FUN AT AVENIDAS

Every day at Avenidas at the one o’clock hour there is some kind of entertainment.  The other day we had quite a talented pair -- a fellow who played the piano, and a lovely young lady who is a vocalist.  They entertained us for nearly an hour with songs from musicals that was most enjoyable.  Then when they were about to wrap it up, we insisted on an encore.  And they agreed.  But, we were told, when they finished that song, we would have to name it, and say who the composer was.  Fair enough.  I was prepared for some obscure piece of music.  This is what we got:

Somewhere over the rainbow 

Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of  

Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow 

Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream 

Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
 And wake up where the clouds are far Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly 

Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

 Clearly an obscure number.  When they finished, I guessed Chattanooga Choo Choo by Louis Armstrong.  The pianist gave me a funny look.  Okay, Over the Rainbow.

And composed by?  And here is where I really startled me, because I didn’t think I knew who the composer was.   But I opened my mouth and said, “Harold Arlen.”  Did you know that was correct?

Funny signs --

GALAPAGOS, concluded

Amalie and I had thought that we would have liked to visit the Galapagos Islands, but that never happened.  So I'll have to settle for photographs.

The name booby comes from the Spanish term bobo (which means 'stupid' or 'fool' or 'clown') because the Blue-footed Booby is (like other seabirds) clumsy on land.

 Bartolomé Island is one of the "younger" islands in the Galápagos archipelago, and is one of the few that is home to the Galapagos penguin, the only wild penguin species to live on the equator. 

The green turtle is another animal that resides on the island.

 Alcedo Volcano on Isabela Island has the largest tortoise population and is the only volcano visitors can climb.

 Galapagos is home to the only surviving giant Pinta tortoise, 'Lonesome George'.
I don't know if this is 'George', but he certainly looks old enough.

This is a frigatebird.  The males have a red gular pouch that is inflated 

during the breeding season to attract a mate.

 Here’s an available pet.  Interested?

The Devil's Crown is a dramatic snorkeling site to the north of Cormorant Point where there is an almost completely submerged volcano.

Fun -
One day the boss had had enough. His workers just didn’t get it. They 
never did anything right. So he grabbed two pieces of paper and wrote
“Think!” on them with a big magic marker, then posted his signs above
the sinks in the restrooms. “They can’t miss my message now,” he thought
 to himself with satisfaction.

The next day the boss returned to one of the restrooms. He saw that just
 above the soap dispenser was a new sign that read “Thoap!”

This is another version: Sign in the office:  THINK, 
and someone writes underneath it — OR THWIM

NATURE, Part 2

This is the last of this group of photos.

 Ok, who piled up those rocks?

 Now as Cliff explained this to me, the bird is clinging to the window on the inside of the car.
Otherwise we would see the other side in the reflection.

That fellow looks familiar.

We’re almost there, guys.

That wording near the bottom says ‘Jerusalem’.

 Beautiful sunrise.

 When we turn right, we will meet the Loch Ness Monster.

Humor -

WRITER’S CONTEST

These are the last of the winning entries in a recent year's Bulwer-Lytton contest (run by the English Department of San Jose State University), wherein one writes only the first sentence of a bad novel:

~  "Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."

~  "Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."

AND THE WINNER (and my favorite) WAS…

~ The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly, "You lied!"

HOT!

Saturday was HOT.  that’s spelled s c o r c h i n g.  As in 94 degrees.  Some areas around here were over a hundred!  Okay, I know that in some parts of the world, that’s the norm.  But not for us spoiled Northern Californians.

I don’t have this home air conditioned.  I do have a water cooler, aka, swamp cooler on the roof, and because our humidity is fairly low, the cooler keeps this place about 10 degrees cooler than outside.  That’s one reason I know it hit 94.  It was 84 inside, and confirmed by the Sunday newspaper.  But I do have a mugwump air conditioner in the den.  Guess where I spent most of the day.

Cartoonish signs --

Be sure to read the bottom line on this sign.

NATURE, part one

Well, a few are man-made, but fascinating, nonetheless.

 I’m not talking to you!
     I’m not talking to you!

 Beautiful.  Lonely.

 Get outta my lunch box!

 Bird’s eye view

Wind-swept desert...

...and then a glacier.

The Golden Google Gate Bridge - 75 years old.

WRITER’S CONTEST

Here are a few of the winning entries in a recent year's Bulwer-Lytton contest (run by the English Department of San Jose State University), wherein one writes only the first sentence of a bad novel:

~ "Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."

~  "With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."

~  "Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking out a living at a local pet store."

~ "Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do."

RAISE YOUR HANDS!

... if you liked these.  Here are the last of the ‘Hands’ painted hands.  That appears to be the artist in the last one.

CHURCH MIS-ADVERTISEMENTS - final group

~ Thursday at 5:00 PM there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be "Little Mothers" will meet with the Pastor in his study.

~ The service will close with "Little Drops of Water." One of the ladies will start quietly and the rest of the congregation will join in.

~ Next Sunday a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet will come forward and do so.

~ The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind. They can be seen in the church basement Saturday.

~ At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

ODD ENDS

These photos have nothing in common except that I found them interesting.

Swimming in my natural habitat.

 I’b godda sdeeze!

 Would you please tell your friend to get off my back!

 Whee!  Catch me, daddy!  (There are hands at the bottom of the photo.)

 I don’t even need a snorkle!

 Confound it, slow down!

 I told you we shouldn’t have played in those paint buckets.

Great!  We got fish for lunch! 

 I thank thee, Lord, for all your blessings ...

Punny -

Be kind to your dentist. He has fillings, too.

When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

A dentist and a manicurist got married. They fought tooth and nail.

He had a photographic memory that was never developed.