Sequin Spill

We have been tracking (double meaning) with interest the progress of a spill of sequins. "A spill of sequins?" you say, with an upward intonation.

Yes, at the Jefferson Avenue entrance to an alley between 4th and 5th, someone spilled a package of sequins of mixed colors and sizes, and since we go downtown fairly often, and pass this corner most times that we go down, we have been able to observe the sequins spreading gradually up and down Jefferson, and north and south along 4th and 5th Streets.

[Update 1: Yesterday, we saw someone bending over the site of the sequin spill, apparently about to take a photograph of it. We'd have stopped to compare notes with her, but we were pressed for time.]

[Update 2: Today, we observed our first sequins west of the railroad tracks -- they are getting around, like animal-borne seeds.]

Irresistible Igor

John, David and Tom absolutely adored the character roles of Dwight Frye such as Fritz, assistant to Dr. Frankenstein (and yes it was Fritz, not "Igor" -- that was another assistant to another Frankenstein) and Renfield, servant of Dracula. We impersonated Frye so often that when Tom was cast as Renfield in a high school production of Dracula, it must have been the easiest part he ever had to rehearse for.

Peas of the Pharaohs

The other day, while looking for something entirely other among the foodstuffs in the back hall, John accidentally spilled a #10 can of dried peas. As he struggled to pick them up, Kathe observed that they were the remnants of a 50-pound bag she had been given in the early 1960s, when she had been running a free-food program rather like Food Not Bombs.

We picked up as many of the peas as we could find and shook the dust off them in a collander before putting them back in. Another quantity were swept up with a dustpan and then thoroughly washed, after which we put them to soak. We plan on having some ancient peas tomorrow or the next night.

But that still left peas to turn up in all manner of places over the rest of the day -- in the kitchen, in the living room, in the car while we were out (they must have been in the folds of John's clothes -- somehow).

Later. Kathe challenged John to guess what interesting object she had found on the stairway. He got it in one.

And just now, as we lay in bed, a dried pea crept out of the covers and leapt onto the floor -- we're pretty sure it wasn't under the mattress....

Is this the last? Watch this space for further developments.

Periodic Table of Oregon

Just something funny I stumbled across while looking for something entirely other.

The Case of the Kidnapped Corpse

Good to hear that Rumanians are keeping up with the old traditions, like bodysnatching.

What to do with that sweater . . .

You know, the one Grandma knitted for you and it's waaay too big . . .

http://pictureisunrelated.com/2009/11/28/the-snuggie-2-0/

The Sad Tuba

A handy sound effect to add when responding to a really embarrassing FAIL: http://www.sadtuba.com