Billy Murray, the Bee's Knees

No posting until Monday. Got a lot to do till then. I may not even have time to enjoy the new National Jukebox, though I did take a few minutes today to listen to some Billy Murray. After all, who doesn't like Billy Murray?

Otherwise it was day of small surprises. At about 3:30 on a very warm and sticky afternoon, a small dark cloud positioned itself over my house. That's what it seemed like -- there were clear skies elsewhere, but it looked liked a cloudburst had come to see me, personally. After a rumble or two, BOOM! The house rattled. Then clatter BING! The distinct sound of metal crashing to the floor.

But where? Some critical component of my house? So I did a quick walk-through. Nothing. But I know I heard something. I started a less-quick walk-through, and sure enough, discovered that the main towel rack in the downstairs bathroom had loosened and clattered to the floor, by way of the toilet. But that isn't a first for the rack. Each effort to secure it to the wall eventually fails, but usually not so dramatically.

Later, more clouds appeared, and it looked like we were going to have a full-fledged thunderstorm. But it ended up being a weird thunderstorm. A fair amount of thunder and some lightning throughout the late afternoon, even a visible bolt not far away, but as of now no rain.

Another small surprise: I happened to see a TV commercial today for some McDonald's confection made from lemons. It featured an anthropomorphic lemon, or rather a talking lemon head, as its spokesman. At first, the lemon complained about being unappreciated. Now, because of the new confection, he felt appreciated, and in passing he said lemons were the bee's knees.

I don't think I've ever heard that phrase before on TV. Kudos to some copywriter somewhere. We need to bring it back in time for the next decade called the '20s.