Burning Bush

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s is still working to expose Bush – the most recent form of protest is “a 3.7 metre-tall effigy of …Bush with fake flames shooting out of the pants.”
As in ‘liar, liar pants on fire.’
You can even sign up to drive the Pants on Fire mobile, or provide parking while the effigy is in your town.

Modern times

According to the Chicago Public Library, the tenth anniversary is traditionally the tin or aluminum anniversary.
In modern times, the appropriate gift is diamonds.
This seems a little pessimistic – are we to assume that modern marriages have no chance of lasting 60 years (traditionally, the 60th is the Diamond Anniversary)?
Well, Dr. T., if we live another 50 years, we’ll get diamonds. Today, we can line up a bunch of tin cans on the fence and throw rocks or something.
Happy anniversary. (K)

Atonement

Ian McEwan
This is the first McEwan I’ve read (although I have owned Amsterdam for a long time without reading it. I enjoyed Atonement enough to root through my home library and find Amsterdam, but not so much that I’ll do it any time soon.

Continue reading “Atonement”

Census

Current population of our house:
1 4-year old boy (human (reportedly))
1 6-year old boy (human)
1 adult male (human)
3 adult females (one maggie, one mother-in-law, one aunt-in-law, all more or less human)
1 nursing female with 4 babies (raccoon)
To the left of the mother, look closely - two heads
Well, at least some one’s using the upstairs balcony

Things I’ve learned while biking

1. “Clunk” is almost never a good sound.
2. If you pull over on the road to adjust something using a screwdriver, make sure you’re not stopped directly over a sewer grate.*
3. If you pull over, chances are that at least one person will stop to offer help – and really mean it. The lovely woman who helped me get my chain sorted out this morning even offered me her rag to clean my hands.
*On a related note, if anyone finds a red-handled Phillips floating in the toilet bowl, please let me know.