1. I bolted directly to the kitchen upon springing out of bed this morning and started fixing breakfast for Patrick, Meagan, and me. We had no timetable for this morning, so I just figured I'd get the potatoes and sausage going so that when they arrived, all I'd have to do was fix the coffee, toast, and eggs. They arrived shortly after 11:00. They situated themselves on the deck, managed to find some of the diminishing shade, and before long they were eating Italian sausage patties, two eggs over easy, fried potatoes (overcooked, dang it), and toast made from Killer Dave's Good Seed Bread.
2. Patrick and Meagan are using Debbie's car while she's in New York, so they arranged to return their rental car in Spokane. They left Kellogg about 1:00 to do that and then came back east to CdA to check in at the resort. I busied myself cleaning up after breakfast and fell into a coma nap -- now I know for sure that sausage turns me into a short term Rip Van Winkle. I was just getting ready to head up the river to see Byrdman when he called to say that he and Stephanie were packing up earlier than planned and returning to CdA. He and I will meet up on Monday instead.
3. I relaxed after hanging up with Byrdman. Early in the evening, I suddenly remembered that I'd been longing to see Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub as brothers who own a failing Italian restaurant in the movie, Big Night. I originally saw this movie at the Bijou in Eugene back in 1996. Lately, the deep pleasure that movie gave me twenty-four years ago has been asserting itself in my memory and in my bones. I've been cautious about watching it again, anxious that after all these years the movie wouldn't live up to the way it had been playing out in my nostalgic recollections of it.
My anxiety was completely misplaced. Once again, I loved this movie. Looking back, I remember now that Tony Shalhoub was a revelation to me in 1996. I wasn't watching much television back then and didn't see him in the show Wings and if he'd been in anything else I'd seen he hadn't made an impression. He sure made a most favorable impression on me in Big Night. So did Stanley Tucci. Tonight, I thoroughly enjoyed their performances, loved the screenplay, longed for exquisite Italian food as I watched it being prepared and eaten in this movie, and was moved in a variety of ways by the relationship between the brothers, Primo and Secondo. In addition, Ian Holm has a central role in this movie as Pascal, the proprietor of a middle to low brow, very successful Italian restaurant with mediocre food across the street from the brothers' establishment. Holmes plays the part of the crass, profane, shrewd, vivacious, calculating, and vigorous Pascal with verve, sinking his teeth into the role, just like Pascal claims that to live well requires sinking your teeth into the ass of life!
Over the years, as this movie has kept popping back into my mind's eye and memory at the most unexpected times, the women in this film kept paying me visits. This movie is mostly the story of men: brothers, their friends and associates, and the restaurant owner across the street. But, tonight, while their roles were small and their characters didn't have much life apart from their relationships with the movie's male characters, I enjoyed the work of Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini, and, especially, Allison Janney, and I think their characters will continue to live in my memory until I return to watch this movie again -- and, this time, I won't wait twenty-four years.
When Big Night ended, I wasn't quite ready to go to bed so I fixed myself a small bowl of cookie dough ice cream and watched, for about the sixth time, Walter Becker and Donald Becker lead a guided tour through the making of the Steely Dan album, Aja, on the old television program, Classic Albums.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
You know summer goes on past today?
It continues beyond Labor Day.
And even though it's now cooling,
And kids go back to schooling.
There's still weekends to go out and play.
Monday, September 7, 2020
Sunday, September 6, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 09/05/20: Spiffin', Patrick and Meagan Arrive, Almost Family Dinner BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. Patrick and Meagan decided to take a short vacation to North Idaho this weekend, starting today. Their first stop, I'm really happy to say: Kellogg, Idaho. I spent much of the day making sure the house was spiffed up -- I laundered tablecloths, vacuumed, swept, bleached the bathroom, got snacks organized, finished cooking our dinner, put dishes in the dishwasher, put dishes away, created at least six feet of distance between places to sit in the living room, and I made a trip to Yoke's and the liquor store to make sure I had on hand what I wanted to be ready to serve.
All of this might sound tedious, but I had a great time, motivated by the being really happy that Patrick and Meagan would be visiting me.
2. Patrick and Meagan arrived at around 6:30. They brought an armload of beers from Oregon, beers from Breakside, Great Notion, Deschutes, Block 15, Cascade, and maybe others.
I got the beers situated, we all headed out on the deck, and we fell immediately into easy conversation. We were all deeply interested in how each other has been doing while staying home most of the time over the last six months. I reported on the usual -- books, the poetry broadcast, enjoying being with Debbie, podcasts, movies, jazz, family dinners, the Tree House concerts every Tuesday, and so on. Patrick and Meagan talked about working from home (their NEW home, starting in July), and how Meagan has started dividing her time, half and half, between working at home and at the Tigard Library.
3. First Christy and then Carol and Paul arrived around 7:45. Patrick, Meagan, and I had been so busy yakkin' that we hadn't quite gotten around to eating dinner, but, not problem. I served the food I made for us on Friday: Turkish Pinto Bean Salad and Green Tomato Curry with chicken, potatoes, and green beans over brown rice. Christy, Paul, and Carol had already had dinner.
Now conversation really exploded! We were all over the place talking about everything from libraries to Burning Man to the Oregon Country Fair to Patrick's now retired ideas for inventions to clearing out campers near the reservoir in the gulch behind the high school.
It was a merry time on the deck. When Christy, Carol, and Paul decided to head home, Meagan, Patrick, and I talked a while longer about movies and other things until they decided to call it a night, too. They decided to spend the night at the Silver Inn west of us on Cameron. It's the former Silverhorn Inn and now has new owners and it's got a new, fresh look after months of remodeling.
I was wound up after everyone left and, instead of going to bed, I finished bringing things in from the deck, took care of leftovers, rearranged the beer in the refrigerator, and put dishes in the dishwasher.
I had a superb day.
Here's a limerick by Stu commemorating Pet Rock Day:
Like Pumice and Pyrite and Slate.
Think Quartz and those Agates First Rate.
Whether shiny and slick,
Or roughed up does the trick.
It's great to have rocks for a mate.
All of this might sound tedious, but I had a great time, motivated by the being really happy that Patrick and Meagan would be visiting me.
2. Patrick and Meagan arrived at around 6:30. They brought an armload of beers from Oregon, beers from Breakside, Great Notion, Deschutes, Block 15, Cascade, and maybe others.
I got the beers situated, we all headed out on the deck, and we fell immediately into easy conversation. We were all deeply interested in how each other has been doing while staying home most of the time over the last six months. I reported on the usual -- books, the poetry broadcast, enjoying being with Debbie, podcasts, movies, jazz, family dinners, the Tree House concerts every Tuesday, and so on. Patrick and Meagan talked about working from home (their NEW home, starting in July), and how Meagan has started dividing her time, half and half, between working at home and at the Tigard Library.
3. First Christy and then Carol and Paul arrived around 7:45. Patrick, Meagan, and I had been so busy yakkin' that we hadn't quite gotten around to eating dinner, but, not problem. I served the food I made for us on Friday: Turkish Pinto Bean Salad and Green Tomato Curry with chicken, potatoes, and green beans over brown rice. Christy, Paul, and Carol had already had dinner.
Now conversation really exploded! We were all over the place talking about everything from libraries to Burning Man to the Oregon Country Fair to Patrick's now retired ideas for inventions to clearing out campers near the reservoir in the gulch behind the high school.
It was a merry time on the deck. When Christy, Carol, and Paul decided to head home, Meagan, Patrick, and I talked a while longer about movies and other things until they decided to call it a night, too. They decided to spend the night at the Silver Inn west of us on Cameron. It's the former Silverhorn Inn and now has new owners and it's got a new, fresh look after months of remodeling.
I was wound up after everyone left and, instead of going to bed, I finished bringing things in from the deck, took care of leftovers, rearranged the beer in the refrigerator, and put dishes in the dishwasher.
I had a superb day.
Here's a limerick by Stu commemorating Pet Rock Day:
Like Pumice and Pyrite and Slate.
Think Quartz and those Agates First Rate.
Whether shiny and slick,
Or roughed up does the trick.
It's great to have rocks for a mate.
Saturday, September 5, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 09/04/20: Breakfast with Mary, Ah! The Duchesse!, Turkish Pinto Bean Salad BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. We had a lot of fun. Back in October, 2019 through early March of 2020, I joined Mary Chase and Kathy Brainard in Spokane to play trivia -- often Linda Lavigne and I joined them together --, dine out, see a movie, and enjoy each other's company. But, over the last six months, we haven't seen each other. Thursday, however, Mary texted me, told me she had an errand to run in Coeur d'Alene and wondered if I'd like to meet for breakfast.
She suggested Le Peep. I remembered Le Peep has outdoor seating, so happily accepted Mary's invitation.
We enjoyed our breakfast and our conversation. Mary and I were both students in the English Department at the University of Oregon and we both taught college level English composition. So we had fun talking about professors we worked with back at the U. of O. Mary also told me about a project she's been working on with the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, videotaping a tour of the Pomeii exhibit at the museum. I'm not sure when it will be available to the public, but it will help people experience the exhibit who might have missed it while the museum was closed.
We got caught up on other things, too -- family news, news about friends, the dogs we've recently brought into our homes, how we've both lost dogs recently, and other matters. It was fun to get together, even though it was too early in the day to enjoy a martini, the cocktail we always ordered when out for trivia or having a bite to eat in Spokane.
2. After leaving Le Peep, I drove to Pilgrim's to see if they had any cans of Bombastic Brewing's Wisdom, a hazy IPA. They did and not only did I purchase three cans of it, I also bought two Belgian beers, two of my old favorites, two beers I haven't consumed for about 4-5 years. I snagged a bottle of Unibroue's La Fin du Monde and a bottle of one of my favorite sour ales, a Flemish Red Ale, Duchesse de Bourgogne, brewed by Brouwerij Verhaeghe, in Vichte, Belgium. This beer was a featured beer at the great Belgian Blowouts I used to enjoy with the Troxstar, Shane, and others at the Bier Stein in Eugene.
Just buying this beer took me back in memory to an August afternoon at Pizzeria Paradiso in Old Town Alexandria, VA. It was August 22, 2014. Debbie and I planned to have a beer or two and some food at Bilbo Baggins, but before we met, I went to the SourFest at the Pizzeria Paradiso and, to my absolute delight, the SourFest included Duchesse de Bourgogne on tap. I'd never tasted this beer drawn from a keg before and I was nearly trembling with excitement. My enthusiasm was well placed. I guess that's obvious since I still remember that ten ounce pour vividly to this day.
I thought the Duchesse de Bourgogne might enjoy Billy Collins, so I tuned into his poetry broadcast and served myself the Duchesse poured in a glass. I don't know what the Duchesse thought of Billy Collins reading several of his own poems, but, for me, the Duchesse paired exquisitely with Billy Collins.
3. Patrick and Meagan are coming to visit Saturday and I started planning the dinner I'll serve them when they arrive. I've decided to serve Debbie's green tomato curry over rice and I'll add potatoes, chicken, and possibly green beans to the curry. I've been wanting to try out a recipe for Turkish Pinto Bean Salad and I made it tonight, thinking its flavors would benefit from sitting in the fridge through the night and most of the day tomorrow. I think it will go well with Debbie's curry.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
What was your favorite shoes?
Maybe Saddle or Wing Tips for you's?
Converse, Keds, Red Ball Jets?
Mary Janes too I bets?
Perhaps "Thongs" if the name you'll excuse?
She suggested Le Peep. I remembered Le Peep has outdoor seating, so happily accepted Mary's invitation.
We enjoyed our breakfast and our conversation. Mary and I were both students in the English Department at the University of Oregon and we both taught college level English composition. So we had fun talking about professors we worked with back at the U. of O. Mary also told me about a project she's been working on with the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, videotaping a tour of the Pomeii exhibit at the museum. I'm not sure when it will be available to the public, but it will help people experience the exhibit who might have missed it while the museum was closed.
We got caught up on other things, too -- family news, news about friends, the dogs we've recently brought into our homes, how we've both lost dogs recently, and other matters. It was fun to get together, even though it was too early in the day to enjoy a martini, the cocktail we always ordered when out for trivia or having a bite to eat in Spokane.
2. After leaving Le Peep, I drove to Pilgrim's to see if they had any cans of Bombastic Brewing's Wisdom, a hazy IPA. They did and not only did I purchase three cans of it, I also bought two Belgian beers, two of my old favorites, two beers I haven't consumed for about 4-5 years. I snagged a bottle of Unibroue's La Fin du Monde and a bottle of one of my favorite sour ales, a Flemish Red Ale, Duchesse de Bourgogne, brewed by Brouwerij Verhaeghe, in Vichte, Belgium. This beer was a featured beer at the great Belgian Blowouts I used to enjoy with the Troxstar, Shane, and others at the Bier Stein in Eugene.
Just buying this beer took me back in memory to an August afternoon at Pizzeria Paradiso in Old Town Alexandria, VA. It was August 22, 2014. Debbie and I planned to have a beer or two and some food at Bilbo Baggins, but before we met, I went to the SourFest at the Pizzeria Paradiso and, to my absolute delight, the SourFest included Duchesse de Bourgogne on tap. I'd never tasted this beer drawn from a keg before and I was nearly trembling with excitement. My enthusiasm was well placed. I guess that's obvious since I still remember that ten ounce pour vividly to this day.
I thought the Duchesse de Bourgogne might enjoy Billy Collins, so I tuned into his poetry broadcast and served myself the Duchesse poured in a glass. I don't know what the Duchesse thought of Billy Collins reading several of his own poems, but, for me, the Duchesse paired exquisitely with Billy Collins.
3. Patrick and Meagan are coming to visit Saturday and I started planning the dinner I'll serve them when they arrive. I've decided to serve Debbie's green tomato curry over rice and I'll add potatoes, chicken, and possibly green beans to the curry. I've been wanting to try out a recipe for Turkish Pinto Bean Salad and I made it tonight, thinking its flavors would benefit from sitting in the fridge through the night and most of the day tomorrow. I think it will go well with Debbie's curry.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
What was your favorite shoes?
Maybe Saddle or Wing Tips for you's?
Converse, Keds, Red Ball Jets?
Mary Janes too I bets?
Perhaps "Thongs" if the name you'll excuse?
Friday, September 4, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 09/03/20: Mystery Solved (I Think), "Stolen Memories" Mystery, Rose Lake Party BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. If I experience changes in how I feel physically, I feel some low grade anxiety. Are my failing kidneys finally going to pot? Well, the last few days, I've been feeling sluggish and have fallen into deep naps during the day. I thought this over and suddenly I wondered the following: I don't eat much meat, but I've been eating the sausages leftover from Sunday's breakfast blowout. I wonder if that's what lies behind the sluggishness I've been feeling. And you know what? I think it is. It might be the sodium and accompanying dehydration. So, no more morning sausages for me and I'll see if putting the morning meat aside also leaves me feeling more energetic as the day goes along.
2. I enjoyed Billy Collins' continued readings from Whale Day and The Trouble with Poetry.
His jazz selection today was especially exquisite and triggered an imprecise memory inside me that I can't quite get a firm grasp on. If anyone might be able to help me, I'd sure appreciate it.
Billy Collins opened his broadcast by playing the track "Stolen Moments" from Oliver Nelson's album, The Blues and the Abstract Truth.
As the song opened, it was immediately familiar to me. I'm sure this was music played as a prelude to (and maybe during breaks in) a radio program, either for a local KLCC program or for a national program played on KLCC. Or did I hear it as music accompanying programming at KAMU in Washington, DC?
I just don't know.
The tune brings up warm feelings, but I can't place where I used to hear it.
If anyone reading this can help me nail this down, I'll deeply appreciate it.
3. Ed called me this morning with some very good news.
Joni and Carol Lee were going on a CdA Trail bike ride today and wondered if Ed and I would like to join Jake and them for a deck party at the Jacobs' Rose Lake residence.
My friends know I've been very cautious about getting out and doing things, but I've decided that when get togethers are small and outdoors, that works. Today's get together was both of these things.
Am I every happy I joined in!
Ed and I arrived and, almost instantly, Carol Lee had a gin and tonic mixed and in my hand. We enjoyed a fine selection of chips and some pickled asparagus and got in some very high quality yakkin' about what's been happening -- I hadn't see Jake, Carol Lee, or Joni for at least six months.
After a while, Jake fired up the grill and made us each a perfectly grilled burger and I loved the sides that were available: potato salad, fruit salad, and baked beans.
It was a perfect dinner and the whole environment became more and more peaceful as the sun set, the lake sat calmly, hardly a ripple on its surface, and the air cooled down.
Jake played great tunes: the Guess Who, the Bee Gees, and Steely Dan. It was just the right memory packed series of tunes to accompany a relaxed evening with friends I've known since the days of Socrates.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Silver and Gold, are big around here.
Blue and Orange seen when Boise is near.
Crimson and Gray won't skidaddle,
When Purple and Gold comes to battle.
What are your favorite colors to cheer?
College Colors Day
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 09/02/20: Hep B Shot, Haircut, Walking with Prior Phillip BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. As a preventative measure related to a possible future kidney transplant, today I completed my three shot series of Hepatitis B vaccinations. My annual transplant program review will take place in November and I'll find out then what all I need to do to remain listed (cardiac stress test? pulmonary exam? Etc.).
2. I hadn't had a haircut since February. I'm not fussy about my hair, but I was tired of my hair falling in front of my eyes. I suppose I could have bought a bandanna or something to control my messy mop, but, instead, I made an appointment and drove to the Supercuts place I always go to in Coeur d'Alene. I don't think I'll wait six months for another cut and, when I return, I think I'd like my hair to be cut even shorter.
3. I am slowly getting back into a routine of walking and am doing it in the evenings. I walked to the high school again today and, as I made the 1.25 miles round trip, I listened to my audible.com version of The Pillars of the Earth through my earbuds. Prior Phillip's new bishop is wily, power hungry, secretive, and more materially than spiritually motivated and I'm into a part of the novel now where the naive Phillip's eyes are opening to what kind of man he's dealing with in Bishop Waleran. The ecclesiastical political tension of this mammoth piece of historical fiction is tightening.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Of course we don’t want a bad habit.
They’re hard to get rid of dagnabbit.
And if cheese is your vice,
Then take my advice.
Don’t celebrate this day for Welch Rabbit.
National Welch Rarebit Day.
(Rarebit is Welch term for Rabbit) Dish with hot cheese poured over toast.
2. I hadn't had a haircut since February. I'm not fussy about my hair, but I was tired of my hair falling in front of my eyes. I suppose I could have bought a bandanna or something to control my messy mop, but, instead, I made an appointment and drove to the Supercuts place I always go to in Coeur d'Alene. I don't think I'll wait six months for another cut and, when I return, I think I'd like my hair to be cut even shorter.
3. I am slowly getting back into a routine of walking and am doing it in the evenings. I walked to the high school again today and, as I made the 1.25 miles round trip, I listened to my audible.com version of The Pillars of the Earth through my earbuds. Prior Phillip's new bishop is wily, power hungry, secretive, and more materially than spiritually motivated and I'm into a part of the novel now where the naive Phillip's eyes are opening to what kind of man he's dealing with in Bishop Waleran. The ecclesiastical political tension of this mammoth piece of historical fiction is tightening.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Of course we don’t want a bad habit.
They’re hard to get rid of dagnabbit.
And if cheese is your vice,
Then take my advice.
Don’t celebrate this day for Welch Rabbit.
National Welch Rarebit Day.
(Rarebit is Welch term for Rabbit) Dish with hot cheese poured over toast.
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 09/01/20: Billy Collins x 2, Walk, Tree House Concert BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. All that hosting on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday caught up to me today. My entire day seemed to be built around two coma naps. I listened to last Friday's Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast (again) and I listened to today's. On Friday, Billy Collins commemorated the anniversary of Seamus Heaney's death (August 30, 2013) by reading two of his poems, "Postscript" and "Digging" and reflected on what he admires about Heaney's work. He also read his elegy to Seamus Heaney entitled, "Speedwalking on August 31, 2013" and an elegy he wrote for Arthur Plotnik. Monday's broadcast featured Billy Collins reading two poems from his soon to be released collection, Whale Day and three from The Trouble with Poetry. Among his own poems, Billy Collin tucked in his reading of Paul Violi's poem, "At the Cottage of Messer Violi". Listening to all these poems relaxed and prompted one of my periods of deep sleep today.
2. I took a walk up to the high school late this afternoon after the day cooled off a bit. I logged in just over a mile of walking and it invigorated me to get out and moving again after spending too many days not doing so.
3. Bill Davie performed a powerhouse concert tonight from the Tree House. He seemed to be letting the spirit move him from song to song and he performed some of my favorites. As always seems to happen, these favorite songs transport me in time back to Bill's several performances in Eugene -- at Sam Bond's Garage, during the Eugene Celebration in Smith Family Bookstore (I think), in my house on 940 Madison, and at a place that I think was called Buffalo Gals -- at least it was called Buffalo something -- I welcome anyone's correction.
Bill has been writing a series of poems during the pandemic, aptly titled, The Pandemic Suite, and he read about six of them tonight. The poems added mightily to the power of the powerhouse concert.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
An allowance was paid once a week.
For work that’s performed, no back speak.
But, when your efforts reflected,
What was thought you neglected.
Then my friends, you were just up the creek!
2. I took a walk up to the high school late this afternoon after the day cooled off a bit. I logged in just over a mile of walking and it invigorated me to get out and moving again after spending too many days not doing so.
3. Bill Davie performed a powerhouse concert tonight from the Tree House. He seemed to be letting the spirit move him from song to song and he performed some of my favorites. As always seems to happen, these favorite songs transport me in time back to Bill's several performances in Eugene -- at Sam Bond's Garage, during the Eugene Celebration in Smith Family Bookstore (I think), in my house on 940 Madison, and at a place that I think was called Buffalo Gals -- at least it was called Buffalo something -- I welcome anyone's correction.
Bill has been writing a series of poems during the pandemic, aptly titled, The Pandemic Suite, and he read about six of them tonight. The poems added mightily to the power of the powerhouse concert.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
An allowance was paid once a week.
For work that’s performed, no back speak.
But, when your efforts reflected,
What was thought you neglected.
Then my friends, you were just up the creek!
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/31/20: Bacon, Steak Soup and Salad, Family Dinner BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. Ed and Don both brought breakfast meat to the Sunday breakfast we fellas enjoyed yesterday and they left the surplus meat with me. I decided to cook all of it this morning. I can heat up the sausage links in the mornings this week and I fried all the bacon and decided it would be a delicious ingredient in a salad for family dinner tonight -- and add some crunch to the salad's texture.
2. Figuring it would be a hot day, I had a cold meal originally planned for tonight's family dinner, but this morning I saw that the temperature would be cooler today and that we might have to eat indoors, not on the deck.
So I changed plans. A small pack of bottom sirloin steaks have been in the freezer for quite a while and I decided I'd make steak soup. I thawed the steak pieces, cubed them, browned them, and then sprinkled the browned pieces with flour, paprika, salt, and pepper. I made broth out of bouillon paste, added some water to it, and poured it over the meat and tossed in chopped onions, diced tomatoes, some Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. This simmered for about an hour and then I added in the carrots, celery, potatoes, mushrooms, tomato paste, and brown sugar. I brought it to a boil and it simmered for the next couple of hours or so before we had dinner.
I also hard boiled eggs to put on the top of a green salad with the bacon pieces I fried in the morning. I made a salad dressing out of walnut oil, raspberry balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and seasonings. Looking back, I wish I had added in some Dijon mustard.
I bought brownie cookies for dessert and planned on serving them with vanilla ice cream.
3. As the day developed, the rain showers disappeared. The sun peeked out. The temperature was comfortable.
So, we ate on the deck. Everett stayed home and Debbie is in Valley Cottage, NY, so Christy, Carol, Paul, and I sat around the table.
I filled a few small bowls with bread and butter pickles, pickled asparagus, and pickled green tomatoes, and put out some cheese slices with saltine crackers and pieces of Ciabatta bread and butter. I put them on the card table. I mixed Carol, Paul, and Christy each a cocktail and put out a bottle of red and one of white wine. After munching on some appetizers and enjoying a drink, we all dove into the salad and soon I brought out bowls of soup.
Our conversation veered all over the place. For a while, we talked about how the local school district is serving students as school gets underway. I kind of blanked out on the details--I wish them all the best, but even the thought of teaching during the pandemic makes me shudder. Paul retired last spring and he expressed profound relief that he's not teaching this fall. I thought for an instant about all the conversations that must be going on at LCC about instruction and suddenly had a deep sense of peace come over me because I, too, am retired and don't have to negotiate all the difficulties of being a teacher this fall.
A limerick by Stu:
Sunnyside, Silver King and Pinehurst’.
Canyon and Elk Creek were widely disbursed.
Wardner and Lincoln were cool,
As was George Washington School.
Add St. Rita’s, what school was your first?
2. Figuring it would be a hot day, I had a cold meal originally planned for tonight's family dinner, but this morning I saw that the temperature would be cooler today and that we might have to eat indoors, not on the deck.
So I changed plans. A small pack of bottom sirloin steaks have been in the freezer for quite a while and I decided I'd make steak soup. I thawed the steak pieces, cubed them, browned them, and then sprinkled the browned pieces with flour, paprika, salt, and pepper. I made broth out of bouillon paste, added some water to it, and poured it over the meat and tossed in chopped onions, diced tomatoes, some Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. This simmered for about an hour and then I added in the carrots, celery, potatoes, mushrooms, tomato paste, and brown sugar. I brought it to a boil and it simmered for the next couple of hours or so before we had dinner.
I also hard boiled eggs to put on the top of a green salad with the bacon pieces I fried in the morning. I made a salad dressing out of walnut oil, raspberry balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and seasonings. Looking back, I wish I had added in some Dijon mustard.
I bought brownie cookies for dessert and planned on serving them with vanilla ice cream.
3. As the day developed, the rain showers disappeared. The sun peeked out. The temperature was comfortable.
So, we ate on the deck. Everett stayed home and Debbie is in Valley Cottage, NY, so Christy, Carol, Paul, and I sat around the table.
I filled a few small bowls with bread and butter pickles, pickled asparagus, and pickled green tomatoes, and put out some cheese slices with saltine crackers and pieces of Ciabatta bread and butter. I put them on the card table. I mixed Carol, Paul, and Christy each a cocktail and put out a bottle of red and one of white wine. After munching on some appetizers and enjoying a drink, we all dove into the salad and soon I brought out bowls of soup.
Our conversation veered all over the place. For a while, we talked about how the local school district is serving students as school gets underway. I kind of blanked out on the details--I wish them all the best, but even the thought of teaching during the pandemic makes me shudder. Paul retired last spring and he expressed profound relief that he's not teaching this fall. I thought for an instant about all the conversations that must be going on at LCC about instruction and suddenly had a deep sense of peace come over me because I, too, am retired and don't have to negotiate all the difficulties of being a teacher this fall.
A limerick by Stu:
Sunnyside, Silver King and Pinehurst’.
Canyon and Elk Creek were widely disbursed.
Wardner and Lincoln were cool,
As was George Washington School.
Add St. Rita’s, what school was your first?
Monday, August 31, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/30/20: Gotta Have Breakfast!, ZOOM, Unwinding BONUS A Limerick by Stu
Sunday jazz: I read that Columbia University's student-run FM station WKCR was playing a Charlie Parker retrospective to commemorate his 100th birthday, so I tuned in and filled the Vizio room with jazz played at the speed of Bebop.
1. To my way of thinking, one of the great unwritten, mutually understood principles in Kellogg, Idaho is that a great party at night is best followed up with a hearty breakfast the following morning.
I was the happy host for this morning's breakfast. Everyone arrived at my house at 8 a.m., so I got up around 7:15 and got a mess of fried potatoes going. Soon the fellas arrived and they brought with them bread, eggs, orange juice, sausage, and bacon.
I got right down to business. I brewed cups of coffee for Ed and Don. I finished frying the potatoes and put them in the oven to stay warm. I got bacon and sausage going on the stove and started making toast, warming it in the oven, also. Once the meat was cooked, I put it in the dish with the potatoes in the oven to stay warm warm and fried us each a couple of eggs.
We all picked up where we left off the night before, yakkin', telling stories, laughing, bringing each other up to date on our lives these days, and, before long, we headed out on the back deck and enjoyed our breakfast.
We left the deck and came back in the house to escape the sun and, before long, we all said goodbye to each other and brought our awesome weekend of eating, drinking, yakkin', and entertaining each other to an end.
2. My scintillating weekend enjoying friends I've known since the Fall of Rome continued this afternoon online. Bill, Diane, Val, and I jumped on the ZOOM machine for a couple of hours of stimulating conversation. This was Val's birthday weekend. Bill, Diane, and Val wore party hats for the occasion and Bill and Diane joyfully blasted their Happy Birthday noise makers. The best I could do was raise my short pour of single malt scotch in celebration. Val's husband, Mike, was preparing her a gourmet birthday dinner, she had friends visiting, and Val visited us in the Zoom Room for about an hour before it was time for her to put her day into Happy Birthday overdrive.
We had great conversation about movies, old friends, marriage, family, loss, and other things. We are all eager to listen to one another's experiences and how we have come to understand them and what we are experiencing in the present. Val signed off and Bill, Diane, and I talked at some length about our experiences in high school and college, especially with literature and, specifically, poetry. I had fun recalling my experiences at North Idaho College that sparked my fire for poetry and other literature, enjoyed learning what Bill and Diane experienced as students, and marveled at how, for all three of us, certain teachers have had such a lasting impact, how they helped us not only love poems and stories, but set in motion a love that has lasted our entire adult lives.
3. Needless to say, after spending so much time in so much conversation, when I left the ZOOM conversation, I was worn out in the sweetest way. Fortunately, I had left over rice and curry from earlier in the week, so fixing dinner was a breeze. After dinner, I took a coma nap and after doing this and that around the house, went to bed and listened to Fresh Air broadcasts, fell asleep, had some dreams narrated by Terry Gross, was awakened by some of the talking, and finally took the earbuds out and fell into a sweet sleep for the night.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
You can think of days skipping a stone.
‘Cross the water before you were grown.
And remember party’s and games,
And, all teacher’s names.
But, where the heck are your keys and your phone?
1. To my way of thinking, one of the great unwritten, mutually understood principles in Kellogg, Idaho is that a great party at night is best followed up with a hearty breakfast the following morning.
I was the happy host for this morning's breakfast. Everyone arrived at my house at 8 a.m., so I got up around 7:15 and got a mess of fried potatoes going. Soon the fellas arrived and they brought with them bread, eggs, orange juice, sausage, and bacon.
I got right down to business. I brewed cups of coffee for Ed and Don. I finished frying the potatoes and put them in the oven to stay warm. I got bacon and sausage going on the stove and started making toast, warming it in the oven, also. Once the meat was cooked, I put it in the dish with the potatoes in the oven to stay warm warm and fried us each a couple of eggs.
We all picked up where we left off the night before, yakkin', telling stories, laughing, bringing each other up to date on our lives these days, and, before long, we headed out on the back deck and enjoyed our breakfast.
We left the deck and came back in the house to escape the sun and, before long, we all said goodbye to each other and brought our awesome weekend of eating, drinking, yakkin', and entertaining each other to an end.
2. My scintillating weekend enjoying friends I've known since the Fall of Rome continued this afternoon online. Bill, Diane, Val, and I jumped on the ZOOM machine for a couple of hours of stimulating conversation. This was Val's birthday weekend. Bill, Diane, and Val wore party hats for the occasion and Bill and Diane joyfully blasted their Happy Birthday noise makers. The best I could do was raise my short pour of single malt scotch in celebration. Val's husband, Mike, was preparing her a gourmet birthday dinner, she had friends visiting, and Val visited us in the Zoom Room for about an hour before it was time for her to put her day into Happy Birthday overdrive.
We had great conversation about movies, old friends, marriage, family, loss, and other things. We are all eager to listen to one another's experiences and how we have come to understand them and what we are experiencing in the present. Val signed off and Bill, Diane, and I talked at some length about our experiences in high school and college, especially with literature and, specifically, poetry. I had fun recalling my experiences at North Idaho College that sparked my fire for poetry and other literature, enjoyed learning what Bill and Diane experienced as students, and marveled at how, for all three of us, certain teachers have had such a lasting impact, how they helped us not only love poems and stories, but set in motion a love that has lasted our entire adult lives.
3. Needless to say, after spending so much time in so much conversation, when I left the ZOOM conversation, I was worn out in the sweetest way. Fortunately, I had left over rice and curry from earlier in the week, so fixing dinner was a breeze. After dinner, I took a coma nap and after doing this and that around the house, went to bed and listened to Fresh Air broadcasts, fell asleep, had some dreams narrated by Terry Gross, was awakened by some of the talking, and finally took the earbuds out and fell into a sweet sleep for the night.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
You can think of days skipping a stone.
‘Cross the water before you were grown.
And remember party’s and games,
And, all teacher’s names.
But, where the heck are your keys and your phone?
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/29/20: Bon Voyage!, Great News!, Party on the Deck! BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. Methodically, without rushing, Debbie made sure she had what she needed to fly to New York this morning and we and Gibbs piled into the Sube and bolted over to Spokane International Airport. Debbie sent me pictures of Gibbs in his crate under the seat in front of her, of Gibbs strolling at the SeaTac Airport, and of Gibbs starting to acclimate to his new home for the next few months with Adrienne, Josh, Jack, and Ellie. While I had full confidence that Debbie and Gibbs would arrive safely, I was relieved when Debbie let me know my confidence was well placed.
2. On the way to the airport, I heard my cell phone chime with a notification. I wondered if possibly it was Terry Turner. Terry had told me earlier in the week that he would be coming through Kellogg over the weekend. I wasn't sure if he'd arrive on Saturday or Sunday. At the airport, Debbie, Gibbs (sort of), and I bade one another farewell and I drove down to a less crowded area in front of the terminal and checked my messages.
Sure enough! Terry would be arriving in Kellogg in the early afternoon and I also had a message from Don Knott telling me that he would get in touch with me in the afternoon after playing golf in the morning. I sensed a party was beginning to take shape. I arrived back in Kellogg, informed Ed that Terry would be at my place and told Don to be sure to tell Jake.
I arrived home about two and half hours before Terry arrived and this gave me plenty of time to tidy up the house, clean some surfaces, and have the place looking pretty good for visitors.
3. A party, indeed, took shape - in fact, a great party. Terry arrived. He got situated and he pulled a couple cans of Sunriver Brewing's superb Pale Ale, Rippin, out of his cooler and we sat on the back deck and savored this very tasty beer. I made a couple of snack plates. Terry added some snacks he was traveling with. Before long, we needed another beer and I got to drink a can of Buoy Beer Company's Czech Pilsner. (Buoy Beer Co. is out of Astoria, Oregon.)
Well, if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I love drinking beer, but I've not consumed any Oregon craft beers for several months. Drinking the Rippin and the Buoy Czech Pilsner awakened me to how much I've missed great craft beer and I was one happy lad.
Ed arrived and I had one Rolling Rock left in the fridge and he enjoyed it. Then he left for a while to go check in on Nancy.
Don arrived, too. He brought a six pack of ale brewed at Ellensburg's Iron Horse Brewing -- the very popular and very tasty Irish Death.
In his trailer, Terry had steaks and some potatoes to grill. Originally, we was going to fire up his grill outside his trailer in front of Christy and Everett's house, but, instead, Christy invited him to use her grill. Before we knew it, Terry came through the gate between our yard and Christy's with a plate full of perfectly grilled rib eye and T-bone steaks and a batch of grill fried potatoes. Mine was one of the best steaks I've ever eaten.
But we weren't done. The party grew. Christy poured herself a cocktail at her house and joined the rest of us on the deck.
Not only that, Terry broke out a bottle of The Balvenie Doublewood Single Malt Scotch Whisky, aged 12 years.
With Christy giving our party a new jolt of energy and with three of us sipping this complex and uber delicious scotch, our party soared into the stratosphere of stories, laughter, good cheer, and intoxication. Terry, Don, Ed, and I graduated from the KHS Class of 72 and have been friends since before Moses, and Christy, who graduated in 1973, knows everyone we know and had no problem fitting right in with and contributing to all the yakkin' that whirled around the table.
It's kind of mind boggling.
I woke up this morning knowing I'd be driving Debbie to the airport.
I had no idea that a joyous party with great food, drink, and Kellogg camaraderie was going to break out on the back deck.
It was awesome.
An awesome spontaneous afternoon and evening of eating, drinking, and being happy!
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Does is it matter to you what you drive?
Just to get there from here and survive?
Or would you prefer a big truck,
That would never get stuck?
Or maybe dream car, so you feel alive?
2. On the way to the airport, I heard my cell phone chime with a notification. I wondered if possibly it was Terry Turner. Terry had told me earlier in the week that he would be coming through Kellogg over the weekend. I wasn't sure if he'd arrive on Saturday or Sunday. At the airport, Debbie, Gibbs (sort of), and I bade one another farewell and I drove down to a less crowded area in front of the terminal and checked my messages.
Sure enough! Terry would be arriving in Kellogg in the early afternoon and I also had a message from Don Knott telling me that he would get in touch with me in the afternoon after playing golf in the morning. I sensed a party was beginning to take shape. I arrived back in Kellogg, informed Ed that Terry would be at my place and told Don to be sure to tell Jake.
I arrived home about two and half hours before Terry arrived and this gave me plenty of time to tidy up the house, clean some surfaces, and have the place looking pretty good for visitors.
3. A party, indeed, took shape - in fact, a great party. Terry arrived. He got situated and he pulled a couple cans of Sunriver Brewing's superb Pale Ale, Rippin, out of his cooler and we sat on the back deck and savored this very tasty beer. I made a couple of snack plates. Terry added some snacks he was traveling with. Before long, we needed another beer and I got to drink a can of Buoy Beer Company's Czech Pilsner. (Buoy Beer Co. is out of Astoria, Oregon.)
Well, if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I love drinking beer, but I've not consumed any Oregon craft beers for several months. Drinking the Rippin and the Buoy Czech Pilsner awakened me to how much I've missed great craft beer and I was one happy lad.
Ed arrived and I had one Rolling Rock left in the fridge and he enjoyed it. Then he left for a while to go check in on Nancy.
Don arrived, too. He brought a six pack of ale brewed at Ellensburg's Iron Horse Brewing -- the very popular and very tasty Irish Death.
In his trailer, Terry had steaks and some potatoes to grill. Originally, we was going to fire up his grill outside his trailer in front of Christy and Everett's house, but, instead, Christy invited him to use her grill. Before we knew it, Terry came through the gate between our yard and Christy's with a plate full of perfectly grilled rib eye and T-bone steaks and a batch of grill fried potatoes. Mine was one of the best steaks I've ever eaten.
But we weren't done. The party grew. Christy poured herself a cocktail at her house and joined the rest of us on the deck.
Not only that, Terry broke out a bottle of The Balvenie Doublewood Single Malt Scotch Whisky, aged 12 years.
With Christy giving our party a new jolt of energy and with three of us sipping this complex and uber delicious scotch, our party soared into the stratosphere of stories, laughter, good cheer, and intoxication. Terry, Don, Ed, and I graduated from the KHS Class of 72 and have been friends since before Moses, and Christy, who graduated in 1973, knows everyone we know and had no problem fitting right in with and contributing to all the yakkin' that whirled around the table.
It's kind of mind boggling.
I woke up this morning knowing I'd be driving Debbie to the airport.
I had no idea that a joyous party with great food, drink, and Kellogg camaraderie was going to break out on the back deck.
It was awesome.
An awesome spontaneous afternoon and evening of eating, drinking, and being happy!
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Does is it matter to you what you drive?
Just to get there from here and survive?
Or would you prefer a big truck,
That would never get stuck?
Or maybe dream car, so you feel alive?
Three Beautiful Things 08/28/20: Onions and More, Medieval Turmoil, Last Night BONUS A Limerick by Stu
Friday's jazz: I requested the Amazon Echo to shuffle songs by Bud Powell.
1. Ah! Billy Collins featured the towering saxophone playing of the 6'5" Dexter Gordon to open and close today's poetry broadcast. Billy Collins returned to the onion theme and read Pablo Neruda's "Ode the Onion" and then turned to his own poetry and read "In the Evening", "Theme", and "Morning".
2. I returned to The Pillars of the Earth this afternoon and enjoyed the way the story is getting more and more complicated, thanks to a bishop who enjoys power a little too much, a cathedral that needs to be rebuilt, the banishing of Tom Builder's wife from the monastery, and the promise that conflicts between and within different characters are going to continue to grow.
3. Debbie spent much of the day getting ready to fly to New York with Gibbs on Saturday morning. Christy came over and enjoyed a cocktail with Debbie and, after she went home, Debbie pulled me away from The Pillars of the Earth and I joined her on the deck for some low key yakkin'. We moved the party indoors when it got chilly, but I crapped out a little early, wanting to sleep well before heading to Spokane in the morning.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
There's truly just one at the Top.
Had a hit urging you to "Don't Stop!
With high voice and clever feet,
He "Thrilled" us all with his "Beat!"
Give applause to the true "King of Pop"!
Michael Jackson born on August 29, 1958
1. Ah! Billy Collins featured the towering saxophone playing of the 6'5" Dexter Gordon to open and close today's poetry broadcast. Billy Collins returned to the onion theme and read Pablo Neruda's "Ode the Onion" and then turned to his own poetry and read "In the Evening", "Theme", and "Morning".
2. I returned to The Pillars of the Earth this afternoon and enjoyed the way the story is getting more and more complicated, thanks to a bishop who enjoys power a little too much, a cathedral that needs to be rebuilt, the banishing of Tom Builder's wife from the monastery, and the promise that conflicts between and within different characters are going to continue to grow.
3. Debbie spent much of the day getting ready to fly to New York with Gibbs on Saturday morning. Christy came over and enjoyed a cocktail with Debbie and, after she went home, Debbie pulled me away from The Pillars of the Earth and I joined her on the deck for some low key yakkin'. We moved the party indoors when it got chilly, but I crapped out a little early, wanting to sleep well before heading to Spokane in the morning.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
There's truly just one at the Top.
Had a hit urging you to "Don't Stop!
With high voice and clever feet,
He "Thrilled" us all with his "Beat!"
Give applause to the true "King of Pop"!
Michael Jackson born on August 29, 1958
Friday, August 28, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/27/20: Prof Bebop, Deck Party, *Harold and Maude* (Again!) BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. On his broadcast today, Billy Collins put on his cool, beatnik-y shades, playing the role of Professor Bebop, continued his praise of what he considers the finest jazz album ever (just edging out Miles Davis' Kind of Blue), The Quintet: Jazz at Massey Hall. By the end of the broadcast, he played us a cut featuring Charlie Parker playing at the speed of bebop. Sandwiched in between his mini-lectures on bebop, Billy Collins read two onion poems, "Valentine" by Carole Ann Duffy and "Onions" by William Matthews and concluded with a couple of his own poems, "Drawing Class" and "Bereft".
2. I popped into Yoke's and bought an armload of snack food and replenished our liquor supply at the liquor store in preparation for a cocktail party on our back deck, an informal farewell to Debbie. Christy, Everett, Carol, Paul, and neighbor Jane lounged with Debbie and me and we enjoyed a few drinks and munched on cheese, crackers, salami, smoked sausage, cherry tomatoes with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, chips and salsa, pickled asparagus and green tomatoes, and black olives. Jane had to have her beloved very old giant of a German shepherd euthanized yesterday and we talked about Griz. Dr. Cook made a house call to ease Griz out of this world and release him from his suffering and we talked about how much we appreciate Dr. Cook's sensitivity and his love for the animals he works with. Many other topics swirled around the deck. It was a splendid party full of good cheer, good stories, sadness, laughter, and, above all, good will. Cool mountain air pushed out the heat of the day, making it very pleasant to be outside.
3. Chronology, thanks to the the Ouzo I was sipping out of a tiny jar, is a little fuzzy for me, but at some point I initiated a discussion with Debbie about Cat Stevens, wondering what she thought of his music and songwriting. When I got a little chilly and came into the house, I had a what the heck moment: I decided to watch Harold and Maude again. Debbie joined me. Tonight, I was especially keen on enjoying the way Cat Stevens' songs enter the movie. The timing of when they come in is impeccable. The lyrics fit perfectly with both the moments of the movie they accompany and the overall arc of the movie. The more I watch Harold and Maude, the more I marvel at its perfect structure, at how superbly it's put together. Ha! I've watched Harold and Maude three times in the last week and, in addition to having a renewed love for its construction, I am also admiring more and more the work of Vivian Pickles. She plays Harold's mother and beautifully establishes a delicate balance in her relationship with Harold: she is, depending on the moment, indifferent, outraged, and amused by Harold's suicide tableaux and, at times, especially when Harold's three different dates come to the house, seems to be in on Harold's antics, flirting with being his co-conspirator. (At least that's how I have come to see it...I know I might be all wet!)
Here's a limerick by Stu:
You're embarrassed if folks see you stumble.
When you're cut off in traffic you grumble.
But there's only one word,
For a game that's absurd.
And for golf, that word would be humble.
2. I popped into Yoke's and bought an armload of snack food and replenished our liquor supply at the liquor store in preparation for a cocktail party on our back deck, an informal farewell to Debbie. Christy, Everett, Carol, Paul, and neighbor Jane lounged with Debbie and me and we enjoyed a few drinks and munched on cheese, crackers, salami, smoked sausage, cherry tomatoes with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, chips and salsa, pickled asparagus and green tomatoes, and black olives. Jane had to have her beloved very old giant of a German shepherd euthanized yesterday and we talked about Griz. Dr. Cook made a house call to ease Griz out of this world and release him from his suffering and we talked about how much we appreciate Dr. Cook's sensitivity and his love for the animals he works with. Many other topics swirled around the deck. It was a splendid party full of good cheer, good stories, sadness, laughter, and, above all, good will. Cool mountain air pushed out the heat of the day, making it very pleasant to be outside.
3. Chronology, thanks to the the Ouzo I was sipping out of a tiny jar, is a little fuzzy for me, but at some point I initiated a discussion with Debbie about Cat Stevens, wondering what she thought of his music and songwriting. When I got a little chilly and came into the house, I had a what the heck moment: I decided to watch Harold and Maude again. Debbie joined me. Tonight, I was especially keen on enjoying the way Cat Stevens' songs enter the movie. The timing of when they come in is impeccable. The lyrics fit perfectly with both the moments of the movie they accompany and the overall arc of the movie. The more I watch Harold and Maude, the more I marvel at its perfect structure, at how superbly it's put together. Ha! I've watched Harold and Maude three times in the last week and, in addition to having a renewed love for its construction, I am also admiring more and more the work of Vivian Pickles. She plays Harold's mother and beautifully establishes a delicate balance in her relationship with Harold: she is, depending on the moment, indifferent, outraged, and amused by Harold's suicide tableaux and, at times, especially when Harold's three different dates come to the house, seems to be in on Harold's antics, flirting with being his co-conspirator. (At least that's how I have come to see it...I know I might be all wet!)
Here's a limerick by Stu:
You're embarrassed if folks see you stumble.
When you're cut off in traffic you grumble.
But there's only one word,
For a game that's absurd.
And for golf, that word would be humble.
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/26/20: Deep Into Keats, Jazz and Poetry, Yellow Curry BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. It's such a densely packed presentation that I'll take an hour sometime and listen to Helen Vendler's lecture on Keats' "To Autumn" again. Helen Vendler not only explores different structures at work in the poem (very illuminating), she takes us into Keats' mind, into his other odes, into the debt he owed to other poets, especially Milton and Spenser, and into her study of other writings he left behind, including drafts of "To Autumn". In her lecture, Helen Vendler illuminates certain things that Keats assumed we'd know about when reading his poem, including the topography of an English farm and the Greek and Roman myths that inform his work. Helen Vendler's knowledge is encyclopedic, her sensitivity to the many movements in Keats' ode is exquisite, her ear for echoes between Keats poems astonishing, and her understanding of how John Keats translated the workings of his mind into tropes, figures, images, and poetic structure is remarkable. (This video is not posted on YouTube, but if you enter Helen Vendler Keats To Autumn in your favorite search engine, look for a URL that begins kaltura.uga.edu.)
2. In his poetry broadcast today, Billy Collins introduced us to the legendary live 1953 concert of The Quintet at Massey Hall in Toronto. The quintet featured Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Charlie Parker (sax), Charles Mingus (bass), Bud Powell (piano), and Max Roach (drums). These five giants of jazz never performed together again, but fortunately this performance was recorded and the album is readily available for our listening pleasure. On the poetry front, Billy Collins read two poems by Raymond Carver ("Happiness" and "Cobweb"), two of his own poems ("And His Sextet" and "My Life"), and closed by reading Ada Limon's poem published in 2018, "A New National Anthem".
3. When Debbie made green tomato curry the other night, I made a big pot of brown rice and we had about two quarts left over. Tonight, Debbie asked me to make a Thai curry, not only so we could eat some of this rice, but because she was hungry for it. She specifically requested that the curry include potatoes.
No problem.
I heated up a two tablespoon plug of yellow curry paste. I chopped up an onion, a couple of potatoes, a zucchini, and a piece of fresh ginger and I got out a bag of green beans. I mixed coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl and poured it over the paste and the vegetables in the Dutch oven and stirred it up. I then added fresh basil and cilantro to the curry.
I slow cooked the curry sauce on the stove top until the onions and potatoes were soft.
It worked. We had a great dinner.
Here's a limerick by Stu. It's National Tarzan Day!
Created by Edgar back when.
Had a yell which caused fear among men.
Could use vines in the trees,
To cruise the jungle with ease.
And believed Lady Jane was a TEN!
2. In his poetry broadcast today, Billy Collins introduced us to the legendary live 1953 concert of The Quintet at Massey Hall in Toronto. The quintet featured Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Charlie Parker (sax), Charles Mingus (bass), Bud Powell (piano), and Max Roach (drums). These five giants of jazz never performed together again, but fortunately this performance was recorded and the album is readily available for our listening pleasure. On the poetry front, Billy Collins read two poems by Raymond Carver ("Happiness" and "Cobweb"), two of his own poems ("And His Sextet" and "My Life"), and closed by reading Ada Limon's poem published in 2018, "A New National Anthem".
3. When Debbie made green tomato curry the other night, I made a big pot of brown rice and we had about two quarts left over. Tonight, Debbie asked me to make a Thai curry, not only so we could eat some of this rice, but because she was hungry for it. She specifically requested that the curry include potatoes.
No problem.
I heated up a two tablespoon plug of yellow curry paste. I chopped up an onion, a couple of potatoes, a zucchini, and a piece of fresh ginger and I got out a bag of green beans. I mixed coconut milk, soy sauce, fish sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl and poured it over the paste and the vegetables in the Dutch oven and stirred it up. I then added fresh basil and cilantro to the curry.
I slow cooked the curry sauce on the stove top until the onions and potatoes were soft.
It worked. We had a great dinner.
Here's a limerick by Stu. It's National Tarzan Day!
Created by Edgar back when.
Had a yell which caused fear among men.
Could use vines in the trees,
To cruise the jungle with ease.
And believed Lady Jane was a TEN!
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/25/20: Helen Vendler on Keats, Clams and Noodles, Bill Davie and Gene Hackman BONUS Stu's Limerick
1. I belong to a Billy Collins Facebook group. Recently, a member of that group posted a link to a video of Harvard professor and highly esteem poetry scholar Helen Vendler giving an hour long lecture on John Keats' ode, "To Autumn" -- the very same ode Billy Collins discussed last Friday in the broadcast that has disappeared from the World Wide Web -- no one knows what happened. She gave this lecture in 1980.
If Billy Collins' ten to fifteen minute discussion of "To Autumn" cracked open the door of the poem for me, Vendler's lecture blew the door wide open -- and I've only listened to about twenty minutes of it so far. I'll just say that, so far, Vendler's emphasis is on the various means Keats structures or organizes the poem and that these means of organization are inseparable from the the ideas about autumn (and beyond) that Keats explores through the arrangement of the poem's stanzas and its images.
Next up: finish listening to Helen Vendler's lecture and, on down the road, listen to other lectures available on the World Wide Web she's given -- I'm most interested in what she has to say about Wallace Stevens.
I also listened to the Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast today. Billy further introduced us to the jazz of Art Pepper. He read some Ron Padgett poems and then read two of his own poems, both satirizing Wordsworth and others: "Lines Composed Over Three Thousand Miles from Tintern Abbey" and "Lines Written at Flying Point Beach".
2. I was locked into listening to Helen Vendler, but happily took off my headphones when Debbie told me she'd fixed us some dinner. She combined noodles, clams, diced tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, and red pepper flakes and topped this dish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It was an extraordinary meal.
3. Bill Davie's Tree House Concert tonight was exceptional. Bill kept telling us he felt weird, but what I experienced was straight up Bill Davie honesty as he performed his songs with verve and read several of his poems. His voice broke from time to time as the words he wrote and the memories his poems brought up for him moved him. Jeff Steve and I talked on the phone after the concert and agreed that it was an awesome concert and that we both admired Bill's emotional authenticity and his prolific artistry.
Jeff and I finished our conversation and I joined Debbie so we could watch Gene Hackman starring in Francis Ford Coppola's brilliant movie, The Conversation. I've watched this movie now at least a dozen times and I've always zeroed in on Gene Hackman's work bringing the damaged character Harry Caul to life. Debbie was attuned to Harry Caul's character, too, and she also watched the movie as a crime story, drawing upon her vast experience watching crime shows, especially over the last 10-15 years. Debbie's questions and comments after the movie about the movie's central crime enlarged my experience with this movie and got me thinking about aspects of it that I hadn't given much thought before. I enjoyed puzzling over her questions and comments a lot -- and am ready, some day, to watch this movie again for about the 800th time!
Here's a limerick by Stu:
So, what do you know about horses?
Many colors according to sources.
Buckskins, pintos and grays,
Roans, palominos and bays.
Do they still get along? But of courses.
If Billy Collins' ten to fifteen minute discussion of "To Autumn" cracked open the door of the poem for me, Vendler's lecture blew the door wide open -- and I've only listened to about twenty minutes of it so far. I'll just say that, so far, Vendler's emphasis is on the various means Keats structures or organizes the poem and that these means of organization are inseparable from the the ideas about autumn (and beyond) that Keats explores through the arrangement of the poem's stanzas and its images.
Next up: finish listening to Helen Vendler's lecture and, on down the road, listen to other lectures available on the World Wide Web she's given -- I'm most interested in what she has to say about Wallace Stevens.
I also listened to the Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast today. Billy further introduced us to the jazz of Art Pepper. He read some Ron Padgett poems and then read two of his own poems, both satirizing Wordsworth and others: "Lines Composed Over Three Thousand Miles from Tintern Abbey" and "Lines Written at Flying Point Beach".
2. I was locked into listening to Helen Vendler, but happily took off my headphones when Debbie told me she'd fixed us some dinner. She combined noodles, clams, diced tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, and red pepper flakes and topped this dish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It was an extraordinary meal.
3. Bill Davie's Tree House Concert tonight was exceptional. Bill kept telling us he felt weird, but what I experienced was straight up Bill Davie honesty as he performed his songs with verve and read several of his poems. His voice broke from time to time as the words he wrote and the memories his poems brought up for him moved him. Jeff Steve and I talked on the phone after the concert and agreed that it was an awesome concert and that we both admired Bill's emotional authenticity and his prolific artistry.
Jeff and I finished our conversation and I joined Debbie so we could watch Gene Hackman starring in Francis Ford Coppola's brilliant movie, The Conversation. I've watched this movie now at least a dozen times and I've always zeroed in on Gene Hackman's work bringing the damaged character Harry Caul to life. Debbie was attuned to Harry Caul's character, too, and she also watched the movie as a crime story, drawing upon her vast experience watching crime shows, especially over the last 10-15 years. Debbie's questions and comments after the movie about the movie's central crime enlarged my experience with this movie and got me thinking about aspects of it that I hadn't given much thought before. I enjoyed puzzling over her questions and comments a lot -- and am ready, some day, to watch this movie again for about the 800th time!
Here's a limerick by Stu:
So, what do you know about horses?
Many colors according to sources.
Buckskins, pintos and grays,
Roans, palominos and bays.
Do they still get along? But of courses.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/24/20: Poor Kitty, Green Tomato Curry, Repeated Movie Viewings BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. It was a pleasure to watch today's Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast. Last Friday, in a broadcast which mysteriously disappeared from Facebook, Billy Collins presented a short seminar on the ode with special emphasis on Keats' ode, "To Autumn". Billy Collins was still in the mood for odes when today's broadcast opened and after we listened to a few minutes of Art Pepper, he read a great poem by the 18th century poet Thomas Gray entitled simply "Ode", but with the lengthy subtitle, "On the Death of a Favourite Cat Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes" (sometimes the title and subtitle are put together to form a long title). It's a witty poem that treats the sad drowning of a beloved cat as a tragic moment in a Homeric epic with a solemn moral attached to it. Billy Collins followed up this poem with another ode written by Kenneth Koch (of the 20th century) called, "To My Twenties".
Billy Collins closed the broadcasts with two splendid poems from his book, Picnic, Lightning: "Moon" and "Passengers".
2. I guess I'd always thought that cooking with green tomatoes only happened when a gardener surrendered to the elements and decided that there were a bunch of tomatoes that were never going to ripen. Now, I think about green tomatoes differently. You see, Debbie harvested a bunch of green tomatoes, not out of dismay, not out of impatience, but because she wanted to prepare a batch of green tomato curry and can it.
The curry I've been preparing and we've been eating over the last several years has been exclusively Thai curry. Debbie's green tomato curry is not -- it's a Middle Eastern curry. She used curry powder (my Thai curry is made from curry paste). It's not a coconut milk curry. This curry has a sweetness underlying it, thanks to the tomatoes and the brown sugar, but it's also earthy, thanks to the cumin and curry powder. It's not a mouth burning curry (thank goodness), but it has a little heat.
In short, it's awesome. I could imagine adding small bits of boiled potatoes to this curry; I'd like to try it with sliced apples and sprinkle cinnamon on the apples. Debbie's green tomato curry opened up many possibilities. Tonight, we simply served it over brown rice and we both loved it and are very happy to have another new meal we can draw upon for dinner.
Oh! One more thing. We ate this curry without meat, but I can imagine it tasting very good with chicken, beef, shrimp, or lamb -- and, possibly other meats.
3. Before watching some news programming this evening, Debbie and I watched the last hour of
All the President's Men.
The movie finished and Debbie said, "I love that movie! I could watch it every day. I wonder what it is about certain movies that make them ones you can watch over and over and over again."
I responded that I couldn't really say what it was, but Debbie's comment moved me to start listing movies I can watch repeatedly and enjoy more and more with each viewing. In no particular order, here is a partial list of such movies for me:
The Conversation
The Godfather
Godfather II
Apocalypse Now
Breaker Morant
Hoosiers
Harold and Maude
All the President's Men
Tootsie
Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branagh)
Henry V (Kenneth Branagh)
The Big Lebowski
Stop Making Sense
The Last Waltz
The Band's Visit
Pieces of April
The Station Agent
Into the Wild
The Lavender Hill Mob
My Dinner with Andre
The Stunt Man
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
That's enough for now. I'm sure there are many more. Making this list off the top of my head was fun.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Hurray for the folks who’ve retired.
Going to work is no longer required.
Can take a trip, golf or read,
Help out folks in need.
Hope they enjoy whatever’s desired.
Billy Collins closed the broadcasts with two splendid poems from his book, Picnic, Lightning: "Moon" and "Passengers".
2. I guess I'd always thought that cooking with green tomatoes only happened when a gardener surrendered to the elements and decided that there were a bunch of tomatoes that were never going to ripen. Now, I think about green tomatoes differently. You see, Debbie harvested a bunch of green tomatoes, not out of dismay, not out of impatience, but because she wanted to prepare a batch of green tomato curry and can it.
The curry I've been preparing and we've been eating over the last several years has been exclusively Thai curry. Debbie's green tomato curry is not -- it's a Middle Eastern curry. She used curry powder (my Thai curry is made from curry paste). It's not a coconut milk curry. This curry has a sweetness underlying it, thanks to the tomatoes and the brown sugar, but it's also earthy, thanks to the cumin and curry powder. It's not a mouth burning curry (thank goodness), but it has a little heat.
In short, it's awesome. I could imagine adding small bits of boiled potatoes to this curry; I'd like to try it with sliced apples and sprinkle cinnamon on the apples. Debbie's green tomato curry opened up many possibilities. Tonight, we simply served it over brown rice and we both loved it and are very happy to have another new meal we can draw upon for dinner.
Oh! One more thing. We ate this curry without meat, but I can imagine it tasting very good with chicken, beef, shrimp, or lamb -- and, possibly other meats.
3. Before watching some news programming this evening, Debbie and I watched the last hour of
All the President's Men.
The movie finished and Debbie said, "I love that movie! I could watch it every day. I wonder what it is about certain movies that make them ones you can watch over and over and over again."
I responded that I couldn't really say what it was, but Debbie's comment moved me to start listing movies I can watch repeatedly and enjoy more and more with each viewing. In no particular order, here is a partial list of such movies for me:
The Conversation
The Godfather
Godfather II
Apocalypse Now
Breaker Morant
Hoosiers
Harold and Maude
All the President's Men
Tootsie
Much Ado About Nothing (Kenneth Branagh)
Henry V (Kenneth Branagh)
The Big Lebowski
Stop Making Sense
The Last Waltz
The Band's Visit
Pieces of April
The Station Agent
Into the Wild
The Lavender Hill Mob
My Dinner with Andre
The Stunt Man
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
That's enough for now. I'm sure there are many more. Making this list off the top of my head was fun.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Hurray for the folks who’ve retired.
Going to work is no longer required.
Can take a trip, golf or read,
Help out folks in need.
Hope they enjoy whatever’s desired.
Monday, August 24, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/23/20: Cocoon, Family Dinner, Minimalist Soundtrack BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. I went into the cocoon of the Vizio room today and relaxed, stayed cool, napped off and on, and accomplished very little.
2. I roused myself late in the afternoon, got cleaned up, and made a quick trip to Yoke's to pick up a couple bottles of wine for tonight's family dinner.
The dinner was a relaxing get together with superb food. Carol made a creamy pesto dip and brought homemade bread for an appetizer. Debbie brought a bowl of the green tomato pickles she recently made. Christy fixed a really delicious ham and served it with cheesy scalloped potatoes. Debbie made a crisp, smartly dressed green salad. I had been concerned right up until dinner time that it be too hot outside to enjoy eating in Christy and Everett's back yard, but I didn't need to be worried. We arrived at around 6:00 and already the cooler North Idaho air was taking over and it was, to my relief, very comfortable.
I was thinking how wonderful this dinner was and suddenly Paul slipped into the she shed and brought out a chocolate zucchini cake that Carol had baked, not just for dinner, but to celebrate Christy and Everett's 23rd wedding anniversary. The cake was perfect, a great way to top off our meal.
3. Back home, Debbie and I fell into conversation again about All the President's Men. Suddenly, Debbie said, "Will you put it on again?" I didn't need any persuading! The movie got underway and we commented occasionally on aspects of its making we admired, including the minimalist music soundtrack. I don't think either of us thought we'd make it to the end -- and we didn't. Who knows? Maybe we'll finish watching it on Monday. Honestly, we just cannot seem to watch it enough!
Here's a limerick by Stu:
The world's goin' to heck people say.
The worst ever in history's today!
C'mon give it a rest,
Today might not be the best.
But there's no Aliens or Zombies in play!
2. I roused myself late in the afternoon, got cleaned up, and made a quick trip to Yoke's to pick up a couple bottles of wine for tonight's family dinner.
The dinner was a relaxing get together with superb food. Carol made a creamy pesto dip and brought homemade bread for an appetizer. Debbie brought a bowl of the green tomato pickles she recently made. Christy fixed a really delicious ham and served it with cheesy scalloped potatoes. Debbie made a crisp, smartly dressed green salad. I had been concerned right up until dinner time that it be too hot outside to enjoy eating in Christy and Everett's back yard, but I didn't need to be worried. We arrived at around 6:00 and already the cooler North Idaho air was taking over and it was, to my relief, very comfortable.
I was thinking how wonderful this dinner was and suddenly Paul slipped into the she shed and brought out a chocolate zucchini cake that Carol had baked, not just for dinner, but to celebrate Christy and Everett's 23rd wedding anniversary. The cake was perfect, a great way to top off our meal.
3. Back home, Debbie and I fell into conversation again about All the President's Men. Suddenly, Debbie said, "Will you put it on again?" I didn't need any persuading! The movie got underway and we commented occasionally on aspects of its making we admired, including the minimalist music soundtrack. I don't think either of us thought we'd make it to the end -- and we didn't. Who knows? Maybe we'll finish watching it on Monday. Honestly, we just cannot seem to watch it enough!
Here's a limerick by Stu:
The world's goin' to heck people say.
The worst ever in history's today!
C'mon give it a rest,
Today might not be the best.
But there's no Aliens or Zombies in play!
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/22/20: Fire in the Cathedral, Gordon Willis, Cassidy/Sundance BONUS A Limerick by Stu
Saturday music: Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat
1. After a morning of blogging and getting my fantasy baseball lineups situated, I jumped back in the time machine and returned to medieval England and plunged back into The Pillars of the Earth. In my reading/listening right now, all the action centers around the fire that nearly destroyed Kingsbridge Cathedral and its aftermath.
2. We watched the last hour of All the President's Men this evening and mostly my mind was on two things. First, my admiration for the acting in this movie grows every time I watch it. Whether it's Jason Robarts or Jane Alexander or Dustin Hoffman or Robert Redford or Hal Holbrook or Robert Walden, to name a few, this movie features one solid, often brilliant, piece of character acting after another. Sally Aiken. Jack Warden. Martin Balsam. Lindsay Crouse. Solid. Solid. Solid.
Secondly, I relished Gordon Willis' cinematography, especially having just watched Godfather II. Willis was the Director of Photography in all the Godfather movies (and a string of Woody Allen's movies -- Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, and others). Willis is a genius at filming in low light environments, of darkening a room or an environment and dotting or streaking it with light, of filming faces partially in shadow and partially illuminated. His photography is helping us experience what's happening inside the characters he photographs -- as Michael Corleone's soul shrinks, as his criminality and killing drains him of vitality, Willis shoots his face in more and more shadow and the room at the boathouse grows darker and darker, as if the Michael's callousness is projected into the very physical spaces he occupies.
Characters in All the President's Men, like Deep Throat and Hugh Sloan, are caught in morally ambiguous situations. If you remember the conversations in the parking garage between Woodward and Deep Throat, you might remember how Hal Holbrook's face is mostly in shadow, often barely lit only by the cigarette he's smoking. It's stunning camera work, both in its physical effect and its deepening of how the movie characterizes Deep Throat. Likewise, when Woodward and Bernstein make their last, late night visit to Hugh Sloan, Willis conveys the conflict Sloan feels within himself to bring what he knows to light but to keep what he knows hidden, keep it in the dark, in the contrast between light and shadow on the actor Stephen Collins' face.
I'll mention one other scene. It's in Bernstein's apartment. Woodward just learned from Deep Throat that the reporters' lives might be in danger. Woodward comes into the apartment, turns Bernstein's stereo on really loud, and they communicate at Bernstein's desk by typing to each other. The picture of Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, side by side, illuminated in a dark apartment by the desk lamps, eagerly and anxiously typing out messages to each other is arresting, and, I'd have to say, seeing it all these years after the movie was released, knowing what titanic careers Hoffman and Redford have had, it's an iconic image, not only of the characters Woodward and Bernstein, but of these two actors working side by side.
3. We decided to give Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid a try and, after about an hour, I crapped out and went to bed. I hadn't seen this movie since it came out. I watched it at the Rena Theater one Sunday afternoon with some of the guys. I loved it as a high school sophomore. As I went to bed, I wondered if possibly I had, for lack of a better phrase, outgrown this movie. The stuff I thought was so funny back in 1969-70 just didn't register tonight and the bicycle riding scene didn't seem as charming as it did 50 years ago. Maybe I was just tired and, if I return to it earlier in the day, better rested, maybe it'll work better for me. We'll see.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Remembering back to your first.
Was it cool or a thing that you cursed?
Did it provide you some fun,
Get you home when you’re done?
Or leave memories that just are the worst? (First car)
1. After a morning of blogging and getting my fantasy baseball lineups situated, I jumped back in the time machine and returned to medieval England and plunged back into The Pillars of the Earth. In my reading/listening right now, all the action centers around the fire that nearly destroyed Kingsbridge Cathedral and its aftermath.
2. We watched the last hour of All the President's Men this evening and mostly my mind was on two things. First, my admiration for the acting in this movie grows every time I watch it. Whether it's Jason Robarts or Jane Alexander or Dustin Hoffman or Robert Redford or Hal Holbrook or Robert Walden, to name a few, this movie features one solid, often brilliant, piece of character acting after another. Sally Aiken. Jack Warden. Martin Balsam. Lindsay Crouse. Solid. Solid. Solid.
Secondly, I relished Gordon Willis' cinematography, especially having just watched Godfather II. Willis was the Director of Photography in all the Godfather movies (and a string of Woody Allen's movies -- Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, and others). Willis is a genius at filming in low light environments, of darkening a room or an environment and dotting or streaking it with light, of filming faces partially in shadow and partially illuminated. His photography is helping us experience what's happening inside the characters he photographs -- as Michael Corleone's soul shrinks, as his criminality and killing drains him of vitality, Willis shoots his face in more and more shadow and the room at the boathouse grows darker and darker, as if the Michael's callousness is projected into the very physical spaces he occupies.
Characters in All the President's Men, like Deep Throat and Hugh Sloan, are caught in morally ambiguous situations. If you remember the conversations in the parking garage between Woodward and Deep Throat, you might remember how Hal Holbrook's face is mostly in shadow, often barely lit only by the cigarette he's smoking. It's stunning camera work, both in its physical effect and its deepening of how the movie characterizes Deep Throat. Likewise, when Woodward and Bernstein make their last, late night visit to Hugh Sloan, Willis conveys the conflict Sloan feels within himself to bring what he knows to light but to keep what he knows hidden, keep it in the dark, in the contrast between light and shadow on the actor Stephen Collins' face.
I'll mention one other scene. It's in Bernstein's apartment. Woodward just learned from Deep Throat that the reporters' lives might be in danger. Woodward comes into the apartment, turns Bernstein's stereo on really loud, and they communicate at Bernstein's desk by typing to each other. The picture of Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, side by side, illuminated in a dark apartment by the desk lamps, eagerly and anxiously typing out messages to each other is arresting, and, I'd have to say, seeing it all these years after the movie was released, knowing what titanic careers Hoffman and Redford have had, it's an iconic image, not only of the characters Woodward and Bernstein, but of these two actors working side by side.
3. We decided to give Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid a try and, after about an hour, I crapped out and went to bed. I hadn't seen this movie since it came out. I watched it at the Rena Theater one Sunday afternoon with some of the guys. I loved it as a high school sophomore. As I went to bed, I wondered if possibly I had, for lack of a better phrase, outgrown this movie. The stuff I thought was so funny back in 1969-70 just didn't register tonight and the bicycle riding scene didn't seem as charming as it did 50 years ago. Maybe I was just tired and, if I return to it earlier in the day, better rested, maybe it'll work better for me. We'll see.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Remembering back to your first.
Was it cool or a thing that you cursed?
Did it provide you some fun,
Get you home when you’re done?
Or leave memories that just are the worst? (First car)
Saturday, August 22, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/21/20: Billy Collins Teaches Keats, Fun Cooking, Deck Talk BONUS A Limerick by Stu
I returned to some morning jazz on this Friday morning: Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan, Two of a Mind.
1. I missed Thursday's Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast while enjoying the garden lunch party with Kenton and Gerri over at Carol and Paul's.
So, late this morning, I watched the replay. First, I completed my homework assignment and read John Keats' ode, "To Autumn" and I listened to Ben Whishaw read the poem on YouTube.
Aside from having read quite a bit of William Wordsworth, I haven't spent much time with the Romantic poets of the late 18th and early 19th century. Billy Collins is a scholar of the Romantic period and I was fired up to submit myself to his explication of this poem.
Billy Collins started his broadcast by reading his poem, "Vinyl". He wrote it as a contribution to an anthology honoring Gordon Lightfoot, entitled 50+ Poems to Gordon Lightfoot.
Then our Keats seminar got underway. Billy Collins explained what makes the ode a unique genre of poetry and dipped into some parts of other odes by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Kenneth Koch. Once he had constructed this framework, he read "To Autumn" and gave a short and illuminating lecture on the poem. The poem is divided into three stanzas. The first praises autumn's specific marvels: apples, hazelnuts, flowers, a bee's hive and other specific things. The second stanza personifies autumn as a woman. The third stanza turns to the music of autumn, responding to the stanza's opening question, "Where are the songs of Autumn?".
Whenever I experience some connection between how Billy Collins teaches a poem and my long ago attempts to do the same in the courses I once taught, it thrills me, makes me very happy. In today's lesson, Billy Collins gave much emphasis to the music in "To Autumn", the music created by the poem's vowels. As the pattern of vowel sounds change, so does the tone and temper of the ode. I used to love reading poems or lines of Shakespeare to my students and eliminate the consonants. To me, much of the emotional content of a poem is in the vowel sounds -- whether it's the tripping and merry sounds of short vowels or the grievous moans of long vowel sounds, especially long o's, to name a couple examples.
It's a happy coincidence that in the last couple of weeks, Billy Collins has given us short lessons on two poets whom I need the most help with: Emily Dickinson and John Keats.
The world of poetry, my enjoyment of it and my understanding, keeps expanding thanks to this broadcast.
By the way, during Friday's broadcast, Billy Collins took us for a short trip into the work of Seamus Heaney because Joe Biden had concluded his speech at the convention Thursday night with a quotation from Heaney's play, Cure at Troy: "Make hope and history rhyme."
2. Debbie asked me to fix dinner tonight, a great pleasure for me. She described what she would like and so I complied. I minced a couple of cloves of garlic, chopped up white onion, and chopped up a stalk of celery. While these ingredients were sauteing, I thawed out some ground beef, added it to the onions, celery, and garlic, cooked it all until the ground beef was browned, and then added a can of diced tomatoes and a can of pinto beans along with oregano, pepper, cumin, and red pepper flakes. While this mess simmered away, I made a pot of brown rice. We put rice in a bowl and covered the rice with the beans, tomatoes, and ground beef mixture. It turned out to be exactly what Debbie was hungry for. I loved this dinner. It was a success.
3. Debbie and I went over to Christy and Everett's after dinner to review what had been an eventful day. A family friend I've known for as long as I've had memory, Corrine Turnbow, died earlier this week and her daughter Kellie and son Bob hosted a drop in get together at Kellie's home in Wallace.
There's a common phrase being used during this pandemic: "with an abundance of caution".
If you've been reading this blog over the last few months, you've probably picked up that I am part of the "with an abundance of caution" crowd. It was out of my sense of caution that I decided to stay home today and not join the get together at Kellie's. Christy and Carol went and Christy reviewed what happened at the get together when Debbie and I came over.
The conversation moved in many other directions, and, at a certain point, for no good reason, I returned to our house.
I sat down. I'd had the Cat Stevens' songs from Harold and Maude going through my head all day long. I decided it was a message.
I watched Harold and Maude (yet) again! Debbie returned from Christy's. The movie was about 15 minutes from the end and she joined me to watch it conclude. I loved seeing it again as much (or more) than ever.
It was getting late -- close to midnight. I watched the trailer for Being There, directed by Hal Ashby, the director of Harold and Maude. I can hardly wait to watch it again.
I guess we weren't quite ready to call it a night.
Debbie said, "Let's watch All the President's Men."
Great idea! It's been about a month since we last watched it for the 900th time!
We didn't make it through the entire movie, but watching what we did was like having a good friend return for a visit after a short period of separation.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
What might be your favorite color?
Do you prefer it be bright or choose duller?
Do you wear it with pride,
Both in and outside?
Or keep it locked up in your skuller?
1. I missed Thursday's Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast while enjoying the garden lunch party with Kenton and Gerri over at Carol and Paul's.
So, late this morning, I watched the replay. First, I completed my homework assignment and read John Keats' ode, "To Autumn" and I listened to Ben Whishaw read the poem on YouTube.
Aside from having read quite a bit of William Wordsworth, I haven't spent much time with the Romantic poets of the late 18th and early 19th century. Billy Collins is a scholar of the Romantic period and I was fired up to submit myself to his explication of this poem.
Billy Collins started his broadcast by reading his poem, "Vinyl". He wrote it as a contribution to an anthology honoring Gordon Lightfoot, entitled 50+ Poems to Gordon Lightfoot.
Then our Keats seminar got underway. Billy Collins explained what makes the ode a unique genre of poetry and dipped into some parts of other odes by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Kenneth Koch. Once he had constructed this framework, he read "To Autumn" and gave a short and illuminating lecture on the poem. The poem is divided into three stanzas. The first praises autumn's specific marvels: apples, hazelnuts, flowers, a bee's hive and other specific things. The second stanza personifies autumn as a woman. The third stanza turns to the music of autumn, responding to the stanza's opening question, "Where are the songs of Autumn?".
Whenever I experience some connection between how Billy Collins teaches a poem and my long ago attempts to do the same in the courses I once taught, it thrills me, makes me very happy. In today's lesson, Billy Collins gave much emphasis to the music in "To Autumn", the music created by the poem's vowels. As the pattern of vowel sounds change, so does the tone and temper of the ode. I used to love reading poems or lines of Shakespeare to my students and eliminate the consonants. To me, much of the emotional content of a poem is in the vowel sounds -- whether it's the tripping and merry sounds of short vowels or the grievous moans of long vowel sounds, especially long o's, to name a couple examples.
It's a happy coincidence that in the last couple of weeks, Billy Collins has given us short lessons on two poets whom I need the most help with: Emily Dickinson and John Keats.
The world of poetry, my enjoyment of it and my understanding, keeps expanding thanks to this broadcast.
By the way, during Friday's broadcast, Billy Collins took us for a short trip into the work of Seamus Heaney because Joe Biden had concluded his speech at the convention Thursday night with a quotation from Heaney's play, Cure at Troy: "Make hope and history rhyme."
2. Debbie asked me to fix dinner tonight, a great pleasure for me. She described what she would like and so I complied. I minced a couple of cloves of garlic, chopped up white onion, and chopped up a stalk of celery. While these ingredients were sauteing, I thawed out some ground beef, added it to the onions, celery, and garlic, cooked it all until the ground beef was browned, and then added a can of diced tomatoes and a can of pinto beans along with oregano, pepper, cumin, and red pepper flakes. While this mess simmered away, I made a pot of brown rice. We put rice in a bowl and covered the rice with the beans, tomatoes, and ground beef mixture. It turned out to be exactly what Debbie was hungry for. I loved this dinner. It was a success.
3. Debbie and I went over to Christy and Everett's after dinner to review what had been an eventful day. A family friend I've known for as long as I've had memory, Corrine Turnbow, died earlier this week and her daughter Kellie and son Bob hosted a drop in get together at Kellie's home in Wallace.
There's a common phrase being used during this pandemic: "with an abundance of caution".
If you've been reading this blog over the last few months, you've probably picked up that I am part of the "with an abundance of caution" crowd. It was out of my sense of caution that I decided to stay home today and not join the get together at Kellie's. Christy and Carol went and Christy reviewed what happened at the get together when Debbie and I came over.
The conversation moved in many other directions, and, at a certain point, for no good reason, I returned to our house.
I sat down. I'd had the Cat Stevens' songs from Harold and Maude going through my head all day long. I decided it was a message.
I watched Harold and Maude (yet) again! Debbie returned from Christy's. The movie was about 15 minutes from the end and she joined me to watch it conclude. I loved seeing it again as much (or more) than ever.
It was getting late -- close to midnight. I watched the trailer for Being There, directed by Hal Ashby, the director of Harold and Maude. I can hardly wait to watch it again.
I guess we weren't quite ready to call it a night.
Debbie said, "Let's watch All the President's Men."
Great idea! It's been about a month since we last watched it for the 900th time!
We didn't make it through the entire movie, but watching what we did was like having a good friend return for a visit after a short period of separation.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
What might be your favorite color?
Do you prefer it be bright or choose duller?
Do you wear it with pride,
Both in and outside?
Or keep it locked up in your skuller?
Friday, August 21, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/20/20: Kenton and Gerri in Kellogg, Vigorous Conversation, Ed's Porch BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. Kenton Bird and Gerri Sayler took a day trip up to Kenton's old Kellogg stomping grounds today. As part of their visit, they visited chez Christy for a tour of her gardens and a peek at her she shed and then hopped over to chez Carol and Paul for more garden touring. Before long, Christy, Carol, Paul, Debbie, Kenton, Gerri, and I joined in Carol and Paul's patio area for a delicious cold lunch: green salad, pasta salad, ciabatta bread, and slices of watermelon -- my favorite summer foods.
2. We launched into some wide-ranging conversation. I especially enjoyed having a chance to talk with Gerri about the expansion of my world of poetry lately, especially via the Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast and the New Yorker poetry podcast. Gerri also had questions about teaching and I can't remember what I used to do as a teacher, so I remained quiet during this discussion and enjoyed all that Debbie and Christy had to say -- and enjoyed how much Gerri appreciated their ideas and advice. Kenton and I talked a bit about Episcopalian matters in Moscow. Kenton is St. Mark's Senior Warden. He also is part of a group called Theology on Tap and I enjoyed hearing about how they've been meeting virtually and have been discussing Jim Wallis' book, America's Original Sin. After lunch, Kenton and Gerri headed to the Trail of the CdA's and rode their bicycles on a stretch of the trail from Cataldo to Dudley.
3. I'd have thought that after that invigorating lunch discussion, I'd be ready to hunker down in the Vizio room and be done with conversation for the day.
But, no!
Ed called me. He invited me out to Kingston for some Brown Sugar Bourbon and to shoot the breeze for a while. I arrived around six o'clock. We talked about all sorts of things for a couple of hours. I cut myself off of the bourbon after a couple of drinks and was in good shape to drive back to Kellogg. For no particular reason, I drove back to Kellogg on the "old road"; I saw a little bit of Pinehurst, drove through Smelterville, and came into Kellogg on McKinley Ave and cruised the gut, checking out how things looked uptown.
I ended my outing by doing something I only do about twice a year: I went to McDonald's and ordered a quarter pounder with no cheese and a large order of fries. Accompanied by one of those mini Coca Colas we keep on hand at home, the burger and those salty fries put a nice exclamation point on the day's activities before Debbie and I joined forces in the living room and watched some news programming before I hit the sack.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Think of how hot it has been.
Then go back to your travels with kin.
In a wagon that’s packed,
No belts or air were a fact.
If you could, would you do THAT again?
2. We launched into some wide-ranging conversation. I especially enjoyed having a chance to talk with Gerri about the expansion of my world of poetry lately, especially via the Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast and the New Yorker poetry podcast. Gerri also had questions about teaching and I can't remember what I used to do as a teacher, so I remained quiet during this discussion and enjoyed all that Debbie and Christy had to say -- and enjoyed how much Gerri appreciated their ideas and advice. Kenton and I talked a bit about Episcopalian matters in Moscow. Kenton is St. Mark's Senior Warden. He also is part of a group called Theology on Tap and I enjoyed hearing about how they've been meeting virtually and have been discussing Jim Wallis' book, America's Original Sin. After lunch, Kenton and Gerri headed to the Trail of the CdA's and rode their bicycles on a stretch of the trail from Cataldo to Dudley.
3. I'd have thought that after that invigorating lunch discussion, I'd be ready to hunker down in the Vizio room and be done with conversation for the day.
But, no!
Ed called me. He invited me out to Kingston for some Brown Sugar Bourbon and to shoot the breeze for a while. I arrived around six o'clock. We talked about all sorts of things for a couple of hours. I cut myself off of the bourbon after a couple of drinks and was in good shape to drive back to Kellogg. For no particular reason, I drove back to Kellogg on the "old road"; I saw a little bit of Pinehurst, drove through Smelterville, and came into Kellogg on McKinley Ave and cruised the gut, checking out how things looked uptown.
I ended my outing by doing something I only do about twice a year: I went to McDonald's and ordered a quarter pounder with no cheese and a large order of fries. Accompanied by one of those mini Coca Colas we keep on hand at home, the burger and those salty fries put a nice exclamation point on the day's activities before Debbie and I joined forces in the living room and watched some news programming before I hit the sack.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
Think of how hot it has been.
Then go back to your travels with kin.
In a wagon that’s packed,
No belts or air were a fact.
If you could, would you do THAT again?
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/19/20: Medieval Mayhem, Corleone Saga, L-I-V-E Live! BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. Billy Collins took the day off today. I spent nearly the whole day with ear buds jacked into my cell phone and listened to The Pillars of the Earth and its many acts of violence and depravity and the efforts of Tom Builder's family to survive, not only the mayhem, but their poverty and starvation.
2. When the new programming we watched this evening ended, out of the blue, I turned on Godfather II. Debbie and I picked it up about an hour from the end and marveled at its superb movie making.
3. Even though by now it was about 11:15 or 11:30, I was enjoying the way the evening was cooling down and didn't feel a strong urge to go to bed.
In one of our Zoom talks a while back, Bill, Diane, Colette, and I reminisced joyfully about all the times we've seen the movie Harold and Maude. I know at one point, in about 1985, back when I used to keep track of such things, I'd seen this movie 30-40 times. I had it recorded on videotape, I used to have get togethers at my apartments in Spokane and Eugene to watch it with others, and I used to show it to students in a course I taught at Whitworth called The Family in American Drama.
When I flipped on Harold and Maude this morning, it had been several years since I'd seen it and I wondered how it would look to me 35-40 years after I was so in love with it as a youngster in my late 20s and early 30s.
To my delight, the movie was as fresh, funny, moving, odd, invigorating, and entertaining as ever.
Several times, both while watching Godfather II and Harold and Maude I just found it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that both movies are nearly fifty years old.
Maybe it's because I'm so familiar with them and can't see them as a person living in 2020, but both movies impressed me as never seeming old, both seemed as contemporary and alive to this moment in time has any recently made movie I've seen.
And, lastly, I'll just say that watching Harold and Maude brought back a storehouse of memories I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a movie around which I experienced countless times of fellowship and enjoyment with a wide variety of people over the years and those many times of togetherness played out in my mind tonight right alongside the movie.
It's National Lemonade Day and Stu pays tribute in a limerick:
One could let the world know with a bellow
Or could sip on a porch and stay mellow.
Sold by kids in a stand,
Never salty nor bland.
Today's for that drink that is yellow.
2. When the new programming we watched this evening ended, out of the blue, I turned on Godfather II. Debbie and I picked it up about an hour from the end and marveled at its superb movie making.
3. Even though by now it was about 11:15 or 11:30, I was enjoying the way the evening was cooling down and didn't feel a strong urge to go to bed.
In one of our Zoom talks a while back, Bill, Diane, Colette, and I reminisced joyfully about all the times we've seen the movie Harold and Maude. I know at one point, in about 1985, back when I used to keep track of such things, I'd seen this movie 30-40 times. I had it recorded on videotape, I used to have get togethers at my apartments in Spokane and Eugene to watch it with others, and I used to show it to students in a course I taught at Whitworth called The Family in American Drama.
When I flipped on Harold and Maude this morning, it had been several years since I'd seen it and I wondered how it would look to me 35-40 years after I was so in love with it as a youngster in my late 20s and early 30s.
To my delight, the movie was as fresh, funny, moving, odd, invigorating, and entertaining as ever.
Several times, both while watching Godfather II and Harold and Maude I just found it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that both movies are nearly fifty years old.
Maybe it's because I'm so familiar with them and can't see them as a person living in 2020, but both movies impressed me as never seeming old, both seemed as contemporary and alive to this moment in time has any recently made movie I've seen.
And, lastly, I'll just say that watching Harold and Maude brought back a storehouse of memories I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a movie around which I experienced countless times of fellowship and enjoyment with a wide variety of people over the years and those many times of togetherness played out in my mind tonight right alongside the movie.
It's National Lemonade Day and Stu pays tribute in a limerick:
One could let the world know with a bellow
Or could sip on a porch and stay mellow.
Sold by kids in a stand,
Never salty nor bland.
Today's for that drink that is yellow.
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Three Beautiful Things 08/19/20: My Enlarging World, Audiobook Pleasure, Tree House Concert BONUS A Limerick by Stu
1. While writing on Monday, I was so caught up writing about Naya singing and my latest kidney news, I forgot to mention that reliable source of pleasure I so look forward to every weekday afternoon. I'll keep it short. On both Monday and today, I tuned into the Billy Collins Poetry Broadcast. Over the last two days, he read poems by Thomas Lux, Ron Koertge, Gerald Dawes, William Matthews as well as poems from his volume, Picnic, Lightning. If the need many of us, including Billy Collins, have to stay home much of the time ever comes to an end, I hope Billy Collins will continue to broadcast these twenty to thirty minute weekday plunges into poetry. For me, their value, their beauty ought not to be attached to pandemic relief. Hearing new poetry, entering back into poems I already am familiar with, having my world grow larger with each listening, and enjoying the deft, casual intelligence and wry humor of Billy Collins enlarges my mind, heart, and soul, whether I am confining myself to quarters or not.
2. I think it's going to take me several weeks to finish reading Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. I might work through it more briskly if I weren't listening to John Lee read it to me. But, I've decided a couple of things. First, I'm going to devote many hours to this story. Second, I'm not going to increase, using the audible controls, the speed of John Lee's reading. I'm going to continue to move leisurely through this book's stories of political intrigue in the medieval church and the realm of England and the struggles imposed on the characters by the social and economic stratification of the world they occupy.
3. I poured one of those little bottles, like are served on airplane flights, of Jameson's Caskmates IPA Edition Irish Whiskey into a small glass and sipped it tonight while enjoying another of Bill Davie's Tuesday evening Tree House Concerts. As always, Bill played and sang superbly, performing songs he's composed recently as well as ones that he wrote 30-35 years ago. These older songs prompt me to think back to the 1990s when Bill and I resumed contact with one another and I saw him quite often as he used to swing through Eugene and other places in western Oregon to perform and he often stayed at my house and twice performed house concerts in my Eugene home. So, while I very much enjoy being in the present moment, listening to Bill perform, some of my best memories of living in Eugene and spending time with friends centered around Bill's performances. In addition, Bill and I had fun doing other stuff in Eugene -- going to a play, going out to movies, walking around town, seeing mutual friends in Eugene, meeting up in Deadwood, and yakkin' about all kinds of things.
Tonight, I enjoyed the poems Bill read, about five of his own and about five by Jim Dodge. I also enjoyed every song Bill performed. Because Sunday was the anniversary of Mom's passing away and of his wife's Diane's father passing away, several years earlier, he sang two moving songs in their memory, to honor them: "Raise Your Heart" and "Father to Father". They were perfect. He ended the concert with one of my favorite of Bill's covers: Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull's song, "Life Is a Long Song".
Here's a limerick by Stu:
It’s not that we have to agree.
Watch same things both online and TV.
But, it appears now the news,
Gives facts AND their views.
So, you’ll know just how it should be.
2. I think it's going to take me several weeks to finish reading Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. I might work through it more briskly if I weren't listening to John Lee read it to me. But, I've decided a couple of things. First, I'm going to devote many hours to this story. Second, I'm not going to increase, using the audible controls, the speed of John Lee's reading. I'm going to continue to move leisurely through this book's stories of political intrigue in the medieval church and the realm of England and the struggles imposed on the characters by the social and economic stratification of the world they occupy.
3. I poured one of those little bottles, like are served on airplane flights, of Jameson's Caskmates IPA Edition Irish Whiskey into a small glass and sipped it tonight while enjoying another of Bill Davie's Tuesday evening Tree House Concerts. As always, Bill played and sang superbly, performing songs he's composed recently as well as ones that he wrote 30-35 years ago. These older songs prompt me to think back to the 1990s when Bill and I resumed contact with one another and I saw him quite often as he used to swing through Eugene and other places in western Oregon to perform and he often stayed at my house and twice performed house concerts in my Eugene home. So, while I very much enjoy being in the present moment, listening to Bill perform, some of my best memories of living in Eugene and spending time with friends centered around Bill's performances. In addition, Bill and I had fun doing other stuff in Eugene -- going to a play, going out to movies, walking around town, seeing mutual friends in Eugene, meeting up in Deadwood, and yakkin' about all kinds of things.
Tonight, I enjoyed the poems Bill read, about five of his own and about five by Jim Dodge. I also enjoyed every song Bill performed. Because Sunday was the anniversary of Mom's passing away and of his wife's Diane's father passing away, several years earlier, he sang two moving songs in their memory, to honor them: "Raise Your Heart" and "Father to Father". They were perfect. He ended the concert with one of my favorite of Bill's covers: Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull's song, "Life Is a Long Song".
Here's a limerick by Stu:
It’s not that we have to agree.
Watch same things both online and TV.
But, it appears now the news,
Gives facts AND their views.
So, you’ll know just how it should be.
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