Pink aka Mrs. Tishell

Poor Pink developed a boil or growth on his cheek which he proceeded to slash open by scratching at it. The wound required 18 stitches at the Vet (and $460.00) to close it and we had to do something to keep him from re-opening it. At Pet Smarts, they sold me an inflatable donut collar, instead one of those awful stiff cones you see dogs wearing. The only donut they had in the correct size was PINK, so poor Pink is suffering the indignity not only of the donut necklace, but the feminine color.

He's been an awfully good sport about it all. At first, he tried to get it off but after a day or two he seemed to accept it as his "new normal." I watch him running around outside and acting more or less as usual, even with the bubble necklace. Tomorrow he's liberated...stitches come out and his quality of life will improve.

Out of sympathy we've been letting him sleep with us. It's amazing how quickly they catch on to
a good deal. He eats and then runs into the bedroom and nestles in for the evening. No diagrams necessary. He's not going to be happy going back to the old routine. It would be a Sophie's choice for him if he had to choose between wearing the collar and sleeping in bed with us or relief from the collar and bedding with his dreaded roommate, Cashew. A suffering cat is easy to spoil.

We noticed the other day how much he looks like Mrs. Tishell on Doc Martin. What do you think?

Sepia Saturday #329: Feeling Crowded...

The prompt: If I could gather my flock around me for a moment, I would like to reveal the theme image for Sepia Saturday 329. Look at that calm and gentle stance, look at all that wool - and I am only talking about the shepherd! In addition you have a sheep, a dog, a crook (I can think of several of my relatives who could fit into that as a theme) and a rustic fence. As usual, Sepia Saturday is bounteous with its potential themes. The theme image is from the collection of the National Media Museum on Flickr and was taken in the 1890s by the photographer Joseph Gale. It is entitled "Ninely and Nine" and if you want to know why you can read more about the image HERE. As always, all you need to do is to post your post on or around Saturday 7th May 2016 and add a link to the list below.

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I have nothing in my albums for a match this week, but I did remember this event in Spain. Looking at the picture of the sheep made me sweat.

By The Associated Press 
on October 25, 2015 at 4:13 PM, updated October 26, 2015 at 7:17 AM

10shares

MADRID (AP) — Spanish shepherds have led 2,000 sheep through the streets of Madrid in defense of age-old droving, grazing and migration rights that are increasingly threatened by urban sprawl and fenced-in pastures.

Tourists and children were surprised to see wide avenues blocked off in the Spanish capital to let the woolly parade — bleating loudly and clanking bells — cross the city, accompanied by sheepdogs.

Government agriculture spokesman Carlos Cabanas says the tradition is essential to "maintain native breeds that are in danger of extinction."

Shepherds have held the right since at least 1273 to use droving routes across land that used to be open fields before Madrid became a sprawling metropolis.

A shepherd handed over 150 maravedies — coins minted in the 11th century — to city officials for the crossing.

Crowds bother me. The largest I've been in was at sporting events years ago and while somewhat unsettling just because of the numbers, the events were cheerful and positive; there was nothing menacing going on back then, short of one's team losing. Back in the good old days, losing was not a reason to go out and trash your community. Now I avoid all kinds of crowds fearing that unexpected violence can erupt anywhere. Even at Walmart on the day after Thanksgiving. 

The greatest hazard involved with crowding is the danger of stampede. During the Jubilee year 2000 I was in Rome and decided to go through the Holy Doors at St. Peters (unlocked for the year) - there was a plenary indulgence involved. I picked the wrong time on the last open day and arrived with crowds of nuns from all over the world. Everyone decided to go through that door at the same time and a stampede almost broke out. I can remember thinking of the irony involved in being killed by stampeding nuns trying to get into St. Peters. Most of the deadly stampedes throughout history are

at religious events. 

Haj crowds from www.theatlantic.com Photo by Muhammad Hamed/Rutgers

2016 is another Jubilee year, the Holy Year of Mercy, and the Pope opened the doors again in December last year. 

A nice orderly line waiting to go through the Holy Doors, but wait until November as the closing date nears. 

Stampedes are terrifying because of the unpredictability. Here’s how John Seabrook described them in a harrowing 2011 article in The New Yorker:

The transition from fraternal smooshing to suffocating pressure—a “crowd crush”—often occurs almost imperceptibly; one doesn’t realize what’s happening until it’s too late to escape. Something interrupts the flow of pedestrians—a blocked exit, say, while an escalator continues to feed people into a closed-off space. ... At a certain point, you feel pressure on all sides of your body, and realize that you can’t raise your arms. You are pulled off your feet, and welded into a block of people. The crowd force squeezes the air out of your lungs, and you struggle to take another breath.

A story that has always fascinated me is "My Petition for More Space" by John Hersey. I myself have suffered attacks of line sickness at times in my life - waiting to get into the Bolshoi Ballet when Rudy Nureyev was dancing, I experienced it - the jamming and cramming and pressure of the crowds behind. Here's a summary of the story by David Hoftas in Allreaders.com: 

"The tale takes place in a waiting line. It is the near future, when couples have to apply to have a child and are allowed only one. (Patriotic teen males can agree to get a vasectomy.) Personal space for individuals is limited to an 8x12-foot painted square in a large warehouse dorm, and the only area in New Haven with grass and trees is walled off -- the mayor gets to mow it but others can only look at it through a window after waiting long hours in line. Thirty-seven-year-old Sam Poynter, who writes reports and is getting divorced, is in a line, four abreast, to get to the petition windows where he will ask the authorities for the unheard-of favor of a slightly larger living space. Crushed around him are people petitioning for more protein, to change their residence or job, to get Havana cigars, to have a child. An elderly woman is petitioning to have her dear grandson not to be taught to read, so he can learn something more useful. Moving a block every 15-20 minutes for several hours, Sam grows to like some of the strangers around him (especially the young blonde in the blue dress against whom he is pressed from behind, who seems to respond to his verbal and physical overtures) and dislikes others. A woman faints and is passed over heads; several people suffer "line sickness" and go screaming mad. An unhappy gent starts up a chant to get Sam thrown out of line." 

I like this book cover design - sardine cans. Says it all. 

I'm so grateful to live in the 182nd most densely populated country in the world at 85.24 persons per square mile. There's plenty of room here for us and for lots and lots more sheep. 

I was in Macau a couple of times in the 90's and it didn't feel so crowded then, but now it's the most densely populated country on earth at 54,970 people per square mile. The sheep and I have crossed Macau off our visitation list. No self-respecting shepherd would be comfortable in Macau either.

Having grown up in Canada, 230th most densely populated, with 9.44 persons per square mile I got used to having a little space. I guess if it gets too crowded here, we can move to Greenland, the 244th and least populated spot on the planet at .08 persons per square mile. Any shepherd out there feeling a bit pinched would be

welcome to come along. 

I realize this population clock has been around forever, but it's very sobering to take a look at it every once in a while. Makes you want to scream "STOP."

World Population Clock

Grab your hook or your crook and visit Sepia Saturday. 

Daiso Store - Oceanside

The Daiso store had a grand opening recently in Oceanside. I stopped in for a look because my grand nieces and nephews like the stores in Orange County  and they've purchased for me a number of unique items: toe socks, tiny sauce bottles, a face roller/massager, a fan decorated with cute Japanese cats. 

It's a fun shopping experience. I was looking for nothing and spent a grand total of $15.00 on 5 plastic storage boxes, a birthday card, a package of tomato salt candies (?) and three packages of the hard-to-find and excellent Lee Kum Kee Sauce for Black Pepper Chicken priced at $1.00 in Daiso and over $2.00 per package elsewhere.

The items that intrigued me were the fancy tapes of various kinds, art supplies, tiny fancy envelopes, pretty note paper and envelopes. 

Daiso is not new to the U.S. having had a store in Seattle since 2004 and one in San Francisco since 2008. Daiso now has 29 stores in the U.S., most in Orange County. They have over 2,860 stores in Japan and 37 stores in the middle east. The founder, Mr. Hirotake Yama, has an interesting attitude to business, which can be read in detail on their website...some of it is here:

"In the near future, a flexible response to change will be required for businesses. In order for them to survive, methods of the past must be discarded, and changes have to be made from within. To create a business according to a new set of values, it is important to have a feeling of constant self-denial.   I believe that is the first step to increasing business sustainability. For example, when looking at 20th-century business management in Japan, growth was assumed from the start. But things are different in the 21st century. Business know-how based on growth as a given does not work anymore. Business owners have to figure that out quickly and apply that knowledge if they want their businesses to survive.  Since our founding as the pioneer of 100 yen shops, we have continued to evolve and take on new challenges. One of those challenges was to abandon our original business model of “everything for 100 yen,” and start developing and selling products for 200 yen, 1,000 yen, and so on. Our company’s stores are rapidly expanding domestically and overseas today, but not once have I ever hoped to grow my business or put up a lot of stores. From the company’s founding to this day, growth has solely been achieved through constant trial and error, and learning from mistakes in order to survive. "

New values that can’t be imitated by other companies.

Daiso’s stores provide a unique experience of curiosity and enjoyment for thousands of customers to go home satisfied, not only in Japan but now all over the world. Our wide range of stores, products, and highly-competitive prices never fail to satisfy the discerning customer. You might wonder what the secret is behind Daiso’s success in such a demanding business environment. It is something that no other company is able to imitate—our three values of “Quality,” “Variety,” and “Uniqueness.” These three strengths are the pillars of our success. There is no other company like this today. New values never seen anywhere else, combined with exclusive business strategies that bring joy and amazement to customers worldwide are what keep Daiso moving ahead of the competition.

Would I recommend you make a special trip to the store? No, unless you really need a face roller or tomato/salt candies. Most of the items are impulse things - no real essentials for sale there. It's just fun. 

Another day at the Bottom Shelf

Every day at the Bottom Shelf is a good day. This week we came home with $13.00 worth of books. A slow sales day, only $107.00 landed in the till. We, the volunteers, contributed more than 10% of the revenue. I wonder if the same phenomenom exists with the other workers? We never come home empty-handed. 

Grandparents come in and buy books in volume. They say they like to keep them in their homes for when the grandkids visit. Most are very good at rooting out the classics...Dr. Seuss doesn't linger on the shelves. 

A woman bought an old songbook of simple children's songs. She told me she'd just returned from Thailand where she'd been in a classroom of little ones being taught English by a non-English speaker. Her plan was to record herself singing the songs and send the tape to the class so the kids could hear "American" English. 

Another woman was breathless at the cash register and in a hurry. She lived just outside of Beijing but she and her husband were former Fallbrookians and kept a house here. They visit about once a year and one of her favorite haunts is the Bottom Shelf. She had an armload of stuff. They intend to stay in China.

My Otolaryngology textbook has made it up to the top shelf! It was in the inventory of books to sell online but had languished there for some time. I purchased it and took it to the big Otolaryngologists convention in San Diego and was going to award it to some deserving physician. That didn't work out so I brought it back to the BS hoping someone might take an interest. It's an old text and only of use curiosity or for a collector. 

A man with Piagets disease wandered in and started a conversation about his vinyl record collection. Several people within earshot of the speaker chimed in saying they either still had their vinyl or sadly, had recently sold it. That's what I did....took Richard's collection, about 4 years ago, to the store in Old Town Temecula and pocketed the cash; not for the money but to free up the storage space. Bad mistake. The badly bent-over man made a suggestion that someone could request use of the community room one night a week and present a program of vinyl records. All the DJ would have to do, he opined, was read the liner notes from the albums..that would suffice for introduction of the records. He mentioned that he was considering donating his sound equipment to the library for this purpose. Off he went, full of resolve. We'll see what happens.

Another woman spent about an hour going through the classics section. When she cashed out she had
at least eight great looking volumes she sifted out of the clutter. Really nice books with lovely illustrations and nice bindings. You won't find an over-looked valuable book on the shelves because they are all scanned for their IBN's and checked out for value. Nevertheless, there are some beautiful books that show up there - maybe not so rare, but beautiful to have on your bookshelf. There are great finds in the store if you have the patience to look carefully.

Last but not least, a woman bought a book on the south coast of England. Her sister, she said, was writing a musical about Mary Anning of "She sells sea shells by the sea shore" fame and she'd just returned from Lyme Regis. As I've been in LR, we had a pleasant discussion about the area. I could have talked to this woman for an hour at least.

I'm starting to know the regulars and there are quite a few of them. These are the people who hang out first at the library and then, like dessert, they finish with a stop at the Bottom Shelf. Perhaps they spend a dime or maybe a dollar. Either way, they leave feeling they have scored a big bargain.

And that's why it's so much fun working at the Bottom Shelf.

Sepia Saturday 328: To the Rescue

Our theme image for Sepia Saturday 328 - post your posts on or around Saturday 30 April 2016 and link to the list below - is a 1914 photograph from the Flickr Commons collection of the Dutch National Archives. The caption of the photograph is "The Great War. Refugees from Antwerp, Belgium, bringing a painting into safety. Belgium, 1914" As with all Sepia Saturday visual prompts, you are free to go in whichever direction you want when interpreting this theme: there is plenty of subject matter in there just waiting to be rescued. 

Unknown artist: photograph by Nancy Javier

"I just wanted to share my new painting. Barbara and I spotted it on the side of the road in a pile of trash. She jumped out of the car and picked it up and I took it home and hung it up. It really makes me happy. I can't imagine why it was thrown away."

Barbara and Nancy introduced me to Sepia Saturday. They are rescuers of both animals and things. The above was Nancy's note on Facebook about this painting they found. The painting makes me happy too, because it was rescued but also because of the look in the eyes of the subject. I think she's asking the question, "Why was I dumped?" She was destined to find a home with Nancy and Barbara. 

I wondered if the painter was portraying two sides of this woman's personality. I know there's a shadow on one side, but the effect is of shorter, more intensely colored hair on her left and a brighter blue eye. Her right side is softer and a little more yielding. I love the unsmiling pose and the slightly off-center position of her face on the canvas.  

I echo Nancy's wonder, "Who would throw this away?"

Recently I rescued this photo from a local antique store. My rescue was more deliberate than Nancy/Barbara's; I found her for sale in an antique shop. The photo was shuffled in with postcards addressed to her from various places around the country. They all must have been part of an estate sale. I was attracted to her because of the date,1942, the year I was born, and her curly hair. Because I know her name I was able to look her up on Ancestry and find out that she was married to an optometrist in Whittier for 20 years before his death in 1977 after which she moved to Orange where she died in 2008. There was a postcard from her father in the same pile of photos and he spelled her last name incorrectly. I thought that was telling. Her husband had been married once before and perhaps her Dad didn't like him.  

Nancy and Barbara taught me how to see things in paintings that I never saw before. The pleasure I get out of viewing art has increased a thousand fold because of cruising art shows and garage sales with them. Here is a photo of me enjoying a still life in Amsterdam last year at the Rijksmuseum. I could have spent an hour on this one canvas alone.

Adriaen von Utrecht painted the banquet still life in 1644. Was it a show-off piece to demonstrate that he could paint anything? Painting was very competitive at that time and he showed in this scene that he could paint with pin-point accuracy: glass, stamped brass, seafood, bakery goods, fruit, furniture and even a monkey. The monkey, as the central figure in the secondary grouping, may be delivering the morality message in the scene as the animal frequently represented "sin" in these paintings. The fact that he's off the chain and the scene is so over-the-top luscious may lead one to interpret the painting as a cautionary tale about excess. Ah yes....nothing exceeds like excess!

Not that I'm any expert, but gradually I'm starting to learn what I like and to be able to say why I like it. Would I have liked the sketch below by Andy Warhol? No...I probably wouldn't
have paid ten dollars for it on the basis of it's merit, however it was signed and Mr. Fields might have had his suspicions. It's one of the greatest garage sale/rescues of all - photo and information from grandparents.com.

Rudy Vallee by Andy Warhol 

   "Andy Fields, a British businessman, purchased what he believed to be a child’s drawing at a yard sale in 2010, in Las Vegas. Fields was correct that a child rendered the drawing, however, he never imagined that the child artist was world famous. The artist of this drawing was none other than pop-art pioneer, Andy Warhol. Warhol sketched the drawing when he was around 10 years old, and was on bed rest, suffering from cholera. The picture depicts the 1930’s singer, Rudy Vallee.This early piece of Warhol art has been appraised at a value of roughly $2 million. However, Fields is still the owner of the piece, and is unsure of whether or not he will sell it. If he does sell the drawing at $2 million, his investment will have increased 400,000 times.

Sepia Saturday 324: Plagued or Blessed with the Wanderlust Gene

flikr, Library of Congress

The New Inn is still around and the town of Clovelly in Devon is booming with tourists.  They still call it the New Inn which is quite funny as the photo was taken in 1880 by Francis Bedford.  In the old days only pedestrians and donkeys with sledges transported goods up to the town, likely from the sea shore where the goods ships made landings. I found the view of the inn from the other side in a Flikr file. The prompt photo is from the National Media Museum. 

No wonder the town is mobbed now. It looks like the village where Doc Martin was filmed in Port Isaac, Cornwall known as Portwenn in the TV show. These photos are all from the Clovelly Tourist web page.

My mother hated traveling. She loved staying home and she positively revered routine. Is that why I fight "routine" tooth and nail and why nothing pleases me more than being on the road? Do we inevitably swing the other way when our parents are rigid? My mother took exactly the same route to the store every time she went. It didn't matter if another way was faster, safer or more interesting. There was one way to the store and that's the way we went. My husband teases me now if I try to give him driving directions. "Yes Jill," he says and I shut up.

In all fairness, my mother never discouraged me from traveling nor did she express any disapproval. She'd only say, "I don't know how you do it." In some ways, when travelers speak to non-travelers it's like they're from different planets. Some speculate that their DNA is different. Here's a link to an interesting article on the subject.  DRD4-7R is the gene they call the Wanderlust Gene. I think I have it; I know my mother did not.

When my mother came from Canada to visit me and my sister in California, she'd start counting the days until she could leave almost as soon as she arrived. I loved to have her with us, but hated to see her suffer. On her last few visits she was escorted by my friend Linda, the kindest person on the planet, who came along with her and we were all able to enjoy some time together. Mother was much more relaxed with Linda and the security of her company took away some of the terrible stress she felt when away from home.

I have only this one photo of my mother on the road. She and my dad took the obligatory European tour after he retired. This ghastly room is in Paris. At first glance I thought it was a hospital room and the black thing on the wall was an IV drip. Who would put a telephone up on the wall between two beds? The interior design is wanting to say the least. On the table is a bottle of whisky and two bottles of water...that's what my father drank: one part whisky, two parts water. Poor mother was stuck in that room counting the days left before she could leave, watching my father read guide books and sip at the whisky. Poor thing.

Reading about Clovelly and Devon rattled the heck out of my DRD4-74 and got me interested in the South West Coast Path. I've been looking for a walking vacation we could do with our traveling buddies who love to hike, preferably in England and this one would be a doozy....630 miles. My husband (who also has the Wanderlust gene) choked when I mentioned it to him, but I'm thinking we could attempt 25% of it in one chunk. That would be a reasonable 8 miles a day for 20 days with time off for good behavior. It would take about a month. 

Now that I have a nodding acquaintance with Clovelly, the smallest section I would do is the one from Clovelly to Westward Ho which is 11.1 miles. Clovelly, in the information on the walk, is described as an ancient village with links to "smuggling and wrecking." They also mention the village has been used in many TV shows and films including the 1990 version of Treasure Island starring Charlton Heston. 

I'm going to start training. My mother would call me insane. 

Mother would consider me insane.

. 

Sepia Saturday #327, April 23rd, 2016: "Get Me Started"

If you inhabit this part of the world you cannot fail to be aware that this Thursday marks the 90th birthday of the British Queen - Elizabeth II. To mark the event our theme image this week features a photograph from 1943 which shows Elizabeth and her sister Margaret as young women who performed in a pantomime production of Aladdin at Windsor Castle. The picture comes from the Daily Herald archives which are now held at the National Media Museum. 

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth!

For the "sister's" aspect of the photo this week, I chose one my father's creative
shots (all he had was his Brownie) of my sister Eilleen and myself enhanced by the morning light coming through the Venetian blinds. The day was probably Sunday and she was reading me the funnies which came in the Saturday paper as we did not have a Sunday edition. Eilleen loved to play roles and she enjoyed acting out the funnies for me.

Sometimes she'd use a cake box, the kind with the plastic window, as a little stage. She'd cut the funnies into strips and roll them around a pencil; using two pencils, she'd roll the comics from one pencil to the other, capturing the strips, frame by frame in the window. Each frame was a little tableau. I loved this and would beg her to "play comics" with me. 

Helen and Eilleen 1947

Both of these photos churn up emotion in me - I can remember how wonderful I thought my sister was and how much I wanted to be just like her. In that regard, we were very different from the royal sisters. I don't think Margaret was envious of her sister in the slightest and recognized early on what a difficult job her sister had ahead of her. When her father unexpectedly became king in 1936 following Edward VIII's abdication, Margaret, then six, said to Elizabeth: "Does that mean you're going to be queen? Poor you."

Elizabeth and Margaret, 1939

While looking at information about the Queen to write this post, I found this little tidbit so endearing. At her coronation in 1953, her robes were so heavy that she asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to give her a push, saying, "Get me started."

Poor little Elizabeth, so weighted down. 

Climb on your magic carpet and check out the stories at Sepia Saturday

Grisly

Pencil in hand, I searched out the Suduko in the Sunday Times of India. The puzzle was in the sports section and as I scanned the page I spotted these spine-chilling notices. Unidentified bodies are not unique to India; we have our share of people whose bodies are found but who are never identified - approximately 40,000 nationwide as of 2015. I've never seen this type of notice posted in a newspaper before. 

Behind the Beautiful Whatevers ...

Dough boy...

Need a whale cut in half? Here's the really big blade.

How would you like to spend the day in this kiosk with the wide screen TV blaring Bollywood movies constantly?

The flat breads bake on the sides of the tandoori. The little plaid thing is what the dough is rolled on. 

Flies, taking a break.

More Saffron Palate and Market Walk

There are plastic basket wallas who will tote your groceries around for you.

Tandoori oven.

Indian avocados....

Delicious sweet red Indian carrots, just going out of season.

Sweet shop.

Graduation photo.