Philadelphia Flower Show

After hearing about it for years, I finally went to the Philadelphia Flower Show. It wasn't worth the $31 but I guess it was okay. The theme this year was "National Parks". In addition to the big displays I liked the little displays towards the back of the hall where ordinary people had submitted individual plants and had won awards. They had a Christmas cactus with a gold ribbon that was punier than my Christmas cactus. There was also a crummy looking geranium that looked as crummy as mine. I never knew I was such a great gardener.

I bought some cinnamon basil seeds that I planted once I got home. It will be fun to see how they do. Someone was making a fortune on selling brooms. It seems every other woman who left the show had one of those brooms in her hand. I bet you can find them all flying over Montgomery County at night.

Downton Abbey with a few revisions

My eyes are finally dry and I am recovering from one of life's most emotional moments. Yes I have seen the finale of Downton Abbey. I  used up all of the tissues and am now onto the toilet paper. I can tell them at work that I have hay fever.

Still I would have made a few changes in the finale. It ended too well with every character either getting married, in a relationship, with a new job or a new business. Here are a few revisions I would have made.

Lady Eve:
I would have the long missing Michael Gregson show up the day before the wedding. He would have wanted to take dear Marigold away. Eve would have had a stroke and spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair, unmarried and miserable.

I would have had Lady Mary's new husband Henry Talbot take one last trip around the track in his Rolls. He would have died, like the first husband.

I would let the Dowager have a slug fest with the step daughter of Lord Merton. She would go through the rest of the show with a black eye.

Right after have the birth of the baby, Inspector Vyner  would have entered the room, arrested Anna and Bates and kept the baby as a witness. The crime would be that of sabotaging Henry Talbot's car.

Finally for the last scene I would have a bevy of creditors come and cart off all the belongings of Downton Abbey. Lord Grantham and Lady Mary would be carried off in their chairs. And Thomas would leave England, headed for Tangiers. And we know what sort of Englishmen are attracted to there.

Aunt Agnes on the Supreme Court

Dear Antonin Scalia isn't even cold in his grave and those women on the court are running things. They are even fighting the Texans on the safety of abortion clinics. 

Why Americans are angry

Here is an article from the BBC on why Americans are angry. Nobody understands us like the British.

For us baby boomers, most of us grew up with these truisms:
In the old days, you didn't have to lock your doors. Everybody took care of everyone else. Nowadays...
In the old days, if the teacher yelled at a kid that kid got whipped by the old man when he got home. Nowadays the parents take the kid's side. How dare you give my kid a C in arithmetic!
In the old days, a man could spend a few days downtown and within a few days have a few job offers. Nowadays...
In the old days once a man had a job he could buy a house and a big car. His wife would stay home and make sure the kids did their homework. Nowadays ...
Once a man was married his wife did all the shopping, the laundry, the cooking, the vacuuming, and kept an eye on the kids. Nowadays ...
In my generation when you went to school you spoke English and only English. Nowadays ...
In the old days when you went to the store everything was made in the USA.
Nowadays ...
In the old days you went to the doctor and paid him five dollars for the visit. If you didn't have the five dollars he told you to pay him next time. Nowadays ...
And that, en mi opinion, is the appeal of Donald Trump. People think he'll bring back those golden days when a man was a man and t shirts were made in New Jersey.

Thoughts on the Grammys

When I was a young tike I promised myself I wouldn't be like the adults who hated rock and roll. I promised myself I wouldn't change and I would still like the popular records of the day even when I was old. Now I know I was wrong. I've become like  the old guy sitting at the bar drinking Pabst with a couple of teeth missing. He stares at the television. "He looks like Davy Crockett!" he remarks. 

That was the first thought I had when I saw "the Weekend" on the Grammy's. It was like he got a haircut that made it look like he was wearing a coonskin hat. 

Okay en toto, the show wasn't all that bad. "The Thrill is gone" was okay, the Eagles salute was okay. I actually can see how David Bowie is a spiritual father for Lady Gaga. Still those parts of the show were specifically for us old guys. Even Alice Cooper no longer scares anybody anymore. And Alexander Hamilton? Reminds me of the time the Bill Cosby Show did an episode where the kids did history in a rap format. 

I've become an old man. A grouchy old man. "I'm for Donald Trump, he's the only one who says what's wrong with America!" Well I'm not that old. 

Holidays cost money

Holidays in America are different than those celebrated in most foreign countries. In America, except for mainstays like Christmas, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and the 4th of July, holidays are a source of inconvenience and trouble rather than pleasure. This is because, in America, the public sector tends to celebrate more holidays than the private sector.

Today is President's Day. The schools, banks, and libraries are closed. Daddy is off, but Mommy has to go to work. As a state employee I am happy to be off but I can't go to the bank or count on getting any mail. The library is closed so I will probably drop by the used book store to buy a mystery. I could also get a Kindle book I suppose.

Daddy gets a day with the kids. He can't go to story hour at the library since the library is closed. The museum nearby is also closed. The mall is open, though, so there are options, but they all cost poor Daddy money. Another option is take the kids to Color Me Mine, where they can paint on plates, for a small fee of course.

I get it. The purpose of holidays is to help the economy and force parents to spend money on their charges. Well, off to the movies.

The fluffy sleep commercial

Currently my favorite commercial is the fluffy sleep commercial. It seems a nice way to go to sleep by curling up with the cute white sleep creature.Then when you wake up those cute peppy wake creatures trot down with you to the mailbox where you meet your suburban neighbors.

I think you could use that commercial to put people to sleep without even using the drug that it is advertising. I wonder if there is a cute sex creature who visits occasionally.