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Southernost
Dec. 29th, 2016 04:09 pmCelebrity Death Watch: Rose Evansky was a British hair stylist who popularized blow drying as a styling technique. Louis Harris was a pollster. Gordie Tapp performed on Hee Haw. Paul Peter Porges and Duck Edwing were both cartoonists for Mad Magazine. Robert Leo Hulseman invented the red solo cup. Piers Seller was an astronaut and meteorologist. Richard Adams wrote Watership Down among other novels. Vera Rubin was an astronomer, largely responsible for the theory of dark matter. George Michael was a singer before he went-went. George Irving was an actor, particularly well known for his work on Broadway.
Carrie Fisher was an actress and writer, best known for her work in the Star Wars series. She wrote interestingly about drug addiction and mental health issues in Postcards from the Edge and Wishful Drinking. Her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, died the next day. Interestingly, Reynolds had co-starred with George Irving in Irene.
About 2016: Just for the record, I don’t for one minute believe that 2016 was a particularly horrible year with respect to celebrity deaths. There may have been more than in some other years (though that isn’t really clear, since there isn’t a set standard for who to count). But you should expect some statistical fluctuations and they really aren’t meaningful.
Dreamwidth: I see a lot of people moving to Dreamwidth because of the LJ servers moving to Moscow. I do have an account there and I should probably look at doing likewise. My recollection is that there were just enough annoyances about the site that kept me from switching there a long time ago, but I’ve kept the account in case there was some reason to. (Which was mostly a concern about DDOS attacks on LJ.) At any rate, I don’t expect to do anything before the weekend / new year if at all.
Chappy Chanukah: I went to the chavurah Chanukah party Saturday night. The drive was a bit scary as it was very foggy out. The party was fun, overall. My contribution to the white elephant gift exchange was a box of notecards, while I ended up with a few CDs. I’d made Moroccan orange salad (basically, orange segments, marinated in rosewater and cinnamon), which is kind of a pain since segmented oranges goes slowly. I really should make my mother’s potato latkes because, eating some at the party, reminded me that nobody else’s are anywhere near as good. I won't explain why, since I am sworn to secrecy.
Minor Vacation – Key West: I took a short trip down to Key West to thaw out a bit. I flew down on Sunday. I thought the flight would be emptier on Christmas Day, but I thought wrong. The advantage of going to touristy places on holidays is that lots of things are open. I’d arrived in the mid-afternoon and had enough time to do the Conch Train tour, which is informative, though a bit pricy.
I started Monday with breakfast at Blue Heaven, which a friend had recommended. Eating in the garden, amongst the roosters, was atmospheric, and the food was pretty good. Then I walked over to Hemingway’s House. I was glad I took the guided tour (included in the price of admission) as the guide was quite entertaining, particularly about Hemingway’s wives. After the tour, one could walk around and count the toes on the cats. Then I walked over to the Southernmost Point in the Continental U.S., where I waited in line an hour for a photo with the buoy, which marks 90 miles from Cuba. I got some key lime gelato in lieu of lunch, then browsed some shops for a while, buying a pair of Keene sandals to replace the last ones I destroyed.
After an afternoon nap, I had a light supper at Conch Republic. Then it was time for the ghost tour I’d signed up for. The tour was, alas, disappointing, with more emphasis on taking photos that might show orbs and ectoplasm than on the stories behind various allegedly haunted places. There were a couple of good stories, notably the famous one of Robert the Doll, but, overall, the guide just wasn’t much of a storyteller. There are several other companies doing ghost tours in Key West, so maybe one of the others is better.
On Tuesday, I had an exquisite breakfast at Sarabeth’s – lemon ricotta pancakes that actually tasted lemony. I walked up to the Butterfly Conservancy which was enjoyable, though overpriced for its size. I followed part of a walking tour I had downloaded, which took me over to the cemetery. Unfortunately, their office was closed, so I couldn’t get their tour map. I was still able to find a few interesting things, e.g. the graves of the victims of the explosion of the Maine and the monument commemorating that event. Oh, yes, I also stopped in at the Tennessee Williams exhibit. And had lunch at Margaritaville, where they were not, alas, playing Jimmy Buffett music.
Tuesday night, I had dinner with two high school friends (one of whom lives there; the other was visiting her) and their children (one has a son, the other a daughter). We had an excellent meal at Hogfish Bar and Grill on Stock Island. And even more excellent reminiscing, going back to junior high. (They lived at the other end of town, so we didn’t go to the same elementary school.)
I had enough time on Wednesday for a stroll through Harry Truman’s Little White House and a walk along the harbor front before going to the airport. My flight home was fairly uncrowded and would have been on time had we not had to wait for the gate at DCA. Overall, it was a good few days away.
Carrie Fisher was an actress and writer, best known for her work in the Star Wars series. She wrote interestingly about drug addiction and mental health issues in Postcards from the Edge and Wishful Drinking. Her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, died the next day. Interestingly, Reynolds had co-starred with George Irving in Irene.
About 2016: Just for the record, I don’t for one minute believe that 2016 was a particularly horrible year with respect to celebrity deaths. There may have been more than in some other years (though that isn’t really clear, since there isn’t a set standard for who to count). But you should expect some statistical fluctuations and they really aren’t meaningful.
Dreamwidth: I see a lot of people moving to Dreamwidth because of the LJ servers moving to Moscow. I do have an account there and I should probably look at doing likewise. My recollection is that there were just enough annoyances about the site that kept me from switching there a long time ago, but I’ve kept the account in case there was some reason to. (Which was mostly a concern about DDOS attacks on LJ.) At any rate, I don’t expect to do anything before the weekend / new year if at all.
Chappy Chanukah: I went to the chavurah Chanukah party Saturday night. The drive was a bit scary as it was very foggy out. The party was fun, overall. My contribution to the white elephant gift exchange was a box of notecards, while I ended up with a few CDs. I’d made Moroccan orange salad (basically, orange segments, marinated in rosewater and cinnamon), which is kind of a pain since segmented oranges goes slowly. I really should make my mother’s potato latkes because, eating some at the party, reminded me that nobody else’s are anywhere near as good. I won't explain why, since I am sworn to secrecy.
Minor Vacation – Key West: I took a short trip down to Key West to thaw out a bit. I flew down on Sunday. I thought the flight would be emptier on Christmas Day, but I thought wrong. The advantage of going to touristy places on holidays is that lots of things are open. I’d arrived in the mid-afternoon and had enough time to do the Conch Train tour, which is informative, though a bit pricy.
I started Monday with breakfast at Blue Heaven, which a friend had recommended. Eating in the garden, amongst the roosters, was atmospheric, and the food was pretty good. Then I walked over to Hemingway’s House. I was glad I took the guided tour (included in the price of admission) as the guide was quite entertaining, particularly about Hemingway’s wives. After the tour, one could walk around and count the toes on the cats. Then I walked over to the Southernmost Point in the Continental U.S., where I waited in line an hour for a photo with the buoy, which marks 90 miles from Cuba. I got some key lime gelato in lieu of lunch, then browsed some shops for a while, buying a pair of Keene sandals to replace the last ones I destroyed.
After an afternoon nap, I had a light supper at Conch Republic. Then it was time for the ghost tour I’d signed up for. The tour was, alas, disappointing, with more emphasis on taking photos that might show orbs and ectoplasm than on the stories behind various allegedly haunted places. There were a couple of good stories, notably the famous one of Robert the Doll, but, overall, the guide just wasn’t much of a storyteller. There are several other companies doing ghost tours in Key West, so maybe one of the others is better.
On Tuesday, I had an exquisite breakfast at Sarabeth’s – lemon ricotta pancakes that actually tasted lemony. I walked up to the Butterfly Conservancy which was enjoyable, though overpriced for its size. I followed part of a walking tour I had downloaded, which took me over to the cemetery. Unfortunately, their office was closed, so I couldn’t get their tour map. I was still able to find a few interesting things, e.g. the graves of the victims of the explosion of the Maine and the monument commemorating that event. Oh, yes, I also stopped in at the Tennessee Williams exhibit. And had lunch at Margaritaville, where they were not, alas, playing Jimmy Buffett music.
Tuesday night, I had dinner with two high school friends (one of whom lives there; the other was visiting her) and their children (one has a son, the other a daughter). We had an excellent meal at Hogfish Bar and Grill on Stock Island. And even more excellent reminiscing, going back to junior high. (They lived at the other end of town, so we didn’t go to the same elementary school.)
I had enough time on Wednesday for a stroll through Harry Truman’s Little White House and a walk along the harbor front before going to the airport. My flight home was fairly uncrowded and would have been on time had we not had to wait for the gate at DCA. Overall, it was a good few days away.
