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Tag Archives: Michigan
Beach Day
Carl Art
Dan flew in from the Left Coast on Monday. I picked him up and we went out to lunch together. We went to his favorite, Bread Co. or more formally, Saint Louis Bread Company. What the rest of the country calls Panera, we here in the Lou still call it Bread Co., because that is what it was originally named. I took him to what I refer to as Store #1, because it is situated across the street from where the company’s headquarters use to be. We had a nice lunch and then I dropped Dan off at home and returned to work.
Dan is making furniture. He has sold some and is trying to sell some more. Does anyone want to buy a table? Annie is working with him; meanwhile both of them continue to try to find more work. Dan even plans on scouring the Saint Louis art scene, while he is town. He seems to be doing well and we stand ready to support him, in any way that we can.
The photo with this post shows an example of Carl Art, which is not to be confused with Cal Arts, where Dan graduated earlier this year, with an MFA degree. One similarity between Carl’s more primitive art work and some of Dan’s is the use of IKEA products in their respective works. Dan mounted a couple of his projects on IKEA sawhorses, while Carl has chosen to use as the centerpiece of his piece, an IKEA gnome.
We purchased three of these gnomes, years ago. They were a spontaneous purchase. I think that they were already remaindered by the checkout line. Anne and I hatched our nefarious scheme there and then in the Chicago IKEA checkout line. The next summer, at the cabin, they started to mysteriously appear. We timed their arrival with the arrival of other beach denizens. This added layer of confusion helped to obfuscate our true culpability. Then they started to move around the compound. I had great joy puzzling both my in-laws and outlaws. Two of the gnomes still live year round at the cabin, while the other one now resides in Saint Louis. Occasionally, he/she gets to rejoin its siblings for a few weeks each summer.
Carl has chosen to adorn his gnome with a bouquet of young gull feathers. No gulls were killed or injured in the making of this art. I’m sure that all of them were already dead. Carl has fashioned a tiara using a pink charity wrist ban and a trio of beach glass jewels, quite haute école d’arts. Carl’s pièce de résistance is made by capping the gnome’s obvious phallic member with a firework rocket’s yellow nose cone, racey.
Welcome home, Danny! We love you dearly!! I’ve got a feeling that this post is going to cost me. 😉
What’s Past Is Prologue
American Motor’s Ambassador SST
This election, more than any in recent memory, was won and lost on substantive issues, one in particular. The auto bailout was the lynchpin of this election. President Obama implemented the auto bailout that saved both General Motors and Chrysler. Conversely, Governor Romney wrote a New York Times op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”, stating his opposition to this government bailout.
Throughout this campaign we have heard like a steady drumbeat that this election was all about jobs. We have also been hearing that the battleground state of Ohio would be ground zero. The high number of auto related jobs in Ohio, has me asking what was Romney thinking? You cannot proclaim your opposition to the rescue of an industry that many voters depend on and then claim that you are all about saving and creating jobs. No one will believe you.
Romney doubled-down with a late campaign attack that asserted that the Obama bailed out Chrysler, now Italian owned, planned to ship Ohio Jeep production to China. The Obama campaign, Chrysler management and labor all declared this a lie. Chrysler went on to put their money where their mouth was. It gave all its employees the day off, so they could vote. It turned out not to be true that Ohio was required for Obama’s victory. He would still have won the election even if he had lost the state. Still it is somehow symbolic that last night, when the networks declared Obama the victor in Ohio, they also gave him the election.
Remembering back to this year’s Super Bowl, one of the most prophetic ads was Chrysler’s “Halftime in America”. It played during the game’s halftime and was widely perceived as a tacit endorsement of a second Obama term. It was narrated by actor Clint Eastwood, who later went on to yell at an empty chair during the Republican National Convention. I guess that Clint just works better with a script. Republicans have complained that Chrysler’s Chairman Sergio Marchionne is in the bag for Obama. I prefer to say that he has Barack’s back, as in if you watch my back, I’ll watch yours. I do have one question for Mr. Romney, how could the son of an auto company president be so clueless about auto politics?
Handcrafted
Birch Bark Canoe
Here is one more story from last weekend. Our next door neighbors, Arthur and Caroline, had an open house on Sunday afternoon. Their purpose was to show off all of the home improvement they have performed. Before I go any further, I should exclaim that Art and Caroline are great neighbors. I don’t think that they read this blog, but I would not be concerned about showing this post to them.
They have been working on their house for years. Yesterday, Arthur said twelve years, I had no idea they had been working so long. Both Arthur and Caroline are architects. This might explain their propensity for doing so much work on the house. They own a duplex that they have modified so that it can now operate as either a single or two family dwelling. With their two small children, it is now in single family mode.
The building started as a two-story structure. Starting at the roof’s central ridge-line, they fan folded the roof upwards and outwards. This created enough head room to now have a third floor. They’ve done a lovely job and after a few more details will have a finished new master bedroom suite. They built-in lots of windows that let in a lot of light and from their third floor vantage point, in a neighborhood of only two-story dwellings, they have some excellent views.
These views seem to have caused some neighborhood controversy. This trouble unfolded all around us and literally transpired over our heads. One of the largest third story windows looks down on our roof. We pay this no never mind, because we are not looking back up. This same window though offers an excellent view through our other next door neighbor’s skylight and into their upstairs shower.
The other neighbors were not pleased with this development. They wrote letters of complaint to Arthur and Caroline and to the city. I don’t think that the city would have done anything, but Art had installed anyway a motorized mini-blind system, into their skylight. This should have mollified them, but I am not so sure. Our other neighbors moved out while we were out-of-town this summer. We didn’t even know that they had moved until weeks later. I just assumed that they were on an extended vacation. Later a for sale sign showed up in their front yard. Today, on returning home, I noticed that the property had been stake surveyed, so the house is likely sold, and so it begins again.
This birch bark canoe is on display in the visitor’s center of the Soo locks. As lake boats go, it is certainly on the small end of the spectrum. Still it is a lovely looking craft and the pattern of its ribs make for a great graphic.
Lake Superior Sky After Sunset
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Lake Superior Sky After Sunset
All Saints Day
Sunset Streak on Pink Water
Why was the skeleton lonely?
It was lonely, because it had no body.
A YouTube video that shows a crying four-year-old, Abigael Evans of Fort Collins, CO has become the latest Internet meme of this election season. Abby is seen tearfully saying, “I’m tired of Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney.” Her tears were in response to one too many NPR articles on this election. The offending NPR subsequently offered this little girl a public apology. Their apology included echoes of the soothing words of her mother, “It will be over soon.”
What are the strongest days of the week?
Saturday and Sunday, the rest are weak days.
What kind of parent let’s their four-year-old child listen to NPR? Ah, I guess that would include me. It has been twenty plus years since I had a four-year-old in my back seat, but I can still vividly recall shuttling them to and fro to week days daycare to the sounds of NPR. I don’t think that either of them broke down during any of those elections, but maybe modern-day elections are just too intense, anyway, just a few more days, just a few more days.
One little girl cast a spell on our candy bowl. Her spell was supposed to make the candy jump from the bowl into her sack and it worked.
Kid’s Halloween jokes are just the best. Also, this just in, Abigael Evans polls well among Bronco’s fans. Bronco Obama should poll well in Colorado too. The following joke is from Joanie. I unilaterally tossed two of her ‘nurse’ jokes. Nurse humor in neither PG nor for the faint of heart. Here is her PG acceptable joke:
What do you get when you cross an elephant with a peanut butter sandwich? Either an elephant that sticks to the roof of your mouth or a peanut butter sandwich that never forgets.