stormy

I love this real time storm tracking app on my phone called Blitzortung, which means lightning locating in German.  After more than a week of horrendous heat, I'm still hoping to see the rain in the south come up to cool us off!

http://en.blitzortung.org/live_lightning_maps.php

 

multifaceted

Maybe because I experience pareidolia often, I find these objects from "the weird shelf" in my parents' house quite fascinating.  The green copper vessel with four faces is around a hundred years old and was passed down from my dad's dad.  The red clay vase with three faces and the single-faced vase were made in 1978 by Ray Snyder, "The Lakewood Potter," of Spring Grove, PA. 

delightfully old-fashioned

gravestone guesswork

Also in the graveyard of the United Congregational Church of Little Compton is a fascinating mystery involving two gravestones side by side which read:
IN MEMORY of Lidia y^e Wife of M. Simeon Palmer who died Dece *mr y^e 26th 1754 in y^e 35th Year of her Age.

 In memory of ELIZABETH who should have been the Wife of Mr. SIMEON PALMER who died Aug 14th 1776 in the 64th Year of her Age.

Some accounts say Elizabeth and Simeon were actually married, but she wouldn't live with him and do her wifely duties because he was crazy and ate cats.  Some say after his wife died, Elizabeth became his housekeeper, and in public opinion Simeon should have married her because they were living in the same house.  Still others say he jilted her for Lidia and later regretted it.  I was hoping it was a more romantic story, albeit with a presumably sad ending, and maybe it was.  No one knows enough details to be sure, including where Simeon himself was buried.  It seems it will remain a mystery forever.

R.I.P.

In the southeast corner of Rhode Island in center of the Little Compton Commons is the United Congregational Church and its fascinating old graveyard.  The older stones from the early 1700s which are made of shale and covered with beautiful lichen are more difficult to read than the smoother and more durable slate stones.  Some have a winged death's head, a motif that later transitioned into a winged cherub. It's interesting how although the styles can be similar, every stone is different since each is carved by hand.

dew

freaky flick

Old Boy is a crazy weird movie about a man imprisoned for 15 years in a hotel suite without knowing why and what he discovers after he is released.  The original movie is from South Korea, and though the dubbing is pretty bad and the gore a bit much, it's a twisted brilliant movie well worth an evening's entertainment.