Ah, the Winter holidays-times of rejoicing, silliness, melancholy, reflection; feasting and drink toasting the coming new year; gathering with friends and family, memories of past times and those no longer with us; steeling oneself to the coming days of cold and wan sunlight yet hope of the coming Spring and return of life. Some favorite songs of the season from the past:
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by Jimmy Boyd
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) by Alvin and The Chipmunks
"The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole
From Charlie Brown Christmas "Christmas Time is Here" by Vince Guaraldi
"Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" by Elmo & Patsy
Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in F Minor, BWV 1056: II. Largo by Glenn Gould and Columbia Symphony Orchestra
"River" by Joni Mitchell
"Santa Claus and His Old Lady" by Cheech and Chong
"Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues
꩜
A lovely short from Disney-"Paperman" 2012
꩜
Lake effect snow began in the early evening of 12/10 and we had perhaps a couple of inches by the next morning. Very cold, 19° but sunny.
That evening, I built a fire. This is the last week of the term so C has been putting in long hours meeting with her students. Buddy enjoyed hanging out by the tree.
All our cats have enjoyed the hearth and the space heaters but our big guy loves to get v close. He'll have his back next to me or C with his head towards the heat. "It has to do with my tabby ancestry being more closely related to the desert cats than the others" Buddy explained. I joked that part of his Longfellow clan is a obscure Scottish side of MacSynge pronounced "mac"+"sin"+"jee" (unlike the Irish writer J.M. Synge-"sing").
12/16-We've had snow, ice and rain over the past few days-typical of Michigan. Today it's rainy and pushing 50° but snow is returning by mid-week.
Yesterday, C had cleaned out the department frig and had set out some hummus and pita bread at the Diner. Evidently, a squirrely dragged some bread up into Father Birch for safekeeping.
Odd that it is still there today. Maybe it was a bit stale and chewy so he is letting it moisten up a bit.
PS. 12/17,18-it's still up there!
꩜
Adventures in baking:
This year's vegan kolache turned out different from past years. What became problematic were two untried ingredients: both the cream cheese and butter were the Trader Joe's brand and the issue was that they contain more water than non-vegan versions. The result was that the enriched dough took triple the normal baking time just to brown! Meanwhile, the marzipan over-baked and discolored. I was bummed until I tasted one: very chewy due to the caramelization of the marzipan which created a new flavor tone to the pastry. Damn good with any hot beverage!
꩜
A Word From Bernie Sanders:
꩜
Every couple of years or so, C volunteers to represent her department at commencement ceremonies. This year, she was joined with two other senior colleagues. What struck them all were a couple of things: a) the new U president was v adept at smiling with a graduate while pix are made-hundreds of times! b) except for a few cases, the graduates after receiving their diploma, pausing for a smiley pic with the pres, as they exited the stage, would make some kind of motion or sign with hands, arms, torso. C and her crew found this fascinating, wondering if some documentation and translation of these signals could turn into some study. These motions were more than simply a wave to the crowd-there was some message, created by the individual. They wondered if this was the result of this generations involvement with social media-personalized physical taglines for Instagram or Tic Tok? And to take it a step further, part of their influencer persona?
꩜
One of my gifts to my Watergirl this year (and last) was booking a night at a nearby hotel that has a nice warm pool so she could take a lengthy dip. The visit was set for her final day of the term, where her last act was to send the grades into the registrar. We had a pleasant dinner out before going back to the hotel. She practically had the pool and hot tub to herself. In the morning, we had breakfast and headed back to the house. I had some errands to run and when I returned, she was on the couch with Buddy watching a movie that she had been wanting to see.
The day got even better: she received notification that one of her Spring classes had been cancelled due to lack of students. She was able to negotiate with the department to take a class reduction and spend the term working with colleagues on a special project. So, full pay, only 2 classes/50 students next term. Woot Woot!
꩜
Life with His Lordship:
Yesterday afternoon, in accordance to his wishes, I put down treats in the Einstein and set his main course in the kitchen. He ate the treats and joined me on the couch, putting his back to my thigh as he did his toilette before settling down for a rest. After a bit, I rose to get a refill and he jumped down and went over to the slider-his usual indication they he might want out. After getting a face full of cold air, he opted to stay outside. He followed me to the kitchen and sat down even though I pointed to his main course. I ignored him and went back to the couch. He wanted more treats and lay down pointing to the Einstein.
My response was to remind him that I had followed protocol (line 4a, section 1-7) and that there was food in the kitchen, if he is hungry. "You can always talk to Mom about this when she comes out after yoga. Me, I am done." After five minutes, he is back at the slider and this time he goes out. He stays on the deck where it is drier and surveys his realm, sitting in his Bastet pose, sniffing the air with his ears moving around like radar. Eventually, he came back in, mewing and twining Mom who wisely gave his main course a stir and His Lordship finally sat down for a meal.
Now, there is a variant scenario: I've noticed that after asking to be let out and catching some cold air on his face, he will proceed back to the kitchen. In a bit, he will be back at the slider and then go out. It occurred to me that our smart lad figured he needed some fortification in his tum before venturing on patrol. He's like a frontiersman and this is part of his survival skill set learned growing up in the wild.
꩜
I was across the street delivering a home-baked gift. They were delighted and as we chatted, I saw the wife look down at my feet and gasped: there's a dead cardinal! Now, I am generally not a superstitious person-I don't throw salt over my shoulder or worry about black cats. But my immediate reaction was a wave of superstitious feelings: ohhh, a dead cardinal on your porch during the Winter holidays-bad luck in some form for sure! There was no gore nor has Buddy ever brought anyone outside our family the gift of one of his kills. We agreed that what probably happened was that the poor fellow had flown hard into their door and that is what killed him. I did not share my feelings of bad tidings with my friends. No sense planting an unwanted and unsubstantiated seed.
Matt Plyler
꩜
We've been watching some original Twilight Zone episodes and I've noticed several ideas that were picked up and used later by writers. For example, there was one (You Drive from 1964) where a man runs over a kid on a bike and doesn't fess up-not even when a work colleague is mistakenly blamed for the crime. However, the man's car takes issue with this lack of conscience and begins to harass him. Stephen King takes up the idea of a vengeful auto in Christine.
In another (Number 12 Looks Just Like You-1964), a culture prizes beauty in both men and women. When young people turn 18, they are strongly encouraged to engage in a transformation into state-approved beautiful people. However, the number of choices are limited and basically, everyone looks the same. The heroine in this story is rebellious due to the influence of her father who felt this transformation was anti-individual and wrong. When she objects, feeling that she has her own kind of beauty, the pushback is severe. Her father is labelled a subversive and she is too. I got a very strong whiff of counter-culture, with it's beginnings with the Beats and in '64, the Beatles had arrived and gasp, males were growing their hair long.
The male doctor in this story had a odd habit of extending his pinky and bringing it up to his lips. I immediately thought of the Mike Myers character Dr. Evil in the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery from 1997.
Left-Richard Long, Right-Mike Myers
I researched this and sho-nuff-Myers credited this Twilight Zone as the inspiration for this peculiar trait.
꩜
Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been on the ISS since June because of issues with their return capsule are going to be stuck up there for a while longer-the end of March 2025 at the earliest. NASA and SpaceX announced that they need more time "to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission" to pick them up. Merry Christmas.
꩜
Goofy vid for Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla":
It struck me that Japanese people are always fleeing in terror-whether it be A bombs, tsunamis or crazy sea monsters.
꩜
From Attenborough's BBC Earth-humpback whale mating dance:
When I offered this as a viewing choice to C-a whale mating dance, she replied "I don't mind if they don't".
No comments:
Post a Comment