That is Priceless by Steve Melcher for December 06, 2024

/// It’s Franz Joseph’s Diamond Jubilee.

German Princes have come here to see

the Emperor, who

greets Kaiser Wilhelm (Two).

All respectful, but none bend the knee.

/// They’re each leaders of people Teutonic,

but for some, the respect is ironic.

Each man here thinks he’s best

and should lead all the rest.

(In this region of Europe, that’s chronic.)

“No George, you will not be excused because you are allergic to feathers.”

“I see you’ve all dressed appropriately for our dance lesson today. It’s known as the Y M C A dance.”

The annual meeting of the Royal Order of Dining Room Duster Brigade

“All those in favor of purchasing an industrial fan so that our helmet feathers may flow majestically in the wind, say ‘aye’.”

NFL refs get new uniforms.

Aged Austrian- Cornered by Krauts !/

For four decades they’ve been “on the outs”/

He was ousted before/

In a brief, deadly war*/

Even now he’s assailed by doubts…///

But they’re here just to pay their respects/

Though this viewer suspects he detects/

That he’s well past his prime/

(Just a matter of time/

Til he’s sharing a box with insects..)///

In fact he’ll live ten more years!)/

After which his Empire disappears/

But Vienna remains/

And tourism sustains/

It’s economy – year after year !

*the Austrian-Prussian War of July 1866, which Prussia won in about 5 weeks.

“On the other hand we don’t have to dust the ceiling fans any more.”

There’s always one ruff neck in the house!

Mexican standoff…who’s going to move first?

Before Sally Rand, there was the Kaiser’s drill team.

“What are you all doing here? This is the Department of Funny Walks, not the Department of funny Hats.”

The green feathers doesn’t go with the orange pants very well.

“And how many times do I have to tell you that pets are NOT allowed in the ballroom! Now, where ARE my glasses?!?”

When they said “Put a feather in your cap and call it macaroni”, they were dissing the colonist, not making a suggestion.

The first informal gathering of the newly formed Merkin Society.

AYE.

on prince ludrick’s birthday he gets to select a new boyfriend for the next pickings!

for the next pickings.

next year . slim pickingsmay be this time it will print correctly

Emperor Francis Joseph I of Austria with the German Federal Princes, Schönbrunn Palace, 7 May 1908: 

Paste (including the quote marks) 

"Category:Feathered hats in art" Wikimedia 

(syntax supported by the Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo search engines) in the browser address bar (or search for it using one of those search engines) and choose the first Category: found, and once there find the text string Matsch, and click its link for info and links that point to more info (perhaps best viewed by the Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox browsers, which can automatically translate most webpages if necessary) about this roughly jumbo envelope size color print. 

Again, a larger strip image is shown by (Ctrl- or right-) clicking the image in Mr. Melcher’s MASTERPIECE #3423 (December 6, 2024) blog entry, accessible by the Check out the blog! box after the last comment, and using the dropdown menu (even larger, if you trim what’s after .png from the end of the URL). I’ve added a comment there pointing to the info about the named artist I used to point to here. So far, first work associated with him used here.

The ostriches thank you.

“Die deutsches Bundesfürsten huldigen Kaiser Franz Joseph”

Lady Gaga? I thought some Joker was behind it.

The embarrassment of going to a blue-themed party and being color-blind.

Italy’s Elite Bersaglieri (Marines) have what used to be an ostrich plume, in their hats. I believe it’s a different feather, now, but these guys are nothing to laugh at. Their marching band plays while they jog, which is a feat in, and of itself.

Soldiers. We have all seen wars. We have our weapons at the ready. If God help us, we’ll go through dusting the whole Palace china collection and live to tell the tale!

The tidy whitie inspection is complete, as you were.

Lady GaGa is probably IN one of those helmets. Or in a piece of meat. Has anyone seen any meat?

‘’Remember Gents, It’s only kinky if you use the whole chicken.’’

Now I can’t stop thinking about the fad from the past of motorcycle helmets with Mohawk “hair” added to them.