Today’s Zippy, with some western Massachusetts silliness, notably the possibly risible name of Belchertown MA:
(#1)
Note the “burping contest in Belchertown”, which plays on the name Belcher in Belchertown, treating it as if it were an agentive in –er based on eructational belch ‘burp’.
(Vanishingly little of linguistic interest.)
It started with this photo of a male model cavorting in a bunny suit, posted on Facebook by Michael Palmer for the Easter holiday:
(#1)
David Preston then identified the model as Casey L., a professional name for Casey Levens, from the MC2 Model Management lookbook for Miami; the shot is from a “Rabbit in a Hat” series shot by Scott Teitler for JÓN Magazine (“a specialist mens title based in London, UK”, according to its website).
From Rachel Hockett on the 23rd on Facebook, a personal note about the actor Ken Howard, who died that day:
I once auditioned with him for a show at the Manhattan Theatre Club (many years ago). He was already well known, I was a newbie. We had both gone to Yale (he to the drama school, which he left before finishing his master’s, to star in a Broadway show [the musical 1776, in which he played Thomas Jefferson], and I to Yale College), and we had a lovely chit-chat waiting for the audition. He put me totally at my ease, and then he got the part (I didn’t). Ken went on to epitomize the life of the working actor.
Howard in the original Broadway show:
(#1)
(from left) William Daniels as John Adams, Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson, Ron Holgate as Richard Henry Lee, and Howard Da Silva as Ben Franklin
(On William Daniels, see my 4/5/15 posting about him.)
Another posting on invasive plants, in particular those that spread vegetatively, rather than via seeds or by suppressing neighbors chemically. Vegetative spread proceeds by division, by creeping (above or below ground), by vining, or by a method I’ll call dragon-toothing. Some looking back at postings on vining invasives, then on to dragon’s teeth.
(Yes, I know, a cheap play on words. My apologies for not resisting the temptation.)
From the blog of San Francisco’s Chronicle Books on the 23rd, a notice for a book about using kitchen waste, with a section on dyeing Easter eggs with vegetable waste:
(#1)
Jeff Shaumeyer on Facebook points us to a new piece on Serious Eats, “Peepshi: The Next Generation” by Niki Achitoff-Gray on 3/21/16, the latest of the Peepshi (Peeps + sushi] postings there (on an earlier one, see my 3/23/15 posting “Peeps time in Japan”):
(Hurry! Only two days until Easter!)
Yesterday, a posting on “The invasive starling”, with some discussion of the types of invasive plants, including creeping invasives, which spread by underground roots or surface runners. And now a look back to a 8/26/10 posting “Our Gardens, Ourselves” on AZBlogX, which gives an inventory of things growing in the Columbus OH garden, including the creepers:
plants that stretch out rooting stems above ground or lateral roots below: lamiums of purple, white, buttercup yellow [Lamiastrum galeobdolon aka ‘Yellow Archangel’], anthemis, black-eyed susans, sweet woodruff, the thymes, creeping-potentilla/cinquefoil, barren strawberries, ajuga, coreopsis, germander, lamb’s ears [Stachys], Chinese lanterns, perennial ageratum, sedums, bishop’s weed, pennyroyal, obedient plant, creeping phlox
I have now posted on most of these plants, but will focus on a few here, in three broad categories (note: invasive here means only that, without any reference to the native or alien status of the plant):
Ok, you never promised him a rose garden, but maybe you can give him a penis garden. From RJP, this fine throw pillow, on sale at a web gift site (for $28.90):
On the bon appétit website yesterday, a piece “Welcome to Hillstone, America’s Favorite Restaurant” by Andrew Knowlton, with the teaser:
It’s never going to win a James Beard Award. Or try to wow you with its foam experiments or ingredients you’ve never heard of. But it is the best-run, most-loved, relentlessly respected restaurant in America.
(#1)
Hillstone ribs, slaw, and fries
The morning name for the 24th. The word has appeared on this blog once before, in a list of intrinsically funny names (hey, these things are obviously subjective), but without any indication of what the word refers to. I would have guessed that it was a local name for a type of bivalve, a clam or oyster, from the rocky shores of New England. But then I never lived in coastal North Carolina, where the scuppernongs come from.