One of my greatest fears is...

Monkeys. As a Floridian I can't begin to tell you the number of nights I've laid awake worrying about monkey hordes overrunning my fair State. We already have pythons, kudzus, and snowbirds; we don't need to add felonious little primates to the mix. 

I had planned on spending my Golden Years sitting on my porch sipping on mint julips, but increasingly I fear it will end up being a desperate defense of my homestead against vociferous monkey flocks. Racoons are bad enough, but these creatures with their little primate fingers and black hearts will terrorize any neighborhood they visit.

Why, oh why, do my retirement years have a simian Sword of Damocles hanging over them?

 

Paul Sérusier's paintings

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Paul Sérusier (1864-1927) was a French post-impressionist painter. In 1888 he joined an artist's colony and was closely associated with Paul Gaugan. I can't say that I am a fan of his color palette. He seems to have grayed-down his colors and some of his works look a bit muddy as a result. However. that may just be an artifact of the reproductions of his works.

Paul Sérusier by G Michelet

Listen to the World Spin

Get ready for a vertiginous weekend with Paper Wings.

 

A fool's errand

Stone Operation by Rembrandt van Rijn
(click image to enlarge)

A Daughter of Eve - Christina Rossetti

A fool I was to sleep at noon,
  And wake when night is chilly
Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
  A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;
  Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:
Oh it was summer when I slept,
  It's winter now I waken.

Talk what you please of future spring
  And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow:—
Stripp'd bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
  I sit alone with sorrow.

 

Paintings of convenience stores

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Convenience stores are ubiquitous. They are small markets that serve everyday needs: drinks, food, snacks, toiletry, aspirin and other medicines, and in the U.S. gasoline pumps. 7-11 started in Asia and spread to the States, the Philippines have their sari sari stores, and small utilitarian markets are everywhere.

A River Flowing Away

Get ready for a bidding farewell weekend with Colectivo Panamera and Georgina.

 

Making money in Argentina

I'm sorry if you're an aspiring entrepreneur hoping to get tips on some wackadoodle South American get rich quick scheme. This post isn't that. Rather it is a look at the innerworkings of the Argentinian mint as it produces pesos. The video doesn't really make it clear what the steps of producing the notes are, but it is very nicely filmed.