Ooof. I’m not gonna lie here: Thankfulness has not had a good run of late.
A memory I hope I never forget
So many! But I’ll go with looking at the girl I was sitting next to at the local college bar, where we were celebrating a mutual’s birthday, and wondering why I hadn’t noticed how pretty she was. Later, we married.
Other ways I connect with long distant friends
Mostly social media these days.
How I reconnect with myself when I feel lost
I read and I listen to beloved music and I go to the woods or to the water.
What would be my signature drink if I owned a café
We’ll assume that by “Cafe” we mean “bar”, in which case I make some terrific Mojitos, if I do say so myself.
Something I’ve let go of, as I’ve grown older
The feeling that I need to treat American conservatives as though they have real and genuine insights about things that are based on facts about the world.
The things I’m most likely to lie about
Hmmmm. This one’s kind of interesting, innit…I find myself trending more toward blunt honesty as I get older, but what would I lie about? Probably something mainly harmless, like “Did I like the cake you made,” when in fact I wasn’t in love with it.
What’s something I wish I had more time to learn
Photography! And I think I’m doing fine. I just wish I’d decided to approach it more seriously years ago. I had no idea, folks!
Social media trends that puzzle me
Endless political content. You see this on Tiktok a lot: people who just make video after video after video responding to the latest talking points on the other side. Even I, who am firmly on the left side of things, wonder if it all feels pointless after a while.
Local phrases and terms I use often
“Go Bills!” Also, “wings” refers to Buffalo-style chicken wings, and nothing else. Zubaz is a pattern, not a specific brand of clothing. I also expect not too many other places refer to “Lake effect” this or that (mostly snow).
If I could only wear only three colors, I’d pick these…
Blue, white, and brown–thus preserving my ability to wear most of my overalls. (The black ones would, sadly, be ruled out…unless black is stipulated as being available because everybody needs something in black, right?)
Favorite books, music, tv, movies, and media this month
Well, The Great British Baking Show is winding down, so that’s a bummer. We’ve started a re-watch of Scrubs from the beginning, because after the latest instance of watching a Netflix series that only had ten episodes, The Wife expressed a bit of annoyance. (That was Nobody Wants This, in which a podcaster who focuses on stories about the dating life finds herself involved with a Rabbi. Recommended, by the way.)
Music? There’s an album out called John Williams Reimagined, in which a bunch of Williams themes are re-arranged for a piano, flute, and cello. The recasting of dramatic music as chamber music is fascinating.
Books: I’ve started Bystander, which is a history of street photography, and Ian Fleming: The Complete Man.
Movies…last night we watched Salt, a thriller from 2010 featuring Angelina Jolie is an FBI agent who might turn out to have a secret past she doesn’t know about. Very entertaining.
I had no idea what to say last week, and I find I still have no idea what to say this week. Yes, I have thoughts on the decision this country made. No, I do not know when–or even if–I will write them up in this space. I’m not sure any of it matters.
In such times I retreat to the greats who produced great human art in times that were objectively worse. In his 41st and last symphony, Mozart produced an astonishingly optimistic and universal view which amazes all the more when I consider that he was already well into the health issues that would shortly kill him at the age of 35.
In times like this I have to remind myself that the world persists, that beauty and wonder are still things, and that humanity is still capable of things better than the statement about itself that this country made last week. Yes, I’ll be posting again soon, if not starting tomorrow…but more likely after the coming weekend. Meanwhile, here is Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, sometimes called the “Jupiter”.
Sorry about the radio silence of late, folks, but I’ll be honest: Current Events are consuming more of my brain cycles than I want to admit, and while I could fill this space with my thoughts as to how the Election For All Time is going…I just don’t want to write about that. But I also can’t find a lot of mental energy right now to write about anything else.
So, you get pictures. I took these of the morning sky. The first is of Orion the Hunter, partly shrouded by clouds; this was taken on a morning when I was up at 6am to walk Hobbes. The other two I took when I got to work! That’s the view from behind The Store, just before sunrise and only a few minutes before my shift started. That sliver of moon captivated me. I love the sky, and the morning sky is just as wondrous, many times, as the night one.
Expect light posting, if any posting happens at all, for the next day, two, or three…basically until we know if Americans have risen up against fascism once again.
Orion the Hunter, shrouded by clouds. Taken with Ophelia (Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra)
Moon’s final phase, just before sunrise. Taken with Miranda (Lumix FZ1000ii)
I actually love the sky as it appears at dawn behind where I work…the sky itself, of course, but also the blend of the natural and the industrial in the trees and the powerlines. And that moon! I could not have captured this shot a year ago. Taken with Miranda (Lumix FZ1000ii).
This week’s selection is stretching the definition of “tone poem” probably past the breaking point, as this piece is not orchestral at all; it was originally written for harpsichord but we’re going to hear it on piano. It’s by Jean-Philippe Rameau, a French Baroque composer and musical writer who lived contemporaneously with J.S. Bach. And with that, you now know as much about Rameau as I do.
I heard this piece on the Open Ears Project podcast (which I highly recommend!). The Open Ears Project is kind of like my “Something for Thursday” series, only it’s a different notable person each week describing a particularly meaningful musical work. In this particular episode, Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson discusses his experiences with Rameau in general and with this piece in particular. I really do recommend listening to the podcast for his thoughts. For this post, right here, suffice it to say that the piece is very fast, and very quick; it’s over in about two minutes and it really does seem to capture the energy, if not the exact sound, of a bunch of birds squabbling. There’s even a moment when the music stops, completely stops, for a second, as if the birds have just happened to all stop squawking and chirping at the exact same moment.
This is a tone poem, even if it comes nowhere near an orchestra. Here is Le Rappel des Oiseaux by Jean-Philippe Rameau.
Maybe I’ve mentioned this before, but my father once referred to one of the elections when I was a kid as “a referendum on the American people”. I don’t think that’s ever been more true, because if this is who we are….
Posted inCommentary|Comments Off on I don’t know, folks. I just don’t know sometimes.
So I have a big pot of soup on: the first cauldron of Buffalo Chicken Soup of the 2024-2025 Soup Season! Now, I tend to limit my soup consumption to the colder months, so for me, Soup Season usually starts in October and winds up, oh, March or April, depending on how grim that particular spring happens to be. This annoys my family members, who believe that there’s no such thing as Soup Season and who would cheerfully eat delicious soup even when it’s 85 out in July. What do you all think? Is all year Soup Season?
(Oh, and I made a couple of small alterations to my recipe this time around, and if I like the way it turns out, I may update my Official Buffalo Chicken Soup recipe on this site! Exciting! Stay tuned!
Moving on, we have this week’s Sunday Stealing quiz. The numbering is again wonky, so we’re not numbering these. And these questions lend themselves to short, pithy answers, which is always fun!
What’s your guilty pleasure?
I don’t really believe in “guilty pleasures”. If I like something, I like it. There’s more than enough opportunity for guilt in this world.
Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
Yes.
I mean, I like them all…and it’s also fun to have meals at each that is traditionally served at another meal! Waffles for dinner! Pizza for breakfast! Burgers for lunch–oh wait–
What do you do when you want to chill out after a long day?
Change into comfy clothes (almost always involving overalls), read a bit, watch something on the teevee later on. Maybe an adult beverage, but lately, we only indulge those if we don’t have to work the next day. This is probably best in terms of health and expense.
How would you spend your ideal weekend?
That depends! Maybe road-tripping, or relaxing at home, or going somewhere local and doing photography. Always a bit of time reading and writing, too.
Do you listen to podcasts, or mostly just music? What’s your favorite podcast?
I do listen to podcasts, though not many; I listen to music more than that. Some podcasts I like are: James Bonding (guess what that one’s about!), Functional Nerds (interviews with geeky writers), Noble Blood (somewhat gory tales from history), and The Open Ears Project (in which notable people discuss a particularly meaningful piece of music).
Do you prefer to go to the movies or watch movies at home?
Ooof, this can get contentious on social media. I love going to the movies and yes, the actual act of movie viewing is better in a theater than at home…but everything else about going to the movies has become sufficiently a hassle that we just stay at home. The expense and the time costs just aren’t worth it anymore, except in very special circumstances.
What was your favorite TV show growing up?
It probably depends on when “growing up” can be said to have happened…but through it all, there was Star Trek, so…Star Trek.
What’s your favorite TV show now?
The Repair Shop (which is going through a bit of thing because its host got into legal trouble). For non-“reality” shows, I’m thrilled that Ghosts has returned. It’s interesting to me that I have now had two beloved shows whose premise was “Couple ends up running an inn in a rural location where they have to contend with a very quirky population, and by the way, she really looks great in sweaters.” (The first was Newhart.)
How would you spend your birthday if money was no object?
A week somewhere in the Finger Lakes, including the Ithaca Apple Festival, and I’d take a thousand photos.
What’s your favorite season? What do you love most about it?
Fall. I love the relief of breaking temperatures, I love the color, I love the food. All of it.
Do you prefer camping or going to the beach?
I haven’t been camping since I was a kid and I’m not sure I really have a hankering to do it again at all (though I’m intrigued by “glamping”), so…the beach. Especially if it’s Waikiki.
Which phone app do you think you use the most?
Chrome or Gmail. Or my phone’s camera app. Also Snapseed and Lightroom.
Would you instead cook, order delivery, or go out to eat?
Cook first, go out second. We never order delivery.
How do you drink your coffee?
From a mug. (OK, fine: mostly with cream. Sometimes black. Never sugar.)
If you could have any animal as a pet, what would you choose?
The world does not need my voice today
That is all.