You may forgive the foreigner who thinks of the Swiss as rather, well— neutral, controlled, emotions in check.  But here in the wine market which was in this square in Lucerne, one finds the painting of the Last Supper on the wall, with the Swiss German inscription above. You have to remember that Lent precedes Easter, and traditionally people fast during Lent and the celebrate at Easter. And that is precisely what this little ditty is about— about the Burger... Read more

At the end of WWII my father was given a furlough in Switzerland, specifically in Lucerne. While he was there in 1945 he bought an Omega watch, at a little shop around the corner from the famous Bucherer watch shop, which had been ticking along since 1888, and still is going strong (see the pictures below). My father wore his Omega throughout his adult life, and then we found it in his effects when cleaning things up in Wilmington N.C. ... Read more

The Van Gogh immersion experience has been going on for many months now touring the country, and Ann and I finally had a chance to get to Cincinnati and see it Sunday August 21.  It is well worth the effort.  Some of our favorite 19-20th century artists are the Impressionists, and Vincent is of course one of them.  Set to the music of audio impressionists like Debussy and Satie and St. Saens and even Ravel this exhibit is a home... Read more

Remember when we used to hang our dirty laundry on clothes lines with actual clothes pens?  Well now that has been replaced with people hanging their venting and ranting out in the front yard with home made signs.  With yard signs there’s more room and more scope for comment, as we shall now see.  My question is, do you really want to accept the consequences of such public rants?   Do you enjoy alienating and annoying your neighbors?  Just wondering. This... Read more

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Having just spent some weeks in Europe as well as all over the Lands of the Bible, one thing that was noticeably and mercifully absent was bumper stickers.  I saw almost none on the thousands of cars I saw.  Americans on the other hand wear their hearts on their bumpers, not their sleeves.  And sometimes its way over the top.  For example, Never mind the fact that if a driver actually tries to read all or some of these stickers... Read more

  Here’s a preview of coming attractions.  They are playing 34 songs in a row, and you’ll love them all.  Thanks in advance to Vandy, Randy, Ryan, Jessica and all ya’ll for cooking this up!   Read more

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For reasons not exactly clear to me, some people think that the beach is the place to display their most ridiculous attire. Who exactly are they trying to impress?  I’m not even talking about people who are hanging out of their bathsuits in various egregious ways because they are too overweight to wear such a suit.  I’m talking about the class clowns at the beach.  And then their are the parents who think it is cute to dress like infants... Read more

Hooray for the Timex billboard. Read more