A Couple of Pictures

Makes sense, I guess

You provide the caption for this one!

Isabel Dalhousie rides again

Just got the latest Isabel Dalhousie book from the library. I jumped on the waiting list as soon as I saw it was on order. Am about a quarter of the way through, and everything, including the financial crisis, takes second place until I finish this delightful book.

Same old Isabel, still poking into intriguing mysteries. Same cast of characters: Jamie, Grace the housekeeper, little Charlie, Cat her neice with the delicatessen, Eddie, and of course beautiful old Edinburgh.

How does McCall Smith do it, keep on turning out these wise, witty, life affirming, non-saccharine novels?

At least we can laugh

Observing Ramadan: Photos

Aamir sent me this link to 35 extraordinary photos of Muslims from around the world observing Ramadan.

They are beautiful! Some of them seem to me to be masterpieces, like # 19, 27, 29, and 35.

After looking at these pictures I feel that I've been on a journey to other lands and been in the shops, homes, and mosques of good people, if only briefly.


http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/observing_ramadan.html?s_campaign=8315

Paulson

Instead of a book for this Friday's post I'm featuring the biography of a man who is very much in the news, Hank Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury. He may just be the most powerful man in the world this week, the one who is keeping everyone's boat from tipping over.

Well! Wait till you see what he is really interested in...the environment...snakes...birds...etc. ("...who liked to let the raccoons run loose in the house.")

This bio was written in 2003 while he was still at Goldman Sachs.

My kind of leader!

http://www.pbs.org/wsw/news/fortunearticle_20031229_01.html

More pictures from Yesterday

Sorry, but there are such places

Wind ruffles thin layer of water on granite slabs outside the Holocaust Museum near Battery Park.

The queasy-stomach view looking down from the pediment of the Statue of Liberty. The pointed stonework is part of the old fort on which the pedestal was built.

Liberty Island has a bird problem, mainly laughing gulls and one persistent starling.

Looking up WaterStreet (?) crossing Wall Street. It wasn't as dark as the picture came out.

We Visited the Statue of Liberty Yesterday

Much-photographed Lady Liberty being admired by yours truly on a beautiful day in September

The museum inside the pedestal contains a life-sized replica of her face, quite mesmerizing.

And her toes.

A view of lower Manhattan from Liberty Island.

At Battery Park: "Officer, can you tell us where the ferry ticket office is?" "Certainly. It's that round stone building over there. But today is Canoe Day, you have to paddle across." "WHAAAT!!?" (He was only joking and, clip-clop, clip-clop, proceeded to accompany us to the right place)

Though it's a cliche image, this is MY photo of Lady Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty has been on my Places to Visit list for many years and I was not disappointed upon finally seeing it. Hoardes of people had the same idea yesterday, the vast majority of them under 30, heartening sign. Many languages overheard. Long lines to get on the ferry, and to go through security twice (puff-puff-puff, all your possessions in a bucket) and to get off the ferry, and then at Ellis Island. Same ferry ticket covered that, so even tho we were bushed by 3:30, we wandered for a while through those huge halls imagining how it was and we looked at an exhibit of clothing and objects from around the world. Both places were well worth the visit.

As you may know Battery Park where we took the ferry is near the financial district. On the way home we couldn't help wondering what momentous things were transpiring in those buildings as we crossed Wall Street and then drove north past the AIG headquarters at 5:30 pm. No panic anywhere.

Cartoon

Bolivar

Biddie, did you see this?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jG1m4XT341oCKXPMIZlKffdhP9vwD938069G0

There's a video too on Google news page.

Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar

Mark Twain (1835-1910) is quoted more often these days, I think, than any other person with the exception of Shakespeare. Why is that? Are we just naturally cynical these days? Or are we particularly sensitive right now to the foibles of human nature since our politicians are falling all over themselves to exhibit the worst of them while the media like hungry sharks feed on those very failures and nothing else?

Coincidence: After I chose this work for my Friday blog I happened to notice the July 14, 2008 issue of Time Magazine, which has a cover story on Mark Twain. Do we like him because all of our public figures are so bland and spineless? I wish he were alive today.

Here are some of Twain's pithy sayings from his novel Puddn'head Wilson:

http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/wilson/pwequat.html

and the novel itself http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/wilson/pwhompg.html

Giant Sedum

All summer long I have been watching the giant sedum forming its flower heads. It took forever to bloom. Now the fluffy violet blooms are there but since I took these pictures the stalks have flopped over as if in exhaustion. This plant grew from a cutting so it doesn't owe me anything. I'm threatening it with a store-bought companion for support, a chrysanthemum, an interloper.

Three Dumb Things I Did Recently

Dumb Thing #1
On Friday a nice young man came up to me at the reference desk. His question was: "Where is East?" " What building are you looking for?" sez I. "Not a building. I have to know East. For praying," sez he.
"Ah," thinks I, "it's Ramadan. He is a Muslim and wants to do his prayers right now."
"Well," sez I, "I'm not really sure which way the library faces. But," big smile from me, "I can find out. I just happen to have a little compass here in my pocketbook," fishing it out. (About 18 years ago I got this little compass from LL Bean, have always carried it, but rarely used it and never at work.). He looks over my shoulder as I open it up and align the red arrow to what I think is correct. I point confidently to a corner of the room. "That is East!" "Thank you," sez he and walks off.
A little later I tell a colleague about the interesting reference question. (We like to share these things) "Oh," she sez in an offhand way, "that's East," and points in an entirely different direction. "Are you sure?" sez I. "Yes, that's East," she assures me. I drop the subject.
A little later I sneak over to another colleague, open my little compass surreptitiously and ask, "do you know if it's the red arrow that points to the direction you want or is it the white arrow?"
She doesn't know.
A while later I casually ask another colleague about compasses in general. To illustrate I bring out mine. "That's cute," she sez. "What you do is turn it until the red arrow is on N for North and then every other direction is accurate. See? East is over there." I saw.
My answer to the boy had only been 90 degrees off.
Life keeps us humble.
(I hope the boy's prayers bounced off a building and headed in the right direction after all)


Dumb Thing #2
This morning I was driving along looking at trees and enjoying the wonderful weather when all of a sudden thunka-thunka, I realized I had driven over something. The rear view mirror told me that the thing was a squirrel which had been lying there. I'd had no time to swerve. UGGGHHH!!!! My insides shriveled. I drove over a squirrel corpse! My left tires must be dripping in gore. UGH-UGH. So of course I drove around looking for a puddle to drive through to clean them off, even though there was no smell. Soon I found a big puddle and spent a minute driving back and forth in it. There, I thought, they must be clean now, and I drove off. But in a little while I began to smell an awful odor of decay. I had to close the windows even though the air was delightful after the storm.
Now I'm thinking that puddle must have had more in it than just water ... like 3 dead squirrels, a skunk and 6000 worms!
Ya can't win!


Dumb Thing #3
And yesterday I had to ....
No, I can't go on. Two's enough for now.

"A Rose for Emily"

This great story by William Faulkner is just drenched with Southern flavor, entirely appropriate in this humid week of tropical weather with hurricane Hanna lurking down south, and maybe visiting us here in a few hours time. The story was first published in 1930.
(Biddie: please do NOT read Wikipedia article first; it'll spoil the surprise)

http://www.ariyam.com/docs/lit/wf_rose.html

In times like these ...

"In times like these,
it helps to recall
that there have always been
times like these."

Paul Harvey

My New Friend

This is Tekkie, my new Toshiba Notebook.

She was given to me by my old friend Lana, with whom I go way back ... we were college room mates. I am in awe of this machine and what it can do. I discovered it can play movies on DVD so I checked out "I, Claudius" from the library and have been watching the 13 episodes all weekend long. As far as Microsoft Office goes, what I have is "Office Ready", a possible 60-day trial which I haven't activated yet, but am using the 25 free sessions first. All this probably seems ho-hum to you guys but for me it's a brave new world. Ta-dah!