Jesse & Nicholas Show Their True Colors For Pride

Oh, this is how it’s done.

You can put up your flags, or douse your house in rainbow lights, but if you’re Jesse Campbell and Nicholas Vazquez  and it’s Pride Month, you create a paintbrush leaking a rainbow down the porch and across the walkway of their front yard.

Jesse and Nicholas live with their 16-month-old son in the Chicago neighborhood of Andersonville and decorated their house for Halloween, fall, and the neighbors loved it. So along comes Pride, and  they decided to decorate again but, you know, anyone can hang a Pride flag.  Jesse, who is an interior designer, and Nicholas were inspired by a quote Jesse saw on the internet:

“Don’t be afraid to show off your true colors.”

And they Cyndi Lauper-ed their home! They made the paintbrush out of Styrofoam, then hung rainbow taffeta at the entrance of their porch and painted up the walkway, including adding their inspiration quote.

Nicholas, who works at a credit counseling firm, says sometimes he sits inside the house, windows open, listening to passersby talk about the art piece:

“Kids are kids, and they start asking questions. I can hear them, and the parents are taking the time and explaining [Pride[ to them and what this means and the colors and how this makes people feel.”

Jesse and Nicholas are also using their display to raise money for The Trevor Project. They installed lawn signs with QR codes leading people to donate and are close to reaching their $10,000 goal.

Happy Glorious Pride!

Block Club Chicago

Around The House

A little art around the house ... the three smaller prints on the side are woodblock prints we bought in Bellingham of an ancient fish, an ancient tree and an ancient moth; I'll take closeups later.

The Native American watercolor was done by a friend of mine and I have had it for decades, taking it with me on every move. My friend Roz painted two Native American Chiefs for me, and I have both in our living room; I'll also take a picture of that one later. On the far right are two watercolors painted by a woman named Verna Gannon in Sacramento that hung in a restaurant some friend's owned. Each time I would go to that restaurant I would look at them and then I bought them. One is an eerie scene of trees in fog, and the other is a brilliantly colored vision of people that seem to be rising.

We bought this African jug on a trip to Aiken; it's not terribly old, but I loved the color and the roughhewn shape of it. Plus, it was sitting in this wooden base, which we found out was sold separately, but we bought that, too. Looking closely, you see it was once one piece of wood, carved into a stand that also has faces on the tops that hold the jug. It isn't African, but again, it looked so good together we bought both.

Lastly, there is a Mexican art form where people paint brilliantly colored impressionistic paintings on tree bark that has been flattened into a canvas. We have several around the house, but these were gifts from Tia Gloria and are my favorites.

So, there you have it, a little more Things I Like Around the House.

Rich [?] Man, Poor Man, Beggar Man, Thief

We all know about the Atlantic story about how _____ calls soldiers “losers” and “suckers” because they didn’t have fathers who could pay off doctors to say their son’s feet hurt and therefore couldn’t go to war, but there’s more to the story.

This is the tale of _____’s trip to France in November 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron had organized an event with many world leaders to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice with a memorial scheduled at the cemetery for the Marines at the Battle of Belleau Wood. 

And we know ______ refused to go because it was raining and that muskrat he wears on his head doesn’t like to get wet; oh, and he doesn’t get the point in honoring the war dead, the men who sacrificed their lives in war. So, he didn’t go, and instead kicked back in the American ambassador’s residence in Paris watching Fox, choking the orange mushroom, and easting Mickey D’s.

And the stealing art from the residence for the White House.

Seriously. _____ liked several pieces of art in the U.S. ambassador’s historic residence—a portrait, a bust, and a set of silver figurines—and had them removed, loaded onto Air Force One, and taken to the White House.

Yes, in addition to failed businessman, rapist, racist, liar, con man, homophobe, white nationalist, and pussy grabber, we can add art thief to his resume. And it seems that is heist was acknowledged by bot the ambassador and the White House, with a little humor and astonishment and embarrassment.

And ego … because _____ told U.S. Ambassador Jamie McCourt who was living in the residence that the art he decided should be at the White House would be returned to the ambassador’s home “in six years,” when his potential second term in office would be winding down.

And that’s _____; he sees something he likes, and he steals it.

Like elections.

CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE!

Bobservations

The other night Carlos and I sat down to watch Madam Secretary. Although filmed, I’m sure, months ago, it was an episode directly aimed at _____, and featured three surprising guest stars: Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, and Madeleine Albright, playing themselves.

But the funniest moment was when one of the characters was undergoing surgery and a doctor came out to tell her parents about it all; he was rather attractive and so I said:

“Hello Doctor!”

At the precise moment Carlos said:

“Hello Doctor Delgado!”

We looked at each and both said:

“What did you just say?”

Cuz Doctor Delgado was adorable. Carlos then pointed out that he had heard the doctor’s name while I didn’t not, so I replied:

“Who cares about his name! Wheel me into the operating room, Doctor!”

It was surprising since we rarely agree on a good looking man.

After casting her vote the way old white men told her, Maine’s GOP Senator Susan Collins slammed opponents’ efforts to fundraise against her vote to confirm Brett, calling them nothing more than blatant ploys to buy votes in a future election:

“They are asking me to perform an official act and if I do not do what they want, $2 million plus is going to go to my opponent. I think that if our politics has come to the point where people are trying to buy votes and buy positions, then we are in a very sad place. This is a classic quid-pro-quo as defined in our bribery laws.”

Um, actually, you pandering fuck, the people of Maine were telling the Senator who works for them how they wanted you to vote, but you ignored them and cast your lot with fans of sexual predators. And so, as is their right, your constituents will give that money, some $3.5 million to whomever runs against you in 2020.

That’s quite a war chest to start with.

Say Goodnight Susan, cuz you’ll be going home in 2020.

No doubt you’ve heard about the Banksy painting, “Girl With Balloon”, that sold at auction this week for $1.4 million dollars.

As soon as the deal was set, the painting shredded itself in a shredder built into the frame while onlookers gasped.

Banksy, whom no one has seen, is notorious for not loving his art being sold, and so this prank was perfect. Especially given that it appears he was in the room and set off the shredder with a remote control!

Even better? After the shredding the value of the painting allegedly doubled!

Last week Fox News … because, of course … host Greg Gutfeld actually compared the Democratic treatment of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual assault, to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Yes, he did.

“Crucifixion was an important event because it was designed to establish a wall between justice and mob rule—Christ died so that the mob wouldn’t survive. What Democrats have tried to do is tear down the wall between justice and mob rule. They decided to crucify someone once again.”

Gutfeld claims to be a religious agnostic. I’m not sure about that, but I know he’s a pandering illiterate dumbass.

Last week, Melanie _____ played with orphaned elephants in Kenya.

Odd, that, since her stepson, Junior, plays with elephants with guns, and then takes pictures of himself holding a severed elephant tail in one hand and a knife in the other during a big game hunting trip in Africa.

Hypocrites, all.

PS What was this, some kind of Melanie fashion shoot? I mean, she donned more outfits than Cher during a farewell tour.

Hayward Duresseau contracted Meningitis eight months ago during a trip to San Francisco to visit his family; as a result, he lost his sight, his hearing, and was paralyzed from the waist down. During a three month stay in the hospital, he was able to regain his sight and mobility, but not his hearing.

Then, with the help of a cochlear implant, Hayward Duresseau was finally able to regain his hearing and the first words he heard those of his partner Kerry Kennedy proposing:

“I wanted the first thing that I said to him to be asking for his hand.”

Duresseau says he was shocked:

“I’m hearing all these click sounds ... and I can hear Kerry, and the first thing that comes out of his mouth — it’s this big spiel about what we’ve been through and he’s down on one knee.”

Love.Love.

The Big Baby in the White House hates protestors—at least the ones who protest him—and now wants to limit the right to demonstrate near the White House and on the National Mall.

I guess the protests disrupt the Fat Bastard’s nap?

The proposal would close 80 percent of the White House sidewalk, put limits on spontaneous demonstrations, and open the door to charging fees for protesting … I wonder who would get the money for that?

Seriously, we need to shut this Mushroom Dick—see what I did there—tator down.

So, there’s a TV show called God Friended Me, about an atheist who is getting friend suggestions from, um, God, and then realizes he needs to help them.

It really isn’t a show I gravitate too, you know, all touchy feely and happy ending and shiz, but … it does star the adorable Brandon Micheal Hall—yes, that’s the correct spelling—and the equally adorbs Suraj Sharma.

It’s kind of nice to see people of color represented on TV, especially the cute kind, but does this mean I’m getting soft in my older age?

F**k that! Just sayin’.

Random Musings

As is our habit, we decorate the house for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, and, as is my habit, I become a combination of Martha Stewart, Joan Crawford and Adolph Hitler in my zeal to make the house look just so ... which may explain why Carlos disappeared during the tree trimming and only returned as the last ornament was hung.

Now, lest you think it’s all Poor Carlos, listen up … listen up … We were decorating the outside, hanging lights and stringing garland on the front porch. We have these two large bows we put on the porch pillars, but since they spend so much of the year folded up inside a box, it takes a minute to flatten them back out, and then puff them up so they look like bows.

After doing the first one, I took the second one out of the box and said to Carlos:

“I’m gonna take this bow into the house so I can straighten it out and get it ready to hang on the pillar with the other one.”

Carlos looked at me and said:

“You only have one bow up there.”

Uh huh. It’s not just me.

PS This is me decorating for Christmas. Just sayin'.

Texas Congressman, and Republican … because, of course … Joe Barton apologized last week for sending a nude selfie that ended up all over social medial he claimed the person who leaked it was a woman with whom he had a consensual relationship:

“While separated from my second wife, prior to the divorce, I had sexual relationships with other mature adult women. Each was consensual. Those relationships have ended. I am sorry I did not use better judgment during those days. I am sorry that I let my constituents down."

The photo is that one down there, with the ugly little bits crossed out, of Barton pointing his camera up toward his face from below his genitals alongside a text reading:

“I want you soo bad. Right now. Deep and hard.”

Seriously. This is what a grown ass man does? But then he’s a family values Republican separated from his second wife who admits to have had consensual sexual relationships with other women while awaiting his divorce.

Hypocrites. The lot of them.

Well, well, well … Dictionary.com has announced their Word of the Year and we can thank Ivanka ‘Grifter’ _____ for it.

See, Ivanka’s choice to remain involved in her father’s presidency and act like his littler lap dog helped make “complicit” the Word of the Year!

Cuz, you know, she’s complicit.

A painting of Christ by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci sold for a record $450 million last week. The painting, called "Salvator Mundi," Italian for "Savior of the World," is one of fewer than 20 paintings by Leonardo known to exist and the only one in private hands.

But still … $450 million? That money could not have been used for something better?

Oh the problems of the 1%. Or the 1% of the 1%.

Okay, this whole CGI [computer generated imagery] business in filmmaking has gone too far and I will not stand for it.

Apparently the shorts that Armie Hammer’s character wears in the new film Call Me By Your Name were so short that some of his, um, er, anatomy kinda spilled out of the bottom of them and director Luca Guadagnino had to digitally remove Hammer’s balls from certain parts of the film.

Really? On the upside, rumor has it that if you look hard enough, you might be able to find them elsewhere.

This is a true story but mostly it’s just a blatant attempt by me to post another photo of yet another Husband In My Head, Armie Hammer.

Well, the half-wit-half-term former governor of Alaska, Mama Grizzly Bore™ was in DC recently and many in the media wanted her take on all these new cases of sexual harassment and assault; this is what she had to say:

“You know, I think a whole lot of people know that, I’m probably packing. So I don’t think there’s a whole lot of people who would necessarily mess with me.”

Yeah, that’s not why, you gasbag.

One of my favorite things about the internet is all the crazy that pops up … as in this story that came about this week when My Husband In My Head, Prince Harry announced his engagement to American Meghan Markle.

According to Twitchy editor Greg Pollowitz, Harry and Meghan’s children may be American citizens, giving them the chance to rule not only one country, but two. And it’s a way for England to Make America English Again.

To Pollowitz and his special brand of crazy, I say, “Sod off, you wanker.”

Eric ‘The Dumb One[?]’ _____, AKA on the interwebz as Forest _____ coming down on the side of stupid in the aftermath of his father’s use of the word Pocahontas to describe Elizabeth Warren at that White House event celebrating Navajo code talkers.

Forest, er, Eric, Tweeted:

“The irony of an ABC reporter (whose parent company Disney has profited nearly half a billion dollars on the movie “Pocahontas”) inferring that the name is “offensive” is truly staggering to me.”

What I find ironic is the Eric doesn’t seem to realize that the Disney film Pocahontas was called that because it was about Pocahontas, and it was used as a slur against anyone.

.Seriously, he’s that dumb.

After that, I need a palate cleanser of hot men …

Brandon Quinn, top left, plays the love interest of Kevin’s sister on Kevin [Probably] Saves The World. Why he couldn’t have been Kevin’s love interest annoys me.

Daniel Francis, top right, is a British actor who plays Dr. Facilier on Once Upon A Time, a show noted for hot men in leather pants.

Alexander Skarsgård, bottom left, plays my BFF Nickie Kidman’s husband on the HBO show Big Little Lies. He’s not a nice man, rather abusive, in fact, but damn … he’s fine.

And then we have Tom Riley, bottom right, who plays Charlie the cancer patient on the BBC show Ill Behaviour, now airing on Showtime.

I feel better, and a little tingly, now.

I Love To Decorate For Easter .....

... But since neither Carlos nor I are into running around the yard in our PJs looking for hidden colored eggs, I stopped the whole decorating process.

Until now ... now I have, um, eggs, yeah, eggs to paint!

Buzzfeed

They Do Love Lucy ... Just Not Like This

Lucy … Lucille Ball to those who don’t know that Lucy means Lucy … was born in the small town of Celoron, New York, just outside Jamestown, and, as happens with celebrities, the town wanted to honor Ball with a life-sized statue.

Now, however, they want it taken down because, well, the artist has some ‘splaining to do.

It seems that many townspeople, while loving Lucy, think the statue is an unflattering depiction of Lucille Ball, and one big Lucy fan wants it replaced by a statue more suited to the comedy legend.

“Lucille Ball was not only an amazing comedienne, but she was a stunning beauty. Her sense of humor only made her more beautiful. This statue looks nothing like the beautiful Lucy we all know. If for no other reason than that... the statue should go.” — Lucy Fan

The Jamestown man chooses to remain anonymous, but has started a Facebook page We Love Lucy! Get Rid of this Statue.

“I don’t think this can be repaired. Take a look at the beautiful statues Nick at Nite created for ‘Bewitched’ and ‘The Honeymooners’ and Bob Newhart… it needs to be something more like those. I think it looks like a monster. That is just my opinion. When you see it at night, it is frightening.” — Lucy Fan

The fan isn’t trying to knock Dave Poulin, the artist, by any means, and says that Poulin’s other work is quite good; Lucy, sadly, is not. Poulin is not commenting at all.

Celoron Mayor Scott Schrecengost says it would cost between $8,000 and $10,000 to have the original artist recast the statue, which was unveiled in 2009, and he says he has no interest in using taxpayer dollars to fix it.

A fund, however, has been sat up to raise the cash.

So, that’s the statue down there … what do you think? Funny Lucy? Scary Lucy?

Oh ... and here's a Lucy statue in Palm Springs. Better?

via Yahoo

Photo source
Celoron Statue
Palm Springs

Some Of My Favorite Things ... Casa Bob y Carlos

Since we were supposed to be out of town, I had no 'Random Musings' for the week, so i figured I'd take you on a tour of our house and show you a few things that I really love .... besides Carlos and the kids.

Let's take a walk, shall we?

That's Mom and Dad on their wedding day, and yours truly in the upper right, with a group photo of me, with my sister and brother as cute [?] toddlers.

These are a couple of shots of gay men. An Old West couple, and a couple of Brazilian men dancing.

My original Pee Wee Herman Talking Doll ... and it still talks decades later ... along with a Flying Cat soaring in the sunroom that we bought while visiting Seattle.

Two pieces of stained glass: the one on the left hangs in the guest room, and was a gift from a friend; the bird hangs in the sunroom and was made for me by my Dad. I've had it since I first moved away from home and it's been every with me.

There are two Bark Paintings that were gifts from Carlos' ... and now my ... Aunt Gloria. We have several more I need to get matted and framed but I procrastinate ....

We picked these four up at an antique shop in town; for some reason Carlos, a Latino, and I, a Gringo, love Asian art. Go figure.

These are in the foyer; the boy and the Asian prints were gifts from a friend and have become favorites of mine. The three ...Asian ... again ... prints, we discovered in a shop in Columbia.

These are two watercolors that i found in a restaurant in  California years ago, and asked if I could purchase. They are both by the same artist, Verna Gannon, but really make me feel different things when I look at them. one is a cold foggy woods, and the other seems to spark feelings of reincarnation.

A nook in the house that i love; Carlos brought the desk and chair from Mexico, and I bought the photograph ... it's a picture of a window shade with broken bottles along the sill ... at a winery in the California Foothills.

Carlos had this in Miami when we met, and now it sits on a high wall in the sunroom. i like that you can't see it until you come into the room, sit down, and look up.

Ah, our former kids, now dearly departed clockwise from the left: Thomas, Sweety, Spunky, Lady, Voncie and Scruffy. It wouldn';t be a gay house without a Cat Shrine, amirite?

This painting is Carlos' favorite ... he loves horses,and used to have a horse in Mexico. He brought it with him when he moved to America and now it sits above our fireplace. There are little stone Asian ... again with the Asian ... warriors on the mantle.

Also on the mantle ... that's the anniversary clock my mother and father bought when they married in 1955, and next to that is Twisted Kitty, a wrought iron sculpture I bought in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco many moons ago.

In the kitchen is a painting my mother did about twenty years ago; it's painted on an old kitchen cabinet door and makes me smile every time I see it. The next thing is a calender we bought on a trip to Asheville. If you look closely at the pig chalkboard you can see Carlos' scribbles about buying plants for an area alongside the driveway ... it's been six years ... no plants. Oy, and I thought I procrastinated!

These are photographs I took at the Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach, and at a Railroad museum in Snoqualmie, Washington. They're in our new pinstriped bathroom.

This is another watercolor ... by Heidi Wilson ... the mother of two very good friends of mine. I bought this in California years ago, and chose the dining room wall color because of it.

Carlos loves Lucy in Mame and I love Cher ... a magazine cover that he had framed for me and surprised me with one Christmas; a sweet gift I never expected.

The two tiles at the bottom my sister sent to me from Spain when she lived there in the 70s,. and the two smaller tiles Carlos brought with him from Mexico.

And last, but not least, an African clay pot, with a carved wooden stand, that we bought at an art show in Aiken a few years ago.

So, that's the tour of some of my favorite things; collected when I was single, and collected with Carlos. But they've all traveled a great distance to be in our house.