Michigan

"Michigan seems like a dream to me now" - Paul Simon

The Yorkshire Pudding Spotlight of Curiosity falls today upon a rather ordinary little town in Lapeer County, Michigan, USA. It's North Branch  which has grown slowly since it was first settled in 1856. It now has a population of 1096.

Two years ago, it was visited by a YouTube contributor called Daryl Turcott. He mostly focused on the town's Orr Historical Museum and this was the six minute video he produced:-

By the way, I deduce that the little town's unusual name is derived from the fact that it stands on the north branch of The Flint River. For a while in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was known as Beachville  after Mr. and Mrs. Richard Beach who were two of the very first settlers.  I guess that Mr. and Mrs. George Simmons  - the other first settlers - may have objected.

I took a look around North Branch myself with the help of Google Streetview. It seemed a sleepy kind of place. Not much was happening and there was hardly anybody around - not much traffic either. But superficially at least, it appeared quite tidy and relatively affluent.

Above - Huron Street, North Branch - the centre of the town and below two businesses on Huron Street

North Branch Bar & Grill

The Open Door Hair Salon

Above - a small home on Saginaw Street and below a larger home on Spring Street

Below - when the Google Streetview car cruised around North Branch in August of this year there were plenty of banners hanging in the downtown area in praise of local men and women who served in the US military - including Jeffrey Swain:-

So, you might be asking, why North Branch? The town is set in productive farming country and one of those farms was the childhood home of David Godfrey who is the blogger behind "The Adventures of a Travel Penguin" which comes to us these days from Washington D.C.. But just like the rest of us, David can never forget where he came from...

David

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chocolate chip cookie

 Letting the 

Sweet sun

Give me 

The biggest hug

As I ate

The most

Decadent 

Chocolate chip cookie

Is the meaning

Of a enjoying

A moment

You never

Would have 

Savored before

But now

The melted goodness

Makes life

A palatable pleasure

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Miscellaneous

1.

The opposite of a hypochondriac is most likely an "anosognosiac" - someone who insists they are perfectly well when that is not the case. Such people try not to visit doctors' surgeries or other health facilities, often pressing ahead with their lives even when they clearly require health support or intervention. That's kind of like me.

Oddly,  in the last week I have been a "customer" of the health service three times with one appointment still to go. Last Wednesday I had my prostate examined by a young doctor called Georgina with a chaperone present - a member of the reception staff. Fortunately for a man of my age there was no problem and Georgina dealt with the procedure very professionally. It was the first time I have ever had my prostate examined.

Yesterday, I went to The Royal Hallamshire Hospital to have bloods taken before tests happen and today I received winter flu and COVID vaccinations at my local health centre. On Friday I am going back there for a full health check to which the blood tests are connected.

My trolls may be disappointed to learn that death is not imminent.

2.

Above - for a year or so these messages have been appearing when I log into my hotmail account. At first I believed that they were from Microsoft so I started deleting hundreds of emails from the past  - especially those with attachments such as images. My clearance efforts made no impact  on the alleged percentage of storage used. Now I just click these warnings away because I believe they are spam messages that are trying to get me to pay for more storage when I don't need it. Has anybody else encountered this kind of messaging within hotmail or perhaps other email accounts?

3.

A rare picture of me with Phoebe - up on Stanage Edge last week. I appear to be squeezing out some people but that is merely an optical illision.

4.

And finally for all you poetry buffs out there and  as half-promised  yesterday, here's two recent poems by Bluto:-

Love Bluto

Olive, my darling, I dream of thee
When e'er I behold the briny sea

Thy limbs as slender as a deer's

And golden studs in thy shell-like ears.

Oh Olive - why did you pick Popeye?

Your cruel choice oft made me cry.

I would have given you everything  -

Upon your hand a wedding ring

And a little house with a picket fence

Where we could dwell in the present tense.

Such dreams have drifted away like mist

With memories of the times we kissed

Along the shore or under a tree

Olive, my darling, I dream of thee.

                     ⦿

Threesome

He was Popeye the sailor man
He was Popeye the sailor man
He went to the pictures
And pulled down his britches
He was Popeye the sailor man.

But me? Well, let's see...

I was Bluto the aid worker
I was Bluto the aid worker
My voice was quite gruff
And my habits were rough
I was Bluto the aid worker

And she?   Dearie me...

She was Olive the mum of four
She was Olive the mum of four
I loved her completely
And remember her sweetly
She was Olive the mother of four.

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The one thing

 You allow me

To reap goodness

As I sit here

Upon grateful tears

You’re asking 

For a trust

I’ve never given

Didn’t know

If I had it

Surrender 

Turns out

It is available 

If I relinquish 

The one thing

I’ve wanted

But never had

Control

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Bluto

You may have seen me in cartoons of long ago. My name is Bluto and I am a very, very old man now. I live in a nursing home in Connecticut where I am attended by some very kind carers. To be frank, they have lengthened my life for which I am infinitely grateful. From my room, I can see the ocean sparkling through the trees, reminding me of my youth upon the salt sea waves.

Some of you will recall that I was the arch enemy of Popeye the Sailorman and together we battled for the affections of  Miss Olive Oyl who we met on the harbour front in Boston. In fact, you might say that it was she who tore us apart for up until that time we had been crewmates and drinking buddies onshore. Ah, those were the days.

If you had a page devoted you on Wikipedia, I am sure you would occasionally check it out - for its detail and its veracity. I guess that all famous people do that. When I first saw my Wikipedia page, I was shocked, stunned and hurt. This is what they have to say about me:-

"Bluto is a cruel, bearded, muscular ruffian who serves as Popeye's nemesis and archrival for the love of Olive Oyl. He usually uses brute force and/or trickery to accomplish his various goals. His voice is very loud, harsh and deep, with an incomprehensible bear-like growl between words and sentences."

You know folks, to read that, it was devastating. It was if Wikipedia knew nothing about me and my complex  relationship with Popeye and Olive. Effectively, it was a classic  love triangle.

They neglected to mention my challenging upbringing  and how I helped my mother Florence to raise my six siblings after our father ran away with a Canadian floozy called  Gloria.  They also forgot to refer to how my life unfolded after my long years at sea. Through a correspondence course I gained a degree in International Relations and then spent several years working with the downtrodden citizens of Senegal and Bolivia.

And after Popeye and Olive were killed on the freeway just east of New Haven, it was me who delivered their eulogy even though Popeye had stolen Olive from me all those years ago. She was the love of my life and I admit that I never truly got over her.

It is easy and sometimes tempting to portray people as mere caricatures of themselves - focusing on the surface rather than what lies beneath. I may have conveniently seemed like a "muscular ruffian" with a "bear-like growl" but there was always more to Bluto T. Windass than that.  For example, did you know that I wrote poetry?  Maybe  one day, if I remain upon this earth a while longer, I will share one or two of my poems with you.

Kind regards,

Bluto

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days

 Hermes scarf

Yankees ball cap 

Jeans

Braces

And muddy Nikes 

The outfit 

Of the day

Trying to add

A little whimsy

To my reality

Cooler temperatures

Have me reaching

For that shredded

Martha’s Vineyard

Sweatshirt

I can’t seem

To part with

It brings

The memory

To life

Three years later

Letting gratitude flow

Blessed to see

The wild world

Created for 

Enjoying

Savoring

And preserving

Relishing the day

For what it is

Not for selfish

Desires

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Quiztime

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin. Today's "Quiztime" has no theme - it's  simply general knowledge. As usual, you can find the answers in the "Comments" section.

⦿

1. How many ribs does a normal adult human being have?

(a) 13  (b)24 (c)26 (d)34

2. What is the capital of Peru? (a) Quito (b) Lima (c) Santiago (d) Bogota

3. What is a young zebra called? (a) calf (b) foal (c) zebling  (d) zebedee

4. Which singer-songwriter from Cleveland, Ohio wrote "Fast Car"?

5. This painting by Sandro Botticelli is housed in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy - but what is it called?

(a) The Mona Lisa (b) Aphrodite's Shell 

(c) The Birth of Venus (d) The Glorious Renaissance

6. Who is this figure from twentieth century history?

(a) Charles de Gaulle (b) Benito Mussolini

(c) Neville Chamberlain (d) Franklin D. Roosevelt

7.  In which ocean is the island of Mauritius? 

8. Which fictional group had a big hit in 1969 with "Sugar Sugar"?

(a) The Rolling Stones (b) The Monkees 

(c) The Flintstones (d) The Archies

9. This is a picture of a very famous woman when she was a child but who is it?

10. What is Joe Biden's middle name?

(a) La  Fayette (b) Robinette (c) Limerick (d) Scranton

⦿

How did you do?

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