what a joy it would be to hang out on this tiny balcony.
—
“she wasn’t doing a thing that i could see,
except standing there,
leaning on the balcony railing,
holding the universe together.”
-j.d. salinger
Aug18
Author Archives: beth
Aug17
pais.
my costa rican t-shirt
celebrates the country’s 1948 disbanding of their military
when they chose to give the money to education, culture, and social programs instead
there is a country-wide celebration each year
when i heard this as a visiting american
i was left gobsmacked.
(see the story below)
Peace consists, very largely in the fact of desiring it with all one’s soul.
The inhabitants of my small country, Costa Rica, have realized those words by Erasmus.
Mine is an unarmed people, whose children have never seen a fighter or a tank or a warship. – Oscar Arias
Aug16
i’m not joking.
every august 16th it’s national tell a joke day
not my best holiday
i’m a horrible joke-teller
i’m more of a story-teller
a whole other skill set
all i’ve ever been able to remember
is my one go-to joke
(and even this is iffy, as i often add part of the answer into the question part of the joke)
“what animal loves summer the best?”
“a hot dog!”
(i learned this years ago when my daughter was in a kindergarten talent show and did stand-up comedy)
she got an amazing response perhaps because she was a brave kinder doing stand up and the audience ate it up
i decided it would be my standing joke from that moment on
sure to get a laugh
though when i tell it, in whatever convoluted manner it manages to be delivered
i generally either hear groans or silence from any audience of any age or any number
so i guess the joke’s on me.
“i’m gonna fix that last joke by taking out all the words and adding new ones.”
-mitch hedberg
—
credits: “hot dog” by doug salati (caldecott award winner), penguin random house, google images
Aug15
mistaken orders.
the restaurant of mistaken orders employs waitstaff with dementia
and you can never be exactly sure what you will be getting.
below is a statement from the restaurant to potential patrons and to the world.
—
you may think it’s crazy,
a restaurant that can’t even get your order right,
all of our servers are people living with dementia,
they may, or may not, get your order right.
however, rest assured,
that even if your order is mistaken
everything on our menu is delicious and one of a kind.
this we guarantee.
“it’s okay if my order was wrong, it tastes so good anyway.”
we hope this feeling of openness and understanding
will spread across japan, and through the world.
—
We ask for your continued support of The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders in Tokyo, Japan.
Our mission is to spread dementia awareness and to make society a little bit more open-minded and relaxed.
—
“gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
-lionel hampton
—
source credits: https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2019/winter2019/restaurant_of_mistaken_orders.html
the government of japan
Aug14
park it.
here are the only ones allowed to park on the closed-off street
look at them making the most of it and taking all the good spots
they must know someone or have special licenses.
—
“when i get real bored i like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot,
then sit in my car and count how many people ask when i am leaving.”
-steven wright
Aug13
brie.
my very creative and talented niece
just on the cusp of teenager-hood
presented me
with this lovely fairy
made on her way to come for a visit
with plaited hair
a hand-painted face
and fashion-forward attire
she was such a joyful surprise
due to her acorn cap beret and sense of style
i’ve decided to give my new fairy the french name of ‘brie.’
—
“the world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.”
-neil gaiman
Aug12
so what.
“sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years
when they could just say, so what.
that’s one of my favorite things to say. so what.”
-andy warhol
Aug11
canvas.
a front door, a message, and a yard, in support of ukraine and the pollinators
—
one of the reasons i love walking so much
is for the surprises waiting to be discovered along the way
when walking through the neighborhood
i travel with eyes wide open
people are so creatively expressive
flower pot art
a snake in the grass
smiling and made of latex, upon closer inspection
a front yard mini vineyard
a tiny village
—
“this world is but a canvas to our imagination.”
-henry david thoreau
Aug10
meeting ann.
last night i had the great pleasure of going to my favorite theater
where one of my favorite authors, ann patchett
was appearing
while on a book tour for her latest book, “tom lake’
which happens to take place in northern michigan
a place dear to my heart.
ann is a prolific novel writer
a wordsmith of the highest order
who has a way with the human story
always using her literary magic to somehow weave her characters together
in unexpected and wonderful ways.
she was funny, smart, down to earth, and very relatable
talking about her books, writing, book banning, life,
offering support for other authors and books she knows and loves,
because she knows it can make all the difference for them,
the joys and pains of book tours
and being an independent bookstore owner
(her other avocation).
when i finally had the chance to meet her
i handed her my very used copy of ‘bel canto’
my favorite book of hers
she opened the cover, signed her name, and wrote:
‘thank you for bringing a well-loved book.’
—
“i have been accused of being a pollyanna,
but I think there are plenty of people dealing with the darker side of human nature,
and if I am going to write about people who are kind and generous and loving and thoughtful, so what?”
-ann patchett
Aug9
pasty olympics.
Historic U.P. town hosting world’s first Pasty Olympics with pasty relay, ‘pasty pull’
no competition is too quirky for pasty fest
The annual summer festival, a celebration of the Upper Peninsula’s quintessential cultural cuisine held in the Keweenaw Peninsula village of Calumet, Michigan, is hosting a Pasty Olympics on Aug. 19 from noon to 4 p.m. The zany new competitive event is “probably a world’s first,” according to its website
In addition to the long-running festival’s traditional bake off and pasty eating contest, this year people can vie to win “eternal pasty glory” through an array of Olympic-style competitions that add a strongman-style element to Pasty Fest, “speaking to the history and culture of pasties and the Keweenaw’s copper mining history,” organizers said.
“Expect opening and closing ceremonies and the spirit of competition to prevail!” said Leah Polzien, Main Street Calumet executive director.
One of the new events, the Pasty Relay, involves teams racing to craft a giant pasty — using pool noodles for rolling pins and mops to apply egg wash — with awards for fastest time, most appetizing and best team costumes.
Meanwhile, contestants in the new Pasty Pull are challenged to “harness pure pasty power” in an attempt to pull a truck as fast as possible down a 100-foot track along one of Calumet’s historic streets.
A new Pasty Fest Art Prize competition, featuring two dozen pasty-themed works of art, is already underway. The art includes pasties immortalized in paintings, mixed media, crochet, and even a tiny copper pasty sculpture. Anyone can view the art in the online virtual gallery and vote for their favorites through August 18.
—
“the pasty is the yooper burrito of the upper peninsula.”
-daily mining gazette (said by a naval recruiter in the u..p. in the early 90s)
—
I didn't have my glasses on.... 