We are going to a wedding this weekend. So, Anne got her toes painted. Aren’t they lovely? Earlier, back in Monterey she also found a new to her dress at Nice Women’s Consignment Boutique. It looks like the weather will even cooperate this weekend with her wardrobe selection.
Here is a little link to a throwback video game, Epic Furious. You can die in it and since you’re playing the President maybe that’s a victory after all. Try it!
Octopuses seem to be having a moment now or maybe it is just me. There is the recent film Remarkably Bright Creatures, which dropped just last week. Featuring an octopus and a couple lonely humans, it is a sweet sentimental movie that was a joy to watch. Before that a Japanese archeologist had announced his discovery of giant cretaceous octopuses. He found their fossilized beaks embedded in ocean floor nodules that had to be microplaned apart to find. Earlier this year, when we were in Monterey, where we went to their aquarium. We closed it that day, but before we did the Giant Pacific Octopus that lives there came out of hiding and interacted with the few humans still around. A few years ago, I was scuba diving in the Virgin Islands and with the help of our guide, saw an octopus in the wild. Finally, harkening all the way back to childhood, I owned an octopus or at least its remains. It was small, a little over an inch and had been dried. A little bit gross but fascinating still.
Yesterday, we went to the annual Mother’s Day Laumeier Art Fair. This has been our usual Mother’s Day fare for quite sone time. We manage to hit the pick day, both warm and sunny. Lots of neat gewgaws to see. We bumped into Chris and Sandi there. Afterwards, we went to Frisco for a late lunch. Apparently, Mother’s Day and its environs is the busiest time for restaurants all year. Who knew?
The original lyrics were written in 1915 by Howard Johnson and the song is titled Mother: It turns out that Howard Johnson also wrote, “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”.
M Is for the Many things she gave me,
O Means only that she’s growing Old.
T Is for the Tears she shed to save me,
H Is for her Heart of purest gold.
E Is for her Eyes with love light shining,
R Means Right and Right she’ll always be.
Put them all together, They spell MOTHER
A word that means the world to me.
The picture with this post is of some flowers for Mother.
This is a repost of a post that was written several years ago. It was written for my mother, but also for my mother-in-law. My mother had passed away, and now recently, so has my mother-in-law. Actually, Gene, my mother-in-law really owns this post. Her three lovely daughters grew up singing this song to her, much to her chagrin. Maybe this parody of the Mother song that I found on the internet, is closer to what she hears when the original lyrics are sung:
M is for the many things she gave me
O is for the other things she gave me
T is for the things she gave me
H is for her things, which she gave me
E is for everything she gave me
R is for the rest of the things she gave me
Anne asked me not to originally post this post for fear of the pain that it might cause her mother. I only heard her childhood guilt speaking. In truth it is I who should feel guilty, because it is my naked ambition that drives this post. My informed readers might ask, how is this different? Since, ’09 this post has been a gold mine of blog hits. Every April it begins. In May, it begins to crest and come Sunday, interest will peak and then crash. That is why now is when I should act. I just did a google search looking for the author of this song. I typed in, “M is for the many things she gave me lyrics” and RegenAxe is the number one website returned. I feel lucky. Thank you, Mother.
To all of the forlorn sons and daughters that have found the previous post, the poem MOTHER is in the public domain. It is an old troupe, much copied, but it is free to use. If you are emailing your mom, I cannot compete with the simple cut and paste. If you are willing to go the extra mile, I offer this advice. Say, “I love you Mom.” Praise her. Say she looks nice, say she said something interesting. Tell her something you did that would make her proud. This last is the toughest, but is the one that will make her the happiest on Mother’s Day.
Automata are self-operating machines or kinetic sculptures designed to imitate life and tell stories through mechanical movement. Historically, these devices served as entertainment or religious artifacts, with roots in ancient Egyptian jointed figures and Greek pneumatic models. Traditional automata rely on hand-cranked mechanisms to drive intricate, often hidden, gear systems, creating whimsical motions like dancing, flying, or writing.
Historically, automata were designed to mimic living creatures or perform human tasks, with 18th-century engineer Jacques de Vaucanson designing elaborate, realistic creatures, such as a famous mechanical duck. Today, automata are increasingly popular as a form of artistic expression, often created with wood, metal, and wire, and frequently seen in contemporary “curious contraptions” exhibitions. Modern makers sometimes incorporate digital tools, like 3D printing and laser cutting, while still relying on traditional, visible mechanical principles.
This week Dan flew to LA, where he participated in an event entitled Automata, and Traditional Mechanisms for Kinetic Movement. This event occurred at UCLA. Pictured are two of Dan’s automata that he demonstrated there.