The best thing in the puzzle today was the clue for LAVA: “The floor is [blank].” It’s the kids’ make-believe game that Zoey and Leon like to play. You’re climbing on something, in this case — me, and you absolutely positively cannot touch the floor. Because it is LAVA. Of course, I thought my brilliant grandchildren made it up. Not so, apparently.
For 1D, where the answer was SARA, the constructor chose to go with “Fleetwood Mac song with Stevie Nicks on piano,” instead of Dylan’s.
ALMA was in the puzzle today too, but as ALMA mater, not as ALMA Thomas, whose painting Breeze Rustling Through Fall Flowers we saw yesterday in the Phillips Collection in DC.
Alma Thomas taught for 35 years in the Shaw Junior High School in segregated Washington DC. She taught the entire time in the same classroom. She only became a full-time artist after she retired from teaching. Her painting on the 1963 March on Washington, in which she marched, became the U.S. postage stamp issued in 2005 commemorating the event.
Thomas did not marry. She wrote, “Once upon a time it was said, don’t die having a ‘Miss’ on your tombstone. I feel very proud of having maintained my Miss. I say that Miss stands for all the jackasses I missed in life.” Her family took a demotion in social status when they moved from Georgia to DC, but they wanted their children to be able to get an education beyond elementary school. Alma and her sister John Maurice Thomas (named after their father), lived in the family home they moved into in DC their entire lives. This painting of Thomas is by Laura Wheeler Waring.
You’ll probably be as shocked as I was to learn that the “Most common Czech surname” is not Bernstein — it’s Novak. Remember Kim? She’s still with us at 91. Her husband since 1976, Robert Molloy, passed away in 2020. Earlier in life, she dated Sammy Davis, Jr., and Wilt Chamberlain. A bad experience with plastic surgery left her open to much abusive criticism after a rare public appearance at the Oscars in 2014. This included Trump graciously stating “she should sue her plastic surgeon.”
Enjoyed the hot dogs at the Gnats game very much — only $4 for a jumbo Hebrew National. Good mustard options and relish. That’s a Tuesday night special. The game itself, not so much. Gnat bats were asleep. Lost 3-1 to Colorado. CJ popped one.
There’s no shortage of idiots in this world. I’m not complaining — where would Owl Chatter be without them? But sometimes the idiocy is so perfect, so brilliant, we just have to stop and marvel. It’s a form of genius. Let’s have a look.
Danny Doherty of Norwood MA is 12. His brother Patrick is 15 and plays hockey with the Boston Bears Club. It’s a very special team, literally, – a special education team formed 25 years ago by John Quilli, for his son who is autistic. Patrick is autistic too and has been on the team for ten years, since he was five.
When Danny complained that he was bored over the summer, his mom Nancy suggested he open an ice cream stand on their lawn and donate half of the money they make to the team. His family made their own ice cream at home and Danny came up with a few flavors, designed a logo, and set up his table. That’s Danny on the right, below. They call the stand “Tree Street Treats.”
They raised $124 the first week and gave $62 to the team. Good stuff! It sounds like your basic feel-good story — American as apple pie, amirite? Until several days later they received a letter from Norwood’s Board of Health. “The Norwood Health Department has received a complaint that you are making and selling scooped ice cream and cookies at your residential property. The Massachusetts Food Code (105CMR. 590) does not allow for the sale of ice cream made in the home. Please desist in these activities.” It was signed by Abbie Atkins, Assistant Public Health Director, and clearly a moron of the highest order.
Rather than close up shop, the Dohertys started giving the ice cream away, for donations from the recipients. Local ice cream shops jumped aboard and held fundraisers. At last report, the stand has raised $7,500 for the team. Save two scoops for us here at Owl Chatter please!!
This is Patrick, in full regalia.
See you tomorrow.
The Wellington Files 