Thursday Trees

The way the weather has been this week, the world cries out for shade. It's Thursday Trees, so we've got it - this week, featuring a few pictures from my personal collection.

1 - I took this picture in a Boston park a few years ago. I feel like that tree sometimes ...

2 - along the Allegheny River near Franklin, Pennsylvania ...

3 - in the Virginia horse country ...

4 - another horse country vista ...

5 - and a third ...

6 - Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Virginia ...

7 - I took this picture at the National Botanic Gardens in Washington a few years ago. The Capitol Building is quite scenic, if no longer functional ...

8 - a mystery tree at the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (one of my favorite places) ...

9 - the "Witness Tree" at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania ...

10 - I think this tree changed its mind about which way it wanted to grow ...

And that's it for September's first edition of Thursday Trees. Enjoy the shade.

Have a good day, and come back tomorrow for the announcement of the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for September ... you know you want to!

More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Remembering

Last Thursday my friend and fellow blogger John wrote a thoughtful post titled "Remembering" that just cried out for me to write my own thoughts on the topic.

John's post was inspired by the life and death of Dolly Parton, surely one of the most beloved people of my lifetime, and the lesson he drew from it. To quote from his post,

"There is nothing inspirational about just existing for another day. I won't be creating anything, nor discovering anything, nor making any contributions to my neighborhood or to the world around me.

 

"I'll read a little, clean up my outdoor living area (deck), maybe take some recycling in -- nothing that will generate a memory for anybody. And honestly, I'm okay with that. 

 

"I won't be putting up statues, building monuments, nor slapping my name in public areas to force people to remember me. I'll just live my life and allow you to live yours. If we're lucky, maybe a few people will remember something good about us when we are no longer here."

When I read John's post, I remembered something I read long ago in the wonderful book "Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlife," by David Eagleman,

"There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.” 

Most of us are like John and I. We're born, grow up, and die. During the time we're here, the vast majority of us will never do anything that will cause us to be remembered for long after we're gone. We'll raise families, have careers, retire to our gardens and blogs, and pass the torch to the next generation. Few of us will have statues and monuments erected in our honor. Few of us will demand to have triumphal arches erected or performing arts centers named for us. We'll be remembered for a while, fondly if we're lucky, by those whose lives we touched for better or for worse, and then we'll be gone, no more remembered than the most humble peasant tilling the soil in the time of the pharaohs. 

At some point, as Mr Eagleman reminds us, our names will be spoken for the last time.

And so, I guess, there's not much point in deliberately trying to build a timeless legacy. As Gandalf told Frodo, 

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

I like to think I've made the right decisions, for the right reasons. At least, most of the time.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Monday Mountains

Mountains were in the news this past week not for their beauty, but for the potential threat of landslides and floods resulting from climate change - hundreds of people are confirmed dead, thousands are still missing, and many towns have been wiped out from the collapse of a glacier in the Himalayas of Nepal. Perhaps this is a good time to admire the beauty and majesty of mountains from a safe distance.

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10 - 

That was our last Monday Mountains collection for August - I hope it helped you relax and ponder the beauty of nature.

Have a good day and as good a week as the news allows. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

Those of you who are my age (mid-70s) have certainly noticed that the content of your mail changes - not just snail mail, but e-mail and spam text messages. You get fewer and fewer ads about concerts, hip new clubs opening up, and great vacation opportunities, and more ads for retirement communities, cemetery plots, and medications for aching joints. I remember my father commenting on this when he was older and now, as in so many other things, I'm becoming my father.

This poem, from the collection "Wilson's Revenge" by - of course - Wilson, speaks to that change that sneaks up without warning on us all ...

SIXTY

by Wilson

Nobody tells you sixty is the year

the mail changes, fewer invitations,

more statements, and the body

sending its first bill with interest

for everything you did at thirty.

I wish somebody would have warned me. I'd have ignored it, as the young do, but still ... the interest is a killer.

Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Only two more days left in this @%$&! month. Thank goodness!

Dolly Parton, the beloved country star, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and genuinely wonderful person, died on Tuesday at age 80 - that sound you heard was millions of hearts breaking; in the latest example of gratuitous buffoonery vis-a-vis our northern neighbor, friend, and ally, Der Furor has signed a royal decree executive order directing that Lake Ontario be referred to in the United States as "Lake America;" hundreds of people are dead and thousands missing in the aftermath of huge floods in Nepal caused by the collapse of a glacier; Der Furor has formally proposed a pay freeze for most federal workers for 2027, but a 3.8% raise for law enforcement personnel; and in Monrovia, California, a wanted man who escaped police twice by running onto a freeway was arrested after officers recognized him when he walked into a Panda Express where they were eating lunch ... the Monrovia Police Department commented in a social media post that "... we're not sure if it was good police work, bad timing, or the irresistible smell of chow mein." 

This week, as children head back to school, I thought a collection of cartoons about modern-day education would be timely ...

So did RFK, Jr ...

You can tell how old this cartoon is ... all the "nows" look really cheap compared to the now now ...

Oh, the horror! ...

All of us who've been parents have been there ...

Ain't that the truth ...

When I was in grade school, our jobs included banging chalk dust off the blackboard erasers. Times change ...

When my parents took us to buy new school clothes and supplies, their defensive characteristics were less important than the cost ... 

I'm not so sure about that ...

I think the children are often a lot more perceptive than we know ...

I wonder if I'd have been recognized from some of the pictures my children and grandchildren drew of me ...

And that's it for the last Cartoon Saturday of August, 2026 ... I hope it helped give you a chuckle in the face of the tsunami of suck the year has offered up so far. 

Have a good weekend and be sure to come back tomorrow for the last Poetry Sunday of August, when we reflect on the warning we didn't pay attention to so long ago. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Here we go with the last collection of editorial and signage ya-ha's for the month of August. Get 'em while they're hot. Or you're hot. Whatever ...

No matter which 44 magnum you need, they've got you covered ...

I've never had head in my car, period, much less extreme head ..

If the animals can't eat it, what's the point?

You have to think someone could have foreseen this result ...

I prefer the dead sausage, myself ...

I'm not sure this is as big a draw as he hopes ...

I've eaten at places like this ...

So, when do you get the $2.00 off? 

I wonder what happened to Wife #1 ... the "installation of top soil" might be a hint ...

Hmmm ...

And that's it for this week's edition of Great Moments in Editing and Signage ... the last one for this month. I hope you enjoyed it. And don't forget to send the great moments you find to ol' Bilbo for future use!

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for a Cartoon Saturday salute to the start of the new school year. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Thursday Trees

How quickly a week goes by! It's time once again to visit the temporary home of Mike's Thursday Trees - together with our Monday Mountains series, a chance to let the beauty of nature help settle our frazzled nerves. And so, without further ado, let's bring on the trees!

1 - I almost mistook this for a picture of myself early in the morning, before coffee ...

2 - a banyan tree ...

3 - a ginkgo tree in Korea ...

4 - a resident of the Great Basin National Park, Nevada ...

5 - this fellow is interesting, but anonymous ...

6 - moss-covered beeches, Dartmoor, England (for my friends in the UK) ...

7 - a very, very old olive tree, waiting to help grace new generations of martinis ...

8 - a red gum tree, from Australia (for my down-under friends) ...

9 - a Sitka spruce, from Alaska ...

and finally for this week, 

10 - apparently trying to escape ...

And that's it for this week's edition of Thursday Trees. Enjoy the beauty and the shade, before Der Furor wipes it all out with another royal decree executive order.

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for another collection of Great Moments in Editing and Signage ... more thoughts then.

Bilbo