Wildlife: While driving home last night, we saw these little points of light floating above the road ahead of us, so we knew to slow 'way down for the small herd of Whitetail Deer up the hill.



Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Weather: It has been colder this weekend. The thermometer outside says it is close to 50 F, but the wind makes a liar out of it. I'm doing a dozen chores outdoors to winterize the house -- BRRR!

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site Click to help!

Garage Sale Booty: A salt-and-pepper shaker in the shape of a telephone; Books -- The Ring of the Niblung, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. A copy once owned by a library, but otherwise complete and in full color; Sikh Festivals by Dr. Sukhbir Singh Kapoor, illustrated by color photos; The Photographic Illusion by Duane Michaels; Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks; Two nonfiction books by Issac Asimov -- ...Guide to Halley's Comet, and The Beginning and the End, which starts with a little essay about the REAL soldier/writer Cyrano DeBergerac (1619-1655), who was famous in his time for writing the fantasy Voyage to the Moon;
and FINALLY, Cyrano's illegitimate step-child Flash Gordon and the Caverns of Mongo by Alex Raymond (NOT!) -- a ghost-written pulp novelization with endpapers and a frontispiece by Robb Beebee. He may share his surname with lead-handed film director Ford Beebee, who oversaw the Flash Gordon chapter-serials, but I doubt there's a connection -- who knows?

Robb Beebee's Flash Gordon and the Caverns of Mongo from 1936
The dust jacket illustration and plot summary are included here:
Holloway's Flash Gordon Essay
Classic Comics stalwart Arthur Lortie researched connections between Robb and Ford Beebee
Ford was a descendant of the 49ers, and a lifelong Californian.
Robb lived in New York and was more often associated with religious publications.