Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff: Keeping On

    Or trudging, more like. But at least I'm making forward progress. 

Fall is definitely starting to creep into our valley: golden fields, wild sunflowers and bursts of high wind rustling the leaves. The grasshoppers are thinning out, thank God, but we still have Really Hot days. (Yesterday, in Denver for a Rockies game, it was 111 degrees by the time we left Coors Field.) An occasional storm keeps life bearable.

Meanwhile:

Doc and Jenny Veldt -- if you're reading this, know that we love you and are praying for strength and peace for you. 

Why Spam lasts seemingly forever.  There's a reason...and it isn't perfume.

I personally choose all my fragrances by whether they complement Spam.

A bazillionaire escapes by being stuffed in a three-foot box, then smuggled out of the country. Now he's refusing to pay his rescuers.

John Fielder died last week, from cancer. This wonderful landscape photographer was very important to Colorado - and the West.

    He did something amazing in January -- he donated his entire life's work to public domain (and History Colorado).

A very funny video of a leopard, who sees an easy snack in a troupe of baboons. (Let's say it this way -- they change his mind.)

Another interesting video -- of a tennis player at the U.S. Open, who refuses to continue to play until a woman in the stands stops imitating a bee! 

An unusual painting, featuring a slave teenager (who was overpainted for centuries) has been restored to its original self. Belizaire is once again on display.

Belizaire and the Frey Children, c.1837, attributed to Jacques Guillaume

He was the children's caretaker, according to family records

Belizaire -- before the painting's restoration

A suspected thief at the British Museum has been outed -- he's one of the senior curators in Greek and Roman art! Yowwww...

AI is being increasingly used to fake term papers for college students. Who's griping about it? The people who write those reports for them!

'Stamped' concrete -- a surprising way to do this!  (From My Thrift Store Addiction)

Did Trump really say, "I've done more for Christianity than Jesus?"  (The answer: no. But Christianity Today magazine thinks he should be booted out of politics, just the same.)

Weird 'mind-boggling' facts.  Are they? I know some of these are true. But not all.

The best opening line ever written.  Some surprising entries from Quora readers.

Hmmm... maybe BIG cats DO exist in the British countryside!

Things you never noticed before -- or did you? (I never noticed the bear on the Toblerone wrapper! Some interesting revelations about Disney's Goofy, too.)

People who never made a cent off their creations.  Including the guy who invested Smiley Face, one of the The Mama's favorite icons. (She loved Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, as well. Makes no sense.)

Cheap meals for large groups. This may come in handy for your next family reunion.  (From Moneysaving Mom)

'What was a loophole you found -- and exploited to the max?'   Quorans hold forth.

One easy apron, four ways.  (From The Prudent Homemaker)

Have a good week. Keep on keeping on.