LOST YESTERDAYS: THE FRIDAY MOVIE NIGHT!

Back when I was a kid, my brother and I would always go with my Aunt Edna to the Friday night double feature at the old Salisbury Theater. The Salisbury wasn’t a first or second run theater. It was a neighborhood theater where kids could get in for a dime! And every Friday night was a double-feature with the classics of my youth … Charlie Chan, Tarzan, Jon Hall, Maria Montez, The Bowery Boys, Gene Autry, Hopalong Cassidy and Roy Rogers.

Who could ask for anything more … other than a box of JuJuBees …

They were the only candy that was so hard and gummy that they would last through a double feature and then some.

That lasted until we got a TV and Friday night movies became a sometime thing.

Then my mom and dad decided that it was time to buy a house, and we moved out of north Saint Louis to West Walnut Manor in the suburbs. Surprisingly, there were neighborhood movie houses in the burbs, too. And while it wasn’t an every Friday night occasion, my brother and I were now old enough to walk the six or seven blocks to the Janet Theatre located on the main street of our community.

A typical Friday night crowd at the Janet!

The Janet was called the Janet because it was located on Janet Avenue. And I remember the last picture we saw there …

Though we didn’t see it in 3D, it was as scary as hell … with a strange creature you never saw, but only heard as it schlurped up and down the castle stairs and around the mall. It turned out to be a frog-like humanoid creature that was the brother of the castle owner. Imagine walking home … seven blocks on a dark and stormy night. It wasn’t really a stormy night, but you get the picture. Shortly after that The Janet closed its doors, and morphed into an auto repair shop whereI suspect the repairman schlurps around the shop with a dangling tool belt.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

For some reason, I have always been taking photos of signs that caught my attention for some reason or other. Today’s Weekly Photo Challenge gave me the opportunity to review the old file where I have them stored … and I decided to share a few with my readers.

Yeah, BEWARE of licks!

Worst street advertising!  EVER!

Frankly, how much sushi can you possibly eat?

Is this an example of BILLBOARD criticism?

Some signs don’t even need words.

Signs for rear view mirrors only.

A sign that does not inspire an extended walk.

Signs that inspire confusion.

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Sign Says

Signs. Funny, poignant, symbolic, incorrect, informative, foreshadowing…there are so many signs in the world.

 

Share a picture of a SIGN and explain why you chose that picture!

This has always been my example of a sign that states the obvious.

Actually, the ROAD WORK had never begun!

But then, I thought the sign had been placed there in protest …

By people who wanted to stop or END working on roads.

We’ll never know.

 

 

DAILY CALENDAR CHALLENGE #151– MAY 31, 2013

#1 THE ORIGAMI CALENDAR – SEAHORSE

And I opted to a floral coral steed …

#2 THE MENSA PUZZLE CALENDAR – LOGICAL RESPELLING

It’s not difficult, once you know what you’re doing.

And the answers are:

1-quaver, 2-sorte, 3-python and 4-sprawl

#3 – THE PAGE-A-DAY PUZZLE CALENDAR – YOUNG MINDS/HUNGRY SCIENTISTS PART 3

Don’t these kids have anything better to do than make up puzzles to taunt their elders? It’s just a matter of elimination.

And the answers are:

Max/Canada/fish, Charles/England/steak, Susan/Spain/chicken and Fred/Germany/vegetables

FRAGMENTED REFLECTIONS

Back when the St. Louis light rail MetroLink system opened in the mid-90s there were plans to feature some form of artwork in each station. The Forest Park Station had the entire concrete platform wall covered with decorated reflecting mirror panels. On one of my trips I shot this fractured photo. Eventually pieces of the work began falling off, and when the station was enlarged several years ago the artwork disappeared. Who knows where it is today? Perhaps the artist who created it picked up the pieces and took them home.

 

DAILY CALENDAR CHALLENGE #150– MAY 30, 2013

#1 THE ORIGAMI CALENDAR CHALLENGE – KIWI BIRD

Before I started folding the KIWI, I went online to see what a real kiwi looks like.

I knew it was a wingless bird from New Zealand, but I didn’t realize that it was the unfortunate result of a mad night of passion between a sex-starved starling  and a  SHMOO  that escaped from an old Al Capp comic strip.  I also decided that the only way to capture the essence of the kiwi was to use some of my special patterned brown kraft folding paper.

I also had so much fun folding them, I had to make two.

#2 THE MENSA PUZZLE CALENDAR – LETTER/WORD GRIDS

I definitely will have to give this one some thought during this afternoon’s stormy weather.

And the answers are:

indiscreet and iridescent …Ok, I only got one.

#3 THE PAGE-A-DAY PUZZLE CALENDAR – YOUNG MINDS/ HUNGRY SCIENTISTS PART 2

If I could solve yesterday’s puzzle, using the same logic I should be able to solve this one.  Actually I already solved it, but I won’t reveal the answer until tomorrow.

And the answers are:

Susan/chemist, Max/biologist, Fred/physicist and Charles/geologist

DID YOU KNOW THAT THE KIWI BIRD IS ENGRAVED ON THE NEW ZEALAND $1 COIN…And I’ll bet you thought it was a Hobbit.

Or a SHMOO … perhaps.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAYS – THE DANCE

DAILY CALENDAR CHALLENGE #149 – MAY 29, 2013

#1 THE ORIGAMI CALENDAR CHALLENGE – BOUTONNIERE

And a multi-flowered boutonniere at that! 

#2 THE MENSA PUZZLE CALENDAR – NOT QUITE IDENTICALNot too difficult … figured out 1 and 2. And now I can’t get that damn Bolero ear-worm out of my head!

AND THE ANSWERS ARE:

[1] client and lien [2] Ravel and gravely

#3 THE PAGE-A-DAY PUZZLE CALENDAR – HUNGRY SCIENTISTS

Yet another of those puzzles created by those smart-ass little whippersnappers … er, YOUNG MINDS. This means you either get the right answer or you look read stupid. I’ll let you know tomorrow how I ended up.

AND THE ANSWERS ARE:

Max Tissue, Charles Osmium, Fred Radian and Susan Infinity.

A NAME IS A NAME IS A NAME …

Daily Prompt: Say Your Name
Write about your first name: Are you named after someone or something? Are there any stories or associations attached to it? If you had the choice, would you rename yourself?

For some reason I ended up with three names … Robert Leo Richard. That’s what happens when you are the first son, grandson and nephew. The Richard I received because that was the name of the uncle who was my godfather. Soon after baptism this disappeared for ever. The Leo was there because that was my father’s name. Loved my father, but was never crazy about the name. Eventually it just became an L much like Harry Truman’s S. When any one asked, I would say it stood for LOVE.

But when you get right down to it, I was named for my Uncle Jerome.

He was christened Jerome Robert some twelve years before I was even conceived. No one knows why he was named Jerome. It’s not really a common name … especially in family tree with totally Polish roots except for a single French women named Julianna Etienne who was my grandmother’s grandmother.  There was a Saint Jerome though …

 … he was born back in 347 and his name at the time was Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus. Hieronymus is a Greek name  that means holy name but translates into English as Jerome. Thankfully, when my uncle was in grade school the nuns decided that no little boy should be stuck with a name like Jerome and they reversed his given name to begin calling him Robert J. instead. Equally thankfully by the time I came along to be his namesake, everyone knew him as Robert.And for a long time he was more like my big brother than my uncle …

So, that’s how I got my name. Oh, for a long time it was Little Bobbie, then Little Bob and eventually Bob, Robbie, Rob, occasionally Numnutz and for a very brief period, Hot Stuff. Also for a while when I had this thing for Batman, I thought about becoming Robin which is on the list of Robert’s diminutives . But like I said at the start,

A name is a name is a name …Me … I guess I’ll stick with the name l was given …

and so will my Uncle Bob!

Though his children don’t know he’s really named Jerome.

DAILY CALENDAR CHALLENGE #148 – MAY 28, 2013

#1 THE ORIGAMI CALENDAR CHALLENGE – $ CAPTAIN’S INSIGNIA

Yet another dollar gets folded away …

Did you know why you can’t spend an origami folded dollar? They won’t fit in dollar vending machines.  And isn’t the insignia really called pilot’s wings?

#2 THE MENSA PUZZLE CALENDAR – DIRTY TO CLEAN

AND THE ANSWER IS:

Didn’t think you’d be able to figure that out, so…

DIRTY-pool-stick-shift-key-stone-cold-front-tooth-brush-fire-brand-new-guinea-pig-skin-deep-freeze-dry-CLEAN

#3 THE PAGE-A-DAY PUZZLE CALENDAR – SQUARED UP

One of these times they’re going to trick us on this puzzle by asking the size of the rectangle.

AND THE ANSWER IS:

And in case you were wondering the size of the rectangle was 103 x 120.