One of my first dates with Ted was in August 1968.  There was a full moon on a clear night in Madison, and Ted told me he wanted to go to Lake Monona to take some pictures of the moon rising over the lake.  He invited me to come with him and, naturally, I said “yes,” hoping this might be the equivalent of “looking at his etchings.”

We went to the lake, he took some pictures, we got back into the car, and he took me back to my apartment.  Mission accomplished.  He didn’t even hold my hand or kiss me in the moonlight!  Apparently, Ted was oblivious to the romantic possibilities of a lakeside moonlit summer night.  Today, I saw this cartoon in the paper, and it reminded me of that date.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg heads the Ocean’s 8 team.

 

Ed. note:  If you get a chance to see the movie “RBG,” do it.  It’s a very interesting biopic about an amazing woman.

My aunt Ruth forwarded one of those internet emails filled with religious cartoons.  I don’t usually read that kind of email, but I caved on this one and the cartoons were pretty funny.  These were my favorites.

Kathy gave us some wind chimes many years ago and we hang them on the patio every summer.

 

When I saw these cartoons a few days ago, I pondered our wind chimes for a moment.

 

After my moment of pondering, I thought:  (1) our wind chimes aren’t very loud (they “ding,” rather than “bong” when they strike); (2) it’s not usually very windy here; (3) our closest backyard neighbor is about 100 feet away; (4) there are trees between our houses to muffle the sound; and (5) no one in the neighborhood has ever brought up wind chimes in conversation.  I decided to continue to enjoy our wind chimes.  Thanks again, Kathy.

Ever since our temperatures got above 60 degrees and things started growing again (3-4 weeks ago), Ted and I have been busy working outside.  We have nearly all of the once-per-year work finished, and are down to planting some annuals.  Today, I saw this picture online, and it cracked me up.

I recently posted a cat image of the world Ted received from one of his friends.  Shortly after that, my brother Steve sent me some of his favorite animal-like views of the world’s land masses.

The Mercator projection of North and South America produces this duck image.

 

Without the labels, these Australian animal profiles could be part of the Rorschach test.

When Kathy was here for my birthday weekend, I learned that this is her favorite cartoon.  It’s from The New Yorker magazine.  When we found it for her, she laughed again–as she’s apparently been doing since 10/10/94.

My brother Tom sent a cartoon to my siblings and me and it reminded me of some related cartoons I’ve saved over the years.

English majors always try to be grammatically correct, . . .

 

. . . they can be challenged when looking for employment, . . .

 

. . . and they sometimes find the perfect niche.  Thanks, Tom.

Ted and I are currently in the process of working with our travel agent to plan our Australian trip.  With that in mind, check out this drawing one of Ted’s friends sent him.

 

The rough outline of our trip has us traveling from late November into early January.  The itinerary gives us two days in Bali to recover from jet lag; a 15-day cruise from Bali to the northern and eastern  Australian coasts, ending with two days in Sydney (part of the cruise); and then immediately continuing with a 15-day cruise (same ship, same stateroom) along the eastern side of New Zealand, ending with two days in Auckland.  Then we’ll fly to Sydney to spend 3-4 days with our Australian friends, Mark and Tracey, whom we met on our 2015 European river cruise.  After that, we’ll go back to winter in St. Louis.

With so much of the country experiencing record-breaking cold temperatures and wind chills, it seems like a good time to bring out an old favorite.

Anyone who watched TV during Irma’s attack on Florida and the Florida Keys saw a lot of stupid weathermen standing outside in unsafe high winds to make their reports.  Even social media lit up with criticisms of this behavior, asking the weathermen to practice safety when reporting on storms like Irma.  Shortly after Irma left the country, I found this cartoon.

You never know when you’ll want to measure something.  You could probably stretch these when measuring your waist so that you’d come up with a smaller number.

As Five Man Electrical Band sang in 1970, “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.”  As Ted and I went from place to place running errands today, a variety of signs caught our attention.

Along the highway, MODOT’s DMS (the dynamic message sign, also known as the overhead electronic message board) reminded us that, during this heat wave, “It’s the temperature, not the speed limit.”  I wish I could have taken a picture of it, but that wasn’t possible in the traffic.

On Mexico Road, we saw this sign.

No comment.

Finally, when we went shopping for new bath towels, I saw a pillow that was probably made for me.

Now it’s time to get back to my book.

According to a posting I saw online, the El Arroyo restaurant in Austin, TX puts clever, catchy phrases on its sign board.  The sign changes frequently and it’s said that people drive by just to check out the sign.

I haven’t thought about my physics classes for a long time, but I remember this little gadget.