Skip to main content

Summer Vacation

Dear Members and Constituents,

It’s official. Summer is here and you know what that means.

  • Record-breaking heat (yes, today is one of those days slated to approach the high-water mark)
  • Action verbs (hiking, riding, climbing, camping, swimming, rafting, paintballing)
  • Cars crashing into deer, then bursting into flames (until this morning’s news, I had not thought of deer as highly flammable – could that be the cause of so many brush fires?)
  • Kids wondering what to do (dad, I’m bored… -preferred intonation involves the use of long, drawn-out vowel sounds followed by a pout)

I’d like to dwell on this last item a little longer. Why is it not standard practice for adults to take the entire summer off? All through our formative years we are conditioned to anticipate two and a half months of leisure. Then, by the time we finally know what to do with the time, we get cut-off. Hardly seems fair. Granted, I realize that from a practical perspective, having everyone take the summer off would involve food shortages, utility outages and security lapses (not to mention unpaid mortgages). Highly inconvenient. Still, there are probably less disruptive ways to implement such a practice (how about half of us take every other summer off?). Fortunately, it is not my task to solve this problem for society, only for myself. I will therefore be out-of-office the next four Fridays. In my absence, Ed Stocker has agreed to send-out a donut reminder on Friday mornings and ensure no empty donut boxes are left in my office at the end of the day. I, for my part, will be suffering donut withdrawal in Cuenca, Ecuador (a place with no donut shops).

Of course, today none of us need suffer from donut withdrawal today. Nelson Bostrom (donut boy) makes his club debut with four dozen LaMar’s specimens. Come on down and celebrate Summer’s arrival with a deliciously sweet treat. It will take you away to that special place (emotionally, that is).

Happy Friday!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Donut Doodle Dandy

Dear Members and Constituents, In trying to figure-out Wednesday’s cool-looking Google Doodle ( Jorge Luis Borges’ 112 th birthday ), I stumbled across a list of Google Doodles you’ll never see. This, and a Rockies game later that day, were sufficient inspiration to get my head spinning around what other doodles Google might never noodle? I’m sure you’ll probably have a few ideas of your own, but I was able to come-up with a couple. How about a former Colorado Rockies player whose unfortunate encounter with a moth put him in the news this week? The Matt Holliday doodle might look something like this… Another item which, surprisingly enough, has not been made into a doodle are donuts. Although I was slightly taken aback to find this delicious pastry has not been featured, after the initial disappointment, I decided to take matters into my own hands and take a stab at one (perhaps Google can use it next year for national donut day )… or to celebrate Greek police having “ blown a ho...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gilding the Donut

Friends, Despite writing about donuts (sort of) for over 20 years, I don’t believe in sugar coating, after all, honesty is the best policy. Gilding, on the other hand I’m good with. Take the church of the Society of Jesus in Quito, (AKA La Compañía). Built in fits and starts between 1597 and 1765, the volcanic rock baroque facade conceals a spectacular interior. I had the chance to go inside this week and although I had heard about the gold leaf work inside, the descriptions had not done it justice. The details from floor to ceiling transport you to another world, perhaps that’s the point. If you’re ever there, be sure to visit. And while you’re there stop by one of the many panaderías … if you’re lucky they might even have a donut. Happy Friday!
Post a Comment
Read more

Out with the old

Friends, I’m not much for using arbitrary dates to make life changes – you can do that at any time. I am, however, very much into building and burning effigies to close out the year – an Ecuadorian tradition we call Año Viejo. The theme we chose to represent 2024 was Steamboat Willie, the Disney movie whose copyright protection had been extended through the end of 2023 by the 1998 “Mickey Mouse Protection Act”. Now that he’s in the public domain, Mickey has been rebelling and doing things his parent company would not approve (a nose ring, two earrings, smoking, a public domain tattoo and an Iron Maiden logo on his hat – a nod to Paul Di’Anno’s passing in October). Despite losing his head a few times (literally, it kept falling off) we proceeded to read his last will and testament (a playful roast of the party’s attendees), pouring accelerant and lighting a match at the stroke of midnight (after the obligatory countdown, of course). If you’re curious, you can find this year’s Año Vi...
Post a Comment
Read more