Dublin came by yesterday and looked at some Footsbarn pictures. (See my ancestral meditation below.) We still have maturing Ducks on Middle Foy's Lake -- they hatched very late in the summer. The weather report says I have to wrap up my Tomato plants again, because it's going to be colder -- this also means a trip to the Dahlia farm for the last of their fresh flowers!

Footbarn's Celebration of Theatre: Theater X-Net

Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
NEW! Spitfires of the Spaceways
Watch Dale Arden rescue Flash Gordon for a change!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution as Autumn rushes toward us! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

Media Watch: I finished The Story of English, which led me to contemplate my ancestors -- My mother was All-Norwegean, both of her parents immigrated to Salt Lake City from Oslo, Norway during WWI along with thousands of other Mormon converts. My father's side of the family was already in Utah by then -- Joseph Howells Evans and his wife emigrated from Llanelly, Wales in the 1850's. My great-grandfather Johnathan Evans was the first of their many children to be born in Salt Lake, and he married Janet Buchannan, a true Scotswoman from Rothsey. Their son Thaddeus wedded Iris Rhodes, who contributed an All-American mix of German, English, and Swiss-Jewish genes to my family. (I am related to both George Washington and Cecil Rhodes through her lineage, as well as some Silversteins and Mangelds.) I may have some Irish blood in me via the northern seaways.
My Viking ancestors founded the city of Dublin, but they oppressed the countryside terribly. Welsh and Scots are Celtic cousins to the Irish, but their pedigrees are distant. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rhodes/Rhoades branch of the family sent a tap root into Ireland, but I don't know.

I shouldn't really watch cheesy trash like Dancing with the Stars, but I did -- Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith showed some talent, as did young actor Mario Lopez. The former danced with champion Cheryl Burke, the latter with a dark beauty from Russia named Karina Smirnoff -- she has a Slavic name, but I bet her ancestory is Persian, or somewhere else east of the Caucasus. I also threw in one vote each for teams Viveca Fox/Nick Kosovich & Joey Lawrence/Edyta Sliwinska. The first because Ms. Fox was the only woman "star" who showed some swing. The second because Ms. Sliwinska is a dynamite soloist, her young "star" partner wasn't bad (she drew George Hamilton last time), and they went first -- facing the risk of being forgotten by viewer-voters.
ABC's spineless cringing to right wing extremists showed in their choice of a couple of zero-ability conservative flacks as "stars." Social polluter Jerry Springer was another turd in the punchbowl.

Let's go someplace sane:


Our crew at Footsbarn was the best! Four of our hearties are pictured here: (L to R) Denise, her ever-present puppy dog, Claire, Sylvain, and Robin are putting the finishing touches on the Plein Aire Theatre.