The Glad Game

Pollyanna is a very old reference from a book written by Eleanor H. Porter in 1913. Probably most people don't know why we say someone "is being a Pollyanna". Pollyanna was the titular character  of the novel, and according to the story her father taught her to find something to be glad about no matter how dire the situation by playing "The Glad Game". She is so good at the game that she influences her very crabby aunt and even an entire town to see the world in a more positive light.

Another more current book with a humorous take on remaining optimistic is "Could Be Worse" by James Stevenson. Despite the everyday woes of the grandkids, or even the amazing events in his tall tale that starts with being lifted out of bed by an eagle and dropped in the mountains where he meets the abominable snowman, his constant refrain is "could be worse". And it is true, isn't it?

Just last night we read in The #1 Ladies Detective Agency book currently on our nightstand that "Mma Ramotswe always managed to put things into perspective. Everything could always be worse, and so be grateful that things are only as bad as they are."

We are simply calling our attempt to find the silver linings during these very unusual times 

"Bad News/Good News". Here we go.

Bad News: No hair appointments for the foreseeable future.
Good News: We never gave in to coloring so we will have no grey roots growing out. As for the bangs - we still own bobby pins, and a scissors if things get desperate.

Bad News: Teeth cleaning cancelled.
Good News: No scolding for flossing deficiency.

Bad News: Stuck at home.
Good news: We have a cozy, big house with a full pantry in a walk-able neighborhood with congenial neighbors to wave to and greet from a distance.

Bad News: No get togethers with friends and family.
Good news: Lots of technology for virtual visits!

Bad News: Dreary weather and rain.
Good News: It is not snowing and signs of spring, including rain, are all around.

Bad News: Absolutely no reasons to procrastinate on the household to-do lists.
Good News: We are actually getting things done. Taxes, census, cleaning, cooking. Check, check, check, check.

Bad News: We get no visitors.
Good News: Pajama time 24/7!

Bad News: Spring and Summer vacations canceled.
Good News: We won't miss seeing our own garden at the peak of the growing season. We can admire every single moment of the magnificent rhododendron, lilacs, and spring epheremals in bloom.

Bad News: Our president is not doing a very good job of reassuring the nation, and indulges in some harmful magical thinking.
Good News: We do not have to be the ones standing behind him at press conferences trying desperately not to react to what he is saying. (Those people deserve a daytime Emmy for their performances.)

It doesn't matter where you are getting your inspiration to find the Good News in your situation, we only hope that you are finding it somewhere. And, we welcome you to share your Good News or source of hope with us here in the comments. If anyone calls you Pollyanna please take it as a compliment and remember, it could be worse.

Secret Society

Found in The Bottom Line monthly publication Up North.

We want to join, but who are they and where do they meet?

It reminds us of another group we once belonged to. The Rainbow Ladies back in the day could put a similar announcement in the Fish Wrapper with only the date and "The Rainbow ladies will meet. Call for information." If you were one of us no more needed to be said. 

For those who were dying to join us it must have been very frustrating. 

So now we know how it feels. If you are reading this and belong to the Moral Social and Uplift Society please contact us. We have both refreshments and stories to contribute and are in desperate need of both social and moral uplifting.

Thank you. We await the call.

Eclipse Underfoot

We sat on the porch under the big overhanging roof so we wouldn't be tempted to stare at the sun.

We could still see the partial eclipse.

And then many mini eclipses. 

 

And some teeny tiny eclipses.  

 

And even more on the sidewalk under our big shade trees on Columbia Street. 

In the end we think we had more fun seeing hundreds of eclipses than if we had seen only one  

big, full, real one. 

And our retinas are completely unscathed. 

 

Look Who's Talking

NDL was asked to do a gardening Q & A for Volume One Magazine.

It turned out quite nicely. You can read it here if you wish.

Thank you to the kind neighbor lady who recommended NDL for the article and to our young neighbor lady-in-training for making NDL look good in print.

It was a pleasure and a privilege and fun to do.

It's Not All About the List

Look what we saw on a newspaper paper vending machine downtown last week.

And again under random windshield wiper blades up and down the street.

Someone's trying to do something nice.

And we have to believe it is out of the goodness of their heart, 

rather than as part of a late-in-the-game campaign to have Santa reverse his check from the Naughty to Nice column. 

Inspired by the anonymous Christmas Kindster we picked up this label sans candy cane that was laying in the gutter and discarded it properly. 

And then this nail from the grocery store parking lot. It wasn't a grand gesture, but perhaps it saved someone from some unneeded holiday hassle.

If you want to read about some truly kind, but hardly random acts that will extend well beyond December 25 check out this lovely story and this breaking news from a town that knows and actively strives for nice.

Wait Until Dark

When you have a notion to get naked it can be hard to wait. 

Especially if the urge hits you on one of the longest days of the year. 

But if you are in a public place you just might want to try to stay clothed until after sundown.

Chippewa County Critters 911

Something odd was going on in the animal kingdom the first week of February.

We are used to this kind of report. 

This is Wisconsin. We have cows. One occasionally gets out and stupidly stands in the road. 

Someone has to tell them to move along or they will hang around all day enjoying the scenery.

This kind of call to the authorities is a little less common, but again, this is Wisconsin, 

we have raccoons, and they sometimes wander where they are not welcome, 

but we have to wonder...if there is a raccoon in a nursing home is the descriptor "stray" really necessary? 

A stray dog in your yard, yes. It is not your dog. It is has strayed from its own yard. 

But unless the nursing home has a pet raccoon and then discovers another raccoon has entered the building pretty much any raccoon on the premises is stray and does not need to be identified as such.

Here's a head-scratcher. 

So many questions occur that we don't even know which one to pose first,

but we are dying to know how it all turned out. 

And of course we are hoping upon hope that the animal three-feet long turned out to be a mongoose.

Rest of the story anyone?

The Dirty Dancing Cure

Recently, in an effort to clean-up an ongoing problem with poor etiquette at school dances, administrators at Sheboygan North High School took a page straight from Mrs. PiggleWiggle. 

When the homecoming dance started to resemble the sultriest scenes from Dirty Dancing rather than the mostly innocent, carefree choreography of Footloose administrators conferred in the hallway outside the dance and decided that Principal Jason Bull would read a pre-written statement. 

The statement outlined options for the evening that seemed inspired by Mrs. PW whose magical child-raising cures were probably not coincidentally very much like the parenting technique that promotes natural consequences for undesirable behaviors.

"When Bull took the stage, he said a group of students belonging to the original group of offenders began chanting obscenities, which riled up the students.

Bull told students that the dance was canceled in an effort to quell the chants and focus students’ attention.

Minutes later, Bull said students seemed to be in a better frame of mind to listen, at which point, he proceeded with the original message, which detailed that if inappropriate behavior were to continue, the lights would stay on, the chicken dance song would be played for the rest of the night, and/or the dance would be canceled.

After the announcement, some students chose to leave voluntarily, but the majority stayed, according to Bull, and the dance resumed as planned." - Green Bay Press Gazette.com     

Well done Principal Bull, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle would be proud! 

So proud in fact that maybe she would dance a little jig.

Waiting for Spring

Not long ago we read this article about the lack of nature and animal themes in children's books and frankly, felt a bit shaken. Could it be true? We had to see for ourself.

In the kid-lit  area of our big new bookstore  we found,  right on the top shelf of the picture-book  section this:

A wonderful book about a grandpa whose fading memories are kept in the topiaries he creates.

And this:

A girl's imaginings of the colorful and whimsical garden she will plant. Jellybean bushes are involved.

And this:

 

Author illustrator team, Philip and Erin Stead put out annual lists of their picks for the Phildecott and Steadbury awards and we are pleased to discover that many of their choices are both nature and animal themed books.

Based on our independent study and that of the Steads we are choosing to believe that the report of the dwindling of books of this genre is premature. They are there but it may take some intention to seek them out and share them with the kids in your life to help keep them connected with their "big backyard". Better yet, read some of those stories to them right in the great outdoors.

Formerly smokers' hill

No, you won't find it on Mapquest, but it seems one of our local landmarks has become an officially capitalized place. The fish-wrapper, perhaps only repeating usage from the police dispatch, has seen fit to legitimize the butt-strewn grassy knoll just across the street from the high school by using it as an official crime scene address.

Our initial intent was to mock this silly formalization of the well-known moniker for a notorius locale, and it is kind of funny, but noting that the activity of the restless youths has deviated from de rigueur rebellious underage tobacco use to incidents of a more disturbing nature, perhaps a tone of gravity is somewhat more appropriate. Is it possible we are endorsing bad behavior by acknowledging that there is a dedicated place for it?

Hmmm... we wonder what other infamous locations might get the official nod.

Will we soon be able to reserve by name, the park picnic shelter in the wooded area known as Bong Hollow?

And Then What Happened?

We know you were dying to know the story behind the headline.

Here it is.

Image: The Graphics Fairy

That's All I Have to Say About That

Forrest has nothing on this guy.

He's seen it all.

Images by: Photofunia and NDL.

Me Me Me Me

In the news this week - box office numbers from the last two weekends were lower than the previous record-low attendance weekends which occured immediately following the incidents of 9/11. How can that be explained? The economy, drought of good films, access to internet entertainment? We're not sure but we did our part by seeing The Muppets not once, but twice in the last two weeks. (It's a long story.) We give it two thumbs up and predict you will like it too. A highlight is a return of the musical stylings of Brett McKenzie, formerly of Flight of the Conchords and music supervisor of The Muppets. Written by Bret himself, Man or Muppet will tug at your heartstrings and make you giggle at once.

Yes, time for going to the cinema during the busy holiday season may also be a factor in the case of the absent audience, but if the cookies are baked, the presents wrapped, and the tree decorated we recommend you get out and support the film industry and our local movie, popcorn, and Jr. Mints franchise.

If you really don't have time to relax for a few hours with The Muppets this weekend, enjoy a bit of holiday silliness with a few of our favorites here.

A Bad Trip Man

Just a day before this headline (quick warning to the squeamish - cover your eyes when linking) we were coming through the garden gate juggling Juliet tomatoes and a bunch of basil in one hand, a coffee cup, compost bucket, and kitchen shears in the other, and had the thought - tripping now could mean mortal damage to our gizzard. It would not look good in the obituary.

A neighbor, Mrs. B.Z. Body said of the late NDL - She never knew when enough was enough. Making two trips from garden to garage was just not an option. Garden tote? She owned a million of them, but seldom thought to grab one before heading to the tomato plot. She superstitiously believed it was bad luck to presume that the tomatoes would be more abundant than what her hands could hold. She might get there and find that the chipmunks had chewed holes in each and every one of them. Too bad she couldn't stop multitasking long enough to leave her coffee mug in the kitchen while she ran out for Caprese Salad ingredients. She seemed like such a nice lady too. If only she could've kicked that caffeine habit. Sad. So sad. Say, do you know if those gnomes will be part of the estate sale?

Deja Vroom Vroom

We hadn't seen this kind of vehicular action in our living room in a long time, but it had a very familiar feel to it.




This little guy seems to be a real chip off the old engine block.




Whether he joins the family business or drives in the Sturgeon Fest demolition derby someday (or both), it looks like "cool cars" are definitely in his future.

We've Had Enough

Did you read about the guy who shot a snowbank?

From where we sit in our rather low slung economy sedan we can see his point of view on the subject.







But we can't see if it is safe to pull out of the alley.

Awkward

We are not true basketball fans. There is not much suspense when seven foot tall men who barely have to stretch to reach the basket are playing the game. They are going to score. Alot. High school and college hoops are much more entertaining, but we don't often turn up at the gym or turn on the TV to watch that either. Typically our only tribute to our Indiana roots and its tradition of excellently played basketball is our annual screening, usually around March Madness time, of Hoosiers, the best basketball movie ever. However, a recent incident of a muffed congratulatory handshake at the freethrow line during an NBA game caught our attention after it became big sports page news.





And the video spoof of the incident drew us even further into the half court drama.




Silly.

Great Pumpkin

We have a new world record pumpkin grown just down the road from us in New Richmond, Wisconsin by Chris Stevens who bested the Guinness World Record pumpkin of 1,725 pounds by growing a giant gourd weighing 1,810.5 pounds.


">

After the successful weigh-in in Stillwater, Minnesota Chris Stevens drove the great pumpkin to NYC in a pickup truck to appear on the Live with Regis and Kelly show. Currently the pumpkin is on display at the New York Botanical Garden where, on the day before Halloween it will be turned into a humongous Jack-o-lantern by master pumpkin carver Scott Cully of Eugene, Oregon and will remain on display there until November 1st. Finally, its seeds will be saved and returned to Chris Stevens who plans to keep some and donate the rest to the St. Croix Growers Association to sell.

The Great Pumpkin Commonwealth arranged for the behemoth cucurbit's whirlwind NYC publicity tour. Just in case you had the same thought as we did...no, we checked and it appears Linus van Pelt is not president of the GPC.

Educational TV

Hip hip hooray! Spongebob saves the day!





If you missed last week's news of the girl who saved her friend from choking by channeling Spongebob Squarepants, read all about it here.

They Didn't Cover this at Police Academy

Pardon me while I regurgitate the news for you. Sometimes there are tidbits so fascinating that I just can't take the chance you might miss them. This for example:

WOMAN ARRESTED IN BLOWGUN SPREE

A 41-year-old woman is in jail after police say she went on a blowgun spree in downtown Stevens Point.

The Stevens Point Journal reports that police got a report at 9 p.m. Wednesday from a 25-year-old woman who said she was walking downtown when she felt something hit her chest. In the next half-hour, three more people made similar reports. None was seriously injured.

One of the victims reported she saw the dart shot from a pipe sticking out a window of a black minivan. Police pulled the vehicle over at 9:30 p.m. and found a blowgun, a slingshot and a bucket of rocks inside.

Police arrested the van's driver, Paula Wolf, and said she eventually admitted to shooting the pedestrians. She allegedly told an officer that she "liked to hear people say 'ouch.' " Wolf was charged with recklessly endangering safety.

— Associated Press


Sounds like the suspect went quietly, but they should put this guy's number on speed dial just in case future sprees get out of hand.