I saw this on this in Hampton Terrace during this morning’s 10K bike ride.
I think I’ll close this post with something you might not have seen: A scene from Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes that puts together Wu-Tang’s GZA, RZA, and Bill Murray at the same booth in a café:
I finally got around to framing and hanging our Le bateleur (which translates from French as “juggler,” “street performer,” or “busker”) tarot card woodcut print. It’s the perfect size to go under one of the sconces in the hallway leading to our offices, and it looks pretty damned good.
It’s a gift that our Toronto friends Natalie and Eldon gave to us during our visit to Toronto last October, just before we flew off to visit the Philippines.
(It’ll be nice to be able to travel again…someday.)
Le bateleur is one of Canadian artist Graham Blair’s woodcut prints. Here’s how he describes it:
The earliest known tarot card decks date to the early 1400s, and for several centuries they were used simply as game cards, becoming associated with divination only after the 1780s. While the first tarot cards were hand-painted, for most of their existence they were printed from woodcuts using the same techniques that I use today.
This design is my North Atlantic interpretation of the first and one of the most famous trump cards – Le Bateleur – which traditionally depicts a sleight-of-hand magician sitting in front of his table of tricks, the image of a skillful trickster and master of the material world. In my version, the magician is an accordion-playing fisherman seated in front of a table overflowing with cod. On the deck of his ship are the tools of his trade – a cod jigger and splitting knife – and the tail of a humpback whale can be seen in the distance. This magician’s sleight-of-hand is manifest in the jigs and reels he coaxes from his accordion.
It’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, where the holiday is celebrated on the second Monday in October. As a Canadian transplant, a generally grateful person, and one who never turns down a good holiday, I celebrate both Thanksgivings.
One thing I’m grateful for is being able to live on a corner lot on a lush tree-lined street in a delightfully quirky neighborhood in a sub-tropical paradise.
Here are some photos I took earlier in our front yard this morning, as the rain gave way to a sunshine break, just in time for my daily 10K bike ride.
I’m teaching programming on Zoom on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m., which means I’m often getting something to go from one of our local eateries. Last night, I got dinner from the Seminole Heights Taco Bus, where I saw the sign pictured above.
I thought the bit about having to sign a waiver was just advertising hyperbole, but I asked the person behind the counter, and it’s true — you have to sign one before ordering.
Scorpion hot sauce is made with scorpion peppers, which typically have a heat rating of 2 million scovilles. At that point, it’s not food; it’s a weapon.
I might try it, but definitely not before I have to spend 4 hours teaching a class. I don’t want to do that while dealing with the subject matter from the song below:
Just had a FaceTime conversation with Mom, and it went pretty much like this.
I’ve been silent because a lot of my time has been eaten by the “homework assignment” part of the job interview process at a pretty nice organization. I just submitted the assignment, and now I wait. Fingers crossed!