A Bad Influence

My mom shows her granddaughters proper smoking techniques. My niece, Kelly, on the far right, purchased the fake cigarettes. Megan, on the left, looks like a natural. It is wholesome fun here at the beach.

The Best Pizza Ever

I'm on vacation at the beach and tonight we went to Grotto Pizza for dinner and had the Baker's Choice. It consists if pepperoni, sausage, sweet peppers, mushrooms and extra cheese. OMG it was good! I love their sweet peppers.

Let Me Eat Cake

We celebrated my birthday yesterday because Shane had to go back to DC. He got me a cake and gave me my gifts.

Off to Bethany Beach

Me on the beach at Fenwick Island, DE, earlier this year.

Shane and I are off to the beach. Shane is only going for the weekend because he has limited leave. However, I am renting a house for a week and my Mom and my sister, along with my triplet nieces, are joining me for most of the week. Shane, my Mom, sister and I have tickets to see a drag show (Christopher Peterson's Eyecons) at Rehoboth Beach on Sunday evening. Shane an I saw her perform a few years ago and we never laughed harder in our lives. I can't wait to see my Mother's reaction.

Running Music: The Beloved's "Your Love Takes Me Higher"

I know it's very 1990, but I love to run to this song.

Hump Day Art -- Colin Barclay

The Sea, Twillingate

oil on panel

8"x18"

Gros Morne, Newfoundland III

oil on linen

26"x26"

After the Burn

oil on panel

12"x24"

Frenchman Bay, Morning

oil on panel

12"x24"

The works above are by Colin Barclay. We saw them at the Leighton Gallery during our recent trip to Blue Hill, Maine. Once again, I apologize for the photo quality due to me using my iPhone camera. To see many more examples of Barclay's work and much better quality examples, click here. You can also visit Colin Barclay's website at http://colinbarclay.blogspot.com/. He also has much better photos of his work there.

Solving the World's Problems a Beer at a Time

In chatting with my Mom on the phone recently, we began discussing the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct. I had written a blog posting about the incident and was curious to know what she thought about it.

Nobody is a bigger fan of Barack Obama than my Mom. She has a 16-year-old girl crush on the man. She has told me that she gets tears in her eyes when he speaks. But beside being sick of hearing too much about the Gates arrest on the talking head shows, she also was not happy about the remark.

Now, I'm not talking about the remark about how the police acted "stupidly." I'm talking about the let's get together and talk this out over a "beer" remark. Her exact quote was, "How does he know they even like beer?"

The poor president can't win. There must be a sizable part of the population that thinks it is terrible that he is promoting alcohol consumption. Now, if he would have offered to have the guys over for a glass of iced tea, my Mom would be a groupie again.

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #202

What's the SPF on this sunblock?

The above is the cartoon for New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest for week #202, along with my entry for the week. Let me know if you come up with a caption too. Click on the link above to enter.

Eastern Market is Back!

Historic Eastern Market

Is Shane going to buy me flowers?

Above are some photos I took today of our walk over to Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. Built in 1873, the market burned down a couple of years ago. They had a temporary building there for a while, but now the old building has been revamped. It reopened a few weeks ago and this is the first chance Shane and I had of seeing it. It looks great! It is so much cleaner looking than before.

We had lunch at the famous market grill. Shane, as usual, had a burger. Though they are famous for their crab cakes, I had the North Carolina BBQ with coleslaw. My sandwich was messy, but delicious.

Take a few minutes to listen to this National Public Radio report about the reopening here. As the reporter notes, going to Eastern Market is like stepping back in time.

If you live around DC or come for a visit, it is a great place to spend a few hours. There is lots of interesting art, crafts, food, and more.

Name that Book from the First Sentence

Shane and I were goofing around this morning trying to stump each other with figuring out book titles by reading the book's first sentence. I got this one immediately:

"You exposed your penis on national televison, Max."

Any guesses?

Professor Gates Controversy -- A Teaching Moment

Photo by Justin Ide, Harvard University Gazette

I started writing a blog entry 2 days ago about the recent arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. by a Cambridge, MA, police officer. He was arrested for disorderly conduct after the police were called to his home for a possible break-in. It seemed to me at the time that Prof. Gates had over-reacted -- that if the police came to my door because of a reported break-in, I wouldn't be yelling and screaming like a crazy man -- that he probably deserved to be arrested. I decided not to post it then, because I didn't feel like I knew enough about the incident to make the judgement.

Two days later, I've read the police report, heard what the president had to say, and watched some of the coverage about the incident. I have changed my mind a bit. An African-American law professor from American University was on CNN making a good point. In the police report, the police officer stated he was trying to persuade Gates to go outside, because the acoustics in the house made it difficult to have the discussion since Professor Gates was yelling so much.

The acoustic? Really? Bad acoustics? The American University professor pointed out that to arrest Professor Gates, the officer needed to have Professor Gates be in a public place. You can apparently yell and scream all you want to in your own home perfectly legally, but the police officer knew he needed to get Gates outside to arrest this man accusing him of acting racist.

I still think Professor Gates probably was out of line and should have been more cooperative. However, the officer should have let the matter drop once he established Professor Gates was in his own home. I think the officer lured Professor Gates out of the house so he could arrest him as punishment for being accusatory and uncooperative.

This incident once again displays the brilliance of President Obama. He screwed it up at first with his comment that the police "acted stupidly," when he also didn't have all the facts. Then he very smartly turned it around, calmed everyone down, called on this to be a teaching moment. His statement today on the matter was a good resolution. I know a president from not so long ago that would never admit to any type of mistake, like starting a war with the wrong country.

Why Can’t Sarah Palin Just Go Away?

I opened the homepage to the Washington Post website and found just three stories relating to Sarah Palin. One of the main headlines near the top of the page was about a poll about Sarah’s popularity conducted by the Post and ABC News. Why was this necessary? Apparently, when you announce you’re going to quit your term as governor 18 months early, people start questioning your leadership ability. Though her popularity has dipped, with 53 percent of those polled having a negative opinion, what surprised me was the 40 percent of those polled had a positive opinion. What are they on?

Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry have an opinion piece in the Post titled, “What Palin Got Wrong about Energy.” It is a response to an opinion piece by Sarah (or whoever wrote it for her) from last week’s Post. According to Boxer and Kerry, what Palin got wrong was pretty much everything.

The third Palin-mentioned entry is a discussion piece by Timothy Shriver. He suggests Palin focus on fighting for her son and others with Down Syndrome. That would be a noble and important quest for the soon-to-be former governor. Obviously, that won’t happen. She’ll be on the lecture tour racking up the big bucks and stirring up pointless trouble on Fox News. I fear she will be around a long, long time. And, yes, I realize the irony of doing a blog post complaining how much exposure she is getting.

Mindy Smith Sings "Jolene" with Dolly Parton

Poor Mindy Smith looks very nervous in this video, but I love this version of the song. I discovered it on the bus ride home from New York City. I had to do something to keep my mind off the urine smell on that bus. That's the last time we'll take the bus.

"Philosophia" by The Guggenheim Grotto

Zoom Zip Zoom! I love this song.

Blue Sponge Newsroom Update

Twenty Democratic lawmakers are raising a fuss about supporting any health care bill that would pay for abortions. Democrats? The one thing you can say about Republicans is that they know how to fall into line. Dems cannot do this. HBO’s Bill Maher mentioned recently how we need a liberal party in the U.S. I agree. The Dems are now mostly what moderate Republicans used to be. We really do need a party that is for liberal ideals – a party for marriage equality, abortion rights, higher taxes on the wealthy, helping the poor, gun control, real health care reform, and anti-war.

The Senate voted to not fund the F-22 Fighter Jet, which the Pentagon doesn’t even want funded. The main argument for the jets was to prevent a loss of jobs. These are the same people complaining about people on welfare and they want to spend Government money on a program just to keep people employed? I’m guessing that most of the employees working on the F-22 would not lose their jobs, but would be incorporated into other projects. However, the cut would save taxpayers $1.75 billion, but it still has to be finalized with the House of Representatives.

In an interview with NBC, President Obama has finally admitted to looking “a little frumpy” in his baggy jeans at the all-star game last week. Really? They are talking to the President of the United States and this is what they choose to discuss? Do I smell a Pulitzer Prize?

I was surprised by a poll result in the Express newspaper. It asked, “Does Michael Vick deserve a second chance to play in the NFL?” Vick is a football player convicted and recently released from prison after serving nearly 2 years for his role in dog fighting. He is still suspended from playing. The poll results showed 58 percent voted no and 42 percent voted yes. I was surprised that nearly half the people voted yes, he should be able to continue to play. Though I agree, he served his time and should be allowed to play, I can’t imagine any team would be foolish enough to hire him.

DVR Alert: TLC is premiering season 2 of Toddlers & Tiaras tonight. How did I miss season 1 of this show? There is nothing sadder or more bizarre than child beauty pageants. I never get tired of watching this stuff and remembering that gay people are not allowed to adopt children in some states, yet these parents are lawfully permitted to do this to their kids.

Hump Day Art -- Richard Roflow Watercolor

Here is yet another painting from the Blue Hill Bay Gallery, in Blue Hill, Maine. It is a watercolor by Richard Roflow called South Deer Isle Bridge. It measures 16 by 16 inches.

I thought it was an amazing watercolor. I realize this photo taken with my iPhone is horrible. I had to take the picture at an angle because of the reflective glass over the painting. Even with the horrible photography though, you can see it is an exceptional work. The water alone is quite an effect. I'm not art expert, but I thought this painting was very good.

The following is from an article in the Mainely Art section of the Just Art web site: Deer Isle [Maine) painter Richard Roflow was one of the winners in the 1995 National Park Academy of the Arts competition, Arts for the Parks. Most of the artist's paintings are inspired by the drama of the Maine coast and coastal weather.

"He rarely paints on a sunny day. It's always misty, foggy, and dramatic. He paints those days that Mainers know as being a Maine day," said Barbara Entzminger, whose Bar Harbor [Maine] Birdnest Gallery exhibits many of Roflow's paintings.

"I fell in love with Maine by reading the Kenneth Roberts novels when I was in high school," said Roflow. But it was more than 20 years later when he and his wife, Jerry, first traveled to Maine where they bought a wharf-side house on Deer Isle.

"I consider myself a light painter. I try to paint the light I see and how it creates distances," Roflow said, explaining the prominence given to plays of light in his compositions.

"Roflow captures the qualities of atmosphere and its light-color shows which most of us hardly notice," writes Fran Watson. "Tiny droplets of moisture in the air act as color magnifiers, bathing landscape in eerie glows of uncommon intensity for brief moments, transforming the ordinary into the exotic. The most familiar objects attain an importance through his eyes as he renders them with a combination of softness and accuracy. His depictions are tinted fragments of hushed time, caught in the manner of masters like Corot and Daubigny whose visions changed rural simplicity into mythological magic."

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #201

Al Fresco, Private Eye. How may I help you?

The above is the cartoon for New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest for week #201. Let me know if you come up with a caption. Click on the link above to enter. Stupidly, when I actually entered this captioned, I didn't proof it and forgot the "r" in Fresco. Al Fesco, Private Eye, doesn't make as much sense, huh?

One of the finalists for Contest #199, which showed a defendent in the courtroom in swimming trunks and snorkle, is almost identical to one that Walt at WCS submitted. You were robbed Walt! Walt came up with the picking the lobster concept.

Pie or Cake?

We're back home from NYC, and getting ready for the work week. This photo is of a couple of the desserts from the Brooklyn Diner, which is, in fact, in Manhattan. We didn't have any dessert when we were
there, because we went there for breakfast. But, they looked amazing. I am a cake person, but I love cream pies, especially banana cream pie.

A Divine Day in New York City

This is a window display on 5th Avenue of Baltimore's own Divine. We had an amazing day in NYC. We saw two great shows, had a great dinner at an Italian restaurant, went to the top of Rockefeller Center, had a run in the park and a wonderful breakfast at the Brooklyn Diner. We want to move here. We love New York!

Seeing Next to Normal

This was an awesome show! I highly recommend it. Alice Ripley was amazing. We'll be back I'm sure.