Here and There..

What a weekend for the French!  Yesterday was Bastille Day, and today the French team plays for the World Cup, the world’s most prized trophy in sports (with a trivial nod toward the Stanley Cup and the commercialized Super Bowl of (American) football), which I watch as I type (resulting in many errors)..

Been accumulating a few things to pass along, not necessarily food related, but maybe of some interest.   There’s was also three rants, which I will whittle down to two, saving the most negative one to the last, lest you stop reading. 

 Livin' on the Riiiivvvver

We start with the passing scene in our “back yard”, i.e., the Patuxent River.   Mostly we see all sorts of things, like boats

Who sometimes “raft up” and have fun

these were waiting for the fireworks on the 4^th

And besides pleasure boats there are “working boats” like our friend “Miss Marleny”, a tug who lately seems to cycle between Cove Point and the river side of Town Creek.   Always pushing a load of various “stuff”, the purpose of which is not clear to this office

And we also look up to see other things plying the air thanks to nature

And man

And then above all is one of the more interesting things we can do (isn’t this riveting reading?) is watch the clouds (insert Joni Mitchell tune here).  I suppose I could somehow make a time lapse out of these, but all were taken with my feet remaining in the same space within a span of just few minutes

It’s brief life span brings to mind one of my more favorite Shakespearean quotes (from Macbeth): “life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage… and then is heard no more”

a bit dramatic perhaps, but it is something we see and will never see again.

One things the stormy kinds of clouds bring out are the avid sailors

Tomate 

Speaking of nature, she brought us some wonderful bounty (courtesy of our neighbor) of seasonable veggies (she has long since learned not to offer Zucchini or eggplant – it’s just me)  

Still life with vegetables

Okay, if you haven’t fallen asleep yet, we’ll dive into the cesspool of some (two) rants.

Sandwiches

I think I’ve touched on this before, but there are now a series of commercials for Firehouse Subs that are headlined “enjoy more subs, save more lives” and of course they mean enjoy our subs.  Features some guy who claims to be a NY fireman dressed up in firefighting gear, who explains that by buying their subs, you are contributing to saving lives because a portion of each sandwich goes to their foundation to buy lifesaving equipment.  Turns out they donate 0.13 percent (.0013) per sandwich  (a five buck sandwich generates 0.0065 cents) so a sale of 1000 sandwiches would generate a whopping six and a half cents.  A million sandwiches would get 65 dollars.  That’s fine, but what really gets me is that they tell me I should eat their sandwiches purely out of patriotic duty because I want to save lives.  Not because they have a good product.

Sports - Wimbledon

Which has just concluded with Djokovic holding the championship trophy by beating a very nice kid (Kevin Anderson) in straight sets, who got there by eliminating Federer in a fantastic 5 set match, and “Djoko” reaching the final by besting Nadal in a classic match. Wonderful tennis! 

BUT then there is the Ladies side of the draw (rant begins here)

I have always admired and respected Chrissie Evert, but I have lost almost all of that after this tournament.   From beginning to end, all she did was extoll how wonderful Serena was, coming back after she had her kid, and said she should win another Wimbledon, to prove she is the GOAT. 

Well, then along comes Angelique Kerber, who beat Serena in the championship match in straight sets.  And Chrissie had the audacity to say, “well, Serena didn’t have her best game today”. Translation: the only reason Angelique won was because Serena was off that day.  Not because she played better tennis, just Serena lost it.  Sorry Chrissie, I’m off.

And somehow (he continues) Serena is now being held up as a monument to all women and mothers.  She was quoted after the match saying “to all the moms out there, I was playing for you today!”  Gee, thanks Serena.  And isn’t this the same woman who told a line judge she was going to “stuff a tennis ball down your throat!”?

Okay, I’ll lay off.  There is no doubt that she is the best woman tennis player today (and yes,maybe all time), but just don’t think she deserves to be representing all mothers everywhere.   

Well, that’s all I got today, and end with the constant reminder to

DFD and NMMJ

Viva La France!