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Save the Date
Took Linda to the podiatrist yesterday. But, of course, I’m going to have to foot the bill. I asked her to toe the line from here on out. Linda thinks the doc nailed it, but I don’t know — does this X-ray look normal to you?
Alissa S. on our neighborhood site asked that men please stop asking her for photos of herself: This is a community site, not a dating app!
Rick G.: Pay attention guys. Randomly DMing women has a 99.9% failure rate. The only end result is that you’re going to make yourself look bad.
Brian V.: So you’re saying there’s a chance. . .
Esther S. had a different query: “First time on a plane,” she asked. “Where did you go?”
My comment: I went to my assigned seat. I’m not looking for trouble.
Jess Griffiths of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) shared the following news item with the membership, adding: This should liven things up in the south!
John Scotland made the obvious comment: What could possibly go wrong?
Also from the DMC (UK), Paul Clark posts: If you don’t hear from me for a while I’m just resetting the clock in the car.
Graham Wenman: I just put a strip of masking tape over mine until they go forward again.
Paul: Do you write the time on it?
Graham: Nope, just “clock.”
Dudley Jacomb: I’ve managed to find a ten-year-old to do mine.
Alan Kemp: You could just leave it as it is but it won’t tell the correct time for the next six months. If you disconnect it at least it will be correct twice a day.
Nigel Parsons: Roughly 5 months actually, and then there’s roughly 7 months of BST. People always seem to assume its a 6/6 breakdown.
Ian Murdoch: It’s easier to just remember it’s an hour fast.
[OC note: Wow! — I’m one of those who assumed it was 6/6. ]
In the NYTXW today, “‘Laughing’ birds from Down Under” were KOOKABURRAS. Needless to say, I needed much help from the crosses to land it. What are they? Glad you asked.
Egs was on the top of his game. For GO ROGUE, he noted: GOROGUE looks like it ought to be where a Frenchman parks the car.
For SAVETHEDATE, he offered:
Trigger warning! Don’t read this joke if you find that mind-numbing tastelessness causes rage or depression.
Advice ignored at Chappaquiddick: SAVETHEDATEMy own “work” was pretty pedestrian today. I was using LOCH, INKWELL, ELBA (as in Idris ELBA), and GNU, clued with “White-bearded animal in the Serengeti.”
Lomond: LOCH of the Irish?
No, it’s of the Scottish.Accommodations for Idris: ELBA room.
Tattoo artist’s adjuration to his son who is following in his footsteps: “INKWELL, my boy.”
It disproves the adage: White-bearded animal in the Serengeti working on his tan: GNU under the sun.
Okay. No prob.
Welcome Romeo! Hope you have a good ride. Love you!
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Frogs
Do you know what LOGOMANIA is? Have you encountered anyone with the condition? There was a woman I met teaching some classes years ago. Very lovely young woman, but could not stop talking. Literally. Whatever the topic was, it never ended until you somehow got rescued or managed to escape. We joked that her husband must be deaf, but when we finally met him he was a very nice, normal-seeming guy. Anyway, it’s a real condition and it’s called LOGOMANIA. I saw a feature on a news program about it once. It’s a serious problem because it greatly affects the social lives of those suffering from it. It comes up today because (vu den?) it was in the puzzle, clued with “Abnormal talkativeness.” Ready for the joke? There’s an organization that aids logomania victims. It’s called On and On Anon.
Amanda BYNES was in the grid, a very sad story. She was an actress who achieved stardom early but crashed out due to mental problems and drugs. If you google her pix, as I did, you see the pretty starlet, below, along with dreadful images of her sufferings, which I’ll spare you. Wishing you well, AB — hope you got a kick out of being in the puzzle.
It was a good puzzle, with lots of zip in the cluing and fresh answers. “Boundaries between areas with different amounts of coverage,” was the clue for TANLINES. It reminded me of a funny piece in The Onion from many years ago. Back then, Caity was away at college and I would send her funny items from time to time. The headline was Woman’s Tan Lines Make No Sense, and it was accompanied by a photo of a woman with random-seeming tan lines. [Wow — I found it. It’s from 2004.]
As I recall, Caity tacked it up on the little board in her dorm room, and someone came in who didn’t know about The Onion, and looked at it and said, “How could that happen?”
Do you have a favorite Passover plague? Who doesn’t, amirite? Mine has always been frogs. And they were in the puzzle clued with “Plague that precedes lice in Exodus.” (Did they really have to add “in Exodus?”) I remember joking with my (older) brother about not understanding why “death of the first-born” was considered a plague. (Yup, even back then I wasn’t very funny.)
Who was it who said “You gotta kiss an awful lot of frogs before you find your prince?”
An old New Yorker cartoon (back when they were funny) had a wedding of a handsome prince and beautiful princess, and in the background you saw one side of the church taken up by well-dressed people, and the other side by frogs.
TANLINES came up again in today’s puzzle — what are the odds? The clue was “Bra straps may cause them.” I thought a better answer would be ERECTIONS.
“Name on a museum plaque, maybe,” was DONOR. I came up with a little poem for it:
Two lazy men,
Each given a chore:
“You do neither,
I’ll DONOR.”How’s this for name-dropping? The clue was “Fibonacci or Galileo, by birth.” The answer was PISAN, you know, from Pisa, of leaning tower fame.
The inhabitants of Pisa are proud of the olive oil from their region, and use copious amounts in their cooking. Some dishes are also full of PISAN vinegar.
How long did it take you to find the lemon?
There’s a lemon up there — look again.
As the day went on, I caught some sh*t for the “erections” line, which surprised me a bit, although egs got taken to task recently for a blowjob quip someone felt was gratuitous. Oddly, no charge of misogyny today. Here are the two critics, followed by Commenter Gary’s note:
Anony Mouse 1: So tired, so tired, so tired of the stupid dirty old man comments.
Anony Mouse 2: Agreed. Gross.
Gary: The two lazy men poem is an instant classic. Put that in your “Best of” collection. I’m not sure what Anonymous is grousing about, but I’m fine with dirty old men if they have a plan to rub-dub-dub in a tub soon.
Two damn good teams made it to the World Series this year, not that anyone has noticed since the Yankees and Dodgers bowed out. Yesterday’s game came close to being bumped on FOX by a college football game that went into overtime, BYU (ranked #2), finally falling to UCF (unranked), who tried to avoid winning in every way imaginable in a crazy, great game that will long be remembered in Central Florida.
Anyway, props to the Brew Crew for taking the first two from the Rays. It looked iffy when Tampa went up by 4 in the top of the first, but Milw came right back in the bottom with two of their own and the battle was joined. Oddly, in the pre-game chat-up, Derek Jeter took pains to predict that Brewer reliever Aaron Ashby would play a pivotal role in the game. He wound up getting the final five outs, three on Ks. You’ve still got it, Captain!
Did you know Jeets shares four gorgeous kids with his wife Hannah: Bella Raine, Story Grey and River Rose, all girls, and, at last, son Kaius Green? Derek was born in Michigan (Kalamazoo), but lives in Jersey now. Here he is, wearing his “three daughters” face.
April Cabbell posted the following on our neighborhood website:
With all the germs going around and me being old school, my house isn’t clean if I don’t use bleach. I have to use bleach. I use bleach on my dishes especially the plastic cups because plastic holds the germs. The bathroom is completely bleached down, I can’t stand to see hair on my bathroom wall, toilet sink, or floor. I’ll wait until everyone leaves the house in the morning and open the windows and get busy. When the guest come over they all tell me how clean my home smells. I can honestly say that we rarely get sick in my home!! When Covid-19 hit us and school bus drivers were needed. I came to work two hours early just to bleach the school bus down and let it air out, before any students were allowed on my bus. Just hearing the coaches and students talk about how clean my bus was made my day!! Everyone wanted to ride on my bus. I say all of this to ask the question: Am I a clean fanatic?
Avi Liveson: What makes you ask?
What a hoot! We schlepped into the city today to see The Pirates of Penzance in Yiddish. What a fantastic performance! If you don’t think Gilbert and Sullivan is nonsensical enough as it is, try it in Yiddish. It’s the perfect Owl Chatter activity. Many highlights but we laughed out loud at the Groyser-General boasting of his dreidl winnings. Outstanding cast and orchestra. Standing ovation from those in the sell-out crowd who could get up without help after sitting for an hour and a half straight.
Whew, long day. Kudos to NJ Transit and the NYC Subway system, both on top of their games today. (We won’t mention the Jets, who were on the bottom of theirs. Oy.) See you next time, Chatterheads!
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77 Dogs
Hey, stick to the fake news, NYT, and leave the bad puns to us!! I read the following in a Times article on Sydney Sweeney’s sexy sports gambling ads: “A series of steamy commercials aired ad nauseum during the MLB playoffs.” (Not too shabby as puns go, I must confess.)
Hi Syd!
In the puzzle yesterday, for the clue “Seattle landmark from which Mount Rainier can be seen,” the answer was SPACE NEEDLE. What a coincidence: I just read an article in Science Times on how the Space Needle was used to mend a hole in the ozone layer.
How screwed up is this country? Apparently, we can’t even agree on gang rape. Yeah, you heard me. Per the Op-Ed piece by Nathan Taylor Pemberton in the NYT yesterday, Cornell rape victim, Jane Doe, is being vilified across a broad spectrum of “the right” in an explosion of male outrage. She’s being portrayed as a slut rather than a victim, and calls are going out for her to be jailed and “beaten.” As a result, she was subjected to a swatting incident that resulted in police officers descending on her family’s house with their weapons drawn. The rape itself is labeled a “hoax” and the investigations a “witch hunt.” (Sound familiar?)
“The new right’s obsessions with masculine dominance, gender norms and traditional values are some of the rudimentary urges shaping its worldview. And of the vast discontents that seem to energize the right — nationalism, racial animus, antisemitism, contempt for elites, Islamophobia — few have the ability to bring together the right’s various factions like misogyny.”
Has some shred of decency arisen on the Supreme Court? I’m not holding my breath, but seven of them just blocked one of Trump’s vicious anti-trans moves.
Three transgender people in federal custody were diagnosed with gender dysphoria by prison medical officials and were prescribed appropriate medical treatment. However, implementing Trump’s hateful policies, the Bureau of Prisons adopted rules prohibiting inmates from receiving such care. These rules have now been blocked until the issue can be resolved in court. Thus, for now, as many as 1,000 federal prisoners who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria will continue to receive treatment.
In the lower court, Judge Royce C. Lamberth found “Denying individuals with gender dysphoria the ability to socially transition or obtain hormone therapy will predictably lead to mental health risks. These risks include exacerbated depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and self-harm.”
The administration asked the justices to intervene on an emergency basis, to maintain institutional security, even though the current policy has been in place since 1992 with no problems arising. That’s the request that has been denied. Of course, Alito and Thomas went along with Trump. We can assume the three good guys did the right thing. Are there others (two or more?) who have a heart? We’ll see. The Supremes have pounded the trans community pretty badly up to now so it’s hard to be very hopeful.
I am one of those who believe it is a great joy to eat a frank at the ballpark. I still remember the first one I ever had. It was Yankee Stadium and the dad of a friend from school (David K.) took a bunch of us to a day game. Yogi Berra hit a homer and the Yanks won. We were in grandstand seats in right field. And David’s dad bought those of us who wanted one a hot dog. It was fantastic and branded me forever.
It comes to mind because of a story I read today in a minor league newsletter I get about a Jersey guy who visited 77 stadiums (stadia?) this year and had a dog at each one: A plain dog with mustard, always in the bottom of the seventh inning. And he rated them. Tops on the list was Reading PA. The best in the majors were the Cubs and Red Sox. Also ranking high were Richmond VA, and (happily for me) Sussex County NJ and Lehigh Valley PA, both within reach of OC headquarters. I am pre-drooling for next year.
Here’s Rev Ciancio, a man after my own heart (and stomach):
The puzzle was absolute nonsense today — so I loved it! The theme’s revealer was NOCHANCE, which was a phonetic play on “no chants.” The trick was you had to take OM (a “chant”) out of the theme answers to make them work. So, e.g., for the clue “It may precede or follow ‘a million,’” TOMHANKS was the answer, but it only made sense if you took out OM to get THANKS.
For “Subs,” the answer was HOMEROOMS, which becomes HEROS when you take the two OMs out.
For my wordplay I worked with OM, of course, OPIATE, and IMPISH. Here’s what I posted:
My first thought was the constructor must be from Omsk — but he’s from Minsk!! (No he’s not.)
Possible titles for the puzzle: “OM Alone.” “OM Sweet OM.” “OM Is Where the Heart Is.” “Chants Encounters.”
One of my favorite episodes of The Andy Griffith Show is the one where OPIATE all the cookies Aunt Bee baked for Barney and Barney got all upset.
Adventures in Etymology: The phrase “Pish Posh” originated when a gent named Arthur Pish bumped into Murray Posh and said “Hello, IMPISH,” thus planting the seed.
This poem by Billy Collins is called “The Future.” It was in today’s Writer’s Almanac.
When I finally arrive there—
And it will take many days and nights—
I would like to believe others will be waiting
and might even want to know how it was.So I will reminisce about a particular sky
or a woman in a white bathrobe
or the time I visited a narrow strait
where a famous naval battle had taken place.Then I will spread out on a table
a large map of my world
and explain to the people of the future
in their pale garments what it was like—how mountains rose between the valleys
and this was called geography,
how boats loaded with cargo plied the rivers
and this was known as commerce,how the people from this pink area
crossed over into this light-green area
and set fires and killed whoever they found
and this was called history—and they will listen, mild-eyed and silent,
as more of them arrive to join the circle,
like ripples moving toward,
not away from, a stone tossed into a pond.
Running out of gas today. See you next time!
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Here Comes The Sun
One of the (many) pleasures of being Gnats fans this past season was we got to enjoy their announcers, Dan Kolko, Kevin Frandsen (Franny), and pretty Alexa Datt. Dan (who is Jewish) is very likable and a solid professional announcer. He works well with Franny, a former player. (Alexa, as you’ve seen often in earlier OC posts, is adorable, and a good interviewer.) It took me a while to appreciate Franny because he replaced J.P. Santangelo, another ex-player, who was very funny and whom I liked very much. My favorite line of his was when a player or manager proved him to be wrong about something. He’d say “That’s why he’s down on the field in a uniform, and I’m up here wearing makeup.”
Franny sometimes swallows his words in inarticulate babble and sometimes obscures a point with indecipherable (to me) baseball lingo. But he slowly won me over with brilliant “inside baseball” observations. A small example: he observes what players are doing in the on-deck circle. “[Name] is studying those change-ups. If [pitcher] tries one on him, he should be able to time it.” Sure enough, he steps into the box and laces a change-up into leftfield for a hit. Or he’ll say, “If I were [catcher], I wouldn’t let the on-deck batter stand so close to the plate. He’s learning too much.” He notes zillions of things that would just float by me.
Anyway, I mention all of that just to note that Thomas Friedman was far better today in writing about Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine than I was in my last post. To paraphrase J.P. Santangelo: That’s why he’s writing in the NY Times and I’m slinging nonsense and bad puns here in Owl Chatter.
Here’s TF:
“I have never believed that Trump was somehow an agent of Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, or in his pay. It is much worse. He simply does not cherish democracy. He cherishes money. And he has no problem selling out the first for the second. When he acts in his own commercial interests, that’s his personal business. When he uses the American presidency to make a buck, it is our collective shame.
“There is simply no core American value Trump will not sell out. Desperate to lower diesel prices, Trump actually made a deal to import diesel fuel from Russia, even though it offers a potential windfall for the Kremlin so it can bomb Ukraine harder. . . . Worse, his aides then asked Ukraine to refrain from attacks on Russia’s oil refineries, without Trump making the same demand of Putin regarding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. It makes me sick to my stomach to even type this.”
If Friedman ate at the Brandeis dining halls when he was a student there, he’s got a pretty strong stomach. So that last line is saying something.
Did someone say Brandeis? Hi kids! I didn’t know we had a rowing club.
While we’ve got today’s NYT open, here’s Mara Stephens’ Met Diary entry:
Dear Diary:
I was forced out of my Carroll Gardens home so a developer could tear it down. As a divorced mother, where would I find a three-bedroom for my two teens and me at an affordable rent?
I searched high and low and ended up moving south to Sunset Park. I found a raw loft space, which I fixed up. (Yes, I invested my own money in a rental.)
The apartment was directly above a 24-hour sex shop and it had a view of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. I refused to open the windows and bought air purifiers.
Our first night there, I cried. What have I done? The noise from the B.Q.E., the constant shaking of the apartment — it all felt unbearable.
I was so depressed I wanted to leave the city altogether, but my kids were still in high school. I had no choice. I was trapped.
The next morning, I went for a long, anxious walk. I bumped into a barber who had been born and raised in the neighborhood, on Third Avenue.
I asked how he dealt with the noise and traffic.
He laughed.
“Are you kidding me?” he said. “It’s my ocean.”
The big trucks, he explained, were crashing waves; small cars, ripples; and the whirring engines, the steady flow of water. He told me he missed these sounds whenever he went to the country.
His perspective changed everything. The second night, I slept like a baby, with a sound machine accompanying the “waves” of nighttime traffic.
Two years later, my home is a haven for my kids and me, and I fall asleep each night to the soothing rhythm of a Brooklyn “ocean.”
Khalil Khabiri of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) posts: The 6 on a dartboard (in my opinion) is in the wrong position, and can be easily mistaken for a 9.
Stefan Rockett: That would mean the 9 in the top left is upside down.
Khalil: no, the 9 is acceptable as the numbers either side of it are the same orientation
Kev Newman: If you’re not a darts player and are partially blind, yeah.
Richard Bellie: Only if you’ve never played darts. I’ve known where the 6 is since I was about 6.
Avi Liveson: Maybe you were nine.
I wake moaning on Sundays in the fall and when Linda asks me what’s wrong, I remind her the Jets will be playing. We plopped down to watch them take on the hated Patriots yesterday, insanely hopeful for a miracle after last week’s win. They are looking better than last year when they set all-time records for futility. We watched them drive smartly down the field on their first drive and score a touchdown! Then we watched the refs take it away because of a stupid penalty. Then we watched them flounder and settle for a field goal. Then we turned off the TV and went for a walk and then to Costco. Because we knew, like every Jet fan on the planet knew right then and there, that it was the same old Jets. Final score: Pats 26, Jets 19.
In his brief sideline interview at halftime, hapless Jets head coach Aaron Glenn tried to exude hope by noting, among other things, that the Jets get the ball to start the second half. But that wasn’t the case: the Jets were slated to kick off. How could he not know that?
Still, my heart goes out to the poor guy. Here he is with his beautiful family. He must be doing something right.
Today’s puzzle’s theme is brilliant. It’s SHADOWBOXES: all about shade, and squares (boxes) that are shaded from the sun. So first, right up there in the NW corner, at 1 across, the answer is SUN. Then, well-placed below, are AWNING, TREE, and HAT: three items that offer shade. Then(!), right below them are those words again, but in shaded squares as part of longer words: F[AWNING]OVER, S[TREE]TWEAR, and T[HAT]SRIGHT.
Here’s how it looks with helpful yellow markings and shadings. Do you see how, e.g., the TREE in STREETWEAR is shaded by the TREE above it? A+ for wordplay, Michele Govier.
We asked Phil to get a shot of a fan with a nice mustache at the Chiefs game yesterday and he came through nicely. We just have to crop out those two random women in the background.
See you next time! Thanks for popping by.
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Brewing Up A Pennant!
The vast majority of commenters on Rex Parker’s NYTXW blog are menschen (or womenschen), but once in a while some snark sneaks in. One of the more annoying instances is when Rex writes a very positive review of a puzzle (a rarity) and is accused of doing so only because he’s friends with the constructor. Long-time readers appreciate that such a charge of favoritism is absurd. He almost always just ignores such jabs, but yesterday he popped in with a reply. Here is the charge and the response:
Anony Mouse: The effusive write up of this puzzle means that the constructor [Adam Shapiro] is a friend of Rex.
Rex: You seem nice. As for me, I wouldn’t know Adam Shapiro from … well, Adam, frankly. But keep feeling your feelings and speculating your speculations. It is the internet, after all. ✌️
It has long been clear that Trump is in Putin’s pocket. Not because Putin helped him get elected the first time, although he did — Trump would throw him under the bus like he would anyone if it suited him. It’s because Putin’s offering him business deals and riches, IMO, and because Trump has come under his monstrous spell. And so, finally, Trump is casting off any pretense and is actively supporting Putin’s war against Ukraine. He threw his great friend Lindsay Graham under the bus last night, exempting Russia from the sanctions in the bill Graham worked hard to pass. Look for Trump to start in with personal insults for Zelensky. He’s already called for his ouster. He’ll do everything he can to help Putin, short of sending in troops to fight alongside the Russian soldiers. And he’d do that do if he could get away with it.
We love it when a person’s name becomes a unit of measurement. A great one is Daniel Pinkwater, NPR personality. He has a large rear-end, so the Car Talk guys would describe the back seat of a particular car as, say, 2.5 Pinkwaters wide. Similarly, a “Scaramucci” is a very brief period on a job from which you are fired. It’s for Anthony Scaramucci who served as Trump’s press guy for just 11 days long ago. He came up when Trump’s latest blonde press babe, Kate Zacharia, blew out of the role after just five days. It caused Scaramucci to note: “Records are made to be broken. But I take no pleasure in other people’s pain.”
Claiming to be (and having Trump introduce her as) a lawyer when she isn’t one didn’t help. She’s a lawyer as much as our George is Jew-ish. She floundered around about a distinction between attorney and lawyer, and, when asked what state she’s a lawyer in blurted something out about China. Since we have Natalie to warm our pages, we need not lament Kate’s record-breaking demise.
The puzzle today defeated me (and many others) because of one square. It was the square that crossed both of the following clues: “Plant parts that develop as a seedling grows,” and “Skin care brand from Japan.” My best use of crosses gave me TREELEAVES for the former, which resulted in CEREL for the latter, which I never heard of, but seemed as okay as anything else. Turns out it’s TRUELEAVES and CUREL. I had no hope.
It’s a good puzzle. Would you know that “Poison classification” is HAIR METAL? What?? I didn’t but the crosses were friendly. “Poison” here is a rock band and HAIR METAL is a sub genre of Heavy Metal. Also known as Glam Metal. Turn it up! You might like them!
At 8D, “Seafood-based ingredient in Eastern cuisines,” was FISHPASTE. It’s also, as I noted, an adhesive you would use to repair your halibut.
This poem by Gwendolyn Brooks is called “the vacant lot” and is from the Poetry Foundation.
Mrs. Coley’s three-flat brick
Isn’t here any more.
All done with seeing her fat little form
Burst out of the basement door;
And with seeing her African son-in-law
(Rightful heir to the throne)
With his great white strong cold squares of teeth
And his little eyes of stone;
And with seeing the squat fat daughter
Letting in the men
When majesty has gone for the day—
And letting them out again.
Took Robin (the artist formerly known as Lianna) to get her driver’s permit today. Ouch. They bounced us from counter to counter but things seem to go well at each and we emerged with our heads spinning after 25 minutes and the permit in hand! We agreed the 25 minutes seemed like over an hour: the effect of stress. But people were all very nice — I think that’s because Robin has that effect on you. Her photo didn’t capture how beautiful she is. The MVC shots almost never do.
Wanna feel old? A commenter noted the following yesterday:
2026-1972 is the same amount of years as 1972-1918.
Is there a cheesier actress than ALISON BRIE? A whole wheel of her appeared in the puzzle today, clued by “Actress who plays Trudy on ‘Mad Men’ and Annie on ‘Community.’” She and her sister Lauren are Jewish via her mom, who “would always make sure we knew we were Jewish.” Her acting career began at a JCC (Jewish Community Center) in SoCal.
Brie is 43. Who put this dress together? Is it supposed to work like that?
Hearty Owl Chatter congrats to the impressive Milwaukee Brewers who dispatched the big bad Dodgers in four straight. Wow! We got to see Jake Bauers’ two brilliant game-changing at-bats that broke the backs of Grade-A arms, Yamamoto and Snell. Foul after foul until he (1) walked, and (2) homered. Has an MVP ever been earned with a best-at-bat walk? Good stuff!
Thanks for dropping in. See you tomorrow.
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Sites For Sore Eyes
Heartbreaking. The following comes from historian Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter:
“The administration ignored the law on Saturday, when it felled more than 400 trees on the East Potomac Golf Links course that Trump wants to turn into another of his projects.
“U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes had previously warned the administration not to make any irreversible changes to the landscape, but she did not forbid it from doing maintenance work. The administration maintains the Saturday cutting was routine maintenance. Reyes was furious, telling the administration’s lawyers she didn’t know how she could have made it any clearer that she was trying to stop it from doing precisely what it did. She warned that the government had lost all credibility with her. The administration’s lawyer said they still planned to cut several hundred more trees.”
Here’s a small part of the “maintenance work.” Five hundred trees have been felled.
Our Phil is out on assignment in Rome and has just filed this report:
“Pope Pissed At God Over White Sox, Cancer”
The Vatican, October 15. The feeling running through the halls of the Vatican these days is, in general, “What the f*ck, God?” . . .
My “work” on today’s puzzle:
Did you get the answer for 4D? You look like you’ve seen AGHAST.
Online list of ophthalmologists: SITES for sore eyes.
What should I do with these barges? TOTEM.
OK, and what about those small wheatfields out back? Weed ’em and REAP.
In bed last night:
Me: How come we can close our eyes but nothing else?
Linda: That’s profound.
Yikes. The Dodgers are reeling. We just watched the Brewers take Game 3 in LA after falling behind 2-1 in the sixth. As an insurance run for Milwaukee crossed the plate on a wild pitch, I said to Linda “the wheels are coming off the bus.” It ain’t over, of course, but the Dodgers look old. Special kudos today to Jake Bauers who seems like he can foul pitches off ad infinitum until he walks or gets one he can drive. And reliever DL (Dayton Lane) Hall who was “lights out” when things looked a little shaky. They’re a very likable team, playing with a lot of confidence. It’s like parking spots — if you believe there’s one around the corner, there will goddamn be one around the corner.
We’ll keep it short today, and finish with a “musical coda” I am shamelessly stealing from a recent Paul Krugman newsletter. Word of this band hadn’t reached me under my rock. They’re Scottish.
Here’s a shot Phil got for us of vocalist Lauren Mayberry.
Thanks for dropping in! See you tomorrow!
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Out Of Order
Sheesh, and I’ve been down on Penn since its Prez caved in to You-Know-Whom. What can we say about Cornell? Well, one thing we can say is everyone should read David French’s Op-Ed piece in the NYT today. It’s about courage, in particular the courage it would have taken for just one of the “bros” to intercede and stop what was going on.
The example he gave was of a true hero, and one whom, to my shame, I hadn’t heard of. Here’s French (in English!):
“It can take an immense amount of courage to actually care enough about another human being to intervene — especially if a person you don’t know needs protection from people you do know. This month, just as new details about the Cornell case seemed to be hitting the news every day, we covered the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War in the Law of War class I teach at Lipscomb University in Nashville.
For those who don’t remember, the My Lai massacre was one of the worst episodes in American military history. American soldiers in Vietnam went on a killing spree, murdering hundreds of innocent civilians. [Yikes. I knew it was very bad, but I didn’t recall that it was hundreds.]
“Obviously, the massacre was far more extreme than anything that happened at the Chi Phi house, but I bring it up for a simple reason: to introduce you to a man named Hugh Thompson.
“Thompson is an American hero. He was the Army helicopter pilot who saw the massacre from the air, immediately radioed an alarm and landed his aircraft, placing it between his own brothers-in-arms and a small group of innocent civilians they were pursuing. He even ordered his crew to open fire on American soldiers if they tried to kill the people he was protecting.
“He cared for innocent people he did not know and probably would never know, and he cared for them enough to risk his life and the rejection and scorn of his own brotherhood to save their lives. In the process, he also showed care for his brothers-in-arms — he stopped them from continuing to commit the most heinous of crimes.
“Think about how much less courage it would have taken to act that night at Cornell. Then consider again that no one intervened. To them, “Free pu**y” wasn’t an alarm bell; it was an invitation.”
I don’t blame Trump and his ilk directly for what happened that night like I blame him and RFK Jr. for the measles deaths, and him and Musk for the tens of thousands of dead children resulting from the shameful USAID cuts. But Trump is the guy who bragged of grabbing women “by the pu**y” and got elected twice. And who was found liable by a jury for sexual assault and got re-elected. So what happened in Ithaca is at least consistent with the American ethos of this Trump era.
My favorite quote on courage is from Al Pacino’s Oscar-winning turn in Scent of a Woman. Impressed by the courage Charlie was showing in refusing to rat out his friends to save himself, Pacino says: “I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was — without exception, I knew. But I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard.”
French finished his piece with this flourish of eloquence:
“’Courage,’ C.S. Lewis wrote in one of my favorite quotes, ‘is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, at the point of highest reality.’
“How do we know what courage is? When we see a man risk himself to care for another person, that’s courage. The legal judgment may be uncertain, but the moral verdict is already in. On the most traumatic night in a young woman’s life, a good man could not be found.”
Let’s find some refuge in today’s puzzle. I loved the theme. It’s taking place in an imagined Zoom meeting. The first three theme answers are trying to get the meeting’s host to unmute himself:
YOU’RE MUTED (Response to “Good morning, everybody!”)
WE CAN’T HEAR YOU (“Response to “Let’s get this meeting going”)
TURN YOUR MIC ON (Response to “Why is everyone ignoring me?”)And, finally, down near the bottom: “Reaction to the unsuccessful ‘conversation’ in this puzzle:” OH FORGET IT.
Okay, now brace yourselves. My wordplay today is pretty groanworthy. I was working with CONGAS (“Cuban drums”); LINE (“Cue from a cuer”); MYNA (“Talkative bird”); SECTS (“Amish, Shakers and others”); EGOS (“They may be subject to inflation”); and the clue for OILS was “Mechanic’s canfuls.” Here’s what I got:
When younger, I would try to entice dates up to my room to see my Cuban drum, but they were too smart to fall for my CONGA LINE, and they all told me to beat it.
My nephew, a bird lover, looked for a college that offered a program suited to his interest. The closest he came was Oregon State that has a Wildlife Studies major and an Ornithology MYNA.
I learned all about the Amish, Shakers and others in high school, in SECTS ed.
I’m working on a book about large personalities in photography. It will be called EGOS and Fstops.
(Old joke.) On those “Mechanic’s canfuls,” I learned that my mechanic was addicted to brake fluid. I said, “Marvin, that’s really dangerous.” And he said, “Don’t worry. I can stop whenever I want to.”
My rooting “priority” in the baseball playoffs are to see the Dodgers fall. They are down 2-0 to a very impressive, kinehora, Brewer squad, but it’s far from over. The fat lady isn’t even in the dressing room. But for purposes of rooting for an AL team, I am going to insanely imagine the Brewers will win so I can root for underdog Cleveland against Tampa Bay. Woof, woof. Game 1 was terrific with ex-Gnats Foster Griffin and Nathaniel Lowe making important contributions. But young Chase DeLauter was really impressive. We’re going to keep an Owl Chatter eye on that young fella, for sure. Gotta love J-Ram too. He’s electric.
From the I-wish-I-said-that bin: For the clue today “Flora and fauna, collectively,” the answer was BIOTA. Commenter Lynn noted: A BIOTA is twice as much as an IOTA.
Here are a few headlines of extraordinary importance from the recent pages of The Onion:
White House Downplays Hyena Biting Down On Trump’s Ass
‘First Date Going Really Well,’ Thinks Man Who Hasn’t Stopped Talking Yet
In other baseball news, kudos to Gnat Daylen Lile, finalist for a Gold Glove in LF this year, the only Gnat to make the list. And a big boo for the omission of Jacob Young in CF — the man is f*cking brilliant. He’s got the Owl Chatter nod for sure. JY’s on the left here.
Let’s give Andy Coulstock, of the Dull Men’s Club (UK chapter) the last word today. His post, with two photos:
“Today I’ve re-organised my British payphone display.”
Mark Hall: I’m more inquisitive about what’s through the door. They look like vinyl records but stacked the wrong way around, so must be something else?
Andy: Yes they’re records, but they’re stacked properly and in alphabetical order
John Wilkins: By band name, album title,…?
Andy: Band name.
John: Discounting “the?”
Andy: Yes.
Alison Shaw: What happens to albums by The The?
. . .
John Scotland: Now that is both seriously impressive, and seriously dull, at one and the same time. Makes my random assortment of old tools look quite pedestrian.
Avi Liveson: Don’t get down on yourself — life’s too short.
Steve Hearsey: Don’t see one with the A and B buttons.
Andy: They’re in the older phone section upstairs.
Stephen Marshall: Have you got a before pic so we can admire what it looked like and marvel in the effort you made once you finished it?
Andy:
Can’t top that! See you next time! Thanks for stopping by.
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Perfect Person
This poem by Brian Komei Dempster is called “Glow.” It was the poem-a-day from Poets.org today. It’s about as painful as a poem can get. I’ll share what the poet said about it first, so you can brace yourself. (Or skip it — no one could blame you.)
“The loss of an unborn child is one of the most difficult things we may go through—an experience so painful that for some it remains a secret, unspoken and vaulted inside. This poem, kept private for many years, is shared now to honor the shape and contours of a life imagined, the afterglow of absence that stays with us long after the moment’s tragic reality and sudden shock.”
—Brian Komei DempsterGlow
The skull wasn’t there.
We listened
to the heartbeat.
Would our child
live? Air tinted
gray, I moved
closer, searched the screen
for the halo
of bone,
touched glass
and stroked
our bad luck,
my finger leaving
its smudge
on the oval glow,
delicate as a grape.
The head would
never form.
Grace stared
at the brightness
then closed her eyes,
the light flickered
on our hands.
This second child. Never.
The dark
washed in,
heavy as water.
Did our baby know pain?
Inside tiny feet
kicking, small hands
open, fingers
reached out. Drift
of white static,
this broken globe
we had made.
There was some nice wordplay in Wednesday’s puzzle. The theme was “do a double take.” There were four paired answers. You had to remove two of the same letters from the first word to be left with the second word. For example, the two clues were “Staunchly loyal” and “Knob on an amplifier.” The answer to the first was TRUEBLUE. Then, you remove the two Us and are left with TREBLE. The other pairs were SATURDAY/STURDY (removing the As), RAINGEAR/RINGER (removing the As), and ATLANTIS/ALANIS (removing the Ts).
I went a little wild with wordplay from yesterday’s puzzle. It will be interesting to see if it gets any comments. [It didn’t.] Here it all is, with the answers from the puzzle in all CAPS, as usual (except MIT was not an answer).
The electrical engineers from Cal Tech and MIT fight over who are the greatest of EES.
With KAYE, TEE, KEW, two OHs, those EEs, that STRAIGHTA, and ORALB, this puzzle is a real alphABET soup.
Did you bring the money?
What money?
Why are you wearing a sailor suit?
Your message said something about setting sail.
No, you idiot — I said the judge SETBAIL.
D’oh!When I told the arm surgeon to BONEUPON the ULNA before my operation, he gave me the finger.
Is KAL (Penn) in his dressing room? No, he’s ONSET.
So you’re telling me your sibling, Susan, was just crying wolf?
Yes. My sis Sue’s SOS is SUS.Where you’ll find my grandson Isaac’s broccoli: TOTHESIDE, if not on the floor.
CAL, the university, was in the grid today. Lucky us, because it evoked the following tune from the movie of the same name.
On Saturday, that “Certain snack cake” was a YODEL. The folks at Drake’s churned them out. If offered, I wouldn’t turn one down.
But there’s a different type of YODEL in this Jerry Jeff Walker tune.
We’ve had to expand our You-Can’t-Make-This-Stuff-Up Department. When Trump banned CNN et al from the White House (an action later disallowed by the courts), the rest of the media outlets blacked him out as a show of support: an action the media should have taken long ago in response to the unending stream of insults and improprieties. Anyway, so now the DOJ is investigating whether that action constitutes an anti-trust violation, you know, because they acted in collusion. I’m just hoping they didn’t have to shift investigators off the vital Jim Comey seashells prosecution for it.
Can you check on that for us, Kaity?
We all heard of how stressed the folks on the USS Abe Lincoln were on their overlong deployment, right? Sounds like it was almost as bad as Linda’s and my Viking cruise last fall.
But did you know just how bad it was? This is from the NYT. And keep in mind that we’re not exactly scrimping on the defense budget.
“With Iran’s ballistic missiles able to hold all ports around the Arabian Peninsula at risk of attack, the Navy’s warships in the region began to experience shortages of food, fuel and other goods as the service moved its supply hub to the British-owned island of Diego Garcia about 2,200 miles away.”
That’s a pretty long trek to the grocery store for a package of Chips Ahoy!. Couldn’t see that coming, fellas?
“The first indications of problems came from family members of Lincoln sailors, who sent reporters photos of meager meals served on the ship while supplies were running low. ‘It was pathetic,’ Victoria Tozzi, whose son enlisted after high school to help fund his college education, said of the portions of food. ‘It looked gross, and he was like, yeah it’s pretty bad.’
Let’s pause here for a mo. The United States of America can’t decently feed its sailors in combat.
But that’s the least of it. Get this:
“Eight sailors tried to take their own lives. One jumped overboard, and another tried to do so before being stopped by shipmates.”
WTF!!
Of course, “When pressed about whether he was worried about the crew’s mental health and whether he thought the deployment had gone on too long, Trump said, ‘No. No. No.’ He added that the deployment — then more than eight months long — had not been ‘nearly long enough.’”
But never mind all that, another delicious flap has arisen over pretty Natalie Harp. It hasn’t gone unnoticed that she is fond of wearing short skirts. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But in Nebraska this week, things grew a bit unseemly between Nat and the boss. He called her out on stage to bring him some ridiculous order he was signing. And when she was done, he gushed over her droolingly, calling her a “perfect person.” It was immediately noted widely that he never gushes over Melania like that. Just sayin’.
In today’s puzzle, “Soapmaker’s supply” was LYE.
Soapmaker: I’m running low on supplies.
What’s the problem?
No LYE.
I believe you, but what’s the problem?
No LYE.
Are you deaf? I said I believe you.
Arggggh!
Richard Gray, of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) had some issues with this list of ingredients:
“Finally got around to picking up a bottle of Indian mixed pickle. Not a familiar brand so I had to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to get an enlargement of the ingredients. Not sure why Carrot and carrot are both listed, or what that oil is…”
Hmm. There are separate listings for “Carrot” and “carrot.” I noted: “Apparently, in the production of the item, both capitalized and lower case carrots were used.” Several members explained that “gingelly” oil is sesame oil.
Another member said: “That’s a jar; not a bottle.” Hrrrrumph.
Clare Lorraine Payne inquired (with an apology): “Does it have carrot in it?”
David Mortimer said the list was not as unusual as the list on a bag of peanuts he purchased which warned “May contain nuts.” But Annaoj Wright explained: A peanut isn’t actually a nut, it is a legume (similar to, say, a chickpea), so it is saying there may be actual nuts in it.
Gotta go check on the Jets. They were up 7-6 at the half. Thanks for dropping in. See you next time!
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The Missing Years
The Sirens better start playing soon (they don’t: the opener is in December), everyone else is reeling: the Yanks (ouch), Michigan (double ouch), and the Jets (fuhgedaboutit). Losing is bad enough, but how you lose can be embarrassing. The Yanks made four errors last night and had a dreadful baserunning blunder in Game One. And don’t start me on the Jets. Michigan appears to be falling apart after losses to Iowa and Minny.
Complaints have arisen in the UMich locker room about the new offensive coordinator. He came from Utah along with new head coach Whittingham. The OC is dissing the tight ends and, with them, the entire Michigan ethos. Utah had a wide open offense, but Michigan is known for smashing straight ahead with bruising running backs and tight ends. Get this — seven Michigan tight ends have made it to the NFL in the last ten years. The departure from tradition ain’t working and has the locker room roiled. That plus the highly touted QB has been a bust. No game this week. Then they play Penn State, a team that is also struggling. So that game should tell a tale. After that some very rough games down the road (Indy, Oregon, UCLA, and, of course, the team that shall not be mentioned). Things are already ugly and may get uglier.
Nobody ugly here. Hey! — get your foot off my head!! Watch your hands!
A Trump story this week left out one important detail. Trump spent millions of taxpayer dollars on ads promoting himself (and the Repubs) for the midterms: Insipid ads that could only be appealing to the idiots who support him anyway. When people started screaming about it (including some in the GOP, shockingly), he said he’d repay the cost from his Super PAC (which would be illegal, but that’s the least of it). What the story neglected to note is that there’s no way in hell we taxpayers will actually get repaid. The money will fly out of his orange ass before it flies out of the PAC and back into the Treasury. (Sorry for that image if you’re reading this over breakfast.) His promises are meaningless. Utterly. 100%.
It’s a hard thing in life to train yourself to discount completely a person’s statements. The press is woefully weak on this score. They continue to report Trump’s statements as if they matter. The NATO people and Carney in Canada finally have a good handle on it. Zelensky for sure, long ago. Here are VZ and fam listening to one of Trump’s speeches.
Trump isn’t the first schmuck I’ve encountered like that. Many years ago I had a law partner in Rochester (NY) who was dishonest to the bone. His word meant nothing. It was about him that I had my famous line: “To Jerry, the truth is a coincidence.” (Well, “famous” among 3 or 4 people.)
From our earliest moments of consciousness, we (mostly) trust the words our parents say to us. Then teachers, friends, colleagues, etc. So when you encounter a Trump, or a Jerry, you have to keep reminding yourself — don’t count at all on what he says. Your instinct from everyone else in your life is to give at least some weight to their words. (And, of course, you must know by now that I’m full of sh*t too. Why in the world are you still reading this nonsense?)
[OC note: Since the above was written, Trump has clarified that he will not be reimbursing the Treasury for the $10 million already spent on ads.]
The puzzle’s theme a few days ago was Shakespeare’s “Ay, there’s the rub,” and the theme answers were rub-related: MASSAGETABLE, MAGICLAMP, and SPARERIBS. Regarding the third, Son Volt shared this performance of a Grateful Dead song with us by Shinyribs.
In a bed by the waterside I will lay my head . . . .
In Taylor Swift news, Phil tells us the marriage is already spiraling down to hell. Here’s a shot he got for us of Travis, hands cuffed behind his back, drunk, after getting arrested for urinating in public. Don’t let it get you down, Big Fella. We’ve all been there.
I’m just joking, kids. The lovebirds are as tight as ever. Here’s Tay, sultry, in the outfit she wore at the Video Music Awards.
Did you know Paul McCartney performed at the wedding? Taylor requested that he do “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” and he agreed to on the condition that she sing it along with him and to Trav. Awwwwww.
Wanna feel happy inside?
Wow — lots of music today. Never need an excuse for a John Prine song, but we have one today. JESUS was in the puzzle. Yeah, that one. Clued via one of his quotes about the meek. So, thanks for this tune, Son Volt.
Have you hit “the age” yet? The age at which you spend half your life at doctors’ appointments and the other half confirming the appointments, pre-checking-in for them, and answering surveys about them. “Yes,” I assure them repeatedly, “I am definitely very very satisfied with how considerate and warm the staff was when my blood was taken — I’ve never seen anything like it, except maybe at the dermatologist’s. I felt loved.”
My bad. I forgot to report on something neat from the Gnats game we went to on 9/27 to close out the regular season. A pitch call was challenged and when the home plate ump stepped out to announce that, it seemed like a woman’s voice. What the. . . ? Sure enough, it was Jen Pawol, the first woman to ump in the MLB. How neat is that? It wasn’t her first time behind the plate, but still. Way to go JP!
OMG, I just checked and learned that not only is she a Jersey girl (49 now) but she was an art teacher before going into umpiring and earned an MFA at Hunter College! She could have been in one of my classes!! (But wasn’t.)
Call ’em as you see ’em, Babe!
One thing that gets on Rex’s goat is when the puzzle gives some corporate product or brand name free advertising, especially when it’s easily avoidable. Yesterday, for MUG, the clue was “Starbucks keepsake, perhaps,” and Rex lit into it:
“Why would you shill for Starbucks like this? Who gets ‘keepsakes’ from Starbucks?
“Ah, this MUG reminds me of that time we went to Starbucks. Remember, honey?”
“The one in the airport or the one in the mall?”
“No, the one across from Walmart. I can’t believe you’ve forgotten already!? Do our visits to ubiquitous coffee shops mean nothing to you!?”
Christa “Houdini” Pike, the woman whom Tennessee tried and failed to execute recently has regained consciousness. State officials, every one of them a first-class moron, are trying to convince her she is in Heaven until they figure out what to do. In case anyone still had any doubt of how impressively rock-headed the officials are, they kept Pike handcuffed and shackled to the bed the entire time she was out, according to her lawyers.
Some wordplay from today’s puzzle: I was working with NO TAR, DIN, and MEAT. Here’s what I got:
Country that bans cigarettes: NOTAR Republic.
Enthusiastic cacophony: Gung-ho DIN.
Carnivore’s assignation: Meet MEAT the meat mart.
Did I share my favorite clue/answer with you from a recent puzzle? The clue was “Other sock.” Answer 4 letters long. I had no idea until I got some crosses. Ready? (I’ll reveal it below.)
A fond Owl Chatter farewell to the ever exquisite Eva Marie Saint, who passed away at 102 yesterday. A Jersey girl, born in Newark. Rest in peace, Eva. (Love the bedhead here, Phil. Thanks!)
See you tomorrow Chatterheads. Thanks for popping by.
Answer to “Other sock:” MATE.
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Lincoln Wins!
Hey, everybody — today’s poem is by me! I was working with SAMOAS, ANA (de Armas), (Lady) GAGA, (Greta) GARBO, and BANANA.
The favorite snack of Jason Momoa’s
Is a heaping handful of Girl Scout SAMOAS.
ANA de Armas enjoys them as well
And GAGA and GARBO both think/thought they’re swell.
So next time you’re hungry, don’t grab a BANANA
Crack open a box with Jason and ANA.
For the word AMISS, I came up with:
Is something AMISS?
Alas, yes.
Wait — a lass is AMISS?
Yes, a lass is A MISS.
What?
Although Owl Chatter boasts proudly of its total commitment to nonsense, occasionally a story of serious importance intrudes.
The above photo (thanks Phil!) is a shot of the Presidents Race. It’s been run in the middle of the 4th inning at every Gnats home game for 20 years now. The results from this year’s competitions have just been released: Abe won 30 times; George 21; Tom 18; and Teddy 11. FDR pretty much dominates the wheelchair division.
Dasi Ilowitz shared this story with Met Diary last week. It’s a small tale, but the mensch on the bike deserves a nod.
Dear Diary:
I was walking through Prospect Park on a glorious fall afternoon, admiring the foliage and taking in the scene. Ahead of me, a cyclist tossed something toward a garbage can and missed. Without slowing down, he continued on.
When I reached the spot, I picked up the litter. It seemed clear to me that the man had meant to throw it away. I wanted to do my part to keep the park clean.
As I straightened up, I noticed the cyclist coming back. He had turned around to retrieve what he had dropped.
I gave him a thumbs up.
“I got it,” I said.
He waved, said, “thank you,” circled around and continued on his ride.
Rex Parker’s blog on the NYTXW celebrated its twentieth anniversary this week. It’s been a big part of my life (and this blog) for the past few years. Its genius (actually that of its creator, Michael Sharp) is the recognition that the puzzle is much more than an exercise in wordplay. Each puzzle tells a story, opens doors in your memory, honors (in a way) individuals whom it features, and so on.
I was hesitant to add my small voice to the comments section at first, but the community is so warm and welcoming, I’m delighted with the small role I’ve taken on. Along with egsforbreakfast (“egs”), I seek out items in the puzzle for puns (ideally terrible ones), or other silly wordplay. Today, e.g., I learned at 3D that the “Country where the game of dominoes is a national pastime” is CUBA. So, obviously, I had to write: “Oh man, I was sure the country that loves dominos was the Dominocan Republic.”
I also worked with ESTATE SALE, HALCYON, STET (the proofreader’s command), and SON, to come up with:
My Uncle Bob caught a lot of grief for his collection of exotic beers, but when he died we all fought over the ESTATESALE.
I asked the old cowboy if he could pull any proofreader commands out of his hat, and he said “STET, SON.”
My good friend Etta Mology tells me the word HALCYON comes from Hal Cyon, a pitcher for the Braves in the ’30s famed for remaining calm no matter how bad the ump’s calls were.
DEAD SEA in the puzzle led Commenter Lewis to share the following memory with us:
When I was in my early 20s, I visited the DEAD SEA. I was by myself at the time, and everyone said to go and see it. I really didn’t know anything about it.
When I arrived, I saw many people just standing in the water. Hardly anyone was moving. I just thought it was a stodgy crowd.
Back then, the way I liked to enter a lake or the ocean was to run full speed into the water, maybe even splash those nearby, and I was going to do that this time, and show these people what fun looks like.
What I didn’t know was that the water was so salty and mineral–rich, you could actually sit on top of it. That salt, if it splashes in your face, seriously sears the eyes.
So, as I began my run from a great distance from the sea’s lip, I could see the beginnings of looks of terror in the faces of those on the beach as well as in the water. As I got closer, I saw their arms flailing, heard shouts of “NOOOOOO”. It was like one of those slow motion sequences in a movie, where faces were zoomed in on, and the voices were slow motion slow.
The people in the water turned their backs to me and covered their eyes. People on the beach were running to stop my invasion of the water.
Oh, I got the message and stopped in time, but I will never forget that moment. Hadn’t thought about it in forever. But today when I uncovered DEAD SEA, it was as if I were there.
(I noted that I’m so old that when I visited the DEAD SEA it was still alive.)
For BOX in the puzzle (“Word with shadow or shoe”), Son Volt shared this Grateful Dead song, perhaps my personal favorite of theirs.
The song deals with Phil Lesh’s father’s battle with cancer. As Phil drove out each day to visit his dad in the nursing home, he would sing “Box of Rain” and cry.
What do you want me to do
To do for you, to see you through?
A box of rain will ease the pain
And love will see you through
Two wonderful seasons are kicking off for us. Thursday night we schlepped down to Princeton for the first of eight chamber music concerts in the series we subscribed to. World class musicians in spectacular Richardson Auditorium at a ridiculously low cost. It was the Brentano String Quartet this time — they we so incredibly good we almost stayed awake for the entire performance.
And the NY Sirens of the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) announced their season schedule. It includes about a dozen games near us (at the Pru in Newark) so we’ll be signing up for a “flex pack” of 4 games or so. Drop the puck and let’s go, ladies!! The league expanded to twelve teams, broken up into two divisions. Eight will qualify for the playoffs. C’mon Sirens!! Let’s make it this year! Here’s our Sarah, with her game face on.
Some of you may have been surprised that our mention of Ana de Armas, above, was not accompanied by a photo of Ana, as it always does. Well, Phil tells me Ana, as gracious as she is beautiful, requested that we feature this photo instead, of a colonial girl who, no doubt, was pulling for George or Tom in the Presidents Race featured above. Okay, Armas — but you owe us one!
We ain’t gonna top that shayna punim for a close. See you tomorrow!
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