Povey Prattle

Gift from Ashley Lloyd From time to time I tell wild and improbable stories, just for the fun of it. The very naughty part of me loves to see and hear my friends and family members following my story with deep interest. When my bait has hooked them I let on,  "I just made that up". The eyes roll, the grin appears, and I hear  "Oh Michael, you almost had me there, you are so bad!". (P.S.  I assure you that I never did this from the pulpit; well maybe "almost never"! ) I saw a man wearing a tee shirt like this some eight years ago as I left, and he entered the supermarket.  I've always wanted one!  Ashley had it custom made for me.

I was with my friends D and A the other day and I spoke of antimacassars  (as one does).  They had never heard of such a word.    Here is a bit about them  (antimacassars not D and A). Pro- or Antimacassar? Police arrested a man for smuggling 21 rare yellow-crested cockatoos from the Indonesian island of Macassar, Sulawesi, or what used to be called the Celebes. Macassar is an ethno-linguistic group whose name springs from the word Mangkasara, meaning “people who behave frankly.”  Macassar , or more precisely,  antimacassar,  was a  prominent word in nineteenth and early twentieth century English—not so much now. It is the word for a cloth placed over the backs, and sometimes also the arms, of chairs and sofas to prevent soiling of the upholstery. What was most likely to soil it in those days was  macassar oil , a greasy hair tonic manufactured from ingredients—cocoanut oil, ylang-ylang oil, and othe...

Sarasota County has a Primary Election on August 18th, to select candidates for the November General Election. With COVID 19 being rampant in Florida who knows whether or not the Polling Stations will be adequately staffed (by volunteers) on 8/18 With that in mind I voted by mail today  (for the first time ever). (My preference is to stand in line with my fellow citizens, and to enjoy non-partisan camaraderie).  I had no strong feelings about the nominees for the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Board .  (Yes, we have a not for profit hospital  which we support by our taxes - which are a minuscule part of their annual budget).  A hospital which regularly makes the top 100 list of American hospitals.   I had good information about the nominees for the Sarasota City Commission and the Sarasota County School Board , thus I knew where to place my votes in these instances. But I was clueless regarding the two nominees to become the Sarasota C...

Via my Pittsfield MA friend Bill T