WH Chronicle No. 54
July 16, 2010
How gaudy--Angels playing bassoon? Maybe they ran out of harps.
Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (Sent by loyal Chronicle reader, Adita).
Sagrada Família, is a massive, privately-funded Roman Catholic church that has been under construction in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026. A portion of the building's interior is scheduled to open for public worship and tours by September 2010.Considered the master-work of renowned Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926), the project's vast scale and idiosyncratic design have made it one of Barcelona's (and Spain's) top tourist attractions for many years. It is said the famous architect emboldens the adjective function of his last name.
(Chronicle readers are encouraged to send original photos/stories!!!)
Sam has been attending a half day Legos Robotics camp this week. He is heartbroken that it is over. He kept talking about his pretty teacher and how he loved to grab her elbow.
Daryl went to cooking class. Fruit salad, chocolate pie, marshmallow rice crispy treats, chocolate covered pretzels. Basically anything you can make in the teachers’ lounge at school with the help of a microwave. Soufflés are second semester.
Jamillie, our Kazakh sweetie, wrote back to me, basically laughing at my hysterical emails about her engagement. There was probably a heartbroken guy involved, but the binding bits of this engagement seemed to have dissolved into shreds of bizarre Kazakh humor. Silly girl! I always knew Borat wasn't her type.
PawPaw seemed a little self conscious about the description of his whistling S’s. I explained that I had never noticed it until I was 22; away at a music festival listening to a trumpet player from Julliard humorously mocking southerners’ vocal idiosyncrasies. Not getting the joke, Tom leaned over and whispered, “That’s your dad.” On the phone that night, I couldn’t hear a single sentiment my dad expressed over his ear-shattering whistles. Makes one contemplate the sounds from a rural Baptist church as “forgive us of our trespasses,” must resemble “whistling Dixie”.
Stevie, aka Mr. Clarinet, expressed his perspective last week and it appears to be a common theme amongst our family.
“I just want it to be OVER! I want to you have gone and had a good time, and now you’re back and it’s over. There. I said it. “
Thanks, Stevie. That’s sweet.
Tammy took Rooster, the cat, this week. After wedging him into a kitty carrier box and chuckling about his fat poking out the holes, we drove across town to dump out a cheerful cat at his sabbatical home. We had offered the coffee machine as a reward for catcare, but since Tammy lives in a condo there was only room for a 20 lb.cat or coffee machine, but not both.
Inquiring about Tammy’s recent work load, we learned that the biker rally, which, as a Brackenridge wound care specialist, is her busiest time of year. And, luckily, this last 4th of July celebrations failed to produce any peri-anal incidents.
We’re getting ready for our annual trek to California to Bear Valley. We’ll be stationed at Tamarack Lodge--this is for Ruth (our coolest California lady with hip LA hair!):
“Back at Tamarack”
There once was a lodge at Tamarack
Whose trash the bears did oft attack.
The families were great
As was the food we ate,
Too bad the trees echoed of our French horn kacks!
African Fun Facts:
· Despite their size, hippos can gallop at speeds up to 30 km/h (18 mph).
· The smallest African country, ‘The Seychelles,’ covers an area of 453 sq km.
· 7-19-1836 HMS Beagle and Charles Darwin reach Ascension Island (coast of S. Africa)
· July 17, 1959 Louis Leakey rewrote evolutionary history with his famous discovery in Tanzania. The British archeologist unearthed a skull in the Olduvai Gorge (in the Ngorongoro Conservation area) that would change all previous hypotheses about human evolution beginning in Africa and not Asia as previously thought. The superb condition of the skull allowed scientists to date the beginnings of mankind to about two million years. The Olduvai Gorge is known as “The Cradle of Mankind.”
“We [Americans] are the lavishest and showiest and most luxury-loving people on the earth; and at our masthead we fly one true and honest symbol of the gaudiest flag the world has ever seen.” Mark Twain
“Come, let’s have one other gaudy night. Call to me. All my sad captains. Fill our bowls once more. Let’s mock the midnight bell.” William Shakespeare, 1564-1616
S~~~ingin’ S~~~~as~~~parilla,
Daris~~~
