Auld Lang Syne

Today's a day for looking back and forward. Elizabeth Scalia and Peggy Noonan with some great thoughts on the song.

For us personally, it's been an interesting year. We've had some challenges and lots of blessings. There have been an unusual number of marriages in the family this year, and we've gotten to meet some new family members. David just got an interesting new job. All in all, I feel pretty grateful right now. We won't be going out, but Ken brought us some sparkling cider with which to "tak a cup o' kindness". Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.

Dougie MacLean with all the lyrics to the great old song here. It really is remarkable that this song has stuck with us through changes in culture and language. I think that's a good thing. Here's Guy Lombardo's instrumental if you want to sing it yourself. Another interesting tradition.

Hope everyone is looking forward to a bright New Year.

If you want something a little different for New Years Day, you might try Blackeyed Pea Confetti Salad

Goodbye to Kodachrome

A nice history of Kodachrome, with thoughts about its place in our emotions, here.

The story of Kodachrome is a romance itself, an odd intersection of the worlds of science and music.

Dad, the professional, preferred Kodachrome over all other films for slides, because of its color saturation and archival quality.

Somewhere along the line, I lost a roll of Kodachrome which contained images from a trip Mom and I took with Marianne and David, when David was quite small. Guess I'll just have to carry the images in my "sweet little 'magination". Dang, he was a cute kid.

One image I remember framing was little David in a yellow slicker which was too big for him, walking in misty rain along a boardwalk over mud flats between steamy hot pools in Yellowstone. He was cute even enveloped in yellow. We sang "How Much Is that Doggie in the Window", with variations, in the car. That wasn't on the film, but it's still an image in my head.

Thanksgiving Remembrances

The links from last year's post still seem to be good. Some good thoughts by eloqueant people

Ray Bradbury - "At play in the fields of the Lord"

I ran across this interesting article on the life and philosophy of Ray Bradbury. He's an original.

Ray's best friend growing up was Ed Barrerra, who was once my landlord.  Ed was an orphan, taken in by the family of his future wife in Los Angeles. Ray and Ed sometimes skipped school and went to the lots in Hollywood and hung around on movie sets, or sneaked into the theater. Ed's wife, Clara, thought that Ray was "crazy" when they were young - when he had some of the wild ideas which were later developed in his science fiction books. He didn't have as much schooling as you might expect for a famous writer.

Both he and Ed were drafted during World War II and went to Europe. Ray stopped driving after the war. When he came to visit Ed at our little duplex in the barrio, it was with a chauffeur, in a big cream-colored limousine. He often wore white shorts and knee socks.

He was a faithful friend to Ed as Ed's health deteriorated from rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson's disease. I saw him a few times, and he always seemed to have some new and different project in the works. I'm happy to hear that he's still around and still has a zest for life.

Speaking of "zest", we have some zesty and delicious summer fruits on now. Descriptions here.

Take a Break, Think about Home

From Sippican Cottage:

I was reading Essays In Idleness by Kenko. He was dead in 1350. . . .


. . . the personal essay is tie that binds us.


I hate the term: blog. It's ugly, and it's come to mean something even uglier than the sound of it. It's become the minor leagues of hate. I write personal essays here. Zuihitsu. It might not be noble, but a person has little to offer to others but knowledge of which they are sure. "I am an expert in the affairs of all men" is the banner of the professional politician and their toads. Not hardly.


Why am I wandering in the few moments between exhaustion and sleep in the dusty stacks of an alien culture dead and buried for seven hundred years? To find a kindred spirit. . .


I have never been in a hotel room as comfortable and pleasant as my own bedroom, and I have been in Presidential Suites before. Money can't fix the problem, and the availability of money without the governor of a framework of rules to expend it almost always makes things worse.


Our post-modern zeitgeist evangelizes that rules of any sort that govern personal behaviors or the appearance of our surroundings or entertainment are stultifying and worthy only of mindless opposition. The unthinking rejection of all tradition leads to a counterintuitive outcome: a set of rules, much more stringent than what they replaced, will replace the old ones, and they will consist of the worst possible alternative to what was there before.


. . . How else can I explain a Japanese man writing about my house, and the house you should be living in, in the fourteenth century?

From our own unfashionable but comfortable home and garden:

Interesting Tomatoes, both old and new varieties
Assorted garden gifts and a dog
BIG tomatoes
Ripe Green Tomatoes

And recipes for garden vegetables:
Skillet Lasagna with Zucchini
Grandma's Chili Sauce

Some thoughts on happy children and expectations

Independence Day, Observed

Well, they're not fireworks, but they go well with an Independence Day celebration. We've got some fruit, too. We had to keep the dogs calm with the fireworks in the neighborhood last night, and will again tonight. Otherwise, it's been a fairly quiet holiday so far. The Fourth fell on Sunday this year, so today is Independence Day, Observed.  We did hear some fine thoughts about our country yesterday.

The forecast is for 99 degrees today - kind of hot for complex activities. But that doesn't keep us from being thankful for our favorable circumstances.

Here are some links concerning the Declaration of Independence and Independence Day. For your enjoyment and contemplation. They include some ideas about making your holiday more meaningul.  There's some fine writing at the links, both historical and current, plus some videos.  I was especially interested in what Wretchard, an Australian, said about the Declaration.  Sometimes it's easy to take our country and our freedom for granted.  We need to fight this impulse.

Breakthroughs

Today, we had a couple of breakthroughs.  David started working.  We weren't expecting them to put him to work right after his physical.   He's not making nearly as much as he did at the State, but this is still a very welcome development.  The ethical climate seems far superior.

James also learned today that he has a new job.

The weather broke into the hundreds yesterday.  Today, the high temperature was 107 degrees (41.7 C).  Four degrees below the record for today.  We managed to pick almost all the Blenheim apricots before the weather really heated up.  This variety is ruined by high heat, and we haven't had usable fruit from this tree most years.   We also got cucumbers  and more tomatoes last week.   There are a few luxuries from the garden which are hard to replicate with purchased produce.  

Much of my day was spend making sure the dogs would be O.K. in the hot weather.  David had to go to his Mom and Dad's after work to repair their air conditioning.  He will need another part to make a thorough repair, but at least it started working.

There were some political milestones, too.  Some ironies among them.