Long Table TacoFino Blues: Friday, May 23rd!

A house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. -Margaret Fuller, author, critic, and women's rights advocate (1810-1850) 

Solar Roadway!

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/solar-freakin-roadways-el_b_5352544.html

Hi, Patrick:

Thanks for this message . . . which I have only just read (a week later!)  Sounds as though life has been busy and full in all sorts of enjoyable ways for you lately.  Congratulations on your 38th!!!!  It sounds as though you had a lovely celebratory time.  Of course, I remember Ron and Rhoda from Lesotho - how did "Rhoda" transmogrify into "Ski"?

I am still in a bit of a vortex at work, finding it difficult to get traction . . . but . . . I am confident that this is a temporary state of affairs.  I am looking forward to my short trip in June with Karen and Sandy (to Pacific Rim) and to our complete family gathering a few days later, at Greg's house in Deep Cove.


 

I am inspired by your cycling stories, and planning to cycle and / or walk to work regularly once I start at Dunbar (July 2).  As I have mentioned, though, cycling -- for me -- is an endeavour fraught with anxiety.  I am not the most coordinated person.  And at the moment, I am horribly out of shape too.  Which is why I need to walk and cycle . . . .  I have to get fit for my next trip to India (February-March 2015)!   

Did you get your Apple TV to work?  Coincidentally, I just bought one a few weeks ago too.  I already had an HDMI cable and managed the set-up reasonably efficiently.  Some neo-Luddite friends call me a "gadget girl" sometimes, which is a bit extreme, but there may be a nugget of truth to it.
 

Mother's Day - I took Mum to the UBC Botanical Gardens, then to Heirloom Vegetarian Restaurant for dinner.  We met Greg there, which she had not expected and was very happy about.   (Sandy had called from Ottawa, earlier in the day; Karen was unable to visit on the day,  but  sent flowers).  Mum really enjoyed the time together with her OLDEST and YOUNGEST, though I don't think she was enthralled by the food.  (She said that it was "interesting.") Last weekend, Mum and I went to see Belle at Fifth Avenue.  We rarely see a movie together, but she was interested in this one.   I am more and more inclined to spend as much time with her as I can . . . she is healthy and active, but I do notice that she is slowing down, which is a bit difficult to see.    I want to make the most of the time we have, if that doesn't sound too cryptic.  She is 83 now and gave up her car a few months ago . . . sensibly, when it was still at a time that she could choose, rather than be compelled.

Yes, it would be lovely to arrange another get-together with Eyob and his family.  My apartment is too small and hot at this time of year, so your kind offer to host is welcome . . . but I can certainly contribute to the nosh.  The weekend of June 6th works well for me.  Otherwise, with Sandy's family's visit in June, we are probably looking at July! Hope this finds you well, and hope to hear from you soon.  All the best to Corinne and Chloe. Janet           Hi Pat hope all is well chez toi. Planning a bbq in June so will have you over for a catch up chin wag.
 

I am assisting with reception planning for the Sculpture soc of BC who are having a party at Van Dusen gardens in late July. They snivel about lack of cash so I suggested hitting up liquor vendors for free wine for the wine and cheese (maybe can squeeze some cows for free cheeze...) Anyway, do you know any vendors who are desperate to get rid of crap wine?? Ron.  

Stats for today's ride:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/506043320#.U4DbdAZNZ0Q.email

Look at Adrian's boys Another Last one

Wow they're really growing fast! They look like they have loads of fun together! 

ohh i think they are TROUBLE!!!! HA, Adrian times two!!! 

From Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture: 1875-1945 by Jon Savage. Long before the Beatles hit Shea Stadium, the relatively unknown Judy Garland found herself as perhaps the very first teen idol -- and was stunned by the overwhelming reception she received, primarily from teenagers, on a whirlwind publicity tour for the release of The Wizard of Oz. Garland and her frequent co-star, Mickey Rooney, thus helped usher in an age of teenage idols:

"The studio had planned [The Wizard of Oz] as an epic to compete with the market domination of Fox's Shirley Temple, the biggest box-office draw of 1936, 1937, and 1938. ... It ended up at nearly double the cost of a typical major MGM picture. The studio had some serious recouping to do, and set in motion a massive promotional blitz that began in May 1939 and continued building over the next three months up to the saturation booking of the film nationwide....

"The film's theme tune, 'Over the Rainbow' had been intended by writers Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen as 'a song of yearning.' Performed by the film's sixteen-year-old female lead, Judy Garland, it was, by August, the most frequently played tune in the country.

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland on The Wizard of Oz tour

"MGM decided to send Judy Garland out on tour to coincide with the film's premiere in each city. The rising star would be accompanied by the country's top juvenile: Garland and Mickey Rooney had already been established as duo in 1938's Love Finds Andy Hardy, and the studio wished to promote the forthcoming musical Babes in Arms. Both were accomplished and popular vaudeville veterans, but no one could have predicted the response that began with the pair's first appearance -- in Washington on August 9 -- and that built over the next three days in Connecticut.

"In New York, the pre-hype reached a crescendo. The competition to be one of the 150-strong 'official welcoming committee' had attracted 250,000 replies. When Garland and Rooney arrived in Manhattan at midday on Monday, August 14, the selected few were swamped by a 'screaming, delirious, perspiring roped-off mob' of 10,000 fans who filled Grand Central Station. The New York Daily News pictured Judy Garland stretched in a crucifixion pose between two rescuing policeman, her face contorted in a rictus of pain and shock.

Crowds waiting for The Wizard of Oz

"On the day of the official opening at the Capitol Theater, Thursday the seventeenth, the queue began forming on Broadway at 5:30 a.m. By the time the 5,000 tickets went on sale at 8 a.m., police estimated that 15,000 were outside the theater, eventually forming a line that went five and six deep around the block between 50th and 51st streets, Broadway and Eighth Avenue. This time, reporters took a closer look at this predominantly female swarm and observed that 'about sixty per cent of the multitude were minors.'

"Stunned by their reception, Garland and Rooney quickly recovered themselves and gave their professional best in the dance and vocal numbers that interspersed the performances of the film itself. By the end of the day, they had given seven shows to 37,000 customers: according to the Hollywood Reporter, 'The overflow filled almost all the other Broadway houses, jammed the restaurants, soft drink parlors, and candy stores.' With rave notices, this pattern continued for nearly two weeks until Rooney's final appearance on August 30: packed performances, jammed streets, mobbed stars."

Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture: 1875-1945, Jon Savage, Penguin Books, 2007