It’s Saturday the 8th of October everyone! This means it’s merely 11 days (October 19th for those struggling with adding/subtraction) till “Investor Education Day”. These days when many of your investments (especially stocks and as of late, housing) are taking it on the chin, you might want to spend the day educating yourself.

”The same thing happened today that happened yesterday, only to different people” ~ Walter Winchell

Then, let me add this brutal quote from Louisiana Senator Kennedy:

”I have hope for my liberal friends. Jellyfish have survived for 165 million years without a brain” ~ John Kennedy

In the meantime, the coffee is done, I am relaxed, and there is a ‘nip’ in the air. Creek Bank Printing has a mug with the following thought; “for some of you…the wheels on your bus do not go round and round …” Let me add to their thought, “I think my bus’ wheels are going round and round; therefore I’ve had my coffee”.

Last weekend’s block party — was a huge success. Weather was spectacular. The street was filled with happy voices. We’d never seen so many little kids on the block. Marcia’s baked beans disappeared immediately. And, best of all, ‘Our Duck’ the Deux Chevaux stayed the whole weekend. For that whole time it became ‘our ‘daily driver’ (even an overnight in the driveway).

In fact the gathering was so good that when the discussion happened to turn to Kayaks I ended up detailing the historic past of the Folbot brand and that of our old 17′, two person, canvas Folbot. Net result is one of my old neighborhood friends, Ken, and I have had a few back-and-forth mails this past week – end result, he’s exploring getting a Folbot for his place on Lake Superior.

Hieronymus Bosch – Completely by happenstance I came across the most detailed overview of the Dutch painter I’d ever seen, Hieronymus Bosch (1450 – 1516) [his real name was actually; Jheronimus van Aken]. Born in the small Dutch town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (now usually called ‘den Bosch’). He painted mostly in oils painted on oaken wood panels. It was his painting of Hell that brought him immense attention and he became well known and widely copied.

The video that I watched dealt with his other hugely popular work; The Garden of Earthly Delights which is a paneled triptych altarpiece.

Other interpretations exist, actually, there are many and most of these are totally different. To me this one is the most cohesive and comprehensive.

Prior to Hieronymus painters mainly did recognizable religious and portraits. A painter’s bread and butter was portrait work – they were the photographers of their day. However starting during the 15th century it was a time of change – from the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance period. There came Hieronymus, and boy, did he upset that apple-cart!

Below I’ve posted the video I’ve now watched twice over and it’s a masterpiece. Set aside some time and learn about this fascinating historical painter who definitely ‘moved the needle’. As an aside, our neighborhood friend, Rosalie’s, husband was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, small world isn’t it?

Fini –

• I spotted early statistics resultant from the pandemic. This is one of those; per the National Federation of State High School Associations, the number of participants in high school sports dropped by 320,000 after the lockdowns.

• This past week marked the anniversary of the wedding of 26 year old Anna Nicole Smith and 89 year old billionaire Howard Marshall in 1994. It ‘details’ were blasted around without pause for multiple news cycles. The pair were still newlyweds when, after just 14 months, the senior member of the union died in 1995.

• Dutch farmer update: Continuing on their globalist track the Dutch government (in conjunction with the cabal in Brussels/Davos) just announced that the confiscation of farmer’s land will be speeding up. 500 to 600 farmers will be forced to sell their land to the state in 2023. Stay tuned as both anger and protests mount. If memory serves right wasn’t it Mao in China who also seized farm lands?

• Last time we had Pride Month I spotted a photo of a western group of Transgender activists with a large banner touting transgender people in solidarity with Palestinians (more likely it was an anti-Israeli statement they were making). This past week a gay Palestinian, Ahmed Abu Markhiya, who had escaped into Israel was found decapitated in Palestine. Apparently he’d been hunted down and smuggled out of Israel. My question; why not a single peep by western politicians or human rights groups. Picture is that of a small vigil for Markhiya in Israel.

• I came across this photo of the oldest complete Christian Bible in the world. It’s Ethiopian, written on goat skin, illustrated, and apparently dated to be from around the early fifth Century AD.

• Finally for this ‘Fini”, I could not let it pass without a reference to the non-stop ‘Climate Change’ barrage; Greenland ice has recovered from an earlier (in recent history) low in 2012. It’s now accepted that the earlier loss was due to “natural variability” and not human CO2 emissions.

Ciao. Stay strong, keep learning, and be happy – cling to life its precious!

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk