The end of the holiday shopping season, otherwise known as insanity.
I moved my shopping plans up to Friday after a conversation with my friend Sara, who's a merchandise guru and can tell quality from pure crap with one glance of her finely-tuned eyes. Union Square, a few funky boutiques in the Haight, a late lunch at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market and then home in the early evening, I think. I don't have a lot of money this year, so I won't be buying too much, but the fun of the trip and the lunch should be quite memorable.
The airing of grievances! Feats of strength!
This will be made next week, and the online recipe you see there is virtually identical to the paper copy I have. I recommend it without reservation, especially for those in cold climes.
Don't date this woman. Stay three yards away from her.
One of my favorite professors passed away recently, and I wanted to belatedly post this article. He was an amazing teacher and outstanding writer. He was legendary on campus for his declamations from King Lear and other Shakespearean plays, and for his formality... his students were always addressed as "Mr." or "Ms.". (I still remember that frequent "Yes, Mr. Shupe?" vividly.) He had a generous heart and a love for instruction, however, that belied any sense of distance or aloofness one might have sensed. He retired from Amherst in 1990 and was profoundly missed then, as he is now.
Christmas approaches. Truman Capote had a remarkable sense of what this holiday means to many of us:
The black stove, stoked with coal and firewood, glows like a lighted pumpkin. Eggbeaters whirl, spoons spin round in bowls of butter and sugar, vanilla sweetens the air, ginger spices it; melting, nose-tingling odors saturate the kitchen, suffuse the house, drift out to the world on puffs of chimney smoke. In four days our work is done. Thirty-one cakes, dampened with whiskey, bask on windowsills and shelves. ...
"My, how foolish I am!" my friend cries, suddenly alert, like a woman remembering too late she has biscuits in the oven. "You know what I've always thought?" she asks in a tone of discovery and not smiling at me but a point beyond. "I've always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when he came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don't know it's getting dark. And it's been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I'11 wager it never happens. I'11 wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are"-her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone-"just what they've always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes."
You can read the complete and beautiful story here.
I had a wonderful today. I hope you did, too, and I wish for you an even better tomorrow.
The CD changer contents, as promised and so far always delivered:
1) The Flying Burrito Brothers, Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, 12 July 1971 (broadcast over WMMR-FM). Amazing stuff from the Rick Roberts era (their third album). The version of "Four Days of Rain" is outstanding.
2) Golden Earring - "Golden Earring"/"Seven Tears" - Two tremendous early albums by this German band. Way before "Moontan," and a hell of a lot better.
3) Hot Tuna - Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, Santa Rosa, California, 28 June 1969. A great early performance and a lovely recording of this Jefferson Airplane spinoff band.
4) Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the Rumours." A great recording from the "Violator" tour.
5) Spirit - Texas International Pop Festival, 1 September 1969. A pretty good show, a bit low in its levels but still a lot better than some of the Spirit audience-recorded performances that are circulating.
A Spiro Agnew trifecta on Hubert Humphrey, the Vice President who preceded him:
Hubert Humphrey has been soft on inflation, soft on Communism and soft on law and order.
September 10, 1968
Hubert Humphrey is a loyal American and a man of great integrity.
September 13, 1968
Will the real Hubert Humphrey please stand up?
September 19, 1968
What an unending source of amusement is our former Veep, even after all this time.
Take care,
Darren
The airing of grievances! Feats of strength!
This will be made next week, and the online recipe you see there is virtually identical to the paper copy I have. I recommend it without reservation, especially for those in cold climes.
Don't date this woman. Stay three yards away from her.
One of my favorite professors passed away recently, and I wanted to belatedly post this article. He was an amazing teacher and outstanding writer. He was legendary on campus for his declamations from King Lear and other Shakespearean plays, and for his formality... his students were always addressed as "Mr." or "Ms.". (I still remember that frequent "Yes, Mr. Shupe?" vividly.) He had a generous heart and a love for instruction, however, that belied any sense of distance or aloofness one might have sensed. He retired from Amherst in 1990 and was profoundly missed then, as he is now.
Christmas approaches. Truman Capote had a remarkable sense of what this holiday means to many of us:
The black stove, stoked with coal and firewood, glows like a lighted pumpkin. Eggbeaters whirl, spoons spin round in bowls of butter and sugar, vanilla sweetens the air, ginger spices it; melting, nose-tingling odors saturate the kitchen, suffuse the house, drift out to the world on puffs of chimney smoke. In four days our work is done. Thirty-one cakes, dampened with whiskey, bask on windowsills and shelves. ...
"My, how foolish I am!" my friend cries, suddenly alert, like a woman remembering too late she has biscuits in the oven. "You know what I've always thought?" she asks in a tone of discovery and not smiling at me but a point beyond. "I've always thought a body would have to be sick and dying before they saw the Lord. And I imagined that when he came it would be like looking at the Baptist window: pretty as colored glass with the sun pouring through, such a shine you don't know it's getting dark. And it's been a comfort: to think of that shine taking away all the spooky feeling. But I'11 wager it never happens. I'11 wager at the very end a body realizes the Lord has already shown Himself. That things as they are"-her hand circles in a gesture that gathers clouds and kites and grass and Queenie pawing earth over her bone-"just what they've always seen, was seeing Him. As for me, I could leave the world with today in my eyes."
You can read the complete and beautiful story here.
I had a wonderful today. I hope you did, too, and I wish for you an even better tomorrow.
The CD changer contents, as promised and so far always delivered:
1) The Flying Burrito Brothers, Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, 12 July 1971 (broadcast over WMMR-FM). Amazing stuff from the Rick Roberts era (their third album). The version of "Four Days of Rain" is outstanding.
2) Golden Earring - "Golden Earring"/"Seven Tears" - Two tremendous early albums by this German band. Way before "Moontan," and a hell of a lot better.
3) Hot Tuna - Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, Santa Rosa, California, 28 June 1969. A great early performance and a lovely recording of this Jefferson Airplane spinoff band.
4) Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the Rumours." A great recording from the "Violator" tour.
5) Spirit - Texas International Pop Festival, 1 September 1969. A pretty good show, a bit low in its levels but still a lot better than some of the Spirit audience-recorded performances that are circulating.
A Spiro Agnew trifecta on Hubert Humphrey, the Vice President who preceded him:
Hubert Humphrey has been soft on inflation, soft on Communism and soft on law and order.
September 10, 1968
Hubert Humphrey is a loyal American and a man of great integrity.
September 13, 1968
Will the real Hubert Humphrey please stand up?
September 19, 1968
What an unending source of amusement is our former Veep, even after all this time.
Take care,
Darren