On my humor blog this week I made a lot of hay out of a stray reference to the Willowbrook Mall, which I'm not sure I could swear in a court of law that I've actually visited, and then discovered WordPress's statistics that I've been reporting faithfully for ages now don't actually add up. All this and me looking at pop culture nonsense and making fun of a completely forgotten story of a forgotten rabbit right here:
- MiSTed: The Tale of Jimmy Rabbit, Part 16: Telling Fortunes
- From Watching _A Garfield Thanksgiving_, and Remembering _A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving_
- Statistics Saturday: Some Ways To Get To Paramus, New Jersey
- Robert Benchley: The Word ``Three''
- I Can't Believe I Forgot the Obvious Way to Get to Paramus, New Jersey
- What's Going On In The Phantom (Sundays)? Why was a Nazi crew on that B-17? September - November 2025
- Statistics November: What if WordPress Is Just Making Up Numbers?
- MiSTed: The Tale of Jimmy Rabbit, Part 17: Red Leggins
Here's some more of our consolation walk around the hotel in Dolancourt, now.
This was one of a couple small alcoves or catacombs or something that were steps leading down to a sheltered area that, we supposed, boats could enter. It had that feel of ``stuff from medieval times'' although I wouldn't be surprised if it actually dated to 1930, but it felt like a thing you'd use in antiquity.
This small section of fence looked so ad hoc. It seems to be blocking off a spot that used to be a bridge, but it's not like any other part of the riverbank is particularly protected from accident.
And some of the water supported a whole lot of plant life!
The bridge here looks almost arranged to have your wedding party photographs taken in front of.
And here's a monkey puzzle tree, which I wasn't expecting to see.
Apparently the trees --- native to Chile --- were naturalized into parts of Great Britain. What one's doing in France I don't know.
This is looking back from a slight hill in the gardens, looking toward the main hotel buildings. I can spot our hotel room from here. Can you see the statue creeping on us?
I'm assuming this is a spot where you have your wedding reception. The building on the right looks like it might have been the miller's private home, as opposed to the working buildings.
An here's a fountain that was almost emptied. I imagine it does more in-season.
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bunnyhugger fussing with her camera not far off one of the statues. Also there's a curious little hazard cone in the middle of the walkway leading to that free-standing fence photographed earlier today. Being here for a few minutes would give her time to discover something.
The discovery was a bit of nature: bunnyhugger discovered this big caterpillar-y guy using the shell of a snail for some its purposes. She set it back out of the way of foot traffic.
And here's a view from near the spa (left), looking at the waterwheel and, in the rooms behind the center windows, the breakfast room.
Trivia: The largest container ship in service as of 2005 was the 8,749 TEU-capacity Colombo Express, first in a fleet of an intended eight identical vessels ordered by Hapag-Lloyd from Hyundai Heavy Industries. Source: Box Boats: How Container Ships Changed the World, Brian J Cuday. Wikipedia says the Colombo Express is still in service, despite a 2014 collision that caused it to delay traffic in the Suez Canal, but that the Emma Mærsk, launched 2006, broke its record.
Currently Reading: A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet, Raj Patel, Jason W Moore.
