All About Pocket Knives

Within the city limits of Birmingham is a park, The Ruffner Mountain Nature Center.

Ruffner mountain supplied tons and tons of iron ore for Birmingham's steel industry back in the day and the old mines are part of the park.

I live on the side of Ruffner Mountain, within walking distance of the park.

This photo (not mine) is of an old stone quarry that was cut out of the crest at the southernmost end of the mountain. The photo was taken looking due South and the sun has just come up to the East.

Multiple older homes in this area have foundations and border walls made of rectangular stones taken from this quarry.

I've walked all over this area and have done so for most of my life.

Right now, this photo is the background on my PC.

Charlie Noyes

Beautiful stuff Charlie and Phil. God's handywork is truly amazing. What an artist is HE!!

Here's a covered bridge that sits a few miles from where I live. I may have posted it before (CRS setting in) in which case, here it is again. The gentleman who had it built is a wealthy landowner. The bridge crosses the creek that runs through his property.

Does any body remember this one?
I picked it up at the flea market this morning

Not the statue but the saying made famous during WWII is quite familiar. That statue is a hoot. Love it.

the sayin' YES....LOL

statue NO..... BUT LOVE THAT SHE IS PREGNANT....LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
COOL SCORE!

I suspect all the American-Asian children left in Viet Nam when their "daddies" glibly dropped their load, impregnated a woman, then left the country would disagree.

American-Asian children were treated abysmally after the fall of Viet Nam in 1975. They were considered cultural outcasts, often abandoned by their families and left to the care of sub-standard orphanages.

"Kilroy" sounds cute, but an absentee father that never gave a royal crap for the child he left behind is nothing to laugh about.

I suspect there were plenty of such children left all over the WWII theatres, as well.

End of rant.

Charlie Noyes

Who in the hell says she is Asian????
Its a freeking statue! My God man! Talk about reading something into nothing!!!!!
Holy crap Charlie!

I didn't say, nor did I think, the statuette was that of an Asian woman.

I said that I suspected the abandoned or semi-abandoned children of all the "Kilroys" would probably not find this discussion humorous.

And, No, I don't find the statuette funny, at all.

Ya'll can yuck it up, if you wish. Feel free.

Charlie

Every one to their own opinion.

I was just a barely out of my teens enlisted man with no deeper thoughts than the next opportunity to dip my wick or grab a cold beer. For that, I am not embarrassed nor am I ashamed. I was what I was, when I was and was no different than the guy next to me. I find the statue amusing and if the next fella doesn't, that's fine. That's his business.

I guess "KILROY" means something else to ME........

I am 39 and MAYBE the whole KILROY thang is way,way,way over MY HEAD?????

BUT... when i PERSONALLY think of KILROY, I think of a CARTOON FIGURE peeking over a wall.......

and i do find that lil CARTOON , well.... funny as SH!# ......I DUNNO WHY.....
maybe that shows my age or ignorance in the real HISTORY of KILROY?????

IF I OFFENDED ANYONE, I AM SORRY......

and me loving that the statue was pregnant was about the saying and the said pregnancy together,
as in a GUY TAKIN PRIDE IN WHAT HE HAD DONE..(sayin : I WAS HERE,FELLAS!!! lol......WHAT SOON TA BE DAD WOULDN'T BE PROUD ...... in no way ,shape,or form was i thinking it meant children of war in any form of conception right or wrong........ I THINK THAT'S WHAT I MEAN TA SAY...... BUT AGAIN,THE WHOLE IGNORANCE THANG COMES INTO PLAY HERE

SORRY FOR ANY CONFUSION I MAY HAVE STARTED

Thanks Junebug I thought is it was funny and not a political statement.
Larry

I'm overly sensitive on some issues.
Any Moderator that wishes, can delete my post.
Charlie

For what it's worth, I think there's an obvious intent to the inscription on that particular statuette. Everyone is free to interpret it however they wish (as is the case with any piece of so-called "art"), but to those of us with some basic historical perspective, I think the meaning on this piece is quite clear...and I must say, my impression/interpretation is more in alignment with Charlie Noyes. To me, it's simply too obvious, and I really can't see any other significant meaning, reason or purpose for the time and effort put into creating it and expressing that particular inscription/message. Am I missing something here or am I guilty of "reading too much into it"? Because to me, the message that the artist intended to convey is not only obvious, it's blatantly obvious. Perhaps it's a generational associative thing. Perhaps someone who disagrees would care to offer an alternative interpretation?
I'm not an "art expert" nor am I a professional "art interpreter/analyst" but I've always believed (and still do) that "art" is conceived in the mind of the beholder and may be congruent with or totally independent of the intentions of the artist. That's why it's called "art" instead of something else such as scientific or empirical representation, for example. Art is an individual experience that is open to individual interpretation and unbound by empirical evidence, yet at the same time maintains a foundation in shared experience that can be universally understood and interpreted, albeit in different degrees (obviously). No one interpretation is universally correct just as no interpretation, regardless of how esoteric it may be, is necessarily incorrect. That's why we have both Dutch Masters, Cubist Picasso's and velvet Elvis's...Welcome to the wonderous world of art.

~Q~

"The pregnant girl statue was one of the WW II era's most popular comic figurines."

The link below may help put the whole "Kilroy was here" thing in perspective. Or not. Other than that, it is an interesting read.

http://www.skylighters.org/encyclopedia/kilroy.html

Great read Jerry - thanks for the link. Obviously I've heard of Kilroy and his message, but never knew the story. OH

That was a pretty neat read, Jerry. I'd seen that explanation before but don't remember the statue as being part of it. Looks like Gino found an important piece of WWII art

Thanks fellas.

T.J. I too had read the "Kilroy" story sometime in the past but had forgotten the details. Even at that, I found it an interesting read and thought others might as well. I also had no former knowledge of the existence of the figurine.

I find the demure little statue quite sad. To me it represents a young woman whose man has gone off to war and left her alone and pregnant to raise their child by herself.
Sadly, many did not return.
While I love the Kilroy story, I just find the statue very sad.

....I agree, dale!!!.............. ..............

And on a more serious note................

DON'T EAT THE BEAN BURRITO!!!!

Looks like that was a serious fire, Phil. Lot of smoke damage anyway.

.......... !!!!!................... .....................

We had a little weather yesterday evening. Ping pong ball sized hailstones came through about 6pm. I picked these up off the hood of my daughter's Tahoe - the towels you see were some I threw onto it to try to cushion the blows, but she still got a few dings. Luckily I had my truck and the wife's new Tahoe in the garage. I just got a new roof about 3 weeks ago.

A few pics to share.

Pic 1. Not an uncommon sight outside a GDL restaurant. Guard with a 12 gauge and it is fairly tame for Mexico. Tame besides the dozen banks, taxis, buses and tanker trucks that got fire bombed here on May 1st. Oh and the helicopter that got shot down same day.

Pic 2. Cracks me up. In GDL again. A guy on a motorcycle delivering 4 pretty large tires. I tripped out first time I saw it.

Pic 3. Balloon crash landed about 50 yards from the property line into a neighbors yard a couple weekends ago. Not something you see every day.

Jerry

What is GDL?