Goddess of the Hunt

Note to you deer camp people.
 

As a goddess of hunting, Diana often wears a short tunic and hunting boots.She is often portrayed holding a bow, and carrying a quiver on her shoulder, accompanied by a deer or hunting dogs.  (There is a lot to like about Diana)  

In Roman mythology - Diana was the goddess of the hunt, woodland and wild animals.  She alone had the power to talk to and control animals.  

Diana was known to be the virgin goddess of childbirth and women. She was one of the three maiden goddesses, along with Minerva and Vesta, who swore never to marry.  

Lest you think I am not paying attention whiIe overseas I have collected three Dianae so far….

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Architecture

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Yesterday Jill and I paid a call at the Picasso Museum in Paris.  All-in-all an excellent day for musées  – drizzly.  The Picasso was organized, uncrowded and not swarmed with unsocialized individuals armed with selfie sticks. (There were none).  We toured and followed Pablo’s timeline and artistic evolution and viewed his private collection.  

Absolutely charming.   

From there we walked/metroed to the Musee Jacquemart Andre to view a private collection (think Frick in NYC).   

Again, very relaxed and no crowds.  Enjoyed a mid-afternoon lunch at the museum café.   

Nice.

You're probably wondering what any of this stream of consciousness has anything to do with architecture?

At the Picasso if you were to climb the steps to the top-most floor you would find this crazy post and beam construction underneath the roof. 

I'm sure it pervades the place.  And it must work - as this ancient structure is still standing.

Nothing hardly this impressive that is as old en états-unis...

Musique Pour Vendredi

Steely Dan est un groupe de music américain composé de deux membres - Walter Becker et Donald Fagen.  Le groupe fut introduit au Rock and Roll Hall of Fame en 2001.  

Flashback to high school - when this song was released in November of 1972 it reached number 6 on the US charts in 1973 - thus making it Steely Dan's second highest charting single...

Never Grab a Groundhog

This post was originally published on the Gas Pains Blog back in 2010.

Groundhog Day is a big event every year on this day over in Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania. 
Someone provokes a hibernating woodchuck named Punxsutawney Phil to come out of his hole and predict the arrival of spring.

Even I can do that.  Provoked by the alarm clock I crawled out of a perfectly warm bed this morning at 5:30 AM, poured myself a steaming cuppa joe and fetched the papers from the porch.  It was snowing.  I therefore concluded more winter before the arrival of spring.
The man in the picture above is a fool.  You should never grab a groundhog - especially if you are going to wave it around in the air over your head.

From the Algonquian wuchak.  Also known as the whistle pig – Marmota monax belongs to the vast squirrel family. They are big rodents.

They are also sinister-looking with their small ears, beady black eyes and very sharp teeth to go with all of their claws.  I wouldn’t grab a groundhog any sooner than I'd make a grab for a beaver or a porcupine. They are all much too dangerous.

Trust me.  I know this.

I have had to deal with multiple critters infestations under my barn. This includes everything from bunnies, to raccoons to kittens.  One year I had a groundhog.  And that bugger was burrowing furiously.

Groundhogs are well adapted miners.  They have short but powerful legs and very sharp claws.  They are capable of excavating hundreds of pounds of dirt.   And this fella was chucking enough dirt that it wouldn’t be long before he seriously undermined the structural integrity of the barn foundation.

Shooting a woodchuck is against the law in Wisconsin. Yep. They’re protected – just like badgers and wolves.  Not wanting to draw the attention of the local game warden and pleading a landowner exception I opted for the old reliable method.
 
Mothballs.

I poured a box of mothballs down the woodchuck’s hole.  Oh sure, your barn will smell like grandma for awhile but critters cannot stand mothballs.  And it worked almost immediately for me.

I was puttering in the machine shed when old Phil (smelling strangely of naphthalene) waddled his way into the shed and gave me the hairy eyeball.  He was not happy.  Actually, he was angry to the point of provocation because he reared-up on his hind legs and gave me a nasty bark.

Taking a machete from the peg board I waved it menacingly and told him to get the heck out of my shed.

He scurried away retreating behind a sheet of plywood leaning against the wall.
I grabbed a garden rake and thrust it in his face.

He snorted and whistled and parried back with his claws. 

Claw for claw - back and forth we went. Parry and thrust. I was gaining the upper hand and Phil was losing ground.

Finally forced from the shed he scurried a safe distance from the crazy guy with the rake, turned and gave me a dirty look and waddled-off in the direction of a neighboring farm.
 
Nasty attitude the groundhog has.

Dangerous too.

Grafitti

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Translation:

Racist exchange against migrants

Still scratching my head over what side of the issue this falls...

Monoprix

A trip to Le château de Versailles and another 16,000+ steps today.  It was good to return to the hotel with our grocery bag of French cheeses, wine and crackers for an early evening debrief.

We owe most of the convenience of this to an omnipresent and affordable department/grocery store known as Monoprix.  Jill and I know this business well.

Receipts don't lie...

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One bottle of wine, a pair of soft cheeses and a jar of Rillettes de Canard (a potted duck product) - all for less than twenty Euro.  The best part is the wine and cheese is better than anything in the states for almost double the price.  Go figure.

In case you are wondering about the department store grocery combo the Parisian mademoiselle ahead of me in the grocery check-out had a flimsy lacy sexy bra in her basket along with fixin's for dinner.  Or maybe this was part of the fixn's.  Really go figure.

You can learn more about Monoprix here.  Tell them Gas sent you.

Paris Diary

Up early for breakfast at L’Arsenal with Braumeister and Madam Peggy.  Off to Sainte-Chapelle and discovered that a museum pass bumps us right to the head of the line.  Woo Hoo!  Worth the price of admission.  

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Very nice history lesson and restoration lesson.  Could have used a sunnier day.   

Walked four to five klicks to Hôtel des Invalides – Napolean’s tomb and the French Army Museum.  Madame Jill stayed with us to see the new exhibit dedicated to the French Resistance and then she hopped-off to Le Petite Palais.  Mademoiselle Linda and Mennonite made off to the Pantheon while Brau and Peggy and I toured the World War I and World War II exhibits.   

20,000+ steps today!

 

Recombobulated as the sun set for wine, cheese and crackers at the hotel.  

This followed by a delightful dinner (with more wine) at La Terrasse Sainte Catherine, 9 Place du Marche Sainte Catherine 75004 Paris. 

Soupe de poisson for me tonight.  Pot-au-feu for some others ...

Amazing we've gotten so many excellent meals from restaurants and Cafés so close to home at the end of our day.

Will it ever end?