Target or Wal-Mart

From a story on Yahoo!: "NEW YORK – Shoppers hit the stores Friday to return unwanted gifts and take advantage of drastic price cuts offered by retailers desperate to get rid of old merchandise and boost their less-than-cheery holiday sales. Many retailers opened before 6 a.m., offering 50 percent to 75 percent off on toys, furniture, electronics and clothing. Stores were hoping the discounts would entice shoppers to redeem gift cards and use cash from returning unwanted gifts to buy something new." I did the same except I went to Target. Target had no deals for me. All the prices were about the same or higher. Shame on Target - a very, very bad store. Go to Wal-Mart instead. I think that's where this woman is headed.

Spanish pride

This is a lovely photo of a Spanish market. I borrowed it from a photo site. I hope they don't see it here and then sue me for using it. I asked permission but they never responded. What should I have done? If we ever meet and they make demands, I'll have to take it down. Oh well. Just try to identify some of the goods for sale here. It's impossible. I remember my dad used to take me to the market in Juarez almost every weekend. There was incredible variety and everyone tried to sell you something. He would almost always have a shrimp cocktail and I would get a lemonade made from green limes.

Tarisio

Luigi Tarisio was an itinerant (and very clever) carpenter who used to go from house to house looking for odd jobs. In the course of his work, he would look for opportunities, among the many households he entered, to buy violins from his employers. He eventually collected many hundreds of instruments. Thanks to his dedication, many violinists today play on some of the finest violins known.

Cozio

Cozio di Salabue plus Tarisio plus Stradivari are three names intertwined forever. Count Cozio di Salabue and Luigi Tarisio, the original violin hunter, collected so many violins by Antonio Stradivari (and others) that it could almost (almost) be said that they preserved for posterity about one hundred million dollars worth of priceless instruments. (Please see my earlier blog - What's Up With The Messiah)