We haven't done much with the Signs Series for a while, so when Peter and I saw these we had to see how many ways we could take pictures of them to tell some kind of story. This is my take on our little exercise.
"The Most Hospitable House in the Hamptons"
________________________
"You Can't Get There From Here"
"The Stuttering Stop Sign"
Seen any funny signs lately?
Hurricane Donna, Gloria, Bob and now Irene. These are the significant Atlantic hurricanes that I recall the most.
I was a young girl in 1960 when Donna came over Cape Cod. What I remember the most about that storm was my father piling us all into his "jalopy" during the eye of the storm to drive the loop in Chatham, to see the effects of the storm before it started up again. I recall the flooding, and branches and leaves being everywhere, but most of all I recall how calm it was compared to the hours before and the hours after.
For hurricane Gloria in 1985, I was on the island of Manhattan and being a true New Yorker at the time, I was, for the most part oblivious, although I did keep an eye on what was happening on the east end of Long Island where friends had a boat in Sag Harbor.
Hurricane Bob was the one that affected me physically the most. It was August in 1991, I lived on the east end of Long Island and ran a bed & breakfast in my home which was a former whaling captain's house. Tornadoes "touched down" in Noyac, just around the corner and winds brought down several very tall trees in my yard, just missing one of our cars. It also wreaked havoc with power lines and we were without electricity for over four days. Electricity was restored and the trees were cleared away (at an exorbitant price) just in time for the next weekend's guests. Whew!
And now, Irene. I have never heard such preparation for a storm of any sort. Between the Weather Channel and our politicians, they have truly convinced me of the danger that comes with this not-so-little lady, but I must say the anticipation is agonizing. We knew she was coming and every detail of her characteristics and quirks has been broadcast to advise, inform, and prepare us - I'm exhausted and she hasn't even reached us yet. The stores are empty now of the throngs of people who have emptied the shelves of water, flash lights, cereal, canned ravioli, paper towels and, of course, batteries. I'm looking forward to the end of this weekend (that's a first), when we'll know how the story ended.
Good luck to us all, and please stay safe.
Meandering around lower Manhattan one morning on the cobblestone streets of the Seaport, I stumbled across this sign on the front door of a restaurant. It struck my funny bone.
What's wrong with this picture?
Foster Farm sponsored the Fields of Power Engine Run this year which we enjoyed two days in a row. This is a fully operational farm raising corn, grain, vegetables, potatoes, and apparently, chickens. The walk in to the event passed a fenced-in area filled with chickens and this sign. It simply caught my fancy.
Residents of Foster Farm
Ever try to catch a chicken?
A cousin of mine took me at my word when I recently did a post on Signs in which I said I hoped it would begin a series on Open Window. She apparently traveled to China last year and went to the beautiful Lingering Garden in Suzhou near Shanghai where she snapped photos of these signs. As she said in Facebook, "Beautiful place with an unrecognized sense of humor." I agree. The translations I believe are a best-efforts attempt to capture the intent of each sign and certainly reflects a deep love and respect for their environment and civilized behavior. The words "civilized behavior" or "civilization" appear in five of the eight signs.
I had to look this one up. Virescence is the state or condition of becoming green.
Yes omnivorously still means "avidly taking in everything as if devouring or consuming" - go figure.
If only ...
This one is my favorite. I want to adopt it for the Hamptons in the summertime.
I love signs, especially those that strike my funny bone or "speak to me" for one reason or another. Generally speaking, signs are intended to identify or advertise a place or an event, or to command your attention and influence your behavior. I find the latter particularly entertaining. On safari in Kenya many years ago I found it funny to read a sign on the path to our tent that announced that the path was for "humans". Who was the sign meant for, the humans or the animals? In Trenton, Tennessee there are signs along local roads that read "Speed Limit 31", not 30 0r 35 but 31! What's that all about?
A friend of mine sent me a photo of a sign she saw in Florida last spring, knowing that I "get a kick out of signs" and that poor grammar drives me around the bend.
Do we really need to drive home this message with a sign, let alone one that is written in poor English. It is downright wrong to use "good" as an adverb after action verbs, and, trust me, Drive, Ride and Walk all qualify as actions. I believe the only behavior this sign influences is the incorrect use of the word good as an adverb. How does such a sign ever get approved?
My apologies, I'm hijacking my own blog ... this is a subject for another post, let's get back to signs.
On a recent trip, Peter and I came to these crossroads and as the photo was taken I chuckled and thought out loud, "What a wonderful place to live!"
I'll close with one last photo which is not technically a sign but is something that touched by funny bone and made me chuckle.
I hope you found this post entertaining and that it starts a series on Open Window, because signs can be quite humorous and we all need to laugh more. Have you found any funny signs lately? Share them with us. Send them in and I'll post them as long as they aren't too off-colored and/or hurtful.