It’s summer. So wandering around mentally is acceptable and Rotzy’s wandered around a few topics.
Readers Write (*see below)
…And this one’s full of questions. Not the earth-changing sort, more of a too-much-tyme-on-his-hands variety, but I’ll leave it to y’all to decide, so check ’em out. *1/ Why are there Interstate Highways in Hawaii?? * 2/ Why do they put braille dots on the keypad of the drive-in ATM?? *3/ Have you ever imagined a world without hypothetical situations?? Lemme know if you have an answer to any/all of these. As I said, they’re NOT earth-changing, altho 3/ would make things very ‘interesting’, you think??
Speaking Of Reading….
….Miz. Jo and Rotzy do a LOT of it! Reading, that is. In fact it would be fair to say that I have become an absolute ‘reading fool’ over the past 10 years or so, tho arguably, I’ve been a fool LONG before that and I’d have no problem getting witnesses to attest. As to the adjective ‘reading’, I really ‘got into’ books about 10 years or so back. Never read as a kid, teen, or adolescent, going into my 30’s and well beyond that…other than what we HAD to read in English class, like Dickens, Shakespeare, not to mention the poets….all fine writers, but ‘not my style’, tho I didn’t really have a ‘style’. Still don’t. Eventually I got into books by Steinbeck, Hemingway, T.S. Elliot, and cetera and I became a ‘fool’….I expect that it was mostly because of the way they described things, such as the scenery, the garments people wore, the way they spoke, especially those with accents, vivid descriptions of food, and the way people treated/mistreated other people. You could actually feel, see, smell and taste it….what ever the topic! I do not have a favourite author….man or woman….and I thoroughly enjoy virtually EVERY book I pick up. Actually, these days I seldom choose my books, grabbing up whatever Miz. Jo has just read, and (I’m guessing here) for almost the entire ten months we’ve been here at Harris Place we’ve really been into WW I and WW II, especially the latter. Women in the Armed Forces from Russia, France, Germany, The UK, etc, etc. in the support services. Germany vs the Allies under Stalin in #1 and the Nazi Madman (from Austria) in #2. It was also pretty much confirmed in nearly all of the WW I and WW II books, that what I’d heard decades ago was correct….the shortest book ever printed was/is titled ”French Military Heroes In Two World Wars”. That, of course, doesn’t include The French Resistance, who were the REAL heroes. Next for the Reading Fool is ‘The Underground Railroad’, which landed here at #555 Fri afternoon….soon as I finish ‘Something In The Water’….her first novel, written by a British actress who curses like a Marine Drill Sgt, and yours truly’s even found some new ways to use the ‘f-word’ more effectively to perhaps help get your/my point across. By the bye, yes, I’m ‘old school’, so paperback or hardcover are fine, but it’s gotta be a ‘real book’….ditto for newspapers or magazines. The only tyme a PC Monitor is acceptable is for doing up “From Nakina”. Hey….I have no other choice!
I Was Talking….
….complaining? about being left off of the N F&G Loop in this space last week and that the (30 or 40-something) Annual Nakina F&G Bass Derby was on for Aug 6-8. Well, I’m still in the dark as to a real Derby re-cap but we have been assured….methinks….that First Place went to a couple Nakinaites, Dan Michel and Travis Schallock, again!….altho I can’t lay my hands on their two day weight, who won the Big Fish Award for Sat and Sun as well as HOW big they were. However, I think I CAN safely say I doubt any pair of anglers has clinched First Place more often than these two locals…and I will bet that their winnings will probably go into upgrading their boat, and/or pay for their next derby. I still DO recall the first Bass Derby winners in 2001 or 2002….Geraldton’s Corey Nephin and Tom Friday from Thunder Bay. Anyway, I’ll try to get back into The Loop for 2020.
Brant’s Ford Stuff
*Miz. Jo and Rotzy are somewhat baffled at Skyline Living’s ongoing garden improvements/property upgrades/additions here at 555 Harris Place as it continued another week! Plus, they managed to cut the lawn this tyme before it got 6-8 inches tall! On Friday as a matter of fact!! Well, this type of effort can’t go without recognition….nor will it!! So….SO….it is my duty, not to mention my extreme pleasure to announce that the semi-prestigious “F/N” Most Improved Award for Aug 2019 goes to Skyline for the three properties here; 555 and 575 Park Rd North as well as 535 Dunsdon. Great job folks. Now…..ah…..um…..er…..does that mean the rent might go up?
Still with #555….they changed the Friday Happy Hour tyme from 4:00 to 6:00PM….after just one week….to 5:00 to 7:00PM. Not sure why, but the explanation we got is laughable/not worth repeating. Week one we were there from 4:00 to about 5:10 since Fri has been designated ‘Order-In/Take-Out Night’ (*see below) since we landed here in Oct. We dine at or about 6:00 and as I pick up our order early aft we always want to heat up the food. So, we’ll take a pass on Happy Hour, thank you. My thinking is that they’ll increase the munchies/food people are bringing and result in H/Hour becoming their supper. No thanks, but Hey, enjoy!!!
“TheWindmill”
…couple weeks back Miz. Jo read about the Restaurant And Deli, The Windmill, in the Expositor and we enjoyed a pleasant drive out to Mt. Pleasant last Fri as that’s Order-In/Take-Out Day (*see above) First thing we noticed was the parking lot….jam-packed!! And a LOT of olde people! OK, OK, OK….a lot of people ‘our age’. Miz. Jo went in as I enjoyed a puff….drawing a few looks of disgust as if I had s–t on the end of my nose from the olde people….damn, there’s nothing worse than born-again non-smokers, eh? Anyway, I made my way in, and if there is ANYTHING they don’t sell in The Windmill (which is Amish-owned), I’ve never seen or heard of it. And tonnes of ‘touristy things’, which the olde folks check out but seldom buy. Long story short, we find the deli…and of course they have everything there as well!….got some black forest ham, a Greek pasta salad, mild cheese curds, and cetera….including ‘smoked horse meat’ (yes, HORSE MEAT!!!) which I’ve NEVER tried before. Hey, I couldn’t resist. It’s dark, has no fat and I asked the young, pimply-face meat cutter if it tasted ‘gamey’? He wasn’t sure, so I said ‘Like deer’? ‘Moose’?? Still didn’t know, so I said ‘slice me six thin slices please’….and he did. It was a fine Fri Take-Out Supper, in spite of missing out on Happy Hour!! I’m thinking I betcha nobody there brought smoked horse meat….Rotzy quite liked it! Then I got to wondering if perhaps I was eating Northern Dancer’s Great Grandson??!! I’m thinking I could get some and take it to Happy Hour next week, not telling them…as they rave on about how wonderful it is, until after they’ve eaten it. Stay tuned on that one.
*Thought Of The Day…If a cow laughs would milk come out her nose???
