Will You Be Reading or Watching TV or Just Sitting In the Dark With the Dog and Your Tea?

I get not wanting to deal with the crowds of people but those explosions will still be a problem. I'm going nowhere near our city's Fourth of July show, which is across town, but there will still be no fewer than four houses doing their own shows around me. It's not going to be that peaceful, Mother Gargle.

I'm sorry but I just can't look at Wilberforce's shirt without thinking of this:

Admire

Hurricane Hattie is by far my favorite character. I like how she picks on Brutus but it doesn't come from a place of stereotypical hatred like with Mother Gargle but because Brutus is the closest thing Hattie has to a father and she doesn't know how to handle that or the emotions.

Nitpicky Friday

Just eat your broccoli you little shit!

Like yesterday's "I came, I saw..." claptrap where it was supposed to be the segue into the joke, here we see Gladys using "veggie" in place of vegetable not because that's what you do or it sounds good but because Chip couldn't squeeze "vegetable" on that line.

Through the Door Darkly

Well, you did walk through a doorway which has been proven to cause forgetfulness. I feel that what Brutus says in the last panel is...stupid. Does Brutus normally quote Julius Caesar when he enters--or leaves--a room? That's not right.

No. 9: Topeka Women's Club

The Topeka Women's Club was organized in 1897 by Lucy Kingman and Margaret McCarter. It was a conglomerate of the other ladies clubs in Topeka and focused on musical education and entertainment. The club would raise donations to send to school and other institutions. They helped families affected by the 1903 flood and were instrumental in getting manual training and domestic science into the schools. After World War I, interest in a permanent home increased.

The building was designed by Frank C. Squires and was published in the Topeka Daily Capital in 1921. Construction didn't begin until 1923 and was completed in 1925. Squires was thrilled with his design for the clubhouse, considering it possibly the finest building of it's kind between Chicago and the Pacific Coast. After completion, it was believed that the building was the largest clubhouse west of the Mississippi River.

In 1925, the women's club had over 400 members. Within a few years, the Women's Club building housed numerous civic, artistic, and social organizations. Sadly, through the 1960s and 1970s, membership in the club steadily declined and in the 1980s, the building became home to the Kansas Insurance Department. Thankfully, the state kept everything mostly as is. The Tiffany stain-glass windows remained as did the gothic lights. The major changes were leveling out the floor in the theatre and clamping down the dance floor on the third floor to install cubicles. After the Insurance Department moved in 2020, the building was considered surplus property and sold at auction.

Purchased by local investors, work immediately began to restore the building to its former glory--and function. The Beacon, as it will now be known, plans on becoming the premiere event space in Downtown Topeka. Shorty after beginning work, they offered tours of the building which I gladly went on. The Women's Club of Topeka building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Entrance from 9th Street.

Tile entryway in the entrance to the theatre off Topeka Boulevard.

Beneath this floor is the original spring-loaded dance floor originally installed
in 1925. Plans are to release the springs so it can be used as a dance floor again.

Decorative seal above the stage in the theatre.

It's Fun to Say

Now this is a reason to wear that stupid chef's hat, not just making a slightly fancier grilled ham and cheese sandwich. I knew bouillabaisse was a soup/stew type thing. I did not know it was made primarily with seafood ingredients. Yuck. But I'm a 30-something free American. I don't have to eat what I don't like but if you enjoy it, then have at it. More of it for you.

I am taking a few days off to focus on my writing and research. I will be back Thursday with new updates. Don't forget, you can support my work by buying me a cup of coffee through Ko-fi.

Sleeping In

Wilberforce then proceeds to pinch Brutus' nose closed and covers his mouth causing Brutus to wake up in a panic unable to breathe.

Or maybe Wilberforce will just jump on Brutus' crotch. Sadly, we just have to imagine how Wilberforce will wake up Brutus.

Wacky Isn't a Word I'd Use for Hurricane Hattie But Whatever

Geez. Just get a dessert pizza or, I feel this is a brilliant idea and would like to try it some time, get a normal pizza but squirt some chocolate syrup on your piece before you eat it. The sweet of the chocolate syrup and savory of the pizza probably blend together real good.

In an effort to be more inclusive, I am going to start adding alt text to the comic strips from today on. Aside from helping with search engines, alternative text allows blind and visually impaired readers to use screen readers to get a description of the image, can help people with sensory processing or learning disabilities, and is displayed if the image doesn't load or the user chooses not to load images.

I'll Be Your Croque Monsieur

Okay. But that doesn't really tell me what croque monsieur is. Also, I don't know why Gladys is acting all fancy with her "French dish" because croque monsieur is basically just a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

Business Trip

It's gotta be a pain in the ass to constantly switch tea cozy suppliers. Acme switches accounts every six months or so it seems.

I'll be honest, I don't really know how this works. Does Veeblefester make the tea cozies and Acme is a store that sells them? Does Acme design the tea cozy and Veeblefester makes them?