männertag

Fathers are important but as a holiday, it seems concessionary, like an after thought.  In Germany, they have adopted the Anglo-American Mothers' Day, and observe Fathers' Day on Ascension Day.  I wonder how Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary felt on Fathers' Day.  It is referred to, however, as Männertag, man's day, and usually spent drinking and doing outdoorsy things.  H and I spent the day today fixing up our new camper in preparation for a tour through the Alsace.  We received this nice sunflower--I especially like how it flourishes in the sun or during a partial solar eclipse, is is OK to water it or to spinkle it with a vial of carbolic acid, and touching is permitted but never, ever feed it.

novel approach

Since the failure of capping the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico that's hemmoraging untold millions of barrels of petroleum into the environment due to giant ice crystals at the bottom of the ocean, and who knew there were such obstacles to progress lounging about around old spindle top horizon, there have been a few theories involing sabotage by environmentalists and a total media blackout on the North Korean submarine that blew it up to strike another blow to the American economy.  The public should not be alerted to this act of war until such time that the US can successfully retaliate.  Offers for assistance were fended off by the US government from the likes of Iran, but the Soviets took a creative tact no less than five times when faced with the same unstauchable problem, used as a torniquet a nuclear bomb that sealed the leak for good.

further or beyond

Happy Mothers' Day to all.  H and I spend the weekend leading up to it on a quest with my parents to retrieve our newly secured Volkswagon camper.  We made a round trip of nearly a thousand kilometers to Lake Constance and back and had a fun adventure, but we considered that most people choose Lake Constance as a vacation destination and spend a little bit more time there.  Owning a camper I think represents a major paradigm shift in the way we vacation, but I am really looking forward to it, especially considering that parts of European airspace are again shut down due to abrasive volcanic ash. 

Flying is faster at the end, but taking into account the time spend on research, price-comparisons, making reservations (for hotels, as well), driving to the airport to arrive there at minimum two hours before a flight, flight-time, security and then coming back again, puttering slow but steady down the road seems like a winning alternative.  Of course, the camper will be christened something--we'll have to break a bottle of champagne over the bough.  My father suggested naming it "Further" or Furthur (sic) after Ken Kessey's school bus.  The placard for the destination, the next stop reads simply further.  My mother suggested that we call it "Beyond."

shahzad! or Attack on the Rue Plumet

There are reports that the would-be car-bomber of Times Square had been on the US government's radar since 1999, listed as a person-of-interest on a so called travel lookout list--I suppose things were named more innocently before there was an entity known as the Department of Homeland Security with vested powers to disappear people.  If Jean Valjean had been an accused terrorist, I suppose Inspector Javert would have never caught him, even after twenty years on the run as a fugitive from justice.