Thursday, July 30, 2020

America has lost a city the size of Kanas City, Kansas -150K People to Covid-19


Airtuna89 - Wikipedia


America has lost a city the size of Kanas City, Kansas - 

150K People to Covid-19 

RIP?



Sunday, July 26, 2020

Trump and Kim - Jabberwocky




“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
      The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
      The frumious Bandersnatch!”



Saturday, July 25, 2020

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Trump Latest Tamtrum At White House / Trump S*** House




George W Bush and Bill Clinton's WH portraits banned to the Family Dining Room (service closet for the big dining room) in favor of little fingered McKinley Big fingered Teddy Roosevelt portraits in White House foyer / main guest gathering room. Some remarks by Mexican President (no doubt favorable) last week about W and or Bill got them banned from his majesty's tantrum vision.


Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Death and Taxes - July 15, 2020





New Tax Day.

Like the New Coke?

Been there. Done that.

In terms of bucket list things I do not have. Been there. Done that before the cheesy movie.

Three things come to mind of the things that I had not done in life thus far before that movie. 

One. Never been to Disney Land or Disney World. Have never been inclined to visit. Do not think that fantasy in a box from a factory works for everyone.

I do recall my aunt and uncle and cousins packing into a car and driving to California and back to be part of that American "happening" in the late fifties.

They brought me back a souvenir. A cheap black felt cap with a Mickey Mouse sticker on the front of it and along with very disappointingly floppy black ears that did not stand up on their own like they did on the Mickey Mouse Club TV show.

"My favorite aunt went to Disney Land and all I got was this lousy cheesy little rip off fake Mickey Mouse hat."

Two. As an adult I always felt cheated that I never learned to swim as a kid. No opportunities so to speak. And nobody, my parents, swam etc. A trip to the lakes in Jersey or to the Jersey shore was wading into water or occupying space in water deep enough to stand up in.

Took an adult swim class a Y.M.C.A. in Brooklyn. Missed a few classes. Conflicts with my work schedule. Could not leave work in Big Bank until the Federal Reserve Bank closed at 6:30 PM or later.

Learned the basics but have little comfort in my ability at this time in life of being able to swim ashore from a sinking ferry etc. LOL

Third, and I don't know where this came from. Took ice skating lessons before I started dating my wife in the eighties. I presently remember a hand me down box of stuff from cousins when they cleaned out the attic and moved into a new house. One items was a pair of male ice skates. They were far too big to fit me from a teenager cousin. Something he wore when skating on Pennypack Creek when frozen over in the winter near his house.

One winter, there was a patch of ice in the back side of Horn School across the street. And I dug out the black male skates and took a couple pair of socks with me and tried to fit into a very much larger pair of skates than my foot size.

For some reasons, there were some kids not from the neighborhood, skating in the back of Horn School, skating with skates. Slipping and sliding in regular shoes some were doing for entertainment. One of the strangers was a cute little girl with white skates and lone nylon leggings, a regular skating outfit almost. She knew how to skate or at least be able to make figure 8-s. She talked to me briefly telling me how she learned to skate as I sat on a cold pavement still fumbling with skates that would not fit no matter how many socks I piled on. In retrospect I think of Charlie Brown and his little Red Head friend etc. on that one.

Took lessons in the middle of nowhere back when. 10th Ave and 33rd street, used to be a Citibank check processing building, fifteen stories high, a concrete bunker kind of beauty in the building with an ice skating rink on the roof. The rink is gone now, building covered in solar panels one side? and now in the middle of the Hudson Yards development.

Back then off the grid and a ten minute walk from the closest subway. Of course there was the cross town bus, but you don't wanna go there. Can walk faster than that sardine can etc. 

Got enough falls and black and blue marks on some very hard ice when I fell frequently to skate in a straight line from one side to the other but forget the circles around the rink. 

Which led me to confirm what I already knew in terms of swimming and ice skating, that I was not athletically inclined as a child or as a young adult.

Which leads me to say that I have no other bucket list at this moment if that is what it could be called. etc. 

"...the only thing you have to do in life is pay taxes and die." ~~ Sister Sponsa Regis IHM, 8th grade teacher. 




Sunday, July 5, 2020

Tearing Down Queen Liz's Ancestor - Bowling Green NYC - July 9, 1776




New York patriots pull down the statue of George III at Bowling Green NYC, 9th July 1776, ~~ 1854 (colour litho), Walcutt, William (1819-95) / Private Collection

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