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

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.

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 to 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 as 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

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?

Duet

Our daughter Frances was born in 1988. We moved house the following year - to this house in fact, I can't remember if it was in that summer or the following year (1990) when we went on holiday to Tenby in South Wales.

We had rented a caravan (American: trailer) on a disused aerodrome  at nearby Carew Cheriton - about four miles west of Tenby. One of the main things I remember about that holiday was the pre-recorded cassette tape I had in the car. It was "Tracy Chapman".  God, I played that tape over and over again that summer. It felt revelatory in its sublime authenticity. There were no dud songs on that album.

Anyway, I heard one of the songs from that album this morning on the radio. It was "Fast Car". A little idle googling later and I was surprised to see that the song had quite recently been  picked up and re-recorded by one of America's new crop of country artistes - Luke Combs from North Carolina. He said that it was his favourite song of all time and that he had first heard it as a child.

"Fast Car" received the accolade of "Song of the Year" at  the 57th Annual Country Music Association Awards for 2023. At The Grammies ceremony in February of this year, Tracy Chapman joined Luke Combs on stage to perform the song together. Here it is, the older maestro and the younger fan, together:-

So, I remember when we were driving, driving in your car

Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk

City lights laid out before us

And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder

And I, I had a feeling that I belonged

I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

And speaking of "someone",  there's Taylor Swift dancing away near the front and singing along, unconcerned about who might be behind her. I guess that's what life is like when you are a megastar.

Smelly

The Meiselas brothers from Long Island, New York

For a while I have been dipping into an American pro-democracy website called "The Meidas Touch".  It was founded by Ben, Brett and Jordan - the Meiselas brothers - in March 2020. Their YouTube channel has received over four billion visits.

They seem to be on a mission to puncture Trump's bubble as they pick away at his rambling speeches and unfound claims in an intelligent, non-sensationalist manner. They have really got Trump's number and I  suspect they understand him better than he understands himself.

This morning, one of the "Meidas Touch" videos made me chuckle and then guffaw with laughter. Again, in a non-sensationalist, measured manner they were examining widespread reports that Trump is literally smelly. His farts are by many accounts  repulsive and it is believed he sometimes poops his pants. His former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, calls him Donald Von ShitzInPantz

Has such a thing ever been rumoured before about a leading politician in America or any other country?  Check out the fifteen minute video yourself. You might also get a good belly laugh but look at it in another way and it is simply very concerning:-

Exercising

Another lovely autumn day. There was a light frost last night but I didn't see this morning's evidence on the car windscreens as I was lying abed listening to the BBC Radio 4 morning news show - "Today". I stumbled downstairs at 9am for my customary pint of tea and a bowl of breakfast cereal.

Two hours later I showered, got dressed and was ready to roll out for a long walk. I didn't want to drive far so I headed for the Rails Road public car park in the Rivelin Valley. I have been there to start walks several times before and, just for example, previously blogged about one of them here.

Above - images from my walk by The River Rivelin. As you can see, sunshine made it all rather magical. I walked for two and a half hours. After the Rivelin Valley Road Bridge, I veered up the valley side to Hagg Lane and just before I reached its very end I saw this young woman approaching with her two horses.

I asked if I could take her picture and she kindly obliged. It's likely that she loves her two horses more than anything. She was taking them back to their stable.

Then it was back down to the river, tumbling as nearly all rivers do towards the sea. This time I was walking south of the Rivelin and not north as I had done on my way out. Soon I was back at Clint ready for the fifteen minute drive home. The top picture shows a sign I spotted on the car park noticeboard.

I was very glad that I had chosen to venture out today  and pleased that the plantar fasciitis did not interfere with my pleasure. Since I admitted to myself that that is the problem, I have occasionally  performed recommended exercises - including rolling a ball under my left foot for several minutes at a time. It appears to be working.