"If War is Hell, Then Coffee Offers Salvation"

Here's an interesting article about the importance of coffee in the Civil War! 'The word coffee was more present in these diaries than the words "war," "bullet," "cannon," "slavery," "mother" or even "Lincoln."'


https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/25/485227943/if-war-is-hell-then-coffee-has-offered-u-s-soldiers-some-salvation

Welcome Home, Taako!

Crazy cat people! We adopted our tortoise shell Taz in 2010, our lynx point Siamese Saki in 2012, and our seal point Siamese Maia in 2017—all of whom are represented by blog posts on this site.

One more cat has come to our family! Daughter Emily works at Bauhaus, the cat cafe in Maplewood, MO where we obtained Mia. Now we've adopted our little flame point Siamese whom Emily named Taako, after a character in a podcast that she likes. (His foster mom had given Western-themed names to several cats and had called him Widowmaker.) Taako has already settled in and become a “brother” of Maia.

Alas, both Maia and Taako are soon moving West with Emily as she begins graduate school. But he’s been a joy to get to know this summer—-and, of course, he’s still in the family, just in a different place.

As I wrote when we adopted Saki: A new pet isn’t as drastically life-changing as a baby. (Emily's birthday is coming up!) But they do introduce additional responsibilities into your day. If you’re a “pet person,” though, your very well being depends upon a little four-legged critter who is your special friend, a refuge and companion amid your tasks and challenges. A new pet is the beginning of a new period of your life, and the anticipation of many family stories and adventures.

"I can haz car tonight?"

Art: Bertha Wegmann

Not a landscape, but lovely. Bertha Wegmann (1847-1926), "Last Greeting of Autumn" (before 1900). From Twitter, @TheNewPainting, July 8, 2018.

Landscape: Sohlberg

Harald Oskar Sohlberg, "Summer Night" (1899), from Twitter @VirtualArtSpace, July 7, 2018, and https://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=tu&aid=1316 Copied under fair use principles.

Landscape: Mønsted

Peder Mørk Mønsted, "Landscape with Stream" (1902). From Twitter, @VirtualArtSpace, July 7, 2018.

Landscapes: Renato Muccillo

What beautiful landscapes by this contemporary artist! https://renatomuccillo.com/section/81016.html

Landscape: Károly Markó

Károly Markó (1793-1860), "Italian Landscape at Sunset, Fishermen" (1851), Hungarian National Gallery. From Twitter, @History of Painting, July 7, 2018.

Landscape: Corot

"The Forest of Fontainebleau" by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1846). From https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/forest-of-fontainebleau-31016 Copied under fair use principles.

"The Forest of Fontainebleau" by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1834). From https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.46584.html Copied under fair use principles.

Ghost Signs: St. Charles, MO

Coca-Cola and Bull Durham.