Wurstmart (031/365)

 
"At the table of a gentleman living in the Chausee d'Antin was served up an Arles sausage of enormous size. "Will you accept a slice?" the host asked a lady who was sitting next to him; "you see it has come from the right factory." -- "It is really very large," said the lady, casting on it a roguish glance; "What a pity it is unlike anything.""

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), Physiologie du goût (The Physiology of Taste), 1825. English translation by M. F. K. Fisher, 1949.

TIME:  12:47 PM
PLACE:  Christ UCC
SUBJECT:  Wurstmart entrance sign

First off – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY HANDSOMEHUSBAND!  I am so sorry that today was filled with so many non-birthday type events.  Your birthday tart will be made later this week when you will be able to relax and enjoy it.

The day started off with a visit to the Boy Scouts all you can eat Pancake and Sausage breakfast where MonkeyBoy proceeded to set a personal record of 13 pancakes consumed.  Then HH asked me to help him walk the cold neighborhood distributing campaign literature.  After we returned, he and I headed to a Wurstmart, intending to sit and eat.  Unfortunately, there was a long wait and HH had two other meetings he needed to attend.  So we adjusted our plans, picked up our bratwurst plates as carry out and brought it home.  We ate, then he left for his afternoon events.  Not such a fun birthday for HH.  Better than last year though, when he was a sick man.

Faux Steel (030/365)

“There are three things extremely hard:  steel, a diamond, and to know one's self.”

Benjamin Franklin (American, Founding Father of the United States of America, polymath, author, printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, soldier and diplomat. 1706 – 1790)

TIME:  4:45 PM
PLACE:  Hometown skating rink
SUBJECT:  Skating rink exterior

DramaQueen went roller skating this afternoon.  She skates at the same rink that I patronized when I was her age.  The outside of the rink looks very different from when I skated there.  The inside of the facility though, hasn’t changed too radically.  The admission area, the counter where you rent your skates, the snack bar, the beginner rink and the main rink are all pretty much as I remember them.  I even think the disco ball in the middle of the rink is the exact same one from when I was younger.  They were just finishing up with a couple skate when I went in to pick her up.  I immediately thought of a boy in my 6th grade class that had sweaty hands when he and I skated together.  Ahh, memories.  Looking back, it seems to me like those were simpler times.  I wonder if DQ, when she is my age, will think how simple her life was at 12 years old.

Eye Of The Tiger (029/365)

 
"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!"

Pierre Jules Theophile Gautier (French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and literary critic, 1811 – 1872)

TIME:  6:44 PM
PLACE:  Master bedroom
SUBJECT:  Tessa

It has been a cold, cold day with a high of about 20 degrees Fahrenheit.  On days like this, I wish I could be like the cat, curling up on my master’s flannel shirt he left on the dresser, sleeping most of the day.  The only time I would get up would be to eat or use the litter box.  Then I would return to my nest, and seeing my mistress with her camera, give her a good stare.  After she takes my photo, I will give her another look which says, “Did you get what you wanted?  Fine, now quit bothering me so I can go back to sleep.”  That would be the life.

Bricks (028/365)

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”

David Brinkley (American television Journalist, 1920-2003)

TIME:  8:16 AM
PLACE:  SE side of the house
SUBJECT:  Patio bricks

Bricks can be the hard blocks like those pictured above or a bad shot that clanks off the backboard or rim in basketball.  We saw many of the latter at DramaQueen’s game this evening.  Our team lost 28-8.  2 of the 28 points for the other team was from one of our girls, when she became confused and shot at the wrong basket (this was right after half-time when we switched sides) – God love her.  HandsomeHusband is the coach again.  God love him too!

MonkeyBoy (027/365)

 
“And all your future lies beneath your hat.”

John Oldham (1653-1683), British poet. Lines to a Friend About to Leave the University

TIME:  3:36 PM
PLACE:  The Jeep
SUBJECT:  MonkeyBoy
(taken with my Samsung Propel 1.3 megapixel cellphone)

It’s Wednesday and that means the kids get out 30 minutes early and MB has music practice from 2:30-3:30pm at the junior high school.  He is bussed there from his school in the afternoon and I pick him up afterwards.  It was snowing this afternoon – big wet clumpy flakes.  While waiting the kids were having fun sliding on the sidewalk and throwing snow at each other.  MB was wearing his “Uncle John:” hat and the brim had collected the falling snow.  There was actually a whole lot more on the brim, but the car was so warm that it started to melt as soon as he sat down on the seat.

January Tree (026/365)

 
“The most ordinary of prospects caused her to stop and stare. The last of the leaves dropped from the trees, and the bare branches made lace against pale skies.”

Pilcher, Rosamunde. *The Shell Seekers*. St. Martin's Press, 1987.

TIME: 3:26 PM
PLACE:  Front yard
SUBJECT:  Red Sunset Maple tree

This is the first picture in an experiment inspired by Janasworld Fotoprojekt: zwolf2010.  I found out about this from bentonflocke’s blog.  I did not officially sign up, but I am using the idea in my Project 365 this year.  What I will be doing is this:  During 2010 on the 26th of each month, at around the same time, I will take a photo of the tree in my front yard.  It will be interesting to see the changes each month.  I chose the tree because it is right here at home and easily accessible.  I’m placing the camera at the base of the trunk (same place each month) and just pressing the shutter.  Easy peasey.

Mr. Doorknob (025/365)

 
Alice: [looking through the Doorknob's keyhole] There he is! I simply must get through.
Doorknob: Sorry. You're much too big. Simply impassable.
Alice: You mean impossible.
Doorknob: No, impassable. Nothing's impossible.

Alice in Wonderland. Directed by Clyde Geronimi and Wilfred Jackson. Written by Winston Hibler, adapted from the novels by Lewis Carroll. Walt Disney Productions.1951.

TIME:  7:05 PM
PLACE:  Living room
SUBJECT:  Doorknob face

Ever since my "Unhappy Toast" picture on Saturday, I’ve been keeping an eye out for faces in other inanimate objects.  This face in the doorknob was neither difficult, nor surprising to find.  Ever since I was young, even before I ever saw Alice in Wonderland, I always thought these types of doorknobs looked like faces and if I turned them too hard, they might yell at me.  I know, I’m strange.  HandsomeHusband would be the first to tell you that sometimes,  I’m just not right in the head.