Monthly Archives: March 2021

Ephemera, Life

Anthropomorphics

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It started with this guy, the King Trumpet mushroom. (I assume he is male, because he is a king).

I had used the mushrooms in my dinner, when I noticed the bag these came in. I decided that King mushroom was a rather snazzy figure, and started to wonder who made the choice to have an anthropomorphic design to explain and sell this product. (Sadly, there were only ordinary mushrooms in the packet). So I decided to look around to see what other anthropomorphic designs I might find.

I was lucky to find that I had saved this container to use for storage, because Mr. Peanut was killed off by his company! Yes, some genius decided that a peanut with a monocle, gloves, cane and a top hat (spats are not pictured here) was not the proper salesman to flog their product, so they declared him dead (although as an inanimate cartoon figure I am not sure if this is even possible). Oh well, he lives on in my heart (and pantry).

I am happy to see that the Kool-Aid man, a staple of my childhood, still lives on (and cherry remains my favorite flavor).

I took this picture at the grocery store, because the sweet cereal that I do eat uses a cartoon character, instead of this friendly fellow. Because the last thing one wants when sitting down to breakfast, is a bowl of grumpy cereal.

But the winner of this contest of mascots has to be the King Trumpet mushrooms. Because they don’t just have one smiling figure, there are also all of his friends. Perhaps they are on the way to a party, or are running a race, whatever. They are happy to see one, and I expect I shall purchase them again (and not the ones that come in a plain package.)

Art

Sketchbook

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I bought this little sketchbook the last time I was in London (and who knew that it would be soooo long until I can go again).

I use my sketchbooks for a couple of purposes. It is an aide-memoire to things that influenced me: I re-watched Vertigo, saw a documentary on slavery and made a visit to the National Gallery. I sketched this horse there in the crowded gallery, surrounded by hordes of tourists milling about. The words attraction, suicide, duplicity, domination and desperation were used in the BBC description of Vertigo (not quite how I would describe it).

I noted a couple of ridiculous words that I saw on signs: “pedestrianize and wealthify”. There are addresses I wanted to find, and I especially recommend 1a Princeton Street.

Hogarth’s rather ugly dog, which he included in his self-portrait. I sketched at the museum and later inked it (because it was Inktober after all).

I started this drawing on the flight home, and didn’t have time to include Pteri until now.

The sketchbook is still unfilled, and I still carry it around sometimes. Here’s a bit of the local scenery. Perhaps I shall finish it off someday, or it may be destined to remain as is.

Town

Steel Town

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The place where I live has always been a tourist destination, sometimes there are more tourists, sometimes (almost never) there are less. Industries and jobs have come and gone, but tourism remains.

But in the town south of here, industry was always part of the fabric of the place. The first steel mill was built in 1881 to make the steel rails need for the D & RG railroad. This company was bought out in 1893, and the mills kept on running until 1982. Only some interesting buildings remain as a reminder of this past, and the town now seeks to reinvent itself as a tourist destination (good luck with that).

I would love to be able to wander around the site and get better photos of the place. We should all “decide to be safe”.

Some bits of the plant have been torn down, but a lot remains because it is contaminated with asbestos and will probably stay until it falls to complete ruin. The busy motorway runs right past this place.

This beautiful administration building sits alone and empty, waiting to become a museum. Someday.

The downtown has lots of funky old buildings from the days when there was money in town.

You know how I love reflections. And in this picture one can see both the reflection of the lovely former Elks hall, and inside the building, where there is an oak telephone booth. The past is still present and the town has not been trod on by the forces of progress, like my town.

And what was I doing going south? Why I needed to buy tamales from the best place in the state.