You make me yearn for the days when we cut blackthorn toasting forks every year. And I quite enjoyed laying and lighting our coal fire for my parents first thing in the morning.

@Steve-Miller Our local Sheep & Wool Festivals, one in NH and one in VT, are a great place to buy fleeces because you can inspect them before buying. I've also bought a fleece online before from someone in NH. Pics I took of the NH Sheep & Wool Festival last month here (at bottom of the post if you want to skip ahead). You can click on the pics to enlarge them: https://twistandvibrations.blogspot.com/2026/05/sheep-and-wool-etc.html

Daniel, it sounds like you’re really moving forward toward a peaceful, blissfully uncomplicated life. That’s great.

@Steve-Miller said: I wonder how much of that surge pricing goes to the drivers. Google’s AI says Uber calculates the customer fare and the driver’s pay separately — one algorithm to find the maximum for what customers are willing to pa for a ride, another separate algorithm to find the minimum for what drivers are willing to accept to provide a ride. I don’t think anyone is surprised by this. Uber also invests a lot in autonomous driving technology, so all this will become moot anyway when the customers develop enough trust in cars that drive themselves.

@Mary-Anna said: Oh, and the choir rehearses at a church right across the street from my house. I can walk out my front door five minutes before rehearsal and be there with time to spare. That's great!!

In CA there are dozens of hamburger restaurants owned by Greeks. Interesting that they all look nearly alike with nearly identical menus even though they are each individually owned. The menus include classic hamburger fare, Mexican food and always a few Greek items. Best value available for lunch on the road. My friend grew up on an Army base in Greece and speaks the language fluently. If he ordered in Greek we always got free food!

Link to video

[image: 1780973240413-4e4e5198-628b-4f4f-bf8b-ddfafa7759f2-image-resized.jpeg] I posted this a few years ago to Facebook with the heading “Optical Illusions in Everyday Life” and the caption “Both internal circles are actually the same size.” It won me a “You win the internet today” prize.

Holy wow, that’s spectacular. I could totally live there if I had unlimited funds and several full time gardeners for the topiary.

@beelady That second one looks like it's right up my alley! Thanks!

@Axtremus I scanned a few pages just to get a feel for what's in that bill. Very interesting and a good reference. Thanks for posting it!

[image: 1780933398048-20260607_213416-resized.jpg]

@AdagioM said: I sold my digital piano several years ago. Roland FP something or other. I like the way sound runs through me from my acoustic piano way better. Same! When we moved from Japan back to the U.S., for a long time (7 years?) a digital was all I had (apartment life). After I finished grad school, I kept the digital even though I had two different uprights (not at the same time), both were kind of crummy, but I always played the acoustic pianos, even though they were not the greatest instruments. But when I bought my grand, I finally sold the digital. I knew I would never play it.

@AndyD Beautiful stuff!