Avalon

https://www.advocate.com/youth/2018/7/27/gay-teen-kicked-out-home-becomes-schools-co-valedictorian I wonder if he would have grounds to sue his parents for college support?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Mirage,_California There is The Annenberg Estate or Sunnylands, owned by philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg, had long been popular with the wealthy and powerful, including Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Patrick Macnee and Mary Martin. Several United States Presidents have vacationed at the Annenberg estate, including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford. President Ford later bought a house in Rancho Mirage and was living there at the time of his death in 2006. I know at one time the Annenbergs owned the TV Guide magazine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire_(TV_Series) Season 2 has begun. This season is about Julius Caesar. The settings and costumes are nice. But in one scene I heard church bells ringing. From this first episode I learned that Spartacus died in battle and his body was never found. No "I AM SPARTACUS" like in the Kirk Douglas movie. Season 1 was about Commodus the son of Marcus Aurelius.

Good point about "kies" and pies. And then there is also skies.

I forget the context now but in one episode of "The Office" I remember Michael Scott talked about "golden showers" ;-)))

You climbed the outside of a building? How high did you get? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Fly

I hadn't before. In the recent episode of Gordon Ramsay's restaurant make-over show it was a place in Wichita, Kansas. People can bring their dogs in and they can eat too. Service animals aside I'd have thought that the local health department would not permit animals in a restaurant.

https://phz8.petinsurance.com/pet-health/pet-toxins/pets-and-onions I knew about chocolate but not onions.

https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-men-over-45-single-reasons/#gs.Iv2Iz_w

Did you visit Scotty's Castle? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotty%27s_Castle

Sorry guys I can't stand sauerkraut.

I've been making a grocery list online. I just checked the store. They don't have McClures.

Sounds interesting! I can sure use that!

I had no idea the origin of ban the straw campaign. Thanks! http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2015/10/27/the-turtle-that-became-the-anti-plastic-straw-poster-child

He had a difficult homelife with his wife. I just figured he needed someone to take his frustrations out on. I'm not the most observant person. One day a co-worker took me aside and asked me if I couldn't smell the alcohol on his breath. I should add that his mother and my grandmother were friends.

I do! I don't know if it has any health benefits but once the pickles are gone I keep the jar with the juice. I just take a sip or two sometimes when I'm in the kitchen. I don't down it all at one sitting. I buy Claussen Kosher dill pickle spears.

These busybodies are everywhere! Years back when I got to work one Monday a co-worker (the one who made the limp wrist) confronted me about buying a cake Saturday. Seems his wife was at the store and saw me and she told him. What they were unaware of was that my cousin and her family were coming to visit our grandmother for the weekend and that's why I went grocery shopping and bought the cake.

It just sounds odd now at least to me. Here in the US we say "the government is ..." but in the UK I understand they say "the government are ...".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Purge_(TV_series) The series is due to premier on September 4. I've seen a couple of the movies. I remember an episode of "Black-ish" where the grandmother (the one who lives with the family) kept wanting a "Purge". http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/07/25/new-trailer-debuts-for-the-purge-tv-show-comic-con-2018

Sadly last night was the last episode. The series has not been renewed. https://tvline.com/2018/07/21/colony-cancelled-no-season-4-usa-network/

I think at one time - before the Civil War - people said "The United States are ..." but later it became "is". But if one wanted to use "are" they could say "These United States are ...".

My father used to like to ride his bicycle; he lived out in the country but had to stop because of dogs.

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2018-july-27 Sadly it won't be visible in North America.

I think the plural of money is rightly moneys. A pet peeve of mine is when I see monies. Afterall the plural of monkey is monkeys not monkies! Also the plural of key is keys not kies.

I still have the box of straws in the cupboard that I bought almost 20 years ago for my father when he came to visit. He died in 2000.