Unfortunate marital grave inscriptions,
collected by Susan Darling Safford in
Quaint Epitaphs (1895):

Sacred to the memory of Anthony Drake,
Who died for peace and quietness sake.
His wife was constantly scolding and scoffing,
So he sought repose in a twelve dollar coffin.

Here lies my wife a sad slatterned shrew
If I said I regretted her I should lie too.

Within this grave do lie
Back to back my wife and I.
When the last trump the air shall fill,
If she gets up I'll just lie still.

Here lies the body of Obadiah Wilkinson
And Ruth, his wife.
Their warfare is accomplished.

Here lies the body of Sarah Sexton
She was a wife that never vexed one.
But I can't say as much for the one
at the next stone.

And:

Here lies Jane Smith,
Wife of Thomas Smith, Marble Cutter.
This monument was erected by her husband
as a tribute
to her memory and a specimen of his work.
Monuments of this same style are
two hundred and fifty dollars.

September 22, 1984 in History

Event:
Brussels princess Astrid marries arch duke Lorenz of Austrian-Este
Trenton Girl Bonnie marries South Jersey kid Neil.


BUSINESS DIGEST SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1984


(NYT); Financial Desk
September 22, 1984, Saturday
Late City Final Edition, Section 1, Page 39, Column 1, 688 words
The Economy Morgan Guaranty cut its prime rate to 12 3/4 percent from 13, the first decline in the key lending rate since February 1983. No major bank followed but they are expected to do so soon, based on the assumption that the Fed has eased its monetary policy. ...

Its also the Autumnal Equinox.
The begining of fall, my favorite time of year!

September

September 2 - Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in a bikie shootout between the rival gangs Bandidos and Comancheros, in the Sydney suburb of Milperra.
September 4 - The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, led by Brian Mulroney, wins 211 seats in the House of Commons, forming the largest majority government in Canadian history.
September 4 - The Nicaraguan general elections are held, Sandinista Front is the winner.
September 5 - STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
September 5 - Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
September 14 - The first MTV Video Music Awards are held in Radio City Music Hall, New York City.
September 20 - Hezbollah car bombs the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut, killing 22 people.
September 26 - The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China sign the initial agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Some views from my car yesterday.

The Bronx

Hunts point

An unlikely place to find the best BBQ!

But I did! I got an oil change, Front brakes
and a Rib platter,
which included 5 huge ribs, baked bean,
corn bread, mac & cheese.
All excellent!


The best ribs I have EVER had!

All of it for only $34.99 !!!!!

A Physics Problem

You're in a rowboat in a swimming pool,

and you're holding a cannonball.

If you throw the ball into the pool,

will the water level rise or fall?

Hears the answer,

Solution:

The water level will fall.

When the cannonball is in the boat,

it displaces its weight in water.

When it's in the pool,

it displaces only its volume.

Best Actor?

John Cazale is not a household name, but he should be. When the actor died at age 42, he'd made only five films, but every one was nominated for best picture:

The Godfather
The Conversation
The Godfather: Part II
Dog Day Afternoon
The Deer Hunter

That alone would have made him unique in Hollywood history, but he added a hat trick. In 1990, 12 years after his death, Francis Ford Coppola used archive footage to include Cazale in The Godfather Part III (as Fredo Corleone).

That too was nominated for best picture.

Thoughts on this 9/11

Driving on the BQE heading for the Brooklyn Bridge,
I sit in traffic, rain coming down,
I look out my window at lower Manhattan,
And it struck me,
The skyline didn't look strange any more!
No longer did there appear to be a huge blank space
where the towers stood,
A sadness came over me,
Was I forgetting?
On the radio, NPR was asking the question,
"What have we learned from 9/11?"
Their answer was Fear,
distrust of our government,
Better ways to build skyscrappers!
Not that we face an enemy,
That we are in a war for civilzation,
A clip of a congressman asking General Patreus,
"Why are we there?"
and "Is Al Qaeida a threat to us?"
As I drove past ground zero I heard the
bagpipes playing Amazing grace,
People walking out of the hole in the ground,
was it tears or just the rain on their faces?
On that day the sky was a brilliant blue,
Today, as the memory fades,
The sky is crying for us all.

Fall, coming around the corner,
Quietly as if we would not notice,
School has started,
A red leaf here and there,
Cool evenings make us sleep better and forget.
The memory of summer is already getting foggy,
Soon to be a distant memory,

Do you remember the last dive into the lake from summers past?


I want to remember it all,
the first,
the last,
and all those dives inbetween.
I strain to remember,
even as it fades into past

I saw a sign in a hardware store to-day 'Cast iron sinks.'
As though everyone wasn't wise to that.