Tuesday, 23 January 2018
Came across a word today I don’t remember encountering before: derp. Seems like I would have seen/heard it before. I found it in a Krugman-NYT headline…and the article text, duh.
Derp means “foolishness or stupidity.” Seems like I would have encountered it, oh?, maybe a thousand times in the last year at least…. Maybe I haven’t been paying attention (hrrrrumph).
Monday, 22 January 2018
I “knew” this plant long before I remember hearing its name. I knew it had nice red berries come autumn. And some bright red leaves. I knew it had stiff woody branches, and no thorns. I knew that the branches were quite rigid, far more than most shrubs.
When I heard the name, I heard coh…toh…neee…assss…ter. Sure, fine. Then, sometime later, I saw the name spelled out, and I tried not to sound it out (as I was told to do, over and over; and over) because I found sounding it out to be misleading.
This is an artistic rendering of a section of an autumnal branch of a cotoneaster. So, again, it’s a distortion of reality…?
Then again, cotoneasters are taxonomically related to photinias. 😎
Sunday, 24 December 2017
I am not certain because of the veil of time, but I suspect that “bow” was the word that introduced me to the concepts of homonyms and homophones. I knew about this kind of bow (for hair**, too), then about bowing before royalty*. I really fought the idea that the same spelling could be pronounced differently, and realized that spelling had just revealed itself to be a can of worms, and, I suspect, nematodes.
Then I found out about “beau” and that it was French, and that may have put me off French for decades.
* Confession: we have finished season two of “The Crown” and are working our way through “Shetland.”
** Not mentioning “hare.” Or vale (first sentence). I realized that spelling was a trap. Still is. Many times people told me that Spanish is spelled the way it sounds. Not so. See: the trap is not only in tricky English.
Saturday, 2 December 2017
Would you call this a bi-color azalea bloom? Big one, too….
This flock (aka flamboyance or pat or…your term here) of flamingos are to mark the houses on the tour. Or this collection/bunch marks a super-house?
Too much pink? This is crepe myrtle bark, with wrinkles and marks rather like a desert graben.
Sunday, 26 November 2017
My constant companion these days is medically named paresthesia. It is the sensation mostly on the top of my foot and toes—they feel like they are “asleep.” With a vengeance. Sometimes I call it Pares, and think Paris, as a distraction.
The photo is to symbolize (lamely—haha) the light at the end of the tunnel. Or, “this, too, shall pass.” Something along those lines.
Thursday, 26 October 2017
We had our own little seasonal moment last night when the JCB dug in the blanket chest and, tada!, we had our first night under the feather duvet. Back in the MiddleAges (exaggeration) when I was a kid, we had quilts and nary a duvet.
Tuesday, 1 August 2017
As far back as I remember, I associate lavender with my grandmother. That may well change in the future…and I’ll associate it with my foot-thing….
Nard/nardus was the ancient Greek name….
Friday, 30 June 2017
This morning we checked out the Museum of Contemporary Art’s show “Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats its Own Leg.” The title comes from a Japanese saying to the effect that an octopus in a mortal jam will eat off its own leg to survive aware that it will soon regrow, with the implication that sacrifice is necessary to create new growth. Kinda gory way to frame that notion…. Murakami was born in 1962.
The exhibit shows his pieces in chronological order, and allowed us to see how his art has changed. His sense of color aesthetics is stupendous, and was there at the beginning. This is a 1999 piece he named “Super Nova.” It portrays the world after an atomic bomb…mushrooms are a frequent theme in traditional Japanese art, and of course the bombs make mushroom clouds….
Here’s a detail from a recent multi-panel work, showing more of the influence of anime. Just for this show, we were told, he designed an octopus, used for the promotional materials…you’ll have to find it “out there” if you are interested. Big eyed. Pink.
Wandering the streets toward the next stop, we window-shopped Lamborghinis (one headlamp only shown) and Bentleys (even saw a muddy one!—I didn’t know mud stuck to Bentleys!).
We also wandered by this lion, with a moldy green pelt.
In the broadcasting museum, we unexpectedly found Tim Russert’s “Meet the Press” set.
And…we took the subway back to our (temporary) apartment. Beautiful tile work on the walls…public art that mostly goes uncelebrated.
Thursday, 29 June 2017
I jokingly said this street art was Abe and Mr. Sweater. Turns out it is something like Abe and the Common Man. Common Man being white guy in cable-knit sweater. Nothing against white guys or sweaters. But.
We took a fantastic architectural boat tour, and this was across from our dock. The somewhat unexpected rooftop open-air circular temple can be rented for special occasions.
Our boat went out to the lock that prevents the Chicago River from dumping into the lake—its natural flow—but did not leave the river. Such a great view west of the skyline.
The grass-edged landform to the right was where the Euro-Americans first settled here. They heard the Indians saying something that they distorted into “Chicago” thinking that was the name of the spot. Turns out the Indians were commenting on the marshy vegetation—stinking onions. Or so our wonderful guide said.
Even more than the building in the previous shot, this one was designed with a plain façade meant to reflect what was around it.
This one, on the other hand, has a stylized map of the rivers. That red “bench” feature way up there indicates the location of this building, a “you are here” marker.
Spotted on our way back from deep-dish pizza engorgement….
Wednesday, 7 June 2017
It never occurred to me to think about decoding firewood collection behaviors from the archaeological record—reconstructing species burned from the charcoal/ash, yes, but not all the collecting as a social behavior.
I’m pretty sure Sebastian the Ginger Cat has never thought about firewood.
BTW, the Spanish for firewood is leña. It’s not in the typical travelers’ Spanish vocabulary list. Translations of beer, toilet, laundry, please and thank you, yes—but not firewood.