Best of UK

red phone booth

Can you remember the last time you saw a pay phone in the US?  They used to be easily found in airports, hotels and on every street corner.  The iconic red phone booths of the UK are still abundant today.  They may not be used, or even working, as everyone uses cell phones, but they are still a familiar part of the landscape.

Tradition and history are one of the best things about the UK.  The Brits and Scots hang on to everything: if it is still serviceable, why not use it?  No sense in tearing it down; who needs a parking lot anyway?  Buildings over 500 years old are commonplace in the UK.  I visited churches built in 1080 (whoa, think William the Conqueror) and still functioning. The iconic red phone booth is merely a modern-day extention of that thinking.  They are part of countries’ history and tradition and won’t be discarded easily.

Can you hear me now?

Thought for the Day:  Most of us spend too much time on the last twenty-four hours and too little time on the last six thousand years.  Will Durant

Random Thoughts

Even a four-year old has random thoughts.   Four year olds generally just ask lots of questions, but once in a while they surprise you with a statement that makes you wonder what goes on in that little head.   Out of the blue, my grandson starts talking about “girl babies.”

He says, “Girl babies look like boy babies when they are born.”
I’m caught off guard with that statement and can only say, “Oh yeah?”                                        ”Yeah”, he continues, “girl babies and boy babies look the same when they come out.”         “Why is that?” I ask.                                                                                                                           “Cuz the girl baby’s hair is short, just like a boy baby’s”, says the 4 year old expert.                 “Well, how can you tell a boy from a girl if they look the same?”                                               “They’re different in the front”, he says with even more authority in his voice.              Now, I’m really interested in how much this little wizard knows.   I ask him, “What is different in the front?”                                                                                                                           He points to the top of his forehead at the hair line and says, “Girls have shorter hair in the front”.

Thought for the Day:  Ah, the patter of little feet around the house.   There’s nothing like having a midget for a butler.   W. C. Fields

Standin’ Aroun’

Standin’ Aroun’

How was work today, honey?   Have a busy day?  Tough day at the office?  Daddy, what do you do at work all day?  Typical questions asked of the working man when he gets home from work, questions not always easy to answer.

It’s not uncommon to see men standing around at a construction site, the subject of many jokes.  Typically, those “snapshots” of men standing around are merely a moment in time,  not the whole story, and rarely show the demands of physical labor.  While this scene shows men standing around at a construction site, I thought this snapshot was a bit unusual – the men standin’ aroun’ vertically, one above the other in perfect formation.

Again, this moment in time doesn’t tell the whole story.  What the men are actually doing is building another layer of scaffolding on the top of the existing seven layers.  By forming a “bucket brigade”, the men are lifting the scaffolding pieces, one-by-one, to the person above them — the same way castles and cathedrals were built in the middle ages.   Hmmm, where’s the crane?

Thought for the Day:  You can observe a lot by watching.   Yogi Berra

Baseball Managers

Future Baseball Managers

At four and five years old, players are already analyzing their play on the field.  The tall player in the red hat says, “Why’d ya swing at that ugly pitch?”  ”Because”, the player in the too-big hat explains, “the hit-and-run sign was on.  I had to hit the ball or the runner would be caught naked between first and second.  See, there’s a runner on second now.” The player on the far left is worried about the dangerous play, and the skeptic on the far right is thinking, “Yeah, but ya coulda done the same ting by buntin.”

And, so it goes.  Thus, the early steps down the long road of life, learning difference of opinion, give-and-take, winning and losing, etc.  Who’s right?  Who’s wrong?  Who knows?   But,  everyone wants to express their thoughts, and everyone feels free to do so.

Geez, I love this country!

Thought for the Day:  There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.          Tommy Lasorda

Aliens

Alien Super Heroes

Is “alien super heroes” an oxymoron?  I always think of super heroes as being one of us, of this planet, (not aliens) humans possessing super powers to fight the “bad guys”, and the bad guys are usually beastly nonhuman forms from unknown places (aliens).   Hmmm, a conundrum.

I was messing around with a photo taken by my daughter of her two super hero sons, ages 4 and 1, in their Mom-made outfits, complete with capes, embroidered initials on the chest, utility belts, etc.  I used a Photoshop filter called “neon glow” to get this eerie alien-like effect.  Her original photo is shown below:

SUPER brothers!

Don’t you feel a whole lot safer now?

Thought for the Day:  The next time you feel like complaining, remember:  Your garbage disposal probably eats better than 30% of the world’s population. 

Young Love

circa early 1940′s

I found this photo in an old, worn and dilapidated family photo album, one that was either popular and reviewed often or stashed away in the dark corner of a basement where the mice enjoyed making nests.  The photo was in really bad shape; I cleaned it up a little, but it still needs a lot of work.

It’s a photo of my Mom and Dad, probably taken at some carnival on the east coast somewhere.  They were either engaged or newly married when this photo was taken.  Perhaps it was one last fling before my Dad shipped out.  Looks like they were having a good time.   Anyway, they did an excellent job of getting their heads clear through the holes cut in the painting so it looked as real as possible.  Especially my Dad, it looks like he even popped his ears through the hole.

Amazing what you find in old family photo albums.  How are my descendants going to find gems like this in the age of digital storage?  

Thought for the Day:  I love being married.  It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.   Anonymous

What Is It?

Mystery Flower

Anybody know what this flower is is called?  I took this picture about two years ago in the flower garden of a local Midwest newspaper columnist.  The plant is bush-like, standing approx. 3 ft. high, and apparently does well in full sun.  The spike-like bloom is 6-8″ long. The photo was taken in early September.   (I knew its name when I took the photo, but, geez, that was over two years ago.)

I had this shot in my “Photos to Work On” file, and decided to use it to experiment with backgrounds, textures and blending modes.  I like the way it turned out.

If there are any florists, horticulturists, Master Gardeners or backyard farmers out there that can identify this for me, I’d appreciate hearing from you.  Please, no Latin names.  Thanks.

Thought for the Day:  Son, you’ve got a good engine, but your hands aren’t on the steering wheel.     Bobby Bowden,  Florida St. football coach