Trying to Figure Out How Good a Time We Had

Good morning! We're getting back into the routine again, and I've spent the last few hours sorting out the bazillions of pictures we took over the last two weeks and synching them to my travel journal. This will allow us to relive our experiences in future years, and it will also allow me to give you a relatively coherent and interesting blog post. And figure out how good a time we actually had.

That post won't come today, though, because: (1) I'm still not done sorting everything out and (2) we're still busy with activities involving Bernadette and Richard's visit, which will end when they return to Germany on Thursday.

So ...

You can expect the next blog post - The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for February - on Friday; the travelogue with pictures will begin on Monday. Sorry to keep you waiting, but that's just how it is.

And just to make you jealous ...

Have a good day. More thoughts when regular posts begin again on Friday.

Bilbo

We're Back!

Good morning, Dear Readers!

Yes, we're back! Agnes and I, along with our fellow travelers Bernadette and Richard, arrived safely back at home yesterday afternoon at the end of a long day and a wonderful vacation away from the meteorological and political miseries of NoVa.

I'll have more to write of our adventures in the coming days, but for now, here's a picture of the happy campers cruisers ...

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

Walter Mitty meets the Treasure of the Sierra Madre ...

Mexico 

by Robert Bernard Hass 

I have just crossed the Rio Grande,
And by a string of clever switchbacks
Have, for the moment, outwitted the posse.
Ahead lie the ghosts of Sierra Madre.
Behind, I have nothing but sun,
While the condor’s shadow circles over my bones.
Though the mountains are steep, my horse doesn’t falter,
And now I know why starving bandoleros
Will never shoot their animals for food.
Beyond my mirage, I see the white adobe-
Yes, the one with the red-tiled roof-
Which one afternoon I will lean against, with my hat down
And knees up, after a bottle of tequila.
In that siesta, I am sure to dream
Of the lovely senorita
Who has stolen away from her father
To meet me in the orchard.
But enough of that. There is work to be done.
I have cattle to rustle and horses to steal
Before the posse picks up my trail.
(In a poem of Mexico, it would be unwise
For a poet to mention the posse is his wife.)
So, mi amigo, if you find her
Prowling my mountains
With a wooden spoon in her hand,
Tell her I am not here.
Tell her I have run off
With Cormac McCarthy and Louis L’Amour,
That I ride like the wind
To join up with the great Pancho Villa.


Have a good day and enjoy the rest of your weekend. We'll be back from vacation today, and regular posts will begin again soon. Stay tuned ... more thoughts are on the way!

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

We're still on the road, so there's no news summary again this week ... but we do have cartoons! This week, featuring money!

This is how it looks for us ...

As a business plan, it leaves something to be desired ...

Everybody's gotta start someplace ...

The next few cartoons represent riffs on the "money talks" line ...

 and,

and,

and, 

and finally,

I have the same problem ...

I thought I was the one who was retired, not my money ...

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for Poetry Sunday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

If you were looking for the Left-Cheek Ass Clown announcement for January, I'm sorry. Agnes and I are on the road and I don't have regular and reliable Internet access to sift through the potential nominees and craft an appropriate post. The next Ass Clown award will be the Right-Cheek Ass Clown for February, which will be announced on February 2nd. For now, enjoy another sampling of Great Moments in Editing and Signage ...

I believe this is the hardware store where the lady from 50 Shades of Grey worked ...

Um ... TMI ...

I guess the price is right ...

Oops ...

This could be trouble if your dog is high-spirited ...

Well, duh ...

This is what happens when you go with the cheapest medical insurance ...

Aha! As I suspected ...

And just in case you missed the FEMA report ...

 I'm shocked ... shocked, I tell you! ...

And there you go - another heaping helping of great moments in editing and signage. Be sure to come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday, and don't forget that the next Ass Clown Award will appear in this space on February 2nd ... be here!

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

Musical Sunday

Sometimes you have to think about why the world is still a wonderful place ...

Have a good day, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Agnes and I are still on the road, so there won't be another regularly-scheduled post until this Friday, when we'll have a special, out-of-sequence edition of Great Moments in Editing (it should be the announcement of January's Left-Cheek Ass Clown, but since I won't be able to write and publish away from home, you'll have to wait until February for the next dishonoree. Sorry about that.

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Agnes and I are still on vacation, which means there's no news summary this week, but ol' Bilbo wouldn't deprive you of your cartoon fix - this week featuring (appropriately enough) the joys of airline travel ...

Well, yes, but ...

I don't think I can afford to fly any more ...

If only ...

Guess which line I always end up in ...

Now this would be a great addition to newer-model airliners ...

Everybody's gotta have a wall ...

When you fly Monarch Airlines ...

Pretty much as I suspected ...

Yes ... yes we are ...

I know the feeling ...

And that's your flyover edition of Cartoon Saturday ... hope you enjoyed it.

Have a good day and a great weekend, and come back tomorrow for Musical Sunday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Great Moments in Editing and Signage

Here we go again ...

They'll offer the vegan option next ...

I suspect that political columnists will do most of the bidding ...

Why we need to start teaching civic classes in school again ...

Three nights in the ... uh ... never mind ...

I guess it applies only to oxcarts or dogcarts ...

When your headline writer needs some remedial training ...

It's always a plus when there are nice accessories included with the basic purchase ...

Perhaps she needs to spend more time at the gym ...

Well, of course ...

Perhaps he just needs a better cologne ...

Great moments in editing and signage ... you've gotta love 'em!

Have a good day and come back tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

Poetry Sunday

We're two weeks into the new year, and it's the first Poetry Sunday of 2018. This poem by Catherine Abbey Hodges seemed appropriate for a a time of year for looking both backward and forward, for things we remember, and for other things are live in their shadows.

January Song 

by Catherine Abbey Hodges 

Lord Byron died the very year
that sperm were proved,
beyond all doubt, to be
essential to fertilization.
No more virgin births. That year
Beethoven’s Choral Symphony
astounded the air. He was guided
gently to face the audience
that rose in an ovation
he couldn’t hear. Tears
were everywhere. Who remembers
J.L. Prevost or J.B. Dumas
or knows how they unraveled
the mystery of sperm? That same year
workers finished the Erie Canal
and Simon Bolivar was proclaimed
Emperor of Peru. The canal workers
didn’t know or care about Peru
nor did they hear the “Ode to Joy.”
My great-great grandmother was born
that year, to later travel the length
of the canal. Three hundred million
sperm swim up the birth canal.
A few thousand reach the oviduct.
The ovum chooses one (on rare
occasions more). Then, as usual,
life went on. Joseph Aspdin developed
Portland Cement while the U.S.
House elected John Quincy Adams when
the voters couldn’t make up their minds.

Have a good day. Agnes and I are traveling, and so the next post will appear on Friday, when we revisit Great Moments in Editing and Signage. See you then!

Bilbo

Cartoon Saturday

Agnes and I are still traveling without regular access to the Internet, so the usual news summary won't appear this week. The cartoons are here though, having been selected and the post written and programmed in advance. This week, a look at cartoons about the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe ...

So, how would the child welfare agencies look at such a living arrangement? ...

When shoe meets Winnebago ...

Even fairy tale characters need to take climate change into account ...

You had to see this one coming ...

When the children want to go camping ...

Home security is important, even when you live in a shoe ...

An aggressive and nosy homeowners' association can be a real pain ...

Oh, oh ...

Style over comfort, even in living arrangements ...

Home maintenance? ...

Have a good day and a great weekend. Come back tomorrow for Poetry Sunday ... more thoughts then.

Bilbo