Friday, December 16, 2011

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Sonic incognito

Sonic incognito, by Mike Shell

The first time we ever took Sonic to the vet, the doctor took one look, said, "Oh, you're one of those," and threw a towel over his head. Sonic was happy.

[Shadow, of course, freaks out if anything other than an adoring hand touches his regal fur.]

:-)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

First lights

Since Jim and I moved to Florida eleven years ago, we have been intrigued by the way Xmas seems to start earlier each year. By now, it seems, Xmas begins the day after Hallowe'en.

Granted, our sweet next door neighbors did, in fact, wait until December to put up their lights.


First lights, by Mike Shell
Blessèd be,
Michael

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Monday, December 05, 2011

Paradox

In The Flamingo's Smile, one of his collections of brilliant essays from Natural History magazine, Stephen Jay Gould tells a story about
the lady who visits her butcher one Friday morning, seeking a large chicken for the Sabbath meal. The butcher looks in his bin and finds to his chagrin that he has but one scrawny animal left. He takes it out with great fanfare and puts it on the scale. Two pounds.

"Not big enough," the lady says.

He puts it back in the bin, pretends to rummage amidst a large pile of nonexistent alternatives, finally pulls out the same chicken, puts it on the scale, and puts his thumb on the scale. Three pounds.

"Fine," says the lady. "I'll take them both."
Gould adds a footnote:

Jewish market day, Kensington Avenue, Toronto, Canada, 1924 (Toronto Public Library)
Dr. S.I. Joseph has since told me that he saw the same lady at a fruit stand later that day. She was asking about the price of grapefruit.

"Two for thirty-five cents," she learned.

"How much for one," she asked.

"Twenty cents," came the reply.

"Fine," she said. "I'll take the other one."
*badum-CHING*