The One I Love

Get ready for a skirt-chaser's weekend with the Chocolate Factory.

 

Walking in David

David sits astride the Pan-American highway in western Panama. It is primarily an agricultural hub, but other investment monies are strengthening its economy. As you can see from the walk, it looks like a well-tended and solidly middle-class city. I imagine that there is a fair number of expat retirees who have moved there.

 

Whiling away the hours

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The Turks have a proverb which says that the devil tempts all other men,

but that idle men tempt the devil.

- Charles Caleb Colton -

That the Devil finds work for idle hands to do is probably true.

But there is a profound difference between leisure and idleness.

- Henry Ford -

As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy.

- Samuel Johnson -

People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.

- A. A. Milne -

 

Crossing the Atlantic with coffee

Sunrise in the mid-Atlantic

I'm back from my vacation. Since, in my youth, I had crossed both the Pacific and Indian oceans I decided to add an Atlantic crossing before geezerhood did me in. So, I booked a cabin on a repositioning cruise from Barbados to Lisbon Portugal. I sailed aboard the Royal Clipper, which is a larger version of the Star Clipper I did my earlier Caribbean cruise aboard. 

There were only ~140 passengers aboard, which was half capacity. That was nice. Most of the passengers were European and I ended up hanging around with a Canadian couple, a few British, and a cheerful Dutch fellow. Strangely, and in the 'it's a small world' category, I also met an American who had been aboard the carrier that relieved my carrier task force in our deployment to the Indian Ocean during the Yom Kippur War. We got to swap many a sea story.

As for my odd selection of pictures below...  when I suggested the crossing to my wife she looked at me like I was crazy. I took that as a no. Instead, she flew to Portugal with her sister and brother-in-law and did some touring while I was bobbing around in the ocean for days on end. She asked me to send her pictures of my travels and so, swell guy that I am, I annoyed her by documenting my trip via pictures of the coffee pots, coffee shops, and cups of coffee I encountered in my transit. Always remember, it is the little things that are important in life.

To avoid the worries of flight delays and short connection times I built a lot of time into my schedule. As a result I spent one night in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a good thing; my flight was delayed and I eavesdropped on a couple of businessmen who were in a panic over making their connection. I felt their pain. Above is the coffee machine in my hotel room.  

Above is the coffee shop at the Hilton Resort I stayed at. At one of the restaurants they had fish and chips on the menu for $68. That seemed a bit pricey to me, so I subsisted on over-priced ham and cheese sandwiches from the coffee shop instead.   

Above is a pigeon who befriended me in the seating area outside of the coffee shop. He was always hopeful I would slobber some crumbs about. I confess to considering catching and eating him to spare myself from dropping $68 for fish and chips.  However, since I figured the other guests would be aghast at that, I resisted the thought and the little fellow survived.

This is the coffee station on the ship. It was open 24 hours a day and the coffee was good enough. The only drawback to it was the number of tea choices cluttering the area. Plus, the tea drinkers, who had to fiddle with hot water and tea bags, took longer that the coffee drinkers to fill their cups. That can be a crisis when you're getting your first morning cup of joe.  

These are the espresso machines behind that bar. They were a welcome addition to your coffee choices.   

This is a cup of espresso in a cafe in Ponta Delgada, Azores. The Azores were the only stop on the crossing and Ponta Delgada was a pleasant, touristy little city. Being on dry land that wasn't rocking back and forth was a welcome change.

 

My hotel in Lisbon didn't have a coffee maker in the room. Instead, you had to go to the lobby and buy one out of this vending machine. All the labels were in Portuguese, so you had to guess and experiment to get something close to what you were looking for. When you did get it, it was some sort of instant coffee concoction. In Lisbon they gasbagged on endlessly about Portuguese coffee culture. This machine seemed to lack that bragged about culture, but it was serviceable.
   

Comfortably Numb

Get ready for a detached weekend with Mike Masse and Jeff Hall.

 

Egyptian pyramid functionality

To modern eyes the pyramids are evocative, but mysterious structures. Why were they built? This video discusses a theory about how the pyramids were intended to be used.

The original burial structure for pharaohs was a mastaba. It was a tomb surrounded by storage rooms. These rooms were full of supplies that the Pharoah would need in his afterlife. Of course, eternity is a long time, and the supplies would eventually run out, impoverishing our ghostly Pharaohs.

That wouldn't do. Contrary to the prevailing notion that pyramids were sealed to protect their wealth from grave robbers, pyramids and their associated temple complexes were designed to be accessible. Their storerooms would be ceremonially resupplied to assure the dear, departed Pharoah of a comfortable life beyond the veil. It was only when central authority began to collapse that pyramids were sealed to protect their interiors.

    

Our friend the tin can

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I remember being 20 years old and I'm living by myself for the first time with my buddies and what you're worried about day to day is what am I going to eat for dinner?
I don't know how to cook, so I've got to get canned food.
Those are the only worries you have in the world.

- Brad Marchand -

The first meal was an object lesson of much variety.
My father produced several kinds of food, ready to eat, without any cooking,
from little tin cans that had printing all over them.

- Mary Antin -

I live out of cans a lot. But I try to indulge only in healthy canned food.

- Dwight Yoakam -

The path of civilization is paved with tin cans.

- Elbert Hubbard -

  

Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher

Get ready for a stompling weekend with Emilie-Claire Barlow.

 

The puzzle of mechanical stitching

I had never considered the complexity of the problem engineers faced in designing a sewing machine. With hand stitching, you push down through the fabric and the reverse the needle to push back up through again drawing the thread along. Sewing machines simply push the needle up and down without reversing it, so new methods of sewing needed to be designed. 

 

Old-timey gas pumps

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These are images of old gas pumps. Being a new technology at the time, their design and methods of usage had yet to be standardized. These are from the Flashbak post The Industrial Beauty of Vintage Gas Pumps. There are more examples at that link. 

Help Me Make It Through The Night

Get ready for a lonesome weekend with Corey and Stacey.

 

Making shovels

We visit a small factory in SW Asia (I think it is in Pakistan, but it might be in India) where they are making shovels. As is always with these types of videos, the work is dirty, laborious and slightly dangerous looking.

 

Happy Easter

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In this Victorian Easter card we have an old geezer getting knocked silly by rabbits tossing Easter eggs at him. I guess it is all about the end of winter, but it seems rather uncouth nonetheless. Anyway, Happy Easter and I hope you're more civil and in the spirit of the holiday than our rabbit hooligans.  

 

Things that cannot be undone

Corpse of a 1951 Lincoln Lido Coupe
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The Debt - Paul Laurence Dunbar

This is the debt I pay
Just for one riotous day,
Years of regret and grief,
Sorrow without relief.

Pay it I will to the end —
Until the grave, my friend,
Gives me a true release —
Gives me the clasp of peace.

Slight was the thing I bought,
Small was the debt I thought,
Poor was the loan at best —
God! but the interest!

 

Sloop John B

Get ready for a navigational weekend with Waylon Jennings.

 

Gone fishing

Gone Fishing by Teresa Trotter
(click image to enlarge)

I'm headed out on a vacation and won't be around for a bit. I have some posts lined up to auto-publish. They are a kind of low effort, but truth be told, most of my posts are low effort so you probably won't spot a difference. If nothing else my spam bots will be happy that they can run amuck. In the meanwhile, don't click on any links in the comments.

 

Paintings by Artem Rogowoi

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This is a small collection of paintings by Artem Rogowoi. He's a contemporary Ukrainian artist. He's previously worked in art restoration, and uses his knowledge of earlier painting techniques in his works. 

Artem Rogowoi

Look What They've Done To My Song, Ma

Get ready for a corrupted weekend with the MonaLisa Twins.

 

Cooking burritos in the Capathian Mountains

Since she's white I suppose some knuckleheads would accuse Mairia of cultural appropriation for her theft of a burrito recipe. However, to me it looks to me like a tasty example of cultural diffusion.

 

Prints by Suzuki Harunobu

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Suzuki Harunobu was an 18th century Japanese print maker. He is the first printmaker in Japan to produce full color prints (prior to him printers used 2 to 3 colors), as such he was extremely influential in the development of Japanese prints. He was from a samurai family and was well connected and popular in his day. He is best known for his idealized images of pretty young women. 

The image at the top of this post is one such print. She is Ôsen, a waitress at a teahouse in Edo. We tend to think that being a 'celebrity for the sake of celebrity' is a modern thing, but of course it isn't. She was renowned for being a beauty, with the teahouse having towels with her image on them, as well as selling prints, picture books, and even dolls of Ôsen. Today, instead of being a teahouse waitress, she might be an influencer of some small fame. Who knows?

See how when spring begins to fail
each opening flower fades;
So too there is a time of age
and death for beautiful maids;
And when the fleeting spring is gone,
and days of beauty over,
Flowers fall, and lovely maidens die,
and both are known no more.

(Burial of the Flowers - Cao Xueqin) 

I Don't Ask For Much

Get ready for a petitioning weekend with Kostis Maraveyas.  

  

Saying goodbye in Fiji

A woman, who had married a person from another village and who's much older now, returned for a funeral. This is how her relatives gather to say goodbye to her when she leaves again. It is an elaborate ceremony, featuring prayers, singing a hymn, speechifying and drinking a fair amount of kava and grog. Large parts of it are in English.  

This is from the YouTube channel of Uraia Tabua, He has a lot of other videos documenting everyday life in Fiji.

 

Paintings of tavern exteriors

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This a is collection of paintings of taverns as seen from the outside. Some present a dignified face to the world, others a riot of neon competing for attention. Duffy's Tavern, pictured below, is in my neck of the woods. It is a pleasant island bar with good burgers.

Under the Boardwalk

Get ready for a nethermost weekend with na Relo.

  

Inside a teapot factory

I guess I should have known that teapots were cast, but I never thought about it. Then again, I am a coffee drinker and rarely think about tea at all.

 

Eric Sloane paintings

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Eric Sloane was a mid-20th century American artist who primarily painted rural scenes. He started out as a sign painter, but moved on to fine art where he had considerable success. He painted in the Hudson River Valley School style. He was also very interested in weather, and so many of his landscapes feature elaborate cloudscapes as well. Oh, and barns, he painted a lot of barns. 

He also was an author and book illustrator. In addition, his interest in meteorology led him to work with the U.S. Airforce in producing materials.   

Eric Sloane

Susurros del Viento

Get ready for a breezy weekend with Alba Armengou.

  

Animalcules and you

Animalcules is an old term for microscopic organisms. Since it is scientifically imprecise it has fallen out of use and has drifted into the realm of archaic words. That's too bad, I think it is a wonderful and descriptive word. Anyway, on to the topic of this post, these are some microscopic videos from the YouTube channel Journey to the Microcosmos. 

On the microscopic scale, our body is an ecosystem. Our bodies host parasites, symbiotics and wandering travelers. These videos show some of the little creatures, and how they interact with us.

Artwork of Bernard Buffet

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Bernard Buffet was a mid-20th century French artist. He painted and produced prints and he was very prolific creating 8,000 pieces over his career. He was an expressionist and anti-abstract, preferring figurative art. He was popular with the public, but less well regarded by the élites of the art world. Eventually, because of his flamboyant and ostentatious lifestyle, the general public began to turn on him as well and his reputation dimmed. Currently, his popularity with collectors is increasing as his works are reevaluated.  

Bernard Buffet self-portrait