It’s called lifelong learning

Hay ≠ straw. When you go into the farm-and-home store to buy stuff to cover the grass seed you’ve strewn across the lifeless stretches of your so-called lawn, you should ask for “straw,” not “hay.” Hay is grass. Straw is stalks.



[From the New Oxford American Dictionary.]

I think that most hayrides are in fact strawrides.

A related post
The dowdy world goes to a party (includes a hayride)

[I sure hope the grass grows.]

Perry Mason’s office

“The aim of this project was to make a floor plan drawing of Perry’s office suite based upon a careful analysis of what can be seen in the show.” Perry’s Office Suite: A Discussion of a Magical Workspace.

Other Perry Mason posts
Perry Mason and Gilbert and Sullivan
Perry Mason and John Keats
Streetside gum machines

Recently updated

Larry David’s notebook Stephen Windham has found a source for the little brown book.

Streetside gum machines

[Perry Mason, “The Case of the Ominous Outcast,” May 21, 1960.]

I know that Perry Mason isn’t reality, but the above image suggests that wall-mounted gum machines were indeed found on mid-twentieth-century American streets.

Why these machines caught my eye: one, two, three installments of the comic strip Henry.

Pepperidge Farm Cookies

“What kind of person am I, and how am I different from people who prefer, say, Veronas or Genevas?” Leon Neyfakh tried every variety of Pepperidge Farm Cookie.

Thanks, Elaine.

[My favorites: Bordeaux and Shortbread.]

Pencil holder

[Photograph by Michael Leddy.]

I had a birthday a few days ago. Elaine gave me the ebony object above. We don’t know if it began its life holding pencils (perhaps dip pens?), but it’s holding pencils now. This pencil is a mid-century Eagle Turquoise, from an Eagle display case. Mid-century, c’est moi.

Thank you, Elaine.

Hi and Lois watch

[Hi and Lois, September 5, 2012. Click for a larger view.]

Fish happens.

Related reading
All Hi and Lois posts (via Pinboard)

Oscar’s Portrait

George Bodmer, a longtime friend of Orange Crate Art, is posting a drawing a day at Oscar’s Portrait. George’s work is funny, pithy, poignant, silly, smart. Look, reader, look.

Words from M. Lazhar

One of the best moments in the film Monsieur Lazhar (dir. Philippe Falardeau, 2011) is M. Lazhar’s statement about the classroom:

“A classroom is a home for . . . It’s a place of friendship, of work, and courtesy. Yes, courtesy. A place full of life. Where you devote your life. A place where you give of your life.”

Now that I have the DVD, I can share the exact words, transcribed from the subtitles. The ellipsis is in the original.

I loved this film and wrote about it in this post.

[A secret message to my fambly: Go fambly!]

Another streetside machine

[Henry, September 4, 2012.]

I think that GUM is more plausible than CANDY, but it’s not my comic strip. I’ve seen two other such machines since falling into the Henry vortex.

Are 2012 installments of Henry many decades old? Are they modeled on old strips? Do the makers remember these machines? And back-date magazine stores? And Shoe Repair While U Wait?