Django's

Downtown Des Moines has a new restaurant
Django
French Cuisine
Excellent

The restaurant is located in the Hotel Ft. Des Moines and it was fun to go there tonight.
















The place was very pleasant if a little noisy but the staff was very attentive and my dinner companion Brother Trevor and I were very pleased with the meal. I had the Tenderloin Filet with hand cut house fries. There was more than I could eat. The rolls with herbed butter and the Beet salad were also delicious. Trevor ordered the Tournedos Rossini with sauteed foi gras, truffles and a Maderia wine sauce, served with Dauphinoise potatoes. I had never had foi gras before so he gave me a taste. Next time I go there (and I will go again) I will order that. It was to die for. Oh yes, They serve filtered water and since I don't drink Des Moines water I appreciated that very much. It went very nicely with my single malt Scotch.

They have a Raw Bar (pictured) which does not appeal to me but I am sure it will to a lot of people. They also have a private dining room which will seat up to 60 people and can be divided into two rooms. I had heard from two different sources that this was a wonderful place to eat. They weren't wrong. I am sure that there are other places that have this type of restaurant but it is something new in central Iowa and it was worth the trip to go there. The bill for the two of us was $68. and that included my Scotch.

And the sunset on the way home was beautiful. Click on any picture to embiggen it.
ARTYAL - Hugs, J

The Papers of Robert G. Davis

Robert G. Davis has a new Paper up It is worth a Read. Me and the Grail. He always makes me think,

Quoting our last Governor

quote of the day from Tom Vilsack "a national co-chairman of Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign":

It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee. After Tuesday's contests, she needs to acknowledge that he's going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him.

June

From Wikipedia:

June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with a length of 30 days. The month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera.
June is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.
June in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent to December in the Southern Hemisphere and vice versa. The month of June—in the Northern Hemisphere—is in Spring until the 21st, when Summer begins. The traditional June birthstone is the pearl. The June birth flower is the rose, or the honeysuckle, as roses and honeysuckles bloom throughout June. June is also sometimes called the "Rose month."
June is known for the large number of marriages that occur over the course of the month. June is named after, Juno or Hera. Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple's household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month.[1][2]
In both common and leap years, no other month begins on the same day of the week as June. This month and May are the only two months that have this.

In Masonry, we celebrate the feast day of St. John the Baptist. The first public Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England was born on St. John the Baptist’s day, June 24, in 1717 in London. For many years there after the Grand Lodge of England held annual celebrations of this day for many years.

The celebration of St. John the Evangelist on December 27 was added to the Masonic calendar at a latter date. You can read an article about this practice here.

June

It's beautiful the Summer month of June
When all of God's own wildflowers are in bloom
And sun shines brightly most part of the day
And butterflies o'er lush green meadows play.

Light hearted skylark songster of the wing
High o'er the quiet and lonely moorland sing
Above her nest cloaked by the tangled heath
Her charming song so exquisitely sweet.

So mellow the gentle breath of june day breeze
The birds rejoicing on the leafy trees
And dappled trout in pool bed of the stream
Bask in the sun their spotted skins agleam.

God gave us June and all her lovely flowers
Bright sunny days and pleasant evening hours
Shady green glens and serene sunlit dells
And leafy bowers adorned with blue bluebells.

But god June's maker has the final say
And what he give he also take away
And God's own larks will trumpet in the sky
To celebrate the birthday of July.

Francis Duggan

June is also the month when hurricane season begins. Be careful out there! ARTYAL - Hugs j

Iron Man

I went to see Iron Man this afternoon. To say that I enjoyed it would be an understatement. I was enthralled with the acting and the visual presentations. I know there was a lot of computer generated "stuff" in it but frankly, I couldn't tell. Perhaps it is my ancient eyes.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts (lets face it folks this is based on a comic book) was perfect. But then she is kind of perfect anyway. (Note to Wardrobe: Don't put her in such high heels to run away.. There is no way she could really have escaped in those shoes) It was also great to see Robert Downey, Jr. who seems to have rehabilitated himself from all of his previous problems play the character of Tony Stark/Iron Man with such good humor and fine acting ability that fortunately was not destroyed by his substance abuse.

Terrance Howard was also just right as his best friend/buddy and Jeff Bridges was perfect as the villain.

I ordinarily don't go to these movies but Jon had been and told me that it was a great film so I took him at his word and went to see it. He also told me that there was a closing scene after the credits and so I sat there and convinced several other patrons to stay and see it. I prepared myself to run if there had not been that final scene. (It took forever to get to it. - They had everybody who walked past the studio listed.) But it was there and it showed that the Iron Man character will definitely be returning to the big screen. I will see it and I urge you to see this.

To be honest my favorite parts of the film was the humorous repartee between RD, Jr and the other cast members. He is good.

McSame

I got the following in an e-mail I checked it out and it is FALSE. Click Here to see the Urban Legends Report.

Idiot Quote of the Century
'My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it.'
- Barack Obama

The following, however says all there is to say about McSame.