Artistic Efforts

Pursuit of the Trivial

    August 10th is NATIONAL S'MORES DAY.  Some say the origin of S'mores is credited to Alec Barnum.  But the first recorded recipe appeared in a 1927 edition of  "Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts."   At first the treats  were called "Some Mores."

The Lonely Planet

Beware---only a dream

   I had driven for some reason to a rather run-down area in Troy, near an even more run-down and decrepit drug store, Rite Aid or CVS. I went inside, picked up a pack of Orbit chewing gum and called out for a clerk.  Someone answered from a room adjoined to the store.  The manager was in  one bed and the clerk in another. Both had been sleeping but woke in response to my call.  I decided to leave and because I had entered the store so suddenly, feeling kind of dizzy and in search of aid of some kind, I'd not only left my car unlocked but recalled that I'd left the driver's door opened. So it was not much of a surprise to find my car was gone. Stolen.
    To be certain it was gone, I walked all around the block to see if it was parked on the other side.  It was not.  Darkness was falling and I tried to think of how to get some help.  The only person I saw was a man sitting in his car who opened the door as I walked by and asked how I liked the weather.  I said it was fine and kept walking, not wanting to engage in conversation with the dubious character he appeared to be.  I had no phone, no money, no help, so I thought of walking to St. Mary's Hospital, but seemed unable to move, just stood on the sidewalk, empty-handed except for a pack of Orbit gum, an unpaid for pack at that.

Cat-opioid

Cat sitting inside the door:  Catnip growing outside the door.

Garden Gloves

Ticks notwithstanding, you should never pick up a bunch of brush with your bare hands.

The Games People Play

   At the V.A, this week, they played what he called a "stupid game."  He doesn't watch the Tonight Show, Ellen, or any of the  many other television shows which now incorporate such games into their programming on an almost daily basis so is unaware that, stupid as these games may be,  they are a mainstay of today's media entertainment.
    In any case, the players were asked to write down three things about themselves, with two being true and one false. The other players were to guess which was the "lie."
    He wrote:   (1) I liked to play a lot of golf.  (2) I was a scratch golfer. (3) I enjoy watching my grandson play baseball.
     He didn't say how the other players did with their lists, but his was a total failure. Nobody, including the staff members, had even a remote idea of what a scratch golfer was.  Confusion ensued. Stupid game.