More Garden Tips and Nips

This time in Washington state.  That boy does get around.

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World Naked Gardening Day

Rodney is such a tease.

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What We're Watching: Levittown

Mass-production housing for the masses. What a concept.

A couple of early Levittown houses in 2D and 3D view.
Click to enlarge.

What was included in the price of a Levittown home in 1950.

Floor plan of the "Ranch" model, about 800 square feet.  Much more convenient layout,, but the 8-foot kitchenette would bug me, and M.P. would would have fits.

M.P. and I enjoyed watching this touching 2008 film about the first Levittown, featuring some of the original owners reminiscing about the early days of that huge postwar development on Long Island.  Levitt & Sons mass-produced more than 17,000 houses in less than five years, and built an entire town too, complete with schools, churches, stores, playgrounds, and swimming pools. 

We both grew up in postwar neighborhoods ourselves, but they were nothing like this gargantuan, master-planned community.  Quite an achievement - in my book, on a par with the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge.  A dream come true with practical benefits.  Here's a look into the human side of all that.  Enjoy.

 

If you want an in-depth survey of the Levitt empire and its accomplishments, here's a nice long read for you.

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Todd and Rob and the New Canoe

Those Georgia boys are at it again, adding yet more flowers and trees to their mountain garden, and water features too!  They sure have lots of energy.  As we used to, once upon a time . . . 

After a long season of winter inactivity, M.P. in the last couple of weeks has gotten back into yardwork and gardening with vigor.  The bright spring sunshine has helped his mood quite a bit.  He says, "I feel happier now - but I hurt all over!"  That's retirement life.

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Sunday Drive: Begin the Beguine

Artie Shaw is the best, and this Cole Porter tune made his career in the big band era. It's been a favorite of your Head Trucker's for many years, but this is the first time I've seen this live performance. Enjoy.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

"Eye Candy Is Dandy #1" by Clint Collide:

Tip:  If you're pressed for time, just pause the video and arrow through the pics.  But I got dibs on Steve Kelso.

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Two Guys, Same Song

1.  Bruce Springsteen in Manchester, England, yesterday:

Text via JMG:

In my home, the America I love, the America I’ve written about, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty for 250 years, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration. Tonight, we ask all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring!

The last check, the last check on power after the checks and balances of government have failed are the people, you and me. It’s in the union of people around a common set of values now that’s all that stands between a democracy and authoritarianism. So at the end of the day, all we’ve got is each other.

There’s some very weird, strange and dangerous shit going on out there right now. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now.

In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.

They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just and plural society. They are abandoning our great allies and siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom. They are defunding American universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands.

They are removing residents off American streets and, without due process of law, are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons. This is all happening now.

A majority of our elected representatives have failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government. They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.

The America l’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real and regardless of its faults is a great country with a great people. So we’ll survive this moment. Now, I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, "In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough." Let’s pray.

2.  Pete Buttigieg in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, yesterday:

Despite the great beard and awesome stache,  no one would accuse Pete of being a rocker - but he was definitely on the same page as Springsteen:

Guys like these are our last hope.  We need more like them.

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Chicken Coop Tour!

M.P. tipped me to this video by a couple of guys down in Austin who are real handymen.  Rodney takes us on a tour of their custom-made chicken coop and run, all very well built.  What really aroused my, um, interest is Rodney's cut-off shorts that always seem about to slide right off his slim, supple body.   If they lived closer, I'd offer to lend a hand and help him out.  Boy howdy!

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Garden Tips and Nips

Gardeners like this are hard to find.

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Sunday Drive: Claire de Lune

As performed exquisitely by Adrien de la Salle, a Frenchman living in Montreal:

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Message from a French Friend

French Senator Claude Malhuret tells it like it is in French, with English subtitles:

I'm impressed with how well he knows all the details of what's going on in the United States - and sees through all the bullshit.  But I suppose our self-destruction is obvious to the whole world.

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