Lil Bits of Rancor or Not 9/19/08

Starting out with good news, it appears that the bloom is definitely off the flower as regards the Palin candidacy. The cracks are there, and the buckling is starting to occur. Nearly 1500 gathered to denounce her candidacy in Alaska (that is a huge number for Alaska folks). The media seems to be ready to [...]

Lil Bits of Rancor or Not 8/1/08

Whether from concerns about the environment, or simply the need to cut back on expenses, or perhaps for some singular mendacity, lots of folks are crafting. It’s become “IN” and in some cases haute couture. Martha of course has been trying to convince us for years. Alternet has the story and a link to a [...]

High Fallutin’ Notions

Called, “Street, Dresden,” this painting was done by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in 1908. It was undated by the painter in 1919. It is from MoMA.
On the home front, things continue with house cleaning quite well. I have all the cabinets and drawers done but for a small thin one on the other side of the [...]

It’s Going to be a Bumpy Ride

The artist is Zubaren and the piece is entitled, “St. Casilda.”
It can be found at El Prado in Madrid. It was painted in the time of 1638-42. It is religious in nature but the artist used presumably a friend as model. The dress is current to the day.
St. Casilda was daughter to the Muslim king [...]

That’s Food for Thought

This photograph was done by Lewis Hine and is entitled “Newsies at Skeeter Branch, St. Louis, Missouri, 11 a.m., May 9, 1910.” It is from the MMA.
We often bemoan that our children grow up too fast these days. I wonder if that has not always been the case. These boys seem to feel quite [...]

Whew, Dividing my Mind into Segments

Today, we display a lovely work by George Caleb Bingham. Done in 1845, it is called, “Fur Traders Descending the Missouri.” It is hanging in the MMA.
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I hope you certainly had a lovely peaceful Easter. Today, it appears we have a lot to look at, so let’s begin.
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First off a bit of housekeeping: [...]

Whew, con’t

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I have said for a goodly long time that the regulatory agencies in the US no longer regulate anything. The FCC, FDA and EPA are more mouthpieces for their respective industries than anything else today. The political heads of these agencies routinely join the industries they were sworn to regulate after their stay in office, [...]

Maybe our Politicians need to Quilt?

These are 4 sides of the beautiful sculpture by Augustin Pajou, done in 1790 and called “Psyche Abandoned.” It is at the Louvre, Paris, France. A nice feature of the Louvre site is the ability to view some art from several different points.~~~**~~**~~**~~~Abby Sweets went out of the way to celebrate Spring with [...]

I Think He Knows Something We Don’t

Excuse the big splotches all over this post. The Contrarian is sobbing so loudly and copiously about Brett Favre’s retirement, it’s well a crying shame. An icon has left the building and how Green Bay can survive without its perfect quarterback is still unknown. I don’t see the big deal, it’s not like Martha’s show [...]

Random Collections of Thought

“Writing is not hard. Just get paper and pencil, sit down and write it as it occurs to you. The writing is easy – it’s the occurring that’s hard.” Stephen Leacock

“Real seriousness in regard to writing is one of two absolute necessities. The other, unfortunately, is talent.” Ernest Hemingway

Just ran into these and thought them [...]