Perched on the apse between the gaps...

...just an odd phrase that kept running through my head today, I don't know where it came from but it sounds like a line from some sort of existentialist poem.

Word of the day: parsimonious

Witty retort of the day:

I needed to walk to the grocery store for a few groceries after work today. We have a stray shopping cart from the local Wal-mart sitting in our parking lot. The night-time supervisor got wind of the fact that I was hoofing it and asked me if I would care to push it back to the Wal-mart, to which I said,"Now really, I have all these bags to carry and how do you think it would make me look to be pushing a shopping cart around town?" and one of my coworkers chimes in,"In this town completely normal!"

O&M

I almost snarfed my drink this morning while idly perusing webcomics and I happened upon today's Ozy & Millie

click to enlarge

The message is cutesy and simple but it hit me as being entirely too true. How many people have I encountered who constantly use their religious beliefs to direct them into inaction in the presence of or action against what common sense dictates is the right thing to do. Religious tenets are not a 'get out of jail free card'. Many who excuse themselves from responsibility using this logic forget that their reasoning is a double-edged sword which can kick back after a strike and injure oneself in return.

On a lighter note, it has been in my webcomics link list in the right column of this page since the inception of this blog, but I'd recommend that all of you check out the archives at OzyandMillie.org. D.C. Simpson is really a talented political satirist who packages liberal, common-sense wisdom up in the easily digestible package that are his webcomics. Better yet, buy a book of his work to help support him (I intend to)!

Speaking of Ballet...

I was just surfing the internet and I happened to run across a picture of a ballet dancer... this triggered a stream of consciousness in which I remembered one of the oddest sights I've ever seen....

It was quarter 'til midnight in the early summer of this year, I was sitting in my buddy's truck, waiting for my friends to select a video inside of Blockbuster. I was idly listening to the radio and staring off into the distance past the almost-empty parking lot in the plaza where we were parked. A large Ford van stops suddenly in the middle of the parking lot, and several young ladies get out of it and do an elaborate ballet performance around the vehicle, equating to an elegant "Chinese" fire drill (sorry, I know that sounds offensive & racist, but this is the only term I've ever heard in conjunction with this activity). They completed this within the course of about 30 seconds after which they pirhouetted & pliéd back into their respective places in the vehicle and took off just as abruptly as they had stopped; leaving me completely bewildered and confused about what I had just witnessed. Judging by the way they danced, they were not novices either. So now I am wondering, is this what accomplished ballet students do for kicks on a wild Friday night? I told my friends about it when they came out of the video store a few minutes later and they thought I was just blowing hot air.

Georgia O'Keefe

A pic of a framed print in my household, posted for the benefit & amusement of McPolack.

BERNIE SANDERS LOVES DRUG DEALERS!!! (Pet Peeve #5)

HE ALSO FREQUENTLY BEATS UP QUADRIPLEGIC VETERANS, WANTS TO GIVE VIOLENT CHILD MOLESTERS ACCESS TO YOUR FAMILY, STEALS LIFE-SAVING MEDICATIONS FROM SENIOR CITIZENS, AND ROUTINELY SACRIFICES INFANT CHILDREN TO THE DEVIL!!! BERNIE ONCE VOTED TO STEAL CANDY FROM ALL THE BABIES IN THE WORLD AND HE HATES THE STATE THAT HE HAS SERVED FOR ALL THESE YEARS!!! IT HAS BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN THAT EVERY TIME YOU VOTE FOR BERNIE SANDERS, GOD KILLS FIVE INNOCENT, ADORABLE BABY BUNNIES!!!! YOU DON'T WANT GOD TO KILL BABY BUNNIES DO YOU???!!!.....VOTE FOR REPUBLICAN RICHARD TARRANT!!!

Ummm, so maybe that's a bit of a dramatization, but I am getting really sick of political ads that have swung to an all-time low.... it seems that some of the candidates have sunk to the level of supermarket tabloids in their mud-slinging efforts. The radio station that they play at my workplace is based in Vermont (just across the border), and I've been getting an earful of these ridiculous ads which (despite the fact that I am not involved with Vermont politics) even I can tell are sensationalistic, misleading, and in some cases completely false. If you take time to look up Bernie Sanders' voting record and the reasons for his decisions, you will find that Richard Tarrant's websites only represent a completely blind view of things with no regard for the big picture. Anyone who even pays the slightest bit of attention to politics can tell you that politicians often vote against seemingly positive funding initiatives and laws due to unreasonable legal concessions riding on the coattails of whatever bill it is that they are voting for. Then again, I am getting the distinct impression that Mr. Tarrant is not targeting these ads to anyone who is politically aware. As usual, it's a game of driving the sheep in the direction that you want them to go.

Hmm... pretty hard to end this post on a positive note, so I will simply hand you some Cute Overload ferrety-werrety weaseliness.

"They Are Rather Fetching, I'll Declare That Good Times Are In The Pipeline!"

... is a quote from one of David Firth's more recent flash movies known as "Pulch: The Good Times". For those of you who aren't familiar with David Firth's animations, they are sort of.... ummm.... Tim Burton meets Salvadore Dali and Terry Gilliam at a Dadaist convention and they go out drinking... after a wild night filled with various crazy psychotropic substances, this is what they come up with. If you are, like me, bent toward slightly disturbing, dark, absurdist humor, then you should like most of the animations by David Firth.

Update: My apologies to those who have been to my blog lately. I've removed the previously embedded flash movie mentioned in this post because I did not know that they immediately load themselves whether or not you want them to, thus eating up bandwidth and taking forever to make the blog page load. Click on the title of this post if you wish to view the aforementioned movie.

Food Love, Early Autumn Hike

If Peterson Toscano is allowed to form a decidedly unorthodox relationship with food, then I sure as heck can feel comfortable with my own UFAs (Unusual Food Attractions). Thank you Peterson for paving the way to fostering greater understanding between the UFA community and the IFC (Indifferent Food Consumer) community. May we finally learn to live side by side in harmony. I know I will benefit greatly from your pioneering spirit. Now let me tell you people about MY new love: Better Soy Roasted Organic Soy Butter (mfd. by Wonder Natural Foods Corp.). I have tried other soy butters such as the IM Healthy brand, and there is just no comparison. Not only does this spread rock my world way more than any other brand of soy nut butter that I've tried, I can tell you with utmost certainty that it tastes BETTER THAN PEANUT BUTTER!

Picture of my new sweetheart, isn't he adorable???!!!
Alas, I fear that our love is doomed to be a short-lived whirlwind romance. I happened across only 2 jars of it while out on one of my discount food store runs... and they will probably never have it again and as of 20 minutes ago, google searches return only a handful of pertinent results with no information on where I can purchase more of it. Does anybody else have information on where I can find it or is this relationship doomed???

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And on to less thorazine-worthy subject matter...

Friday brought me on a nice, long hike in the hills on the south side of town and here are a few pics I took:

One of the fields on the trail out into the woods. Filled with goldenrod, bumblebees, and hundreds of frenetically dancing butterflies.

Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus

New England Purple Aster, Aster novae-angliae - one of my favorite flowers

Often mistakenly called "Indian Paintbrush", I can't find the true name of this one.


... and here is a brief video of the monarch butterfly that I spotted while in one of the upper fields behind the mountain.

I also saw a huge male moose while out hiking, I wish I had been able to draw my camera quick enough to take a shot, but by the time I had it turned on and ready, the only view I got was of the wildly swaying branches & shrubbery in his wake.