"I think that I shall never see . . .

. . . billboard lovely as a

Trees

apologies to Joyce Kilmer

Self-titled

source: Daily Timewaster

 I have been home from our trip for more than three weeks, just haven't been able to get into a groove for posting.
There are still some photos from that trip sitting idle on my phone.

I know what the challenge is . . .   MB went to a lot of effort posting her shots to koobecaf, and mine are pretty pathetic in comparison.

Bologna

If you have looked at the reading list page, you'd see I have added another book to the list.
I finally finished The Seventh Child while we were at Maui, staying here.

Just one building in an entire complex at a huge resort.

The conclusion left me wanting a lot more. . .   particularly since it took me longer than usual to read it.
The suspense kept building and my interest was held fast, but at the end I'd felt like I must've missed something.
That's about as close to a book report as you will get from me.
(I will remind you that Atlas Shrugged was a real dog to read.
This wasn't.
It just disappointed at the end.)

there're more pictures

Mrs Cuz is multi-talented

She paints

She writes

available at Amazon.com

She also plays Native American Flute

pretty sure she did the cover art

Smoke screen

Okay... where were you this morning?

Maybe I mentioned the Clover Fire Food Distribution is being moved closer to the folks being served?
I was running down a supplier for ice.
That's one of the things folks living in tents need most.
It's handled and the supplier is being quite generous and cooperative.

On another note...
I was directed to a site that says:

I thought he was old?

really?

Let's step back in time IX or darn it, I'm slow

I've been doing everything bassackwards lately. Normally Usually this post would be up by a little after 7am [I might even have written it yesterday]. Anyway there's a lot going on and everythings kinda sideways. There's no tellin' when that might be remedied.

_________________________________________________________

After my swell friend dropped us at the hotel we met up with Cuz and Mrs Cuz and went for a walk.
We walked through Boston Common, past the noisy T hole at Boylston station, over to Beacon Street. Just across from the Public Garden is, The Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name.
After a cool beverage and an inning or two of watching the Red Sox on TV we crossed into the Public Garden. Just one of the highlights is the sculptured tribute to the story Make Way for Ducklings. I already posted some other duck sculpture photos. I probably have some better ones, but this was the first view.
After watching everyone in Boston climb all over the duck sculpture we wandered further into the garden to see the other highlight, the Swan Boats.
After that we walked back to the hotel to get ready for dinner...

why haven't we discussed the food?

Y'all might remember

I posted about the belated Christmas Gift (maybe it hitchhiked for N. Carolina).

So finally we were able to place a piece of furniture that actually fits in the room, but looks just a little forlorn without something to adorn the top. We thought a few books would look good... and since we also read them, there is no lack of supply. What was missing were bookends.

With some trepidation, another search was entailed. A nearby branch of a national bookseller had just what appealed to us ...only it didn't have it.

It was sold out.




GS didn't even hesitate. She went to Suldog's favorite record store and found the exact same bookends ...and they wouldn't be shipped from North Carolina [Yep! it came from Florida]. This time, though, the shipment arrived in the promised time.



They look pretty good to me

both the books and the bookends

How to Write Good

First off, let me say that there is nothing original in this post. I snagged the idea from a Facebook post; did some Googling; and came up with an addition to the initial stuff.

The first set of rules was written by Frank L. Visco and originally published in the June 1986 issue of Writers' digest.
The second set of rules is derived from William Safire's Rules for Writers.
My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

1. Avoid Alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren’t necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
14. Profanity sucks.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

1. Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
2. It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
3. Avoid archaeic spellings too.
4. Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
5. Don't use commas, that, are not, necessary.
6. Do not use hyperbole; not one in a million can do it effectively.
7. Never use a big word when a diminutive alternative would suffice.
8. Subject and verb always has to agree.
9. Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
10. Use youre spell chekker to avoid mispeling and to catch typograhpical errers.
11. Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
12. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
13. Don't never use no double negatives.
14. Poofread carefully to see if you any words out.
15. Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
16. Eschew obfuscation.
17. No sentence fragments.
18. Don't indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.
19. A writer must not shift your point of view.
20. Don't overuse exclamation marks!!
21. Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
22. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
23. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
24. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
25. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
26. Always pick on the correct idiom.
27. The adverb always follows the verb.
28. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors.
29. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be by rereading and editing.
30. And always be sure to finish what

Thanks to Plain Language dot com

Please don't go there
I might need some
more stuff for this
blog some day
.

A week might be enough time

.

Anyone who really, really likes books could easily spend a week in Powell's City of Books. The photo, here, doesn't do the place justice. The store takes up the entire block and a couple of buildings across the street. Just the children's books section is bigger than any Barnes and Noble I've ever seen: 68,000 square feet packed with books... think WalMart, more than 1,000,000 volumes on the shelves. A quote from the website:

"So is our mother ship the world's largest bookstore? Heck, it may be bigger than your whole town."

It's probably a good thing we waited until the afternoon of the day before we were leaving, or we'd never have seen anything else in Portland.

and we didn't have
a bad meal anywhere
.

Finished

.

To me, the most impressive thing about Atlas Shrugged is that it's kind of like the entire Harry Potter series in one book. What I mean is it's that long, but there's nary a break in continuity and the characters stay true to form. There certainly isn't as much action, and none of the characters are nearly as sympathetic.
I'm back to some lighter reading now, a thriller by James Patterson. I may not remember much about it next week, but who really cares?

Now that the Lions weekend is done, we can look forward to a jaunt to Sacramento next weekend to see family.

Speaking of Sacramento, I just recently found out the dates of the State Fair have been changed. The fair used to be held at the end of August up through Labor Day. Now it is held the last half of July. I've never been to Cal Expo, other than having been on the grounds for an equipment show some years ago.

Did I ever mention my high school is having a reunion this year? This one will be the first I've attended. I've been others class reunions, never one of my own.

It's getting close to time for the annual twin cousins get together. We're looking forward to that, too.

I haven't posted anything about the Giants lately... you know, the team that won the World Series last year. So anyway, the other teams is the division are still trying to catch up with them. Whoever coined the term, "It's torture" was right.

This has already become a short week.

time flies
.

Some other folks thoughts

.
I've been reading Atlas Shrugged.









I saw this and immediately thought of a certain blogger on the East Coast



Ironic, innit?

the images will enlarge if you click them

.

This pretty much sums it up

.
Yesterday's post piqued my interest some more and sent me scurrying about the Internet, seeking more Pogo stuff.

I'm thinking it is almost timeless?

is it time he ran
for President again?

It's on Saturday this month

.

Walt Kelly did Pogo for a long time. One of my favorite lines came up on a regular basis.
No, it wasn't "We have met the enemy and he is us."
It appeared about once a month, whenever the thirteenth arrived. One of the characters would pipe up and say, "Friday the 13th came on a [fill in the day here] this month."

just sayin'

.

Another

.

I didn't know that Thomas turned 65.

He doesn't look a day over...

...what?
nine?

I may get the hang of the new editor... someday!

Another misdirection

Then he took his dog walking in Hogsmeade and tried to pass it off as Falmer

Huh?

.
My good friend, the Brighton Pensioner has posted a photo that he purports to be a reflection of the castle at Chateaubriant.



He can't fool me. Even a brief glance tells me that it is Hogwarts.

seen; read enough Harry Potter

Do you know what today is?

.
I have provided a handy link.

I find it rather ironic that the site can't determine the origin. A brief look at history would give a clue. Mr. Shakespeare even wrote a play centered on the occurrence.

hint: Ides of March

I saw a quote

.
The Brighton Pensioner has an automatic quote generator at one of his many blogs. I enjoy reading them and stealing one occasionally if it suits my needs. You can ask why I don't just put one of those gadgets on my blog. I would just tell you that it's easier to let someone else do it. Besides, I am more apt to read it if someone else has it.
Anyway...
This morning the quote is from Arnold Lobel:
"Books to the ceiling,/ Books to the sky,/ My pile of books is a mile high./ How I love them! How I need them!/ I'll have a long beard by the time I read them."
My story is just a little reversed. I don't stack them unless I have already read them and then only if I feel they are worth rereading.

so it's not quite a mile high
...no, I have no intention of reqrowing it

.

Quote for the...

.
"Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person."
~Ethel Mumford

I never heard
of her either

.

Quote for the Day

.
"Friday the thirteenth came on a Tuesday this month"
~ Pogo

I miss Pogo

No, no... not the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans
.