Has it reached a crisis level yet?

I refer to the shortage of silliness on this blog. I fear we have had one of late.

To help offset this, I offer herewith my album cover:


I ran across The Album Cover Project at Left Turn at Joy. Her album cover turned out quite lovely, btw. Here are the rules as she lays them out:


1.
Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2.
Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations” or click
http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3.
Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click
http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4.
Use GIMP/Photoshop/MS Paint or similar to put it all together. [I used Word with Word Art.]

5.
Post it to your blog and please leave a comment here so we can see you're creations.

--the BB

"It's that other doxy's fault" -- the studly Eric Duke

Yes, I'm referring to that tattooed denizen of the sultry swamps, Ginger Laharpe!

She tempted me and I did eat. You betcha.

So here we go with the Other Names Meme:

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Victor Bell

2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad): Charles Victor 
- though I prefer what grandpa was always called: C. B. Victor

3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name): Stpaul – oh my, not him again!


4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Blue Dog 
(those effing Bushocrats, ¡de ningún manera, José!)

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live): Eric Duke – Albuquerque is known as Duke City, so I took liberties
. Then again, when you are starring in the telenovelas you can probably take a few liberties here and there.

6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add “THE” to the beginning): NO, this one just is not going to work – The Green Rhône – can I use Russian? Zilony Rhone?

7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name): Paid – makes me feel like a stamp on an invoice


8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Dulce de Leche Pepparkakar – hmmm, how about Dulce Pepper?

9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name): Cocoa Meadows – no pet, so my largest teddy bear’s nickname


10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on): Sarge Madison

I don't know about the rest but this method of creating a name for porn acting has long been used, according to urban legend anyway. I have flirted in public with a few porn stars in my day (when I was thirty-odd years younger and sixty pounds lighter) but never actually met them to ask whether it be true.

I tossed in a version of the subjunctive in that last sentence just for Padre Mickey.

You will find several rounds of this in the comments at Ginger's place.
--the BB

Collect them all!

Yes, boys and girls, you'll want to have each and every one of the Pale 'n' Palin yard signs. Click on over to here to see more. You can even make your own!

More fun than a barrel of mavericks!
--the BB

Cousin PJ pays a visit

Regular visitors may be aware that Maggie and Belle, the intrepid damsels of New Orleans adventures, are part of a large extended family. They have so many siblings I doubt I could give an accurate count without inventorying two large houses. (Hey, I know all their names, I just don't count my kids; they're not numbers after all, and look at how God viewed King David doing a census!)

Anyhoo, I had not expected to be home this weekend when the San Diego contingent was in town and was thus pleasantly surprised to see Cousin PJ, shown above with Aunt Debbie Bear. (Yes, Debbie, like me, is a bear. One really needs a shamanistic viewpoint to follow some of my posts, I know.)

PJ, or Paddington Junior, is a homemade teddy bear that Debbie made for her mother, Anne. This was after Debbie had made a larger homemade bear for me, my official teddy bear, Paddington. My Paddington looks like the Paddington Bear in Michael Bond's books, not like the commercial Paddington Bears one sees for sale which look about as much like Paddington as the Disney Pooh looks like the real Winnie the Pooh. PJ had a nice visit with the two Gregorys during dinner (Gregory Bear and Gregory Hedgehog).


That evening we marveled at this colorful and humongous spider in the garden. Quite impressive and I did not get near enough for it to try eating me too. Any experts on Arachnidae out there care to identify this critter?

Dinner included grilled pork loin; a medley of incredibly sweet and delicious canteloupe, green grapes, and blackberries; grilled vegetables including red peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes from the garden; and corn from the garden. All this was followed with German chocolate cake made from scratch. There were lovely wines. On mange bien ici.


Here we have the cottonwoods in the golden light of sunset.

That was the end of August and one could feel an autumnal edge to things.
--the BB

Art imitates life imitates art imi... oh my, my head is spinning

Margaret Macrina Dolphin (aka Maggie): Good gawd, girl, we've got fans in the Global Center!

Belle: But of course, darlin', and aren't they just the cutest things?

MMD: Bet that shrieky one could show a girl a good time.

Belle: Maggie, this is NOT one of those adult blogs.

MMD: Lucky thing because our daddy doesn't look to be growing up anytime soon.

Belle: Looks full grown to me. Have you seen the weight he's put on?

MMD: Shh. He doesn't really like to think about it.

Belle: Can you just imagine? There's a chance we get to star in our own adventures - in this exotic locale, no less. Just like my heroine, Miss Egyptian Hippo of Love, only here in my own home town.

MMD: That penguin's kind of cute too, but I think I'd get in trouble with the moose.

Belle: Honey, you're liable to get in trouble with any of those men. Better stick to picnics.

MMD: Sigh. Why did I get stuck with picnics? Do you know how much work it is to organize one of those suckers? And let me tell you, a really good potato salad is more labor intensive than folks realize, especially when you don't have opposable thumbs.

Belle: Men never appreciate all we do behind the scenes to make their lives pleasant and their food yummy. But with a tail like yours, honey, you don't need thumbs.

MMD: Well, I do like to flirt a bit now and then and men do notice me.

Belle: A few of the women do too. Me, I'm a BBW with the full kind of figure that makes for one helluva snuggle. Something to hold on to, if you know what I mean.

MMD: And you a right proper Anglican lady!

Belle: You can pray, play bridge, and still have fun.

MMD: Amen to that.

Daddy (off camera): Patience, ladies. I promise we'll have an adventure on Sunday WITH the camera (and Mimi, we hope). Until then, you've got to let me catch up on the news. And remember, some of us work 6 days a week.

The girls: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daddy: Ahem.

MMD and Belle: Yes, daddy. But you're more fun when you're "retired."

Daddy: True, and poorer too. Let's praise King Jesus and Holy Mother Mary that there's an income these days.

Belle (as the girls wander off): "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille."
MMD: More like the nuthouse. Where's your dead chimp?
Belle: Max!
MMD: Teehee.

Daddy, aka the BB, here. Not sure if I can stand the star-struck ladies with dreams of Bollywood and beyond. Hope they know the way to San José. It's not like they're teenagers, but a good gossip magazine never gets ages right.

At the end of the day I slipped across the building to shoot this pic from an empty conference room. The casino and the Mississippi.


This is one shot of the buildings across the street as I exit work in the evening.


And, shifting the camera toward the left, one sees this. Love the restaurant name: Nacho Mama's. Lots of restoration lies ahead. Just before I exited to take these pics I crossed a marble lobby that was being polished. Quite a contrast.


This is a detail of the exterior of the parking garage where I drop the car off each morning. Portions of the building skin are just plywood boards, though the frame is reinforced concrete.


This is a mostly abandoned high-rise across from where I was working until Tuesday afternoon. I am told, by those who have worked on Sunday mornings, that some rather colorful party types emerge here to face the daylight. We suspect its a rave locale on weekends. Or something like that. We're all old farts, of course, and this gives us something to talk about. The gents seem to have enjoyed the very skimpy dresses the partying ladies wear.


Looking slightly farther to the right there is the boarded-up Vietnamese restaurant and other buildings still waiting their turn.


Here are more of the NOLA sidewalks I referred to in my thoughts on uneven ground. I walk past this each time I head over to Walgreen's or the Tulane Medical Center hospital cafeteria.


And this is the section of sidewalk I actually traverse when doing so. In between these two photos stands the monument shown in yesterday's pictures.


But if you turn slightly you look down this lovely strip with trees. This is looking up Elk toward Canal Street.


And that's the tour for today.

Y'all have to be patient about the Adventures of Maggie and Belle.
--the BB

Working on Jarred's T-shirt

Here you go, Jarred. We do what we can.
--the BB

Joyeux Noël!

Today the whole creation is watered by mystical streams

Today the transgressions of humanity are washed away by the waters of the Jordan

Today Paradise has been opened to humanity and the Sun of Righteousness shines down upon us

Today we have been delivered from darkness and illuminated with the light of the knowledge of God

Today earth and sea share the joy of the world, and the world is filled with gladness

Text from the Great Blessing of the Waters on the Feast of the Holy Theophany of our Lord
--the BB

Death to the PG-13

No, "fucked" didn't even come into the equation.
This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:

death (10x)
torture (9x)
dead (4x)
pain (2x)
pooped (1x)

So, I ask y'all: how can one talk about what is happening in our world and "keep it safe"? You can't. The world is not safe, or tidy, or nice.

A glorious adventure? Yes. But messy and painful.

Admit it

I was just being silly and poking fun at cat blogging, but how can I NOT conclude that y'all come here to check out Friday prince blogging?
--the BB

Friday Prince Blogging

It's still Thursday where I am but I figured I would post now so y'all can start your Friday right.

Today we remain with the Princely House of Liechtenstein, turning our camera toward Prince Hans-Adam II's second son, His Serene Highness Prince Maximilian Nikolaus Maria, and his lovely wife Princess Angela. So there's some equal opportunity for those of you who like looking at pretty women. Hey, so do I.

Prince Max was born on 16 May 1969 in St Gallen. He married Angela Gisela Brown (of Panamá) in St Vincent Ferrer's Church, New York, on 29 January 2000 and they have one child, Prince Alfons Constantin Maria of Liechtenstein (all according to Wikipedia and the princely house website).

Prince Max is fifth in line to the throne after his older brother, Erbprinz (Hereditary Prince) Alois and his three sons.

Look, since HSH Alois and the boys are doing fine, I'm sure Liechtenstein won't have to call on Maximilian, so I'm willing to trade W for Max until we can elect someone with two brain cells to rub together, a sense of morality, and a feeling of duty toward the welfare of the American People. I'll throw in Cheney and Rice if we can get Angela too. Deal?
--the BB

Not that pure and def not that young

This is not a young blogger.

The BB in Ploshchad Ostrovskovo, St Petersburg,

in front of the Statue of Katherine the Lawgiver

The choices were too narrow, not allowing for all the answers that lie between them. Anyway, while I'm being silly and taking quizzes....





h/t to Pseudopiskie, who scored the same
--the BB