Author Archives: beth

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About beth

Ann Arbor-ite writes about enjoying life with all of its ironies and surprises.
Dec15

‘the great artist is the simplifier.’ vincent van gogh

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‘pere noel’

picasso created this when he was 78  years old

to give as a gift to his friends on christmas eve.

i really love this one. 

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Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)

Père Noël

signed, dated and dedicated

‘Picasso 24.12.59. pour Gilberte et Serge’ (upper left)

colored wax crayons on paper

19 ½ x 13 3/8 in. (49.5 x 34 cm.)

Drawn on 24 December 1959

Maya Widmaier-Picasso and Claude Picasso have confirmed the authenticity of this work.

Picasso gifted this work as a present to Gilberte Duclaud and Serge Chauby on Christmas Eve 1959.

Duclaud was the owner of Galerie 65 in Cannes, which held multiple exhibitions for the artist.

Sold at Christie’s in auction and now in a private collection, 1970.

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‘anybody with artisitc ambitions is always trying to reconnect with the way they saw things as a child.’

-tim burton, american film writer/director

 

Dec14

live!

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dinner at the irish pub
live music and dancing at ‘live’
for the infamous ann arbor happy hour (6:30-9:00)
musicians from the past back for another round
quite a contrast, quite a mix, quite fun
we’re not done yet.
 
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The New York Times
Screen grab of NYT article that sparked nationwide interest
in the “Ann Arbor Happy Hour” with the over-65 crowd.

Nationwide media attention is growing to unusual proportions over a story out of Ann Arbor.

It all started with a New York Times article about the over-65 crowd enjoying dancing and music at the city’s Live nightclub.

Since then, there have been requests for local interviews from NBC’s Access Hollywood, CBS’s Drew Barrymore Show, Vanity Fair, WGN in Chicago, by a documentarian who produces pieces for Netflix, and a reporter from our national network at NPR.

72 year-old Randy Tessier is a writing lecturer and a musician who organized the Ann Arbor Happy Hour at Live. He was even flabbergasted learning ABC’s Kelly and Ryan did a feature on them. “Kelly and Ryan? And I’m in the suburban homes where they’re eating Wheaties. Unbelievable!”

Since the New York Times article, Tessier says he’s even been contacted by U-M’s president, Santa Ono.

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‘to be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.’

-pema chodrun

 

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source credits:  WEMU News , cathy shafran, nyt

Dec13

freeze frame.

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Previous winners from hair-freezing competition at Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs / SWNS

Hot springs enthusiasts are hoping for Arctic temperatures in Canada so an annual hair-freezing contest can go forth later this winter. The yearly competition began in 2012, launched by a spa in the Yukon territory that has since produced some  hilarious pictures.

In the town of Whitehorse, a 10-hour drive from Juneau, Alaska, bathers dip into the naturally warmed waters at Eclipse Nordic Hot Springs. If the outdoor temps are cold enough, people can make their hair freeze into wacky shapes.

Contest categories include best female and male, best group, best facial hair, and a people’s choice award, and every category winner receives a $2000 cash prize.

“We kick off the Hair Freezing contest as soon as the temperature drops to -20°C or lower,” said Satyam Jain, a spokesperson for The Hot Springs.

“We usually keep an eye on the forecast to see how long the cold temp will last and start the contest anytime between December and March.”

Their website includes instructions on how to freeze hair:

  1. Dip your head in the hot springs and wet your hair completely. Don’t worry- freezing your hair won’t damage it.
  2. Allow the cold air to slowly freeze your hair. Keep your ears warm by periodically dipping them into the hot water. Be patient–all wet hair will eventually freeze, this includes eyebrows and even eyelashes.
  3. Once your hair has become pure white with lots of frost and ice buildup, ring the bell near the pool entrance and have our staff come out to take your photo!

 


Everyone is hoping for a cold winter so the spa can continue their long run of contests and for more fun to be enjoyed by the visiting bathers.

 

 

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“a lot of people like snow. i find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.’

-carl reiner, american comedian/writer

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source credit: nice news

Dec12

biting off less than i can chew.

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i’ve always been drawn to miniature anything
my imagination is in awe of them
also find food art to be fascinating
the more kitschy, the better
this is kind of my perfect combo 
 tempted to give these a whirl
i wonder
how many mini bites of this cake it would take before i was full?
 
 
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‘a day is a miniature eternity.’
-ralph waldo emerson
 
 
 
 
 
Dec11

for those of you missing the wp snow

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Snow Time Like the Present for WordPress.com
Dec11

bubbles.

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looking forward to seeing these opened on christmas

don’t know who will have more fun with them

the humans or the cats?

(and not your children)

see below.

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‘bubbles are always new; you just can’t find an old bubble.’

-tom moddy

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here’s the pitch –

Catnip Bubbles 8oz – $2.25

  • have more fun with your cat & try these catnip bubbles! your cat will love chasing & batting bubbles. and you will love watching them
  • interactive, catnip-scented fun
  • bubble wand included!
  • size: 8 fl.oz
  • for cat use only. not intended for children.

 

Dec10

spirited.

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‘is that the real santa, or just an elf?,’

you might ask yourself

during that annual office christmas party

at some point

there is often someone 

who really goes all out

 feels the spirit

be ready. 

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“don’t get your tinsel in a tangle!”

-author unknown

 

 

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photo credit: midcentury vinatge 

Dec9

you’re out of line.

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in late 2022, a farm owner noticed a few sheep on her farm in inner mongolia walking in a circle. eventually, all 400+ sheep in her herd started walking in a continuous, perfect circle for 12 straight days.

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without a landmark humans cannot walk in a straight line.

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Humans are masters of navigation. Over the course of history, we’ve developed tools to help us explore not only Earth but other planets. Yet strip away all those tools, blindfold us, and tell us to walk in a straight line, and inevitably we become a directional mess, turning in tight loops. Many studies in the past have cataloged this phenomenon again and again. Without some form of reference, such as a mountain, a building, or even the sun, humans are incapable of walking in a straight line, no matter how hard we try. It happens whether we’re blindfolded or just lost in the forest. So what’s going on.

We don’t know for sure, but  scientists have been able to rule out some popular go-to explanations. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany discovered that body asymmetries (different-sized legs, right-handedness vs. left-handedness, etc.) didn’t account for such vast misdirection. Additionally, the idea that people can’t correctly calculate the movement of their legs doesn’t explain the tight-looped pattern. The scientists theorize that with every blindfolded step, a very small directional discrepancy from a straight line is introduced, which then compounds with every additional step. Without the aid of visual references to unconsciously correct for these discrepancies, blindfolded people are poor at navigating a straight line, and will inevitably begin walking in tight-looped circles. While this theory explains why we do this, scientists aren’t sure of the biological how (though they think errors in the inner ear may be to blame). For now, this straight-line conundrum remains one of the many mysteries of the human brain and body.

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‘i keep a close watch on this heart of mine

i keep my eyes wide open all the time

i keep the ends out for the tie that binds

because you’re mine, i walk the line.’

-johnny cash, ‘i walk the line.’

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– Length (in miles) of the longest straight line possible at sea, connecting Pakistan and Russia
19,940
 
– Highway #10 is the world’s longest straight road (149 miles), in Saudi Arabia, per Guinness World Records
 

 

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source credits:  newsweek magazine, interesting facts

Dec8

sweet december.

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a sweet classic

for your viewing pleasure

just because.

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‘december has the clarity, the simplicity, and the silence you need for the best fresh start of your life.’

-vivian swift

 

 

 

 

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video credits: the CBS Christmas message by R.O. Blechman (first aired 1966). mcf

Dec7

‘the internet is a great way to get on the net.’-bob dole.

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as many of you already know, i have been challenged by technology, time and again.

i accept that and hobble and click way through it all

and sometimes it somehow untangles itself and even works.

below are a couple of posts i found online that really are good examples

of an inside look at my technological life, and i so love them. 

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You can be having the nicest day and then you have to print something and you know your day is about to fall apart real fast.

Shoutout to ppl who save documents every 2.1 seconds while working on them because you lost one file 21 years ago & won’t be caught slipping again.

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thank you for your kind service, people who left the above quotes, and, yep.

 

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image credit: linked in