included this: ‘… mynah birds (these guys can talk and mimic better than a mockingbird . . .’
“This echoed two events which took place on Sunday:
“(1) The return from granddaughter Anna of my paperback copy of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ a novel which I taught for many years. The book was in the exact shape as when I’d last seen it: dog-eared with partial covers, and the pages held together by a rubber band. Every page was covered with copious notes and underlinings. The novel was returned by Anna’s mother, and I haven’t had a chance to ask Anna if my markings provided any enlightenment or just distractions.
“A side note: Between two pages of the book was an undated Pioneer Press ‘Go Ask Dad’ column, by Rick Shefchik. The title of the piece was, ‘Atticus Finch revisited, remembered, respected.’ Near the end of his column, Shefchik included a famous quotation from Atticus: ‘You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view — until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.’
“(2) In my Garfield Page-a-Day calendar for June 10/11, Jon is telling Garfield: ‘My uncle Forrest would say, “You can’t know someone . . . Until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” He had three hundred pairs when they caught him.’
“Garfield responds: ‘That’s about a seven on the creepy scale.’
“Not an original joke, but Atticus might have chuckled.”
Our theater of seasons
Or: Where we live
Mounds View Swede writes: “Now that the weather is warming up, the Boundary Waters beckons those intrepid souls who dare to venture there. My photo friends and I did that for many years in the fall, but these photos could be anytime during the summer.
“We almost always went to a place new to me, and I relied on the others’ experience on what to bring and how to do things. I was always the front man in the canoe, since I didn’t know much about steering a canoe.
“The times we encountered the mirror-like still waters were special for photographic reasons, but also seemed kind of magical to me.
“I hope all the BBers who like to go there will continue to be careful and prepared, and watchful for the special beauty found there.
“This place is unique in the world. Enjoy!”
This ‘n’ that ‘n’ the other (responsorial)
Aggie Girl writes: “I am catching up on my reading from last week and found several things in the June 9 BB on which to comment.
“Re: Summer Camp. KQ clearly went to a better summer camp than I ever did. When I think of the horror of summer camp, I tend to remember rattlesnakes in the latrine, coral snakes on the ‘seats’ (really old logs) around the campfire, the smell of the wet caliche that caked all over us as we slid and slipped as we hurried to escape the flash flood. Such was ‘Scout Camp’ in South Texas. Luckily I had to go only once or twice before I turned into a good enough athlete I could go play basketball or softball all summer. Had that not been the case, I’d hate to think of the tragedies that could have occurred.
“Re: Robert Heinlein. I was excited to see Kathy S.‘s reference to Heinlein. I recently took a vacation with my 13-year-old niece. She overheard her mom and me discussing books by Heinlein, and she wanted to know who he was, so we tried to explain. Later that week we were in a used-book store, and there was a copy of ‘The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress,’ so we were able to introduce her to one of the great SciFi writers. What fun!’
Re: Typing. I am just young enough that in high school, we could choose between taking typing and ‘computers.’ I opted for computers, having decided that I was going to be a scientist and thus had no need to be able to type. And while having an understanding of how to code has been useful, I never did learn to type correctly. I did receive a typewriter as a graduation present, and I later inherited an old manual from my grandmother, but I never did learn how to use all five fingers correctly, even though I am fairly speedy on the keyboard. I think I have both those old typewriters around somewhere even now, though they haven’t been used in years. Yes, I am a bit too much of a pack-rat.
“Re: Mounds View Swede‘s pictures. I must echo the other folks saying thanks for these. I love garden pictures, but I have not found time to take many this spring, so I am enjoying MV Swede‘s tremendously. It is interesting the various terms that evolve for plants. What was called ‘Bridal Wreath’ in his post, I have always (well, since I moved here 25 years ago) heard called ‘Bridal Veil,’ which is a type of spirea. Spring and early summer are my favorite time of year because of the parade of beautiful flowers — from crabapples, to lilacs, then spirea and rhododendrons. And I completely omitted the crocus, daffodil, tulip, iris, lily parade, which I also love.
“Thanks, as always, for bringing us this great forum!”
Band Name of the Day: Go Ask Dad
Website of the Day, from Rusty of St. Paul: “There are some things I don’t want to do in front of people.
“Having a B.M. No one needs to see that.
“Trimming nasal hair. Ditto.
“My doctor wants me to use a neti pot. He asked me to watch this demonstration video online:
“After watching, I don’t want to do this in front of MYSELF!”
Bulletin Board 