Stupor Bowl Weekend

I'm not a huge fan of Professional Football and won't be until the teams pay for building their own stadiums instead of us taxpayers. If they can afford pay salaries in the millions for players that work on a few hours a year, they certainly can afford to build their own places of business.

That said, this week's game is the big one though, and anyone with a pulse in the United States has to know Super Bowl Sunday will soon be here.



Supported by fans waving yellow and black "Terrible Towels" thought to bring them good luck, the Pittsburgh Steelers are returning to the "big game" yet again. The Phoenix Cardinals will be appearing for the first time ever.



Perhaps they will make a new Super Bowl edition of the Terrible Towel. I hope so, sort of, kind of... :)

I'll be watching the cheering ladies and thinking about Lainie and George myself and being silently wishing them the best of luck on their new life together!



Yes, this is definitely the best part of pro football...

Photos from the Attic

While looking at photos to share with you folks at random - I found these three. They are so very different from each other.



My niece enjoys Tigger the Christmas gift I gave her when she was about 4 years old. I didn't date the back of the photograph - I remember her bouncing, bouncing, bouncy around the living room of my brother's then brand new house for hours.

My mom is in the background with her head cut off wearing a Christmas sweatshirt, my niece has one of her feet trimmed off, and I think those are my brothers toes sticking out on the right. I've gotten a little better taking picture and much, much better at using the computer to "fix" up the worse of my shots.



My brother's toes weren't cut off because he is shy - as this picture attests. His toes (and feet) remain cut off...perhaps I should paste them in from the first picture?

I didn't take this picture. This is his Halloween costume the first year he went to college were he decided to be a playboy bunny. Those MIT guys are a strange lot. My mom asked him about the fake boobs and stockings when she found them in the laundry bag he brought home from school and that was the last time he "let" mom do his wash.



The year is 1937, and my Dad's parents left my dad with his Aunt and Uncle and went to Kentucky on a road trip. Here they are with their guide and tour group after seeing the Mammoth Caves. My grandparents are sitting in the upper right wearing dark colored clothes. This picture is dated on the back - but although the woman sitting on the bench to the right-front of my grandparents is the splitting image of my great aunt Mary - there isn't any way to prove it is her.

Random Photograph IV

As I looked through some random photographs on my computer the bright colors of the one shown below stood out. Now I've no idea why I took this picture of Oly (I think?) and Bill (who is the main character and the one with the red bow tie) and from the Qubo TV show cartoon called Sitting Ducks.



I do admit to watching this show when SpongeBob SquarePants is not available.

Random Photograph III

I visited London, England for the third time in 1996.

While I normally take the "tube" (the underground subway system is excellent) I was enticed to take a cab ride near Marble Arch - a white marble monument near Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park, at the western end of Oxford Street in London, England, near the tube station of the same name.

The name Marble Arch also refers to the locality of west London where the arch is situated, particularly the upper half of Edgware Road. Historically, only members of the royal family and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery were allowed to pass through the arch in ceremonial procession. Today, the arch is open to pedestrians.

The entire country was enamoured with the ongoing the 1996 European Football (Soccer) Championship being hosted by England. The tournament's final stages took place between June, 8th and June 30th, 1996.

Germany beat the Czech Republic 2–1 in Wembley Stadium, London to win the championship after having previously beaten England in the semi-finals.

But football/soccer and its rowdy supporters weren't on the forefront of my mind as I waited to cross the very busy Oxford Road. For some strange, unaccountable reason, I wanted a chocolate bar with peanuts.



Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park is the greenery behind the taxi. The local artist try to sell their paintings along the iron fence here. Edgware Road is home to the elegant buildings you see in the background on the left. Some of them are foreign embassies and some of them are very elegant hotels with very classy toilet facilities.