Althouse: At the Orchid Club...

January 31, 2010

At the Orchid Club...

... we could tell the truth. Or kid.

37 comments:

Lem Vibe Bandit said...: there is something wrong with the page.. i'm not kidding.; 1/31/10, 10:03 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: I'm in the mood for a joke. Angry monkey pop-up goes into Priority mail tomorrow morning. Priority to impart importance it doesn't deserve. That's part of the joke. Plus it's reliable and fast.; 1/31/10, 10:06 PM
Rick Lee said...: That's a beautiful photo... no kidding.; 1/31/10, 10:07 PM
Meade said...: It's gotta be tough being a pop-up man in pop-up world that doesn't always pop up the way it oughta. Pop. Up.

TWENTY times!

Sheese looeese!

C'mon old world, how about a little pity? Pop!; 1/31/10, 10:38 PM
Unknown said...: um. can someone please explain to me why taylor swift keeps winning every music award ? sorry to be so blunt, but she is lyrically pre-pubescent and the girl really cannot carry a tune in a bucket. is this kanye related publicity or sympathy voting ?; 1/31/10, 10:40 PM
Peter Hoh said...: What's the anther?; 1/31/10, 11:23 PM
Beth said...: I am honest about my love for New Orleans tonight.

Just a week after the Saints won the NFC Championship, the men of my city came together by the thousands today in a robust show of affection and pride.

The late broadcaster Buddy Diliberto was for decades the biggest fan and thorn in the side of the Saints organization. He started the Bag Heads when the Aint's were at their worst. He'd call overenthusiastic fans "squirrels" and hang up on them on the radio. His thick New Orleans accent, garbled syntax and grammar are like a mama's lullaby to all Saints fans. The local Mitsubishi dealership sponsored his radio show just for the pleasure of hearing him try to say their name.

Buddy D pledged that if the Saints made it to the Superbowl, he'd wear a dress down Bourbon Street. He passed on a few years back, but today, thousands of New Orleans men turned out in frocks and marched from the Dome to the Quarter, led by former Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert.

Sometimes living in New Orleans is like living in a musical. We all know the words to the same songs, the steps to the dance, and the story unfolding on the stage.

Here's a news story of the event, but here's much better raw video without commentary, just my people, being true to themselves.; 1/31/10, 11:26 PM
♥ Balubestdeals ♥ said...: Wow! wonderful picture. Great photography. I like this post, I am follow your blog. Thanks....; 1/31/10, 11:33 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Beautiful story, Beth. Might be enough for me to root for them next Sunday.; 1/31/10, 11:54 PM
Peter Hoh said...: WV: difarm.

Favre's answer when asked which arm hurt.; 1/31/10, 11:54 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: danielle is right..
i've never heard TS before tonight.

the backup singers were singing better than her.

she was lousy.; 2/1/10, 12:10 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: heartwarming story Beth.; 2/1/10, 12:11 AM
Christy said...: Lovely story, Beth. And so in keeping with what I know of your city.

Still something wrong with the formatting of this page.; 2/1/10, 12:29 AM
Trooper York said...: Great story Beth. Are the Saints going to wear dresses in the game too?; 2/1/10, 1:07 AM
Trooper York said...: Not that there's anything wrong with that.; 2/1/10, 1:07 AM
Trooper York said...: I think one of your pictures are too big and it is throwing off the format of the page.; 2/1/10, 1:09 AM
Trooper York said...: Meanwhile the Yankees like to dress like Super Villians!

Wait... the last time I mentioned Super Villians I got in a lot of trouble....nevermind.; 2/1/10, 1:11 AM
JAL said...: First impression of picture: WOW

And I do mean WOW

Second impression of page: html is screwy.

And Beth -- they had the NOLA "Buddy" parade on the news up here in the cold Appalachians tonight. :-)

Neat.
Oh yeah, @Chip You must have had a quiet weekend! Funny.; 2/1/10, 1:21 AM
Revenant said...: Thanks for the story, Beth. :); 2/1/10, 2:17 AM
MamaM said...: Twenty Buds! That's how many I counted last month on the two spikes sent up by the old orchid my mom returned to me this summer. According to her, "it hadn't been doing anything" for a several years and she was sick of it "hanging around". I suppose waiting for a dormant orchid at age 88 could be like buying green bananas; but I also know her to be impatient with wastrels.

Something about the sunny place by the piano where I situated it must have suited, because it finally decided to produce. Finding such an abundance of buds, led me to anticipate and envision a cascade of blooms. I even went so far as to consider this a hopeful symbol, wondering if I too might have 20 unexpected and beautiful surprises yet to happen in my life.

But this plant has its own agenda. After opening five gorgeous white blooms, it decided to shut off the juice to six of the remaining buds, dropping them while holding the other nine left in reserve.

As a result, I've given up on the idea of a Twenty Bloom Orchid Show and re-adjusted my symbolism along with my expectations.

I'm currently enjoying the amazing loveliness presented for what it represents: an unfolding of delightful and unexpected favor, along with honorary if not temporary admission to the Orchid Club.; 2/1/10, 2:19 AM
reader_iam said...: we could tell the truth. Or kid.

No, actually, we cannot; sometimes, both options are cut off.; 2/1/10, 2:23 AM
Anonymous said...: Exquisite orchid in luscious purple - yummy.; 2/1/10, 5:10 AM
Anonymous said...: As Lem noted in the first comment, and others have seen, there IS something wrong with this page.

When I opened it with IE 8 under Vista, the size of most of the fonts is messed up, with post titles buttered down the right side of the page, etc.

It was fine opened in Firefox/Vista.

Other Blogger blogs, including my own, which uses a similar template to this, opened okay with IE.

Ordinarily, I use OS X and Safari or Firefox. The page opened fine with those.

A little report, FWIW, from dual-boot, multi-browser land.; 2/1/10, 6:08 AM
Unknown said...: Theo Boehm said...

Ordinarily, I use OS X and Safari or Firefox. The page opened fine with those.

No Machead, but Firefox works fine for me, as well.

More to the point, you and Meade didn't photograph that bloom when you were skiing? Where'd you see it?; 2/1/10, 6:38 AM
AllenS said...: Yes, there is something seriously wrong with the blog. I'm guessing there is a closing whatever missing from a heading. I'm in awe that there are so many blog posts, and yet, The Blog Woman makes so few mistakes. Even her spelling and punctuation is seldom wrong.; 2/1/10, 7:19 AM
Beth said...: Nothing wrong with my view of the page, in Firefox.

Mama - "unripe bananas" - ha. We have a bit of that situation going on around here, too. d

The orchid might enjoy a little change in temperature, but be patient. Those buds will open.

I'm glad y'all enjoyed the story. One thing we can do here is marshall up a parade, very quickly. Had there been more lead time, I'd have directed some guys to your store, Trooper.; 2/1/10, 7:44 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I tried reducing the size of the video clip, which was the only unusual thing I can think of here. Did it change anything for you IE users?; 2/1/10, 7:52 AM
AllenS said...: Not yet.; 2/1/10, 7:53 AM
AllenS said...: Your newest post, is ok. The right column has large red type that starts with DON SURBER.; 2/1/10, 7:55 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: not yet here..

I'm using IE 8.0.06; 2/1/10, 7:59 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Once you hit comments everything appears fine.. but then you only see that particular tread

I'm trying to email a screen capture so you can see the problem..
But it appears explorer's webmail wont allow me to do that anymore.; 2/1/10, 8:17 AM
AllenS said...: Posts from yesterday, have disappeared.; 2/1/10, 8:18 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/1/10, 8:24 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I sent Althouse a PDF screen capture of the problem.; 2/1/10, 8:28 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Orchids are A useless quack device which cannot perform any other function than separating naive persons from their money. It’s a fake, a scam, a swindle, and a blatant fraud. Prove me wrong and take the million dollars.

I kid, of course.; 2/1/10, 9:04 AM
dick said...: Works great on Firefox with Linux. No problems seeing it at all. Must be just a problem with IE. Did anyone check to see if that problem a week or so ago with IE is on your computer? I don't have the writeup on it anymore but there was a problem with IE that was reported from Germany and there supposedly was a fix for it. Maybe that is the problem.; 2/1/10, 7:33 PM
Beth said...: A few quotes to illustrate Buddy D's legacy, from a story in the Times-Picayune today:
-------
Meaning to say "secondaries,'' he once announced "quarterback Dan Fouts retired today after 17 seasons of terrorizing NFL secretaries.''

And there were those throwaway lines:

"That's a mute point.''

"That's just the chip of the iceberg.''

"The Saints led in time of obsession.''

"If the Saints can make the trade, it will be a good one, like manana from heaven.''

"Old Dominion'' became "Old Dominican.''

When it came to injuries, a player was out with "a torn lee nigament.'' On another day, a shoulder operation might be called one to remedy "a torn rotary cup.''

A visit to Children's Hospital once prompted the observation about "those courageous boys and girls lying there, hooked up to their RVs.''

---------

Police say 85,000 people came out for that parade yesterday, about half of them men in drag. I don't know what's going to be happening in Miami, but we have the party started here.; 2/1/10, 8:22 PM