Alister Mancill

Alister Mancill

born 8:16 a.m. Monday, July 13
7lbs. 8oz.
19 1/2"

Musical Monday - The Killers

Next week I'll have another guest playlist, but this week I decided I couldn't wait any longer to play a two songs I'm currently hooked on. Both songs are by The Killers, and though I'm sure I must have heard them in passing before, I never really took note of them until recently--as the result of a complaint I posted on Facebook about Taylor Swift's Love Story.

Love Story is a favorite of both the girls, but it makes me absolutely nuts. For one thing, it's overplayed. The worst part, though, is the mixed references to Romeo and Juliet and The Scarlet Letter.

Now, let me just say that both of those books annoy the heck out of me. I don't care how well they're written, who wrote them, or how esteemed they are in the pantheon of literary classics. The plots suck. I want to smack the characters for being such morons. Even when doing my utmost to just enjoy Shakespeare's beautifully written prose, I find myself peeved that he chose to write about two such unworthy idiots. Don't even get me started on Hawthorne and his danged Puritans, although his characters are at least a little more interesting. (Me? Opinionated? Nah!)

However, none of this has anything to do with why the references bother me. Love Story irritates me because referencing the two stories together the way they are makes no sense. First she's Juliet, then she's the scarlet letter. Has Taylor Swift (or whoever wrote the song) even read The Scarlet Letter? Does she realize the scarlet letter worn by Hester Prynne was part of her punishment for adultery? How does that fit into the song? It's maddening!

Ooh boy. Back on topic now. I was being forced to listen to Love Story for the gazillionth time, and I was feeling like my brain might explode, so I used Facebook to vent. Among the friends who commented was Lori, a friend from high school. She said she preferred The Indigo Girls' take on Romeo and Juliet, so I made the girls shut off the radio and went searching YouTube for that song. I thought the song was just okay, but it was a pleasant relief from the torture I'd been enduring. In the list of search results for Romeo and Juliet was a Dire Straits version, so I listened to that as well. (It was originally a Dire Straits song.) Eh, I've never liked Dire Straits. Then I checked out the version below by The Killers.

The song still didn't make a huge impression on me, but their version was my favorite. There was something I liked about the band, so I went searching for more of their songs. This is my favorite. I can't stop singing it.

Official music video here.

This probably comes in second to Read My Mind. It's close, though, and it's the lyrics to this song that I can't stop thinking about. Listen and tell me what you think.

What do you think the lyrics are supposed to mean? What do they mean to you?

Those words, "Are we human, or are we dancer?" remind me of things I've read--in a few different places, two opposing views. They bring to mind an idea--a truth--that is very important to me. And I say "human". What do you say? Are we human, or are we dancer? And what does that mean to you?

The View From Here: Lazy Sunday

Today I'm finally making use of my birthday present from the kids.
The hobbit feet again!
Found it on the sale cart at the library. Not great but interesting and different. I'm fascinated by hobos, gypsies, and stories of the open road. Especially in summer.
And I'm lovin' the hammock.
Hope you found time to relax this weekend, too.

Fine Art Friday - Saint Francis

Bruce Moore (1905-1980)

Saint Francis

1936

Bronze

Wichita Art Museum I've never understood this statue of St. Francis of Assisi, but I can't walk through the Wichita Art Museum without looking at it. The body position is a little odd, but not too unusual. The robe and tonsure are typical of a monk. It's the eyes that get me, I think. Maybe if the sculptor had added irises and pupils, instead of leaving St. Francis with Orphan Annie eyes, the effect would be different. I don't know. My mom says he's supposed to be staring up into heaven with rapt attention, but to me he just looks hypnotized or perhaps slightly psychotic.
Maybe that's what fascinates me. If you have a theory or explanation, I'd love to hear it.

Here are a few quotes I like that are attributed to St. Francis:

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.

My favorite two:

It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.

Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.

Rockin' the Zoo

How we got the special behind the scenes tour of the zoo (see post below) goes like this.
We are very blessed to live on five acres of land out in the country--and further blessed to be surrounded by 42 acres which Danny's parents own and plan to build a home on. The land to our west (where most of my sunset photos are taken) is fairly flat pasture land. To the east of us and past our town, the landscape begins to get a little less flat as it stretches deeper into the Flint Hills.

Our properties and those to the north and south of us sit on land that was once a rock quarry. The area where most of our house--and most of our five acres--sits was once the parking lot for the quarry, but just behind our house the land drops 20-30 feet where the rock was quarried out in a long channel. After the quarry shut down operations, the land sat mostly unused while nature took over and covered the scars left by man and machine. The result is a landscape we've been told looks more like Missouri than Kansas. (Some say Colorado, but I've been to Colorado, and I think that may be just a bit of an exaggeration.) There was still plenty of rock left, too.
For the past several years, Danny's dad has been pulling rocks out of ravines and from various other places on the property. Some of that rock was used on the outside of our house, for our fireplace, and in landscaping around the house and pond. Some of the poorer quality rock has been used as rip rap. Some of the rock is being set aside for my in-laws to build their house. Other rock has been sold, though, so that the land has been able to help pay for itself a little. You can see some large boulders from our land in several places along the river in Wichita.

The zoo has also bought a lot of rock from out here for some of their new exhibits and landscaping. That is how we got the tour. The nice landscape/horticulture (gosh I wish I knew her title) lady who has been overseeing a lot of this work suggested the tour to my father-in-law. So that is how we came to ride a little golf cart around the zoo for a behind the scenes tour! I don't know if I can get Danny to ever go back to the zoo with us if there isn't a golf cart involved. Working out in the heat all day like he so often does, he isn't usually excited to go walk around on hot concrete during his time off. He has been seriously spoiled now!

Many people looking for landscaping rock want large, weathered boulders like the one above. However, most of what the zoo has bought from our land is smaller and/or unweathered like the rock in the rest of these photos.
The lion's share of that rock--over 80 tons--was for the new tiger exhibit.

People must have thought we were a bit strange. I'm sure most people who visit the zoo don't stop to take photos of the rocks! We were a little giddy at seeing "our" rocks in place, though. It was nice to feel we had a small part in a place we enjoy so much and so kind of J. to give us this tour.

Diceros bicornis

Karen of Delano Bungalow was correct! So were MUD and Prairie Lady, but I think Karen deserves extra double points for being first and being able to supply the Latin species name for black rhinoceros. Good job, Karen!

Last Tuesday we got to go to one of my very favorite places in Wichita, Sedgwick County Zoo. Wichita may be small as cities go, but I am always amazed by the quality of our zoo. It is the best of the zoos I've been to so far, and they are constantly adding and improving. It's strange to hear how the zoo got its start years ago with a few cages in Riverside Park where the Kansas Wildlife Exhibit now sits. When we lived in Wichita, we used to go to the zoo more frequently. We even had a membership for a few years.

This trip to the zoo was different, however. This time we got a behind the scenes tour and a meeting with one of the keepers--the Diceros bicornis keeper.

This is just the indoor holding area for the rhinos--elephants right next door. They have a nice outdoor yard as well. They should also be receiving new digs sometime in the near future.

I don't remember this young woman's name, but she was one of the rhino keepers and super nice. She shared all kinds of information about the rhinos, most of which I also don't remember.

And then... We got to feed and pet the rhinos, too!

They have the funniest mouths!

It's like a fleshy beak reaching out for the food.

Then the top lip curls up and then down around the morsel. (What piggies! Half a banana at a time!)
The other thing that surprised me was that as fierce as they look--and they can be deadly--they are really just big babies.They loved being petted as much or more as the treats.

Can You Guess?

I'll be posting about this later, but can you guess what it is?