Saturday, July 31, 2021
THE AMAZING MONTH OF AUGUST
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About Me
- David L.
- Cincinnati, OH
- This is a personal blog that I began shortly after I retired in 2009 from my social psychology faculty position at a large Midwestern university. The blog contains stories and reflections (usually by me but not always) about a variety of things past and present, e.g., growing up in Menominee in Michigan’s U.P. with my siblings, Steven, Peter, & Vicki, and our parents Vic & Doris; family life with my wife Katja, son J, daughter-in-law K, grandkids A & L; our doggies; Cincinnati and our Clifton neighborhood; everyday events; and various life interests. I try to inject some humor into most of this. I hope you find it enjoyable.
VIC'S PHOTOS
Michael O’Hara, a Menominee lawyer who served as a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court, was one of my parents’ best friends, along with his wife Jean. Their kids Terry, Kiera, Michael Dennis, and Sean were about the same age as my siblings and myself. We had many fun gatherings with the O’Hara family at their house on Green Bay or at our house on the river.
MAY 2024 HOLIDAYS
-Sat. May 4. Kentucky Derby. Held annually at Churchill Downs in Louisville, the Derby is the oldest (1875) and most popular horse race in the world. /// -Sun., May 5. Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo celebrates the MexicanArmy’s victory over the French during the Franco-Mexican War and, in the U.S., celebrates the Mexican culture and heritage. /// -Tues., May 7. VE Day, WW II. Commemorates the end of fighting in Europe with the defeat of the Third Reich. /// -Sun., May 12. Mother’s Day. Julia Ward Howe, author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic, introduced the notion of Mother’s Day in 1870. Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation officially recognizing the day in 1914. /// -Sat., May 18. Armed Forces Day. Armed Forces Day, honoring currently serving members of the Armed Forces, was introduced in 1949 to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force Days. /// -Mon., May 27. Memorial Day. Made a national holiday in 1971, Memorial Day honors those who died while serving in the U.S. military (2.7 million service members since 1775). (Source: wincalendar.com)
MENOMINEE COUNTY WILDFLOWERS
The Bushy Aster is a native wildflower in the daisy family. It can be found along roadsides and IN different types of soils. Its flowers are pink, lavender, red, and white. It grows to a height of 3 feet. (plants.ces.ncsu.edu)
CINCINNATI HISTORY
James Presley Ball Sr., a prominent African-American photographer, abolitionist, and businessman, was born in Frederick County, Virginia, in 1825 to William and Susan Ball. He learned daguerreotype photography from John B. Bailey of Boston, also a “freeman of color”. Ball settled in Cincinnati in 1849 and opened a studio with his brother Thomas. Known as “Ball’s Daguerrean Gallery of the West”, the business developed “from a small gallery to one of the great galleries of the Midwest.” Robert Duncanson worked in Ball’s studio, retouching portraits and coloring photographic prints. In 1855 Ball’s daguerreotypes were shown at the Ohio State Fair and at the Ohio Mechanics Annual Exhibition. In the 1870s Ball ended his partnership with Thomas and moved successively to Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, and Minnesota. Ball died in Honolulu in 1904. (wikipedia.org)
OSCAR BEST PICTURE NOMINEES
In Which We Serve (1942), directed by Noel Coward and David Lean; written and produced by Noel Coward; starring Noel Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles; music by Noel Coward and Clifton Parker; a patriotic British war film based on the exploits of Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten who was in command of the destroyer HMS Kelly; 115 minutes; budget, 240,000 pounds; box office, 300,000 pounds, $2 million (US rentals); nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay; NY Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film. (wikipedia)
LITTLE LIFE STORIES
am being driven mad because our downstairs smoke detector chirps loudly every forty seconds and I can’t figure out how to stop it. I tried to open the door on the detector to change the battery but, pulling as hard as I dared, I couldn’t do it. When the TV technician visited I asked him if he could do it, but he checked it out, said it was hard-wired, and he didn’t want to get shocked. That was four days ago. Katja plans to call an electrician but hasn’t gotten around to it. I worry that the c
GREEN BAY PACKERS HALL OF FAME
Willie Wood (b. 12-23-36, D.C.; d. 2-3-20, DE.C.; Safety; 5-10, 190 lbs.; USC; undrafted, 1960; Green Bay Packers (1960-71); 5x NFL champion; 2x Super Bowl champion; 8x Pro Bowl; NFL 1960s All-Decade Team.
U.P. HISTORY
Michigan Technological University, originally known as the Michigan Mining School, began in Houghton in 1885 to train mining engineers to better operate the local copper mines. The school started with 4 faculty members and 23 students who met on the second floor of a building on Montezuma Avenue in Houghton. By 1931 the college had 591 students who pursued degrees in electrical engineering, mining engineering, metallurgy, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering. Post-war enrollment bloomed, and enrollment was 1,789 in Houghton and 384 at the Sault branch. Long-dormant PhD programs were revived in the late 1950s, and Michigan Tech moved from a college to a university. In 2019 Michigan Tech established the College of Computing and began construction for its Health Technologies Complex. (mtu.edu)
FOREST CHUMS
CousCous the crayfish / Is a pretty swell dish / She keeps all the gigolos waiting / They crowd around her door / Praying for an encore / But CousCous remains aggravating
HEALTH NEWS AND TIPS
Refined carbs, like processed corn, white flour, and added sugars, have been highly processed to remove their fiber. Relatively low in nutrients, a diet high in refined carbs may be linked to weight gain and chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. (healthline.com)
AT THE SKIRBALL MUSEUM
Stewart Goldman. Hanging Figures.
FAMILY PICS
Here are Katja and myself at the beginning of the pandemic, encased in our store-bought scarves which were soon to be judged as inadequate. We were pretty conscientious mask-wearers, avoiding the plague until three years after it started.
WORLD WAR II TANKS
Comet 1A-34 (Britain)
LIFE ON THE MENOMINEE
Raccoons all wear masks on their face / Which makes each one look like a crook / They eat nuts and worms and insects / First washing their food in the brook /
TRIVIA: Jeopardy
The first episode of Jeopardy premiered in 1964 and the show ran until 1975. “The All New Jeopardy” then ran from 1978 to 1979. Today’s version premiered in 1984. There’s an unofficial fan-run archive that has nearly every clue and competitor from the show’s 37 seasons, and prospective contestants can study up on 412,883 clues. Jeopardy tapes five episodes a day about 46 days a year. By the end of 2019 the show had aired 8,000 episodes. During its run the show has gotten 43 Emmy Awards, more than any other game show. (insider.com)
DENIZENS OF THE DEEP
Wahoo are brought in as longline bycatch from vessels targeting Bigeye tuna in the eastern and central Pacific between Hawaii and California. Most fish are about 20 lbs, but they can get up to 100 lbs. on rare occasions. European explorers who mapped the Hawaiian islands found Wahoo to be plentiful around the island of Oahu. Over time the fish took on the name of the island, and the spelling changed, thus giving us the modern name of "Wahoo" for this species.
MY WEEK (Mon., 4/29 - Sun., 5/5/24)
I read “Life’s Darkest Secret” in my poetry class and nodded off in “The Odyssey”. We ate out at Dewey’s (Edgar Allan Poe pizza), Skyline (burrito), and Aunt Annie’s Kitchen (sweet and sour chicken). We FaceTimed with our son J who is excited about their upcoming Italy trip. I had my 6-month appointment with my cardiologist, all looks well. Katja had a tooth extracted at the dentist and no longer smiles. We watched the Kentucky Derby and my choice lost by an eighth of an inch. The premiere of “Maryland” on PBS brought tears to our eyes.
AT THE CONSERVATORY
OUR BEST SNOWSTORM SO FAR
ON MY NEIGHBOR'S LAWN
LIVE OAKS IN NOLA
SPRING FLOWERS AT THE GREENHOUSE
MY ROOM
AUTUMN IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
IKO AND LIL PAWS
HYDRANTS
CLIFTON IN BLOOM
TREETOPS
MID-CITY FLORA (NEW ORLEANS)
CLIFTON AT SUNSET
AT THE BOONE COUNTY FAIR
ART SPRINGS ETERNAL
SURFACES
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