Varietal Is The Spice Of Life!

Ha! Did any one of my loyal readers get the pun/joke? Exchanging varietal for variety? An I'll betcha din't thunk I knews how too spellz (qoute) varietal (end quote) niether.

No? Fine, be that way.

The variety will come from the fact that I'll be tossing up pictures from any ole trip at any ole time for you to enjoy. That way I don't have to type much about any one particular trip or event. All I'll need to do is come up with silly captions  one or two sentences long to entertain the masses (that'd be YOU) and save wear and tear on my fingertips.

Brilliant, eh?

These first phour ore phive pictures shall be of Yours Truly. Why? Cuz it's my blog and I can post what I want, nothing says you have to view it. Oh, wait, please don't go!

Anyone remember those t-shirts in the USofA in the 80's with a pic of a baby with shades on and the caption "Born To Be Bad"? Hint, think of the film Twins. I say those sayings were DECADES late!

Here's proof:

Yeah, me bro and I were badasses mates. And I'd like to say I was pretty darned cool for a 2 year old!

Bro is the one with the silly grin, I'm the one with the badass frown. And I'll have you know that the shoes I'm wearing in the picture are now bronzed. BRONZED I tell ya, BRONZED!

Yo! Bite me!



And I of course had the most badassed mom (and the Greatest Mom) ever!

Ummmm, yeah, I was hanging on for dear life. Why do you ask?

What? You mean not all 4 and 5 year old kids get to do this nowadays?


And it should come as no surprise to anyone that a person who had such a fun childhood should turn out to be a studly, well-adjusted, loving husband. Complete with facial fur and a cool shirt under the ubiquitous and requisite flannel.

At least that's what Wifey-Poo says!

Let us go back up North! Specifically to the East Coast of the USofA.

Heeeeeeeeeere we go!

*please note the cool reflection of my shirt in the window*

Now that we are there, it is over the hill and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go!

Yes, we are now in Florida.

And what would a trip to Florida, USofA, North America be without a visit to a beach?


Shall we head up to North Carolina? Sure, why not? This is the last picture of Biltmore House I'll be posting. The place is overwhelming. Very impressive. Built at the height of The Gilded Age.

If I ever have enough money to build something like Biltmore I will do something very different with the money instead of building a palace in the middle of nowhere (at the time) like the Vanderbilt's did. Perhaps that's why I'll never have that much money in the first place?

Meanwhile, somewhere in Charlotte NC

a plaque is photographed by me.

As we journey northward we find ourselves at Arlington National Cemetery. Located of course in Arlington Vagina Virgin Virginia. My Granma made a point of telling myself and my Uncle that we will find her brother's grave whilst we were at Arlington National Cemetery whilst laying my Father to rest.

Fortunately, we did.

This is the grave of my Granduncle. The brother of my Grandmother. The Taccarinos immigrated to the USofA and many of that line served in the USofA's armed forces. The irony of the fact that almost all of the descendants of the Taccarinos vote for a political party that doesn't like immigrants is lost on most of those descendants.

Shall we go zip across the river to the National Mall? Actually, we went under it on the subway. BTW, the DC metro rail system is very nice. I didn't have a problem with it, easy to figure out, easy to use, very affordable, friendly attendants and can get you anywhere in the area.

First up is the WWII Memorial. It's only been (fairly) recently opened and is quite impressive.

I thought about cropping out the sewer cover from the photo but than I thought, "Heck, it's in Washington DC! There SHOULD be a picture of a sewer in a DC photo!"

Yours Truly of course. Don't swoon ladies, I'm human!

Note that the ladies in the background are doing an admirable job of not swooning around me. They must have great willpower!

Something that is rather interesting about the older monuments in DC is the fact that there are a great many non-christian symbols built into them. In fact, I can't recall seeing a single cross. What surprised me though was the WWII Monument.

The WWII Monument was only opened in 2004. I had expected there to be many christian symbols on it, but I couldn't find a single one. But I did see (and photograph) "pagan" symbols that most everyone there did not even notice.

Take note of the drainage grating in the above picture. Do you wonder what sort of pattern may be on the grating? Wonder no more mates!

Obviously in reference to the US Pentagon of course.

My Grandfather on my Mother's side was a USofA Air Force Captain in WWII. When my Mom was a wee infant they were stationed on Guam. Obviously this meant that I had to have my picture taken next to the Guam marker in the WWII Memorial. My Uncle is with me.

Can you guess which one I am?


I think I did a sorta ok job on the framing of this next one.

What do you think?

The last two pictures (yes, I'm almost done today!) go together but at the time I did not know they did. If that makes any sense!

The first is a randomly taken pic at the WWII Memorial and the second is a pic I purposefully of a badly sunburned girl. Only after looking that the pics on a large screen did I realize the first one also contained the sunburned girl! Her sunburn looks like she had acquired it the day previous as it was only around 10:30 AM when I took the pictures.

And, ummmm... That's gotta hurt!



And the backside too!

Apparently she doesn't know the value of treating sunburns with rosehip oil and pure aloe vera juice. And now she's wearing a tank top so she can burn those lily-white shoulders too! Dum-de-dum-dum-DUM!

Coming soon to a blog near you: A first glimpse of The Millennium Possum Van!