The Trundholm "Sun Chariot," was found in a bog in Denmark in 1902. It is perhaps 3,400 years old.

( Just so you know Connecticut HAS bogs, including the Cranberry bog in East Hampton and bogs in Chester, Simsbury and Bethany. Just sayin')

 

Scholars believe that it depicts the sun, as Nordic myths believed, as it was pulled across the sky during the day. The idea of the sun being pulled across the sky, either on a boat or chariot, also shows up in Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Indian, and other mythology. 

 

Now, what's in your bog? 

Actually, a quite positive thing to watch.

 

So this has been a miserable 60 Days.

And we are looking at more tough days in the near future, so we were thinking - what we all need now is a surprise. A bit of joy. Something that leaves us with a smile. So we uncovered a few!  

 

 

 

 

*$250 Daniels Energy instant rebate of $250 valid on qualifying systems only.**$200 EnergizeCT rebate available.  Rebates for qualifying matched Trane AC Comfort Systems. Certain SEER restrictions apply. ***Convenient interest rate financing is available, subject to credit approval. See Daniels representative for details. Daniels Energy: CT License S1-385517 HOD#19 /Daniels Propane. LLC: 846 CT License S1-302857 

 

 

Here's a visualization of the population density of the US, Australia and New Zealand. Why?  That  is a fair question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Summer is here. Cover up.

 

   

  Click here to see larger image 

We hope you know how much we appreciate your reading and playing along with us. Last month we splashed a bit of Victorian slang at you and suggested that you might want to play along and respond. A few of you did and we do so thank you. 

 

However,  Jen D.  took it five steps further and we thought we'd share her efforts with you. She wrote us this little epistle. Enjoy.

 

My dear friend,

I write to you, hoping that you are in good health. While typically I would be a gigglemug, I fear lately I've got the morbs. Here we are laying low, though we would much rather be having a benjo. It may do me well to avoid the butter upon bacon for a bit. 

 

We are lucky with supplies so far, and will even be enjoying some bags o' mystery in the morn. I hope it doesn't come to the point where we will have to eat bow wow mutton. The silence of home is calming, though it would be nice to have a church-bell or chuckaboo around once in a while. The mister and I have had our share of collie shangles being in such close quarters but don't worry, I won't cop a mouse. 

 

I'm trying to find uses for my daddles, but damfino if there's any good crafts or new hobbies to partake. I'm grateful not to be of the dizzy age as it's quite perilous right about now. Even with our young age and healthy family, I find myself wary of doing the bear without hand sanitizer. Our children are experiencing fifteen puzzle as to why there is no school and the hubby is growing a door-knocker since we're stuck inside. He might soon wish he had a fly rink as I will have to learn to cut his hair. Before long we will all be half-rats but without the option for mafficking or nanty narking we'll be mad as hops. 

 

Our current leader could make a stuffed bird laugh with his dangerous skilamalink advice. Too bad the mutton shunters can't enforce safe behavior. Thank goodness for those bricky healthcare workers. Please remember, if you must go out, it's important to mind the grease. Hopefully before too much longer we'll take the egg on this crisis. If people don't practice safe habits, we'll surely shoot into the brown, in which case you'll find me smothering a parrot.

-- Jen from Clinton, CT

 

 

Glossary of terms:

bags o' mystery: sausages

benjo: a riotous holiday

bow wow mutton: meat so bad it might be dog flesh

bricky: brave or fearless

butter upon bacon: extravagance

church-bell: a talkative woman

chuckaboo: a close friend

collie shangles: quarrles

cop a mouse: get a black eye

daddles: your hands

damfino: "damned if I know"

dizzy age: elderly

doing the bear: hugging

door-knocker: type of beard

fifteen puzzle: confusion

fly rink: bald head

gigglemug: smiling face

half-rats: partially intoxicated

mad as hops: excitable

mafficking: getting rowdy

make a stuffed bird laugh: absolutely preposterous

mind the grease: let you pass

nanty narking: great fun

shoot into the brown: to fail

skilamalink: shady, doubtful

smothering a parrot: drinking absinthe

take the egg: to win

 

$500 Energize CT Rebate  

 

Three truths:

 

One - the Corona-Virus will be with us for awhile. 

 

Two - the heat and humidity of summer is here....

 

Three - For 95 years, Daniels has served Connecticut families through everything from the depression to world wars to hurricanes and recessions. Today, we're working safe, and smart so you can count on us to be there to serve you for years to come. So...

 

While we can't help with the first, we can absolutely help with the second, with the installation of new Mitsubishi Electric Ductless Systems. And - at a spectacular price!  

 

 

 

Daniels Energy is offering the perfect cooling solution for two rooms - when breaking down walls to install ducts is not an option! Mitsubishi Electric Ductless systems are flexible, improve air quality, save you money - and can be installed in one day!

 

*  They're: Up to 40% more efficient  

* Quieter than a human whisper  

* Compatible with popular smart thermostats

 

PLUS DANIELS DIAMOND CONTRACTOR

12-YEAR WARRANTY!

 

 

Call: 860.813.9122

 

 

*Offer is for one standard compressor unit and two standard Mitsubishi Ductless Split head units. $75.75 per month example predicated on $10,000 total cost for system. $1,000 customer down payment. Financing $9,000 at .99% apr. 120 equal payments of $75.75 per month. EnergizeCT offers an immediate consumer rebate of up to $500 depending on equipment selected. Minimum size restriction and SEER ratings apply. Not available on previous sales. See Daniels Energy representative for complete details. Primary Mitsubishi offer ends: July 1, 2020. Daniels Energy: CT License S1-385517 HOD#19 / Daniels Propane. LLC: #846 CT License S1-302857

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Swift's  Journal to Stella , a collection of 65 letters written to his friend Esther Johnson, contains some puzzling passages, such as this one: 

"He gave me al bsadnuk lboinlpl dfaonr ufainfbtoy dpionufnad, which I sent him again by Mr. Lewis."

How should the obscured phrase be read? Tell us here  and win that fabulous Amazon gift card!

 

W. Eugene Smith was no doubt one of the greatest war correspondents of the last century. As the photographer for Life, he followed the island-hopping American offensive against Japan, from Saipan to Guam, from Iwo Jima to Okinawa, where he was hit by mortar fire, and invalided back.

His war wounds cost him two painful years of hospitalization and plastic surgery. During those years he took no photos, and it was doubtful whether he would ever be able to return to photography. Then one day in 1946, he took a walk with his two children, Juanita and Patrick, towards a sun-bathed clearing:

"While I followed my children into the undergrowth and the group of taller trees - how they were delighted at every little discovery! - and as I observed them, I suddenly realized that at this moment, in spite of everything, in spite of all the wars and all I had gone through that day, I wanted to sing a sonnet to life and to the courage to go on living it....

Pat saw something in the clearing, he grasped Juanita by the hand and they hurried forward. I dropped a little farther behind the engrossed children, then stopped. Painfully I struggled - almost into panic - with the mechanical iniquities of the camera....

I tried to ignore the sudden violence of pain that real effort shot again and again through my hand, up my hand, and into my spine ... swallowing, sucking, gagging, trying to pull the ugly tasting serum inside, into my mouth and throat, and away from dripping down on the camera....

I knew the photograph, though not perfect, and however unimportant to the world, had been held.... I was aware that mentally, spiritually, even physically, I had taken a first good stride away from those past two wasted and stifled years."

While he was right about his stride towards recovery, Smith miscalculated the photo's importance. In 1955, a heavily-indebted Smith decided to submit the photo to Edward Steichen's now-famous Family of Man exhibit at the MOMA. There, it became a finalist and then the closing image, thus cementing its position as the ur-icon of all family photographs.