On this date 226 years ago in Philly, John Adams was inaugurated as the second President of the U.S. after serving as George’s veep. TJ was Adams’s veep. Owl Chatter hereby anoints Adams as the patron saint of all of us who hate getting dressed up. Here’s what it said about the event in The Writer’s Almanac: “Adams was dressed in a suit of gray broadcloth. He must have looked frumpy next to the tall and elegant Jefferson, who was clad in a long blue frock coat, and the stately Washington, dressed in black velvet.” It didn’t say if Adams was wearing slippers.
Jackie Mason has some funny material on restaurants that serve dishes that are “blackened.” “They give you a piece of fish that’s burnt and charge you $42. If the fish turns out like that at home, you throw it out, Who wants to eat something that’s burnt? They tell me I have to develop a taste for it. Why should I have to work to like something they ruined? Develop a taste? You learn to like a daughter-in-law because you have no choice. But why do I have to learn to love a piece of burnt fish?”
Here’s an item on that topic by Marianne Kobbe in tomorrow’s Met Diary:
Dear Diary:
I was furnishing my first apartment, circa 1982. I bought a velour sofa, a Ming-style side table, and a lamp with a porcelain Chinese goddess base at Macy’s.
I decided to return the lamp. When I got to the store, there was a long line at the return counter.
As I was waiting, the man ahead of me turned around, looked at me and then looked at the lamp.
“Take it home and learn to love it,” he said and turned back around.
Today’s puzzle got the better of me. I just blanked out over a simple clue and couldn’t crack it. The clue was “Targets of some orthodontic treatments,” and it was 4 letters and started with a G, so I put down GUMS, and held onto it for dear life. But it was GAPS and my error gummed up the whole little region for me. Rats!
I did some excellent work elsewhere in the grid, e.g., getting GUINEA BISSAU for “Neighbor of Senegal.” It’s a country in West Africa roughly 14,000 square miles in size with a population of 1.7 million. After getting their fill of the local cuisine, the OC photographers took these shots of a beautiful young native woman, and an adorable little girl.
The A from GAPS led to ANNA Chlumsky, the actress from Veep. That’s got to be her real name, amirite? Who would choose that? Her role in Veep earned her six Emmy nominations for Supporting Comedic Actress.
Anna is Catholic and of Czech and Croatian descent. Her mom was a singer, actress, and former flight attendant, and her dad was a chef and saxophone player, who often used a large slab of mozzarella as a mute. [No he didn’t.] Anna and hubby Shaun So have two daughters and will celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. They met when they were students at U. of Chicago. He was in the military for close to ten years, including a deployment in Afghanistan, but runs a private company now. Their oldest daughter, Penelope (8), is named after Odysseus’ wife who waited 20 years for her husband to return from war. Anna didn’t have to wait that long.
“Got down, in a way,” was KNEELED. Commenter kitshef noted: KNEELED gave me pause because although it is obvious and familiar, I would say ‘knelt’ and I’d guess that I’ve heard ten ‘knelt’s for every ‘kneeled’. And kneel/knelt and feel/felt are weird, aren’t they? “I knelt down and pelt ten pounds of potatoes on KP. When I was done, I felt so elated I cartwhelt down the hallway,”
“Seven days without a pun makes one weak.” So it says on a website seeking to make April 19 National Pun Day because that is the day on which punster Mark Bottineau was both born and died. His friends and loved ones are seeking signatures for a petition to honor him in that fashion. Unless and until they succeed, National Pun Day is celebrated today — March 4th, which is also known by some as Soldier’s Day — March forth!
Two silkworms were in a race. They ended up in a tie. (Get it? Silk? A silk tie?)
How do you know when it’s raining cats and dogs? When you step in a poodle.
What do sheep say during the holiday season? Fleece Navidad!
Don’t let me eat too many donuts — I’ll get that glazed look in my eyes.
On the other hand, some consider National Pun Day to be May 15th, which is O’Henry’s birthday. Did he use puns in his writing? March 4th gets my vote, though, because it actually is a pun. Plus, O’Henry was born on September 11th, not May 15th.
The clue for 25D was simply “Jail,” and the answer was CONFINE. Remember how I said some answers are little doors that bring you somewhere? This is from LMS’s post today:
“Jail” – CONFINE struck me this morning because yesterday I was poking around for poems other than the ones I’m supposed to teach that might actually engage my kids, get them to buy in rather than check out. I’m ashamed to say that I had never read Angelou’s “Caged Bird” (poetry is just not my thang), but I was stunned and then moved to tears by the tragic beauty of its truth, especially for the demographic that I teach, the kids who find themselves CONFINEd in an endless cycle of despair with no hope, — the kids who are just written off, shipped off to languish in an alternative school that is hemorrhaging teachers.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Jeez Louise, I’m sorry I got so dark. It had been my plan to run off at the mouth about KNEELED not knelt, learned/learnt, dreamed/dreamt, pleaded/pled. . . ( hi, @kitshef), but I got sweeped up in an outrage born of impotence (mine) and apathy (society’s).
Speaking of caged birds, did you see the full page story (with pics) in The Times about Flaco the owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo recently (when a vandal cut the wire mesh in his enclosure), and has taken up residence in Central Park? He seemed stressed at first (to observers). His flying seemed a little wobbly. “The biggest worry during his first days of freedom was that he wouldn’t know how to hunt and could starve to death — after all, he’d dined for a decade on deliveries of what one zoo associate described as Whole Foods-quality dead mice and rats.” But Flaco honed his predator’s skills fairly quickly.
“Eurasian eagle-owls are one of the world’s largest owls. And with his nearly six foot wingspan, Flaco thrilled observers at flyout every night: a feline silhouette crouched on a tree limb, suddenly soaring into the nighttime sky, like a giant pterodactyl taking wing across the park. Within a week, he was becoming the apex predator he was born to be, proudly showing off the rats he’d killed with his bare talons.
“When Flaco was living at the zoo, he had been described by one longtime visitor as a grumpy and slightly pudgy owl — much like those of us stuck at home during the pandemic. But after only two weeks in Central Park, he had become an athletic and handsome prince, enthusiastically hooting his presence to claim his place in the city or find a possible mate.”
Here’s a photo of Flaco, in the wild, followed by a shot of our beloved Wilma’s fierce talons. Hubby Welly has said he fell for Wilma’s sexy purple feet, but don’t let them fool you — she’ll tear you up good with them if necessary. I certainly try to stay on her good side.
Thanks for wasting some time with us. See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 