Friday, June 28, 2019

Gotta Love...

...warm summer nights...I live for this time of year...so pretty and so relaxing.

Hard to believe we've already passed the summer solstice and are tracking toward fall with decreasing daylight...but for now, it's still summer, glorious summer...and we will do our level best to enjoy every second of it while it's within our grasp.
Would you believe me if I told you "7 Fridays" has become a bestseller in the first week of its release?
If you would, you're just my kind of dinner companion, gullible in the extreme and probably amenable to picking up the tab for my culinary excesses.  Was that 3 bottles of Mitolo GAM I drank, or was it 4?

Sadly, 7 Fridays has not hit the bestseller list...but I have managed to get it into the hands - or at least onto the kindle's - of several dozen people...however, to accomplish that I had to run a "free e-book" promotion.

That's right, I've been reduced to the digital equivalent of tossing copies of my work to anonymous passersby...
that's NOT me in the picture...
... in the vain hope they'll give it a read, like it, and sometime in the future be willing to pay actual money! for other copies of my work.

Ah, the glamorous life of a literary bottom feeder...
So this is the kind of day it was on the links...
...I've said before if I can be on the green with a chance to 1 putt for par I'm a happy man...well, the above is my "1 putt for par" position on the 5th green today...
...and that's where I left it...thought about getting down on all fours and blowing on it, but I was too busy laughing...because that was the 3rd time I'd done the same thing...and I did it once more before the round was over.

So not as good as last week, but still quite enjoyable...
It was a beautiful day for strolling through the countryside, and most of the time I was in and around the fairways...
...while managing to find the greens within shouting distance of par more times than not.

I've had worse rounds for sure.
Charles de Gaulle was quoted as saying "the graveyards are filled with indispensable people".

He meant of course none of us mere mortals are irreplaceable.

I'm here to report on an exception to the good General's otherwise ironclad rule:
This week John Van Dyke retired after 42 years, and there's no replacing him.

John, along with the owner, Herb Lantinga...
the Dynamic Duo...
...were the 2 overwhelming reasons Herb's company succeeded as it did over the decades.

The rest of us were fortunate to be able to follow their leads to success, and with John's retirement there's a hole in the company that can't be filled.

Oh, we'll work around it; what choice do we have?  We have to...but his tireless energy, wisdom and leadership will be deeply missed.

God's richest blessings to you and yours, John, as you embark on this next phase of your life.

Proverbs 27:17
Finally, have to share a beautiful midcentury modern gem I purchased from a very cool website, RetroLifestyleCompany :
One of the reasons we love this gorgeous print by Diane Dempsey is all the stone and glass reminds Karen and me of home.

Plus, the colors of this print absolutely pop...my cell phone pic above doesn't come close to doing it justice...it's vibrant, just a beautiful piece of midcentury modern art.
We aren't positive exactly where it will end up yet - just got it this afternoon - but we think it really needs to be up against the stone to do it justice.

Anyway, if you're an mcm aficionado, visit RetroLifestyleCompany and have a look around at all the uber cool mcm art and items they have there.
And that, mcm fans, is a wrap on this issue of the Atomic Monster Cafe...we thank you for stopping by and expanding your cultural horizons.

If you didn't expand them, well what the heck, don't blame us...we're chock full of all kinds of horizon expanding material here...
actual picture of Karen and me plotting our next horizon expansion activity
For the love of chicken gravy, it's time you take some responsibility for yourself, don't you think?

Now, where was I?

oh yeah...

later, mcm fans...


* Crass Commercialism Corner *

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