Vacation

The time has come for an extended respite from my global despotic duties, hence I will be on holiday and won't be posting until I return. Now, y'all  behave yourselves while I'm gone...  WH 

                                         created by GOTTE(@hamgotte)

BREAKING: Trump Loses Fight With Pope

 

The Death of English as We Know It

I accidentally ran into this hot grammatical mess, a headline of a New York Times op-ed piece:  

‘The Reason I’m Not an Atheist Is That I Think the Philosophical Arguments Against It Are Unanswerable’  

Huh??? I stared at it for a while and could not figure out what it meant (have I mentioned I have a PhD in Classical Studies from Duke and have read undergraduate papers for over 30 years).  Utterly stumped, I tried turning the plethora of negatives into positives and got "The reason I'm a believer is that I think the philosophical arguments..." uh-oh, that can't be right. The arguments for theism are answerable? The arguments against theism are unanswerable?  Back in high school, there was a term for this kind of writing. It was called crap (on a polite day). The "It" has no clear antecedent, and all the negatives convoluted the meaning so terribly they might as well have written it in early Hittite. Apparently NYT has fired all their copy editors in a cost-cutting move. This is nothing short of shameful.

The Weather

Last Wednesday, there were frost warnings at night. This Wednesday the forecast high is 91 (33º C).  Mother Nature has clearly developed a major drinking problem.

This Does Not Bode Well...

I prefer my breakfast to be less mysterious, thank you. The last thing I need is surprises in the morning.

 

Assorted Blossoms

No Home Should Be Without One!!!

O Glorious Day!

The sequel to Three Bags Full (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Bags_Full) has finally come out! Combined with the premier of the movie version of Three Bags titled The Sheep Detectives, slated for a May 8th release, it is truly a wonderful time to be a sheep!!!

🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐏
* written by Craig Mazin and starring Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson

We're Doomed...

Just in case you needed another reason to shake your head in shame and disgust... the other day I needed to Google something about Canada and under "people also asked" got the following gems:

• How do you pronounce "I love you" in Canada?
• What do Canadians call a bathroom?
• What is the gloomiest city in Canada?
• How do I say hello in Canada?
• How do Canadians say "sorry"?
• Do Canadians say "please" and "thank you"? 

 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

Easter Week Funnies

My Town

Last Thursday, the weather was gorgeous and I decided to head into the city. I haven't been in a while; the various governmental and presidential shenanigans very much dimmed my interest. I was afraid that I would be reminded of the horrors transpiring in some way or another. Once I got there, I also realized that I was afraid that I would no longer feel that DC was "my town," that others had taken it over and taken it from me. Much to my delight, I saw no traces of the Orange Menace. The ATD (Average Tourist Density) was up, as one would expect this time of year. The scaffolding on the Air & Space Museum is down; the work on the redo of the Hirshhorn sculpture garden is proceeding nicely. The sun was shining, there were flowers, so far so good. I walked up to the podium that the Hirshhorn sits on and, thanks to the genius who designed it, the hustle and bustle outside ceased, it was quite, there was green lawn, flowers, and sculpture.

After restoring my soul there, I walked across to the other side of the Mall, looking at the Washington Monument at one end, the massive obelisk sent out a sense of stability in the swirling world surrounding it. I looked up at the capitol on the other end, the sun shining brilliantly on the white dome, and didn't even wince, given the inanity that goes on underneath it. Before I reached Madison Drive, I got a rush of feeling that this still was my town--I knew it; I knew how to get around in it; I knew where to find what I wanted.

 

So I went over to the National Gallery sculpture garden to find my favorite fountain had been turned on after closing (and becoming an ice rink) in winter.

And then onto the National Gallery, all decked out for Easter.

And over to another cool fountain and past the Canadian Embassy.

To my 2nd most favorite fountain at the  Navy Memorial, recently restored to full throttle.

And took the metro home. My town, not his town.

Happy Easter, etc....

Happy Easter! And since all these happen to fall at the same time this year:

-- Happy Passover!

-- Happy Final Four! (American College Basketball Championship)  

-- Happy First Contact Day: April 5th, 2063 (Star Trek reference)

Also, David decided to color some eggs this year, just following the directions on a box of a set of food colorings. Turned out better than any egg-coloring kid I used as a kid.

🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🦤🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇🐇

Tea House of the Everlasting Blossoms

These were in the bouquet I posted back on March 18th. They're still going strong. I suspect they may be from a parallel universe.

Poking About the Estate

Yesterday was sunny, mid-80's (26.5C), and generally lovely, so I decided to wander about the estancia here and see what was up. The renovations to "picnic hill" were recently completed; looks nice, nicer when the flora comes back. 

The rhododendron are budding, always nice to see; the azaleas aren't out yet. The redbud is going gangbusters.

 

 Never noticed this plaque before.