From the squadron leader of the AMZ Penguin Patrol, Michael Palmer, two recent items I’ll package together: a real-life penguin on ice in a delightful photo; and a collection of penguin simulacra (in various materials) overseeing an icy grapefruit Cosmopolitan.
Penguin sliding on ice. From MP on 9/27, a link to The Owl Report website:
(#1) Adélie Penguin on ice, Antarctica (photo: Nadia Haq, 2024 Bird Photographer of the Year)
My associative memory took me immediately to a children’s rhyme, the naughty tetrameter couplet
Ladies and gentlemen / gents, take my advice — pull down your pants and slide on the ice
Which, in my childhood experience, was chanted entirely for its rudeness value, not to convey any meaning — but there are some suggestions on the net that it might be used as a piece of advice, counseling ‘laugh and make the best of a bad situation’. (I haven’t found anything about its history, though if my memory is accurate, it’s been around for at least 75 years.)
Penguins and their cocktail. From MP on 9/26, a link to Nancy Clark > MCM & Vintage Cocktail & Barware:
Making do with what I have. Made a Cosmopolitan with grapefruit juice (no cranberry!). Tastes great
In a complex composition:
(#2) A strange composition: an assortment of penguins with their grapefruit gin Cosmopolitan, plus various other items (yes, that’s a Tanqueray lamp, surprisingly easy to make)
That’s Cosmopolitan / cosmopolitan ‘a cocktail typically made with vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, and lime juice’ (NOAD). This one has gin (Tanqueray, specifically) instead of vodka and grapefruit juice instead of cranberry.
Then on Facebook:
— AZ > MP: Penguins, plus an owl (my father’s totem animal). But emotionally complex for me. Minor note: grapefruit juice is verboten to me, because it interferes with the action of some of my medications. Major note: Tanqueray gin was the primary agent in my descent into alcoholism (and alcohol withdrawal syndrome) a few years back. (Four years of wagonhood coming up soon.)