Rotunda Ceiling at U of M’s Natural History Museum

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Philosophy is wondering if that makes ketchup a smoothie. – A Sidewalk Epicurean Billboard

I had a very merry little Christmas this year. I didn’t get a whole lot of loot, but then I’m way too old to still believe in Santa Claus. At my age, it is much more appropriate for me to be Santa Claus than believe in him and I think that I did alright in that department. Yesterday, we flung the boys back out into the real world. Dave went back to Purdue and hopefully graduation in the spring. Dr. Dave, now that would be a nice present. Dan was launched in a roundabout way, first Detroit, Chicago and then back to the Lou, where we’ll see him again, before he returns to Brooklyn. Before we launched the boys on their next round of adventures, we all held the semi-annual meeting of the Antisocial Social Club at the Jolly Pumpkin. Jane and most of the Ann Arbor cousins were there. It was noticeably quieter at the table that night at dinner with Bubs and Harry. 

Today, just to get out, Anne and I went to the University of Michigan’s natural history museum. In other historical news the U of M will be celebrating its 200th anniversary next year! I’ve always liked this museum, but things there are changing. The first tell was the huge adjoining construction site. Labeled the new biology building it will also become the new home for the natural history museum. On the fourth floor, they even have a rather upbeat display about the process and its end result. Unfortunately, for their upbeat assessment the math just doesn’t add up. The existing collection will be shoehorned into a space that is only 60% the size of the current one. Plus, I can’t see how the above pictured; beautiful rotunda ceiling is going to make the move. The new building is all concrete, steel and glass. Such is progress, making way for the new, by throwing out the old. I guess that this is why antiquities become so valuable, few people care enough about the past to save it. Afterward, we walked over to the Red Hawk for lunch and drowned our sorrows.

Never eat ingredients you can’t pronounce, except quinoa. You should eat quinoa. – Sidewalk Epicurean

Holiday Monsters – Allosaurus and Archaic Whales