R.I.P. Trader Joe

Joe Coulombe, the founder of Trader Joe's markets, has died at the age of 89.

It's a sad day for people like me, who love the quirky little stores with great products, including Two-Buck-Chuck . . the California wine that used to sell for $1.99 a bottle.

Great job, Joe.

(The final picture was taken on a sunset cruise off Key West enjoyed by the BRD and Beau Jack this week. It just seemed to fit.)

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

In this bleak old world, let me try to bring a ray of sunlight, a little joy.

Without further comment, here are The Friday Funnies for this last week in February.

O.K. Gentle Readers, that's all I got.

I hope you're feeling a bit cheerier.

Now go out and commune with nature and have a great trouble-free weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(. . . groan . . .)

TBT - STARDOM IN THE MAKING

Since it is Thursday, I decided to make it ThrowBack Thursday and see what I could find in Oddball's past.

This post from 12 years ago shows you where stars come from.

March 29, 2008

March Madness - - - - - truly!

Before I begin, let me warn those who aren't interested in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament that this post might get pretty boring.

I was looking at the bracket today and realized the Elite Eight, as they're called, has four Number 1 teams (North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis and U.C.L.A.) still remaining. Sounds like pretty good rankings by the people who do such things, right? After those four, things fall off a bit but not much. There is one #2 team (Texas) still playing and two #3 teams (Xavier and Louisville). That leaves only one team and the ranking drops way off to #10 Davidson. Davidson? Who'd a thunk it? Well, I can tell you who the believers are. Gonzaga, which came into the Midwest Regional as the number 7 team; Georgetown, which was the number 2 team; and Wisconsin, which was the number 3 team. Those three powerhouses were all unceremoniously beaten by little Davidson, led by little (6 foot 3) Stephen Curry, who has scored over 100 points in the tournament so far.

Next up for Davidson is mighty Kansas, one of those four remaining #1 teams, Sunday. Will Davidson surprise yet another basketball powerhouse?

Ask the boys from Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin.

It could happen and a true Cinderella team could be playing in the Final Four. They don't call it March Madness for nothing.

Back to the present now, Kansas defeated Davidson by two points and went on to win the championship. But that "little" player for Davidson, Stephen Curry,  went on to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA and, with his amazing 3-point shooting, has set just about every record you can imagine.

I wonder how often he thinks back on that 2008 season.

HANDLE WITH CARE

Some years ago a group of musicians and friends got together to record an album or two under the name "The Traveling Wilburys".

It brings back good memories of those who have passed and those still with us.

TIGERS

The biggest of the cats and, for my money, the most beautiful.

MEDITATION

There were a number of interpretations of yesterday's photo.

I was thinking "lines of communication from the haze of the past."

But I may have been putting too much into it.

If the picture made you think, all the better.

Now enjoy this mind boggling video.

YESTERDAY'S ENIGMA AND A NEW CHALLENGE

The photo from yesterday's post was, indeed, a flag of the United States, on a pole perhaps a mile from my location.

Shot with the telephoto lens on my little point and shoot camera, through the mist of a lightly raining day, then blown up as much as I could with my photo editing software.

Hence, the quality.

But that mistiness made me think and I believe Jager had the best guess as to my intentions, with Ball Points perhaps leaning, and Val's second guess, as well.

But let that be.

I've got another photo from yesterday for you all to interpret.

The original . . .

and how I cropped it . . .

I have a vague idea but tell me what it means to you.

ENIGMATIC

What do you see?

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Well hello, Gentle Readers.

Keeping up with the news?

You poor people, I can ascertain that it's time for my weekly handbag of hilarity.

Here goes.

O.K. folks, while you're figuring that one out I'll just take the opportunity to tell you to have a terrific weekend and toddle off.

Oh, and always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(awwww, I think you want to come in, don't you?)

TBT - Smoke

Once in awhile, I like to look back and see what I was blogging about in the past.

Today was such a day (because I couldn't think of anything else to blog about.)

When I looked back ten years I found a snowstorm had hit us in 2010 but a couple of days before that we had an even sadder event to report.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

R.I.P. Smoky

This is our big boy cat Smoke. We had to put him down today. He got sick, seemingly in 24 hours, and when a veterinarian examined him this morning, he found his red blood cells were down to nearly nothing. It was probably feline leukemia.

It's a pretty sad day around here but I wanted to leave a tribute to a great cat.

I used to joke that when he was younger he liked to read.

He adopted us one day but grew to be larger than either of his step-sisters. Even so he was the most placid of the three. Jazz (on the left) used to hiss and growl at him but Smoke never retaliated. Occasionally Muggles (center) used to have words with him. Smoke just gazed at him.

While he was the only one of the cats we allowed to go outdoors, he spent a lot of time in contemplative poses inside.

But when he did go out he seemed to be a natural poser for my camera.

Or a snoozer on my deck chair.

He was nimble, whether tip-toeing around the edge of a fountain for a sip or two of water . . .

. . . or doing his gravity-defying walk across the top of the fence.

He liked to snooze on the tiles, while keeping a lookout for any brave small birds, or lizards, or bugs.

He is gone now and he will be missed. Our Smoky.

It's always sad to lose a member of one's family, even if it's "only" a pet.

BOB SHANE

Yesterday I featured the Kingston Trio in a short blog post.

It apparently brought back good memories for quite a few of you.

Steve (in London) called my attention to the news that the last of the founding members of the group, Bob Shane, had just died recently.

Through the generosity of the Great Google, I learned that that occurred just down the road from me, in Phoenix, and that he had been 85 years old.

I was struck, in reading his obituary, that he said in a 2011 interview that occasionally someone will call him and ask him to go on stage and he would quickly pack a couple of oxygen tanks and go.

I assumed that meant he would have the oxygen backstage to prepare him for his performance and to renew him afterward.

But no!

I learned that he would go on stage with his portable oxygen tank and perform with the tubing strapped on.

So here, for all of you fans, is a video of him in his senior years wearing oxygen and singing the song that he made his own.

That is an illustration of a trouper.

AN ITTY BITTY DITTY

Feeling depressed about the current situation of the World, are you?

Take heart.

This tuneful little melody was recorded many years ago by the famous Kingston Trio.

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Feel free to sing along.

BLUEBERRY CLAFOUTIS REPEATED

HOME BAKERY

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Hello World and how's everybody?

Feelin' good, or lookin' over your shoulders?

I hope you haven't forgotten that this is that very special day of the year for Chocoholics.

So . . .

There.

Now that I've got that out of the way, we can get down to the real business of the day.

Namely, humor!

O.K. I guess we know what that will get him.

Well you valorous, vainglorious, victims of the big V day, visit your vixens, avoid vitriol or ventriloquence but verbalize (not vulgarly, please) your vigilance and the vibrations of your heart strings.

In other words, have a great weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .