QUARANTINE BLOG # 528

September 9, 2021

Continuing for my Padawan Mac, let’s begin with more “back to school” comics.

See yinz t’morrow.

👉  Maybe we could organize this event for the QB.  A couple weeks ago in Tapiobiscke, Hungry, some 40 Hungarian husbands, with their wives on their backs, clambered over rough terrain in the nation’s second wife-carrying contest.

Gergely Guraly, who organized the race, said preparations began in January for the contest, which is said to have origins dating back to the Viking age.  In modern times, the tradition is particularly established in Finland, where it has taken place since the 1990s.  Estonian races have lent their name to the Estonian style of wife-carrying, with the wife upside down and her feet over her husband’s shoulders, rather than a classic piggyback.

I could not find out who won, but should you like to participate, the North American Wife Carrying Competition is scheduled for October 9 in Newry, Maine.  Entry fee is $35.  

👉  The summer that was supposed to mark America’s independence from COVID-19 is instead drawing to a close with the U.S. more firmly under the tyranny of the virus, with deaths per day back up to where they were in March.  The U.S. death toll stands at more than 650,000, with one major forecast model projecting it will top 750,000 by December 1.  The crisis escalated rapidly from June to August.  About 400,000 COVID-19 infections were recorded for all of June.  It took all of three days last week to reach the same number.  The U.S. recorded 26,800 deaths and more than 4.2 million infections in August.   The U.S. is now averaging over 150,000 new cases per day, levels not seen since January.  Deaths are close to 1,500 per day, up more than a third since late August.

👉  It’s not one of the Bridges of Madison County (one of my all-time favorite books and corresponding movies), but if you are searching for covered bridges on a road trip or vacation, the West Liberty Covered Bridge in Geneva, Ohio, may be one for your check list.  At only 18 feet across as it crosses Cowles Creek, it is the shortest covered bridge in the US.

If you like small bridges, and you can get permission to enter Bermuda, check out Somerset Bridge, the world’s smallest draw bridge, built in 1620.

That’s it, behind Bonnie’s left shoulder.

When the drawbridge is open, the gap is 18 inches.  Closed, it is covered by a 22 inch wooden plank.  Whenever a yacht wishes to pass beneath the bridge, the captain must wait for a passer-by to assist in opening the drawbridge.

👉  In the record business, way back in the before time, a single would be released with the “best” song on the “A side.”  The song on the flip side was a filler, the “B side.”  When Connie Francis’ recording of “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” hit Number 1 on the pop charts in July 1960, it was the B side.  “Jealous of You” was the A side, but radio stations preferred “Fool,” and it was Number 1 for 5 straight weeks.

Brenda Lee was 15 when her signature song, "I'm Sorry," went to Number 1 in August 1960.  Decca Records held it from release for several months out of concern that a 15-year-old girl was not mature enough to sing about unrequited love.  Though it might seem a little dated to some modern ears, it deserves its acclaims, since it is among the finest teen pop songs of its era.

👉  Here are the last of the strange costumes that folks have been photographed wearing while in a popular super store:

👉  And the couple who was married in a grocery store:

👉  I love word play, clever sentence structure, and even a well-crafted pun.  Thanks to Brian for sending me a couple dozen (which will appear in QB over the next several issues).

👉  Today’s close, “God Likes the Way He Made You,” is by Joyce Meyer.

Have you ever asked God, “Why did You make me this way?”  Sometimes the things that we think are our worst faults, God will use to His greatest glory: "But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God?  Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?" (Romans 9:20 Amplified Version).

Jesus died so that we might enjoy our life in abundance and to the fullest until it overflows.  You are not going to enjoy your life if you don’t enjoy yourself.  Be satisfied with yourself and celebrate the unique way God made you.

Prayer Starter: Lord God, I know that with Your help, I can exchange my negatives for positive, and I can love the ME that You created, In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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