Sound Equipment

It was a good day at the stove with nine pounds of spaghetti fired up. This might appear excessive, save for a procrastination payoff. Music is the key here as even a know nothing cook needs to feed himself. The Whirlitzer is not mine, but it happens to be a pretty fine machine.

Appearances

I exploited a freezing crack in the weather to picture a miniature mobile desktop with a wireless keyboard. Most would know this as a iPad leaned against a keyboard case, but that is not the way that it appears to me. As King Brian said to Darby O'Gill when he was is in the bag, "He does see me, he sees me as a rabbit."

Q & A

My neighbor has a metal roof. All last winter, I wondered why he was up on his roof chipping ice. Now that I have one the answer is clear. Ice still builds up.

If the temperature is warm enough, snow can hang suspended, as if defying gravity. You don't see that everyday. I wonder now how long it will hang there?

Response

Beginning with the advent season, some of the responses were changed in mass to more closely reflect the original translation from Latin into English. My response, since I didn't have glasses to read the q cards, was nothing. When I did think about it later, my reaction was, "Well, if you are trying to get to the exact meaning here, and we are making a change, why don't we just use Latin?" To me it is more authentic and meaningful to say, "Et cum spiritu tuo" than "And also with you." Besides, it feels like a chant.

There are further applications for everyday. When someone says, "Merry Christmas , have a nice day, Happy New Year, or have a good one", if you respond with the expected, then it sounds like you are saying "Me too". which is lame. Rather, if you respond, "And the Spirit with you (et cum spiritu tuo) then it feels like a real response.

Twenty Twelve

On New Years Eve, the waitress came back all excited, "Your total bill is $20.12. I thought you would want to know." Two quick decisions on my part before I get too excited. Is it an omen, and is it a good one? As a late teen, in more ways than one, I took up studying stoics. Their philosophy seemed a perfect balance for a manic depressant like myself. They believed that an event wasn't good or bad but rather your interpretation of it determined its nature. Pragmatism had me in its grip as I made my snap decision. Yes it was an omen and a good one!

Skiffle

Skiffle was the big music movement in England just before the Beatles made their mark.

On the contemporary American scene was rockabilly and a bit of rock and roll.

Watch

Storm watch is on. The first one of the new year. Snowy beginning but I believe it will be a good one.

Early

When the woodcutter awoke, he was dumb founded. It was 2012 and fire gnomes had spirited away the wood pile. Aghast, he stared at the multitude of rabbit tracks leading into the trees on the forests edge. Gnomes have a twisted sense of humor. They believe their movements can be disguised, if they wear different feet.

Resolution

My resolution for 2011 is to wear my wrist watch all day. I can then know Time immediately, even if only a whim. I've been doing this all morning and I kind of like it already. If it works out well the rest of the day, then I'm going to make it my New Year resolution for tomorrow.

I bought a book of poems yesterday that should arrive next week in the mail. The title of the book drew me in, "Still Life" by Alexander Long. Still life happens to be something I have given a lot of thought to in the past. Anyway, one teaser line for you

"If only childhood would tell the wind where to go,

If only it had a home."

Father Christmas

Don is really a man for all seasons, but Christmas happens to be the last time I saw him. Eighty-Eight years old, he held the Christmas gathering at his house this year, as most years before. Some of his daughters (4) call him Gramps. Baffling reality. This year they got him a big screen TV for Christmas. While younger family members are attempting to set the set up and surprise him, a snag develops in the connection. Turns out, when he returns, the solution isn't a surprise for him. "Digital to digital" he explains. Pretty clear thinking here, problem solved. Later, in the shank of the evening, he needs to snag a two year old that believes derailing a bathroom door might be in order. "I can't let him do that", he explains to me, "I have to put it back on the rail". So practical too. Moving on to the kitchen, his conversation turns to the need for recycling. This greatest generation, World War II vet, hasn't grown more conservative with age as Freud would have predicted, but younger as years pass. I'm proud to know him!