Forward Fitting

This is a photo from this afternoon's forward fitting of the tweed and tartan jackets.

It called a forward fitting because all the pieces are tried on before the jacket is assembled, and final cuttings (hem, vents, pockets, buttonholes, etc) take place. Its a pretty unattractive picture at this point, but in two weeks it will be completed.

guilty pleasures

I half suspect Mrs. T is planning my replacement. I base this on her TIVO recordings. Saturdays are generally spent with "Say yes to the Dress" "Bridezillas" and programs of that genre. She is making plans. I make no judgement, I merely report.

By the end of the night it's time for" My Big Redneck Wedding".

If you fancy yourself a suburban, suave sophisticate, Redneck Wedding will appall you. You'll never fathom why that man is marrying his sister, or why truck seat covers make a suitable gift for a groom to give his bride.

You gotta see the show twice. The first time you will be unable to comprehend what you just saw. Next time though, pay attention to the wedding ceremony and reception. Everyone is having a whale of a lot of fun. That's something you can't say about most suburban weddings.

Trick is don't watch it a third time. Deep down I suspect there are a lot more weddings like this than we could even imagine, and I can imagine a lot.

Don't make fun of what you don't understand. It's bad manners.

Anyway, its Halloween. Be safe, have fun. Remember that no matter whatever you were led to believe, no kid ever bit into a razor blade he picked up trick or treating. (It happened once, his step father did it and fessed up before the kid bit into it)

BTW this afternoon is the first fitting for the two tweed jackets I ordered last month. Can't wait.

Since you made it this far, stop in and say hello.

Toad

gray cardigan

I'm sorta looking for a gray cardigan sweater. This do anything for ya? It's on EBAY till Sunday.

Is this really a good idea?

I have no direct evidence to support my allegation, but I believe you could accurately mix Mrs. T's on-line usage into 4 equal categories.

In no particular order the first would be time spent taking surveys. Mrs. T can morph into any character to supply an opinion to a pollster. The woman has no unexpressed opinions.

The next would be shopping. The Internet has enabled Mrs. T, her mother and sisters to sniff out bargains two continents away. If its not Rue La La, its Overstock or Target, or...

Next is games. She is an inveterate game player. I am not, so she searches victims on line.

And last is searching samples. Remember she has no unexpressed opinions. If some company is seeking volunteers to try a product she is first in line. Over the years we have been a one family rainbow coalition of product triers. Some products have been pretty good, most near useless. I expect an artificial leg will show up someday as a sample product.

Yesterday, she was me and I got a product to try in the mail. Gillette odor shield and body wash.
Who wouldn't be excited right?

To my minds eye there are two major flaws to this product. 1) the active ingredient appears to be a washcloth. Everyone knows boys don't washcloth. 2) Subtlety, the package directions suggest that using this may reduce the need for deodorant. I find that a bad trend, and one not to be encouraged.

After seeing the commercial on TV, I look forward to the results. I only wish I were 25 years younger. I can't wait for Saturday to try it.

Toad

Brer RABBIT

A Disney Quiz

I was at the barber the other day.

Allow me to rat myself out. Pig that I am, my barber is a very attractive brunette who is about the same age as the car I drove to get to the barber shop, but about half as old as the shoes, which I purchased new, wore that day.

In my defence, my next door neighbor owns the shop, and she selected the "stylist" for me..

All in all, she hasn't much to work with, and I am happy with the results, so I continue to go.

The day I went, HSM3 was released and she was very excited to see it. I mentioned my 8 yo grand daughter had also lost sleep in anticipation. But the Barber continued that she was still a kid at heart, and had ALL the Disney animated movies on VHS. I couldn't let this go on much further, so I told her she most certainly did not. Then the litany began.

Well she did have quite a few, even the earliest ones.

But still she did not have them all, in fact had never heard of this one.

For 5 points what Disney animated movie does she not have?

Free Kansas cannot play. First correct answer wins, all correct answers get 3 points.

The end is nigh

I have worn Topsiders for some part of every day, with very few exceptions, for the past 45 years. Only in brown please, as I live a thousand miles from the nearest ocean and haven't been on a sailboat in 25 years.

Topsiders are the perfect shoe, but you already know that. Now Sperry have gone and done this. As if the crocodile version wasn't gaudy enough I present for your edification Topsider chukka boots. No, even if you spend your own money, you may not buy these, and you will not associate with those that do.

May several suits rot in hell over this.

Toad

Carolina Lanterns

Are any of you familiar with Carolina Lanterns? http://carolinalanterns.com/

Until the Carter era, gas lanterns were pretty much the standard. In front of every suburban yard was a gas lamppost. After the oil embargo, folks either removed them all together, or converted them to electric. Things haven't been the same since.

As it works for me, I just kinda forgot how elegant the gas lamps were until I was last in New Orleans for bonus son 2's Tulane graduation. The Garden District, this was the spring before Katrina, was alight with gas. It brought back many memories.

For about a year, I have been reading Carolina Lanterns catalog, like a pre teen boy reading that magazine with the rabbits, lusting over where we could best utilize the warmth and glow of the perfect gas lamp. My longings were not aided by the knowledge that the gas man came to our house with a big truck several times a year in exchange for a large check, and that post Katrina gas prices were not to be trifled with.

So I have begun a limited search now that oil prices are a bit more reasonable, and Carolina Lanterns now have electric start models you can turn on and off at whim.

I think I want one, don't know where.

Toad

Electronic book readers

I am not shilling for Oprah and/or whomever makes Kindle!





Sometime Sunday I was reading a blog, or newspaper account of perfect products. The author mentioned Topsiders and 501 Levis amongst others.

My list would include Ticonderoga #2 pencils, Gillette Good News Razors and books. Not every book naturally, but the concept of books. They arouse almost all the senses. They are portable, feel good in the hand, some are physically beautiful. They are a joy to own and hold.

Lately, Oprah has endorsed a product called Kindle. Its a portable, electronic book reader approximately the size of a legal pad. The deal is you spend $300 for the reader, and you can wirelessly download virtually any book from Amazon, etc. for under $10. Allegedly, the Kindle holds several hundred books at once and has available memory cards for more storage.

Mrs T has made several stabs at tempting me to try one on. She has also sung this song to virtually every family member who would listen, to little or no avail. I gag at the thought, except...

There may be one application where this makes sense. Girl College Students

According to the Kindle web site, text books are down loadable too. While my knowledge isn't current, I remember college textbooks to be backbreakingly expensive, and rarely read. Downloading texts at 10 bucks just might make this practical. Boys would either lose it, or never use it, and they rarely buy the books anyway.

What do you think? Is it time to begin Christmas shopping?

Sony also has a similar product for $300 on sale at Target this week which includes 101 downloads, and the Oprah web site has a $50 off coupon code for a Kindle good for the next week or so.

For more info on Kindle:http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FI73MA/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=2192951021&ref=pd_sl_20wgx685w_e

Sony: http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentDisplayView?cmsId=content/reader/index_reader&hideHeaderFooter=false&storeId=10151&catalogId=10551&XID=O:sony%20book%20reader:dg_read_gglsrch#/home/

Trick or Treat

Something in my Celtic DNA makes me love this love the Halloween season. I wait all year for this. It's my super bowl, my world series, my St. Patricks Day, my best month of all.

For me Halloween season runs from the week proceeding All Hallows Eve until the monday after Thanksgiving. It includes Halloween prep, The day of the Dead, Election Day, Katy Day, all the exciting Thanksgiving prepartions, the big day and let down afterwards after everyone returns to school or home. The rest of the year is just the waiting for this time of year.

Not that I particularly do anything special, but I do have my routines.. I reread Washington Irving's stories, epecially Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleep Hollow. Build a scarecrow at the foot of the drive, watch Sleepy Hollow for the hundreth time, chop firewood, and prepare for my annual argument with Mrs. T about how much trick or treat candy we should have on hand.

This is our only major argument throughout the year. 5+ lbs each of Snickers, Butterfingers and Baby Ruths seem appropriate to me. Mrs. T sees the world through very dark glasses and believes we really don't need any. This is from a woman who lives for Christmas, go figure.

Just becasuse the grandkids are all out of town this year, and we have never had a trick or treater, nor are we ever likely to, she feels we can do without. Bunkum.

There is something fundamentally right about both hard and sweet apple cider, candy apples, harvest festivals, jack-o-lanterns, fall leaves, dove hunts, wood fires, and all fall activities.

Bit of Halloween trivia. How many of you realize that it was on Halloween, 1517, that Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany, beginning the Protestant Reformation?

Be safe and have fun. What kinds of fun stuff do they do in your neighborhood, maybe I'm missing out on something good?

Toad

Exchange Rates

I am most certainly not advocating that any US citizen violate Federal law, but if any of my readers hold the Trading with the Enemy Act in as low a regard as I do, especially as it relates to Cuban cigars, may I suggest that you closely investigate EURO denominated, tax free sellers.

At current exchange rates, Cuban Puros are priced substantially less than their Dominican namesakes.

Noggin and Natterings

I have no idea how this happens, other than perhaps via the ramblings of an unstructered brain, but what I most enjoy about blogs and bloggers is the unforseen paths they lead me down.

I'm certain you too have been down this lane. You read a blog and like it, follow a link or two of their favorite blogs, read the comments follow a couple of them, you never know where you'll end up, but it's always an hour later.

For instance, I have found several great books, I would have never heard of, this way. Whoever suggested "Thirty Nine Steps" I thank you. Ms. Mindless I thank you for your erudite explanation of not only the photo but derivation of Tuesday's post. I hope the illustration touches upon the subject.

To the many others who have commented publically or otherwise on or about TTMB I am grateful, especially to those who have taken me to task.

But best of all I appreciate the window the blogging community offers to open my mind, clear the cobwebs, learn new things, meet new people and see things I would never have never seen, have access to, or even considered. Ideas that may be out of my cultural or comfort zone, or those which let me offer suggestions or bits of advice on topics I actually know something about.

I'm often amazed by the "glad I was there" kind of feeling that comes from connecting to someone's story.

Picks and Pans

Picks: If you have young boys at your house you probably know this one. Have you ever seen "Back to the Barnyard" on Nick? Young Grandson was over the other day and turned it on. I nearly hurt myself laughing.

Pans: Mrs. T and I have differing views of what to watch on television. My tastes are neither better nor worse than hers, just different.

Thanks to TIVO I was subjected to a round of The desperate (sorry, real) housewives of Atlanta last evening.

Several comments and questions ensue:

1. Am I the only idiot who believes that Kim's secret boytoy is married?

2. Why do I think the only endearing person on that show is NeNe's husband?

3. Do they still have names for girls who trade favors for stuff?

Pan 2: I am a lifelong Anglophile. A pyschologist could probably have a field day attempting to understand why, but let us all agree that I am. Somehow, I came across a copy of the book, "The Anglo files, a field guide to the British" by Sarah Lyall, a New York Times reporter married to an Englishman and living in London. Sounds like mothers milk doesn't it?

I was terribly disappointed with it. Perhaps I am, along with being an Anglophile, also something of a puritan, but I was put out by Ms. Lyall wasting a chapter on the excessive British usage of a "word I can barely type" -her quote. A 4 letter, female perjoritive beginning with ****.

I think one of the few pleasures available to an author, is the privelege of writing what you want to write about. If the word offends, why spend time with it, much less a chapter. Certainly I didn't.

In conclusion, as Dr. Pangloss said, "This is the best of all possible worlds". It's our job to make it so. Enjoy your weekend. You've earned it. As long as you have gotten this far, stop in and say hello.

Toad

Magnolia at The Park

Mayberry, which resides on the cusp of USDA zones 5b and 5a must be the end of the practical northern range for my favorite tree,the glorious Southern Magnolia Grandiflora. Most here are foundation plantings protected from winter winds by being planted too close to tall brick walls.


The Park has one, which is perhaps 20 years old, is badly pruned and rather spindly. It was my mission this year to take this great specimen under my black growing thumb and store it to glory.






My first task began in early spring. Each month I'd get a 5 gallon bucket of water and Mir Acid and soak the the base of the tree. It had been a glorious spring and summer. Not too hot, not too cool, with plenty of rain. Maggy rewarded my efforts with a provision of pale yellow, highly fragrant flowers, which grew out of harms way from our large rodents.
Since the pool closed for the season, I had not paid attention to it for a while. Until yesterday, when I was raking leaves. There are now a profusion of cones and seeds. I know it hadn't done that the previous 2 falls we have been here.

Keep in mind that I have zero experience with Magnolia trees, but I think Maggy was trying to thank me.

Now if I could just figure out how to propagate the seeds.

Keep smiling!

Toad

A long walk to a short story

Twice in my life I have lived in Kansas City. Once as a child and later as an adult. Each time, coincidentally, in Mrs. Blanding's neighborhood. If you are unfamiliar with her blog, I insist you click on the link on the right, and make her a must read.

One of the neighborhood landmarks is Southwest High School, which as far as I know has only 3 claims to fame. It is the Alma Mater of Calvin Trillin, of New Yorker fame,and it is where I took early swimming lessons, on very cold Saturday mornings, and its where the local Y has its baseball and football fields, where I spent many a enjoyable hour.

I mention Calvin Trillin for two reasons. First, if you are unfamiliar with his writing, I must acquaint you with it. CT is one of the great food writers in America. A great introduction would be his " Tummy Trilogy" a collection of three books, "American Fried"," Alice, Let's Eat", and "Third Helpings". Each book is a collection of stories about Trillin and his friends looking for something good to eat.

The second is to introduce one of the foils in the Trillin trilogy, my alter ego," The man with the Naugahyde palette". Almost all food was too exotic for his tastes.

I am a man of many blessings, few of which I take for granted, none purposefully. One of my greatest blessings is that I have a wife who is an imaginative and creative cook. Trained in classic French and Italian technique, she can whip up a masterpiece in moments. Her specialties are sauces, pastas and cheese dishes.

However, my blessing is her curse. I too am a man with a Naugahyde palette. The list of things I will not eat is far longer than what I will. My no list includes such staples, as cheese, pasta, sauces, vegetables, spices. I think you get the point. I am driving her abso-positively insane.

It's not like she didn't know this when we married. She figured, as most women will, that once she had her fangs in she could fix me. It's been a struggle for her, but it hasn't happened yet.

Sometimes I think she is coming around, but deep down I know better.

If you have any ideas for either of us on how to surmount this hurdle let me know.

In the mean time, keep eating.

Toad

You gotta love language

Mrs. T and I spent Monday at a "Come Home Celebration".

Come Home Celebrations are new to me, but the concept is one I am far too familiar with, and likely to become only more so. For those of you not in the know, it's a funeral.

I have googled the term, searched arcane regional dictionaries, and otherwise made a nuisance of myself attempting to find the origins and derivation of this phrase and have come to naught. It must have been created recently by a theological committee with too much time and too much imagination on their hands in an attempt to get back at we non believers. I can't see this catching on.

Unless, is this an AA, or other ethnic usage? To coin a phrase, "I'm dying to know". Anyone have any ideas?

Toad

Saturday in Saint Louis

Another funny story.

This photo was taken at a political rally in St. Louis this past weekend. Let me point out several local landmarks. The white building in the background is the Old Courthouse, scene of the early Dred Scott trials in the 1850's. There is a street behind the speaker, and directly across the street is a Catholic Church, known as the Old Cathedral. Behind the Old Cathedral is the Arch, and St. Louis riverfront.

Several months ago, a young couple was planning their wedding. They checked the calendar to make certain that the Cardinals would not be playing, and that the Blues hockey team was not in town. Thus assured, they scheduled their Old Cathedral wedding, for 12pm Saturday.

Local reports suggest that nearly 100,000 attended the noon rally which was immediately outside the church door. Supposedly, the local police did an exemplary job in getting the wedding party and guests to the church on time.

Report in Sunday's paper indicated that the bride's family was still planning on voting for the other guy.

Toad

Picks and Pans

PICKS

How the States got their Shapes by Mark Stein

Take a look at a map of the United States. Ever wonder how or why the states are shaped the way they are? Why don't borders match where logic says they should? Why are some large, and some small? Oddly enough, a great deal of thought went into each bend, bootheel, and arc., and this book is here to tell you why.

Mr. Stein's book "How the states got their shapes" is a state by state history and geography lesson on how the American states shapes evolved. In amazing detail he tells of pre colonial land grants, wars with foreign powers, territorial mineral wars, shifts in river banks, voting blocs, slave and non slave states. Is all here, in elaborate detail, yet concise and highly readable.

I highly recommend it.

PANS

I am not a frequent EBAY shopper, but I well understand its utility, and as an asylum for American's pack rats it was a genious invention.

To me, its greatest innovation was the feedback mechanism. The original idea that buyers and sellers could rate each other on how well they performed was insanely great. Somehow though, the whole idea became corrupted by the inmates and then EBAY f'ed it up even worse.

While I appreciate the notion of feedback, somehow I never caught on to the idea that as a buyer, I had to furnish feedback first. It seems to me if I won an auction and paid for the item, I'd completed my end of the bargain and feedback was due NOW! not after I received the goods and stroked the seller a bit.

Consequently, I have never provided feedback to sellers who did not see things my way. You'd be amazed at how testy they become.

Recently, EBAY pissed in the pool by requiring sellers to provide positive feedback if they met the basic terms of the sale, ie: won and paid. Becomes sorta meaningless at that point.

So now feedback has become ingrained in the fabric of internet sales. I hope it catches on. I always appreciate things that save me from myself.

Stop in and say hello.

Toad

Another NFL experience

Funny story.

A faithful reader got in touch the other day with he suggestion that the reason I did not like NFL football was that I'd never seen it done right, like they do on the western side of Missouri. The suggestion was followed up with invitations for Mrs. T and I to join him in his company's suite Sunday.

I thanked him kindly, admitted that I in fact have seen football in KC, that my first pro football experience was watching KC battle San Diego in the old KC ballpark, this was in AFL days, and that Mrs. T and I traditionally did not travel to eat with strangers.

However, I do have a son in Topeka, and asked if perhaps he and his wife could do the heavy lifting for me. Alas, no, since he wasn't preaching to the converted.

I find it refreshingly American, that people of good will would offer strangers such a gift, knowing damn good and well that it won't be accepted. Is this a great country or what.

Thanks for stopping by.

Toad

Ovadafut

While writing Tuesday's post I was reminded of the day I ordered the blue jacket at Woody's.

In the store was a very good looking, young man who was picking up a new blazer. As I recall in was a black and white POW tweed check, single button with peak lapels. The coat was not only beautiful, and fit him perfectly, but had the additional detail of pink stitching around the lapel button hole. It was actually stunning, and clearly the buyer was pleased.

Mrs. T was with me that day, and she has the knack, which I lack, of starting conversations with anyone, anytime and anywhere. She immediately started up on the man with the new jacket. That is how I came to meet Mr. V.K. Nagrani, proprietor of Ovadafut, and the V.K. Nagrani line of men's accessories.

Now, some may have gotten the mistaken assumption from my David Frost post that I am a sock guy, Nothing could be further from the truth. I generally disdain socks, for all but the most serious occasions, and when proper dressing requires something around the ankle. That is where Ovadfut comes in.

Nagrani makes a line of men's hosiery which is not only comfortable but also colorful. Best of all it is mostly over the calf, which is a trifecta rarely found. When necessary their customer service is over the top, and the follow through is impeccable. I recommend them most highly.

http://vknagrani.com/

If the tariff seems a bit steep, look around.

Thanks for looking, stop in and say hello. I value your input.

Toad

I apologize that I do not remember where I lifted this photo. If you are the owner please let me know and I will remove or credit at your option.

Two questions

Photo courtesy of New York Times

About once a week I remind Mrs. T that Eliot Spitzer said he was sorry and ask her if she believes that his wife and daughters have forgiven him yet?

She is of the opinion that it may take a bit longer than the 21st. century.

So I'm curious, what power on earth gets a grieving wife onto that stage? I'd like to synthesize it, bottle it and make it available for sale. I'd be vilified like no body's business, but probably very rich.

NEXT QUESTION

In spite of my basic apolitical nature, I posit that there is a better than 50-50 shot of a black man being elected President of the United States next month. That got me thinking about race and politics in America.

African Americans, tend to name their children with more enthusiasm than whites. For example, let me offer this tidbit from Freakenomics:

"Today, more than 40 percent of the black girls born in California in a given year receive a name that not one of the roughly 100,000 baby white girls received that year. Even more remarkably, nearly 30 percent of the black girls are given a name that is unique among every baby, white and black, born that year in California."

So here's my question. If Mrs. Obama, instead of being named Michelle, had a distinctly black first name, would her husband have a snowballs chance in hell of being elected President of the free world?

Fire away.

Toad