Buccos, those are cute. There are two local women who have been painting rocks at the beach and then hiding them for the kids to find. It's become quite a thing this summer.

How does Satan like his pasta? . . . . Al Dante.

Looks like a rough future ahead, Annie! If 10 people - only produce 6 ... the population diminishes! But probably it needs to, over the long term, for I've heard that somewhere around 1400 the population of the world was 1 billion, and now it's about 8 billion. What with the huge industries we've built, that produce so much pollution, along with the cars and such ... it's enough to make one hoarse ... and a little buggy! At a world convention of the animals, it was reported that, what with all of the pollution that humans cause, and all of the plastic junk and global warming, that humankind are making themselves an endangered species. FFoFolFollFolloFollowFollowiFollowinFollowing ssusubsubssubstassusubsubssubstanssusubsubssubstantssusubsubssubstantial discussiodiscussion - they agreed that the sooner the humans disadisappeared - the better it would be for rest of the animal inhabitants of this precious earth!. ole joyful (ETA: not a good idea to try to make amendments - at Houzz House!) ...

The Boston Symphony was performing Beethoven's Ninth. In the piece, there's a long passage about 20 minutes during which the double basses have nothing to do. Rather than sit around the whole time looking stupid, some bassists decided to sneak offstage and go to the tavern next door for a quick one. After slamming several beers in quick succession (as double bassists are prone to do), one of them looked at his watch. "Hey! We need to get back!" "No need to panic," said a fellow bassist. "I thought we might need some extra time, so I tied the last few pages of the conductor's score together with string. It'll take him a few minutes to get it untangled." A few moments later they staggered back to the concert hall and took their places in the orchestra. About this time, a member of the audience noticed the conductor seemed a bit edgy and said as much to her companion. "Well, of course," said her companion. "Don't you see? It's the bottom of the Ninth, the score is tied, and the bassists are loaded."