Monthly Archives: June 2020

let (a few of) them eat cake!

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when reading the day’s news online

there were the expected headlines/updates/graphs:

scotus decision

virus numbers updates

calls for mayor’s resignation

protest marches continue

doctors’ opinions

iran’s decision

cruise ship passengers awaiting refunds

election polls

presidential tweets

to wear a mask or not?

europe’s reopening

and then in huge letters:

COSTCO STOPS SELLING HALF-SHEET CAKES

what?

why is this a story?

why is this a bigger-font-size-worthy story?

what is the story?

here’s the story and it’s an odd logic.:

The past few months have been chaotic for Costco customers, with product shortages, long lines and the temporary elimination of free food samples. Now, it appears there’s another change for devoted shoppers: Costco has eliminated the iconic half-sheet cakes that are the centerpiece of graduation and birthday parties.

Costco has quietly stopped selling the $20 half-sheet cakes across its US stores for the past month, instead pointing people toward its 10-inch round cakes and other assorted baked goods.

“To help limit personal contact and create more space for social distancing, Costco has reduced service in some departments,” the company explained to outraged customers on its Facebook account. 

Costco confirmed to CNN Business it’s not selling the half-sheet cakes anymore and it has “no immediate plans” to bring it back. A spokesperson added that its 10-inch round cakes “seem to be resonating with our members.”

The decision also coincides with a recommendation from several US states and health agencies to avoid or prohibit large gatherings in light of Covid-19. Half-sheet cakes feeds around 50 people, while its 10-inch round cake serves around a dozen.

my interpretation: apparently the thought is that if you don’t have a big cake, you will not have a big celebration, where people will gather around the big cake in a big group. if you have more pieces of cake, you will then invite more people to go with it. what if you just bought a few round cakes, couldn’t you invite the same amount of people and just cut from the round cakes, or would that discourage you from inviting more guests as you’d have to then open more than one box? what about people just deciding to socially distance themselves without the cake being the deciding factor? just wondering, or is this that devil math at play once again? does it come down to having to match ratios, person to piece, and not have any leftover cake to eat for breakfast? i  knew i should have listened in school. 

“cake is happiness! If you know the way of the cake, you know the way of happiness!

If you have a cake in front of you, you should not look any further for joy!”

-c. joyBell c.

 

 

 

credits: cnn business

seeing.

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i’m going to guess this is the car of an artist

i wonder what her/his vision is

for these beautiful pieces of wood.

a treasure trove. 

 

 

“my work isn’t about form. it’s about seeing.

i’m excited about seeing things,

and i’m interested in the way i think other people see things. 

-roy lichtenstein

al fresco.

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streets now closed to cars
on friday afternoons through sunday evenings
so people can move to the streets
to walk, talk, dine, and be distant
a pretty natural adaption.
“eating outdoors makes for good health and long life and good temper, everyone knows that.”
-elise de wolfe
ann arbor, mi, usa – june 2020

breakfast.

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bunny stops by the yard for a quick breakfast

kitty sees bunny and considers breakfast

bunny sees kitty and keeps eating

kitty sees bunny seeing kitty

one inside, one outside

only a screen between them

understanding

each is safe

but what goes on in their heads?

 

“it is easy to be brave from a safe distance. “

-aesop

i know…

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setting up spotify

there were many choices

this one or that one?

more of this or less of this?

pass by or play?

i thought i had a cool, eclectic, quirky sense of taste in music

until it was spelled out for me with some such statement:

“it seems like you’ve selected almost all 70s and 80s music.

you’re obviously most drawn to the music of these decades.

we’ll be customizing your playlist to reflect your taste.

what? called out by spotify? did i know that?

did i know that, but was in denial?

did i think i was cooler than i really am?

was spotify judging me?

while i do like a huge range of music

(especially the irish bards and americana)

it’s clear where my musical heart lies.

my taste in music ranges from 

“here, listen to this”

to

” i know, please don’t judge me.”

(author unknown)

 

teriyaki time.

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teriyaki time (not for gambling)

the bag of loot my daughter gave me

with a friendly reminder

to pick up the sushi lunch

and not go to the casino or track

with the cash and the kids.

 

Quote from ‘Dumb & Dumber’:

LLOYD: “I’ll bet you 20 bucks I can get you gambling before the end of the day!?”

HARRY: “No way.”

LLOYD: “I’ll give you 3 to 1 odds?”

HARRY: “Nope.”

LLOYD: “5 to 1?”

HARRY: “Nope.”

LLOYD: “10 to 1?”

HARRY: “You’re on.”

art and science.

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Opera house performs first post-lockdown concert for an all-plant audience

Next week, Barcelona’s Liceu opera house will emerge from its lockdown-induced siesta by throwing a concert to a rather unusual audience. The attendees will not need masks or gloves, nor will they be required to follow physical distancing rules.

However, they might like to take along a nice comfy pot and some water to prevent their roots from drying out as a string quartet serenades them, fittingly, with Puccini’s Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums).

A total of 2,292 plants will occupy the venue’s seats and listen to the opera house’s first post-lockdown concert when it reopens next Monday. Non-vegetal music fans will also be able to enjoy the performance as it will be live-streamed.

According to the Liceu’s artistic director Víctor García de Gomar, the Concert for the Biocene, played the by Uceli quartet, is intended to help us ponder the current state of the human condition and how, in lockdown, we have become “an audience deprived of the possibility of being an audience”.

For Eugenio Ampudia, the conceptual artist behind the concert, the project will serve to reflect what has happened across Spain and around the world as the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to retreat from shared public areas.

“At a time when an important part of humankind has shut itself up in enclosed spaces and been obliged to relinquish movement, nature has crept forward to occupy the spaces we have ceded,” said Ampudia.

After the concert, the plants will find themselves in a new home, with each one of them being donated to 2,292 health workers as thank you for their efforts over recent months.

“the first rule of opera is the first rule in life:

see to everything yourself.”

-nellie melba

 

photo and story credits: the optimist daily

ride it out.

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my dad and whole family in the 70’s

bell-bottomed out

 in the midst

of an extended tour

through our hippie phase of life. 

happy father’s day, dad

miss you.

“you can tell what was the best year of your father’s life because they seem to freeze that clothing style and ride it out.”

-jerry seinfeld