What's so Funny?

Every Once in a While Something Good

And that something for today is Greta Van Fleet - You're The One 

Not Available at LL Bean

So I decided it might be amusing to visit nearby LL Bean Outlet. I do have some favorite LL Bean products. No. Not so much joy today. Tees and sweatshirts with screened printing and styles that nobody wanted ... and no difficulty understanding why. Miscellaneous pant sizes and shoe types. I was discouraged. Decided to go elsewhere and survey jeans.

Old Navy seemed to have only pre-torn, distressed and dirty jeans. Does Target even have a Men's Department? JCP had promising jeans of the right hue and size but "brand" I didn't recognize. Left feeling I should probably stay with Lee and Wrangler. 

But thankfully there was a Longhorn Steakhouse nearby. Mmmm. Flo's Filet 6 oz, fully loaded baked potato, and unsweetened ice tea. Perfect. 

My Top Ten Tunes (Ha! Ten? No not really ten.)

The pygmy shrew is Ireland’s smallest animal

Heather King tells us she learned this during her recent retreat at Kylemore Abbey. I'm convinced she knows of what she speaks in this matter and many more. Perhaps you should decide for yourself.

Bob's Tunes - A Playlist from YouTube

Raaeeeeeonk !!!!

 

Meanwhile ...

... I can't stop thinking about Saint Anthony.

Lord, listen to my prayer:

turn your ear to my appeal.

You are faithful, you are just; give answer.

Do not call your servant to judgment

for no one is just in your sight.

Psalm 143

 

This tells it all

 Life here has been interesting. Probably for you as well. I'm drinking.  You? Apparently someone tried to burn a woman in a campfire about 1/4 of a mile from here last night. The fool who tried this was found hiding in the woods by a police drone. Go drones!

Been Busy

 Evan has been busy of course. Pantry nearby was among his activities. Here Father Murphy speaks with two young men in the food line. Hunger? Community? Or Medjugorje?

Rebooting. Again.

Reminds me of another rebooting I did in March 2018. Ha! This is how that went.

"Rebooted my exercise program this morning by simply looking at my 2 lb weights for 10 minutes. Just looking. Didn’t want to overdo it. Didn’t touch them. And didn’t even glance at the 5s or 10s. Easing my way back in. Exhausted. Will take tomorrow off and try for 15 minutes of looking next session."

Green

Fields of Gold

 

You Don't Bring Me Chowder Anymore ...

… and that might be a good thing. Been six months or so since a chowder delivery. Good. All good.

What’s wrong with this picture? Hmmm. Looks like perfectly fine corn chowder. Wait. Homemade corn chowder in a somewhat suspect repurposed gelato container. No, no, no. Not a fan of this practice. And apparently friend Dob overlooked the sign above my back door reading "Abandon all gift meals ye who enter here! " 

Ok, there really is no such sign but the sentiment is there. Dob knows this because that imaginary sign is strictly intended for him and he has been told. Repeatedly.  I do, in fact, accept and even welcome gift meals from quite a few persons. But not Dob.

Apparently Dob has forgotten that his food stuffs are specifically unwelcome. Telling him this involved a rather harsh series of discussions. And that he himself was banned in the past for 6 months for failing to stop bringing me his cooking. No matter, here he is with the chowder and one bottle (I’m currently undrinking) of Hop Bullet Double IPA.

So, the chowder. Corn. Hmmm. I guess corn is required in corn chowder. Potatoes. Good. I like potatoes. I can still taste potatoes. The taste problem is a medical thing that I was hoping would be soon over – it is now. Did make it a challenge to answer any “tell me what you think of this” request. Dob was not realizing I won’t really be able to taste his chowder. He didn’t care. He just wants me to have it. Says he made a whole paella full? What the heck is a paella?

Celery. OK. Thin milk. Hmmm. Not so much a milk man. Dob loves milk. So, everyone must. No. And then there’s the whole calcium thing with milk. I could get testimony from a dozen student doctors at RI Hospital for details on my relationship with calcium but that’s a whole different story.

Assorted spices. Of course. Spices are usually lovingly and lavishly used in Dob’s dishes. With reduced taste buds from the previously noted medical situation I couldn’t tell what these might be. 

Then the fatal flaw. A mystery meat. No. Don’t do this to me. Pork? Dog? Buffalo? Dob leaves unknowingly banned but will be told when next I see him.

Time passes.

Ha. So six months have gone by since the chowder delivery and I do see Dob on my morning walk. He’s doing well. I tell him that, yes, he has been banned. We talk about listening to Count of Monte Christo (me) and Ulysses (him) – both of which are more than sixty hours of audio – then go our separate ways. But still of course friends. Life.

Still Hazy After All These Years

Chords. Evan stirs but doesn’t wake. The iPad mini lying next to him on the bed cover he got from Tommy Bahama's in Naples glows softly for a brief time, waits indifferently, then darkens. Quiet. Well, not so much, but as quiet as it ever gets here which is not that quiet even in the middle of the night. The interstate is only about a mile north. The airport is only about 5 miles northeast and the flight path from the cape is directly overhead. And the neighbors.

Evan sleeps on until those neighbors, stirring in the predawn, wake him from a dream about driving through Arizona. About driving through moving water. Never a good idea but somehow he and Mina had done it anyway. And might do it again if the need arose. In fact, felt like they and many others were doing that now. Awake he props himself up against a short stack of pillows, makes a mental note that he will wash the bedding tomorrow, picks up the iPad, swipes the notification to the right, enters his password, and making a sign of the cross on his lips begins the Office of Readings. When he’s done he looks out in the dark beyond the foot of the bed.

- Alexa. Turn on the morning lights.

Evan has decided that it is time to trim his beard and shave his neck. He lines the bathroom sink with a paper towel, buzzes his beard, removes the short guide comb on the electric razor and buzzes his neck being careful to achieve a clear edge between his neck and beard.  He pauses.

- Alexa. Play my Perry Como station.

Moving into the kitchen because the bathroom sink drain is sluggish he heats a face cloth which he wraps on his neck. Taking a tiny dab of shaving cream from the travel size dispenser which will probably last him a year he removes the face cloth and lathers his neck. Back in the bathroom he shaves, scowling at the beat face in the mirror. Jesus. Mercy. Miserable.

- Alexa. Louder.

There is only one egg in the refrigerator. Evan cracks that last egg against the stainless-steel frying pan on the stove top but has decided to fry it in his flat square Teflon skillet. The egg is hesitant to leave the shell and once free slides to the edge of the pan. Evan coaxes it back to the center of the skillet. Breakfast consists of the over easy egg, half of a small vanilla yogurt, a banana, a slice of toast with butter and honey, a vitamin D pill, and blood pressure medicine all washed down with grape juice cut with cold water.

- Alexa. How tall is Billy Bob Thornton?
- Billy Bob Thornton’s height is 5 feet and 10 inches.

Evan is not sure that he believes this. He pulls the laundry basket out of his bedroom closet and separates the darks. Sure, he could spot clean the jelly that dropped off his toast onto the leg of his jeans the other day but he’s not that concerned about weakening the fabric or shifting that perfect shade of blue. And he carefully reverses the socks so that the dead skin that flakes from his feet isn’t trapped inside during the washing. Once the clothes are in the machine he shuts down Perry Como on the Echo and sits down with the iPad for Morning Prayer. Currently he prefers using Universalis, but he will use the Divine Office app when he is walking and occasionally the Book of Common Prayer Divine Office pub on his kindle.

After prayer Evan posts food pantry pictures to the pantry web site, makes his Medicare B payment online, and briefly considers the money management material on his bank’s web site, Mina calls. The rooster woke her again at 4 o’clock. Her back is bothering her. She has her coffee and meds ready to take. They talk. About the election. About pain. Then Mina and Evan almost simultaneously say.

- Bye for now.
- Bye for now.

To Evan it seems like a good time for his morning walk. 3 miles to the beach and back. There’s Bleak House to listen to. There’s that hedge near the beach that’s changing color.  And there was morning, another day.

J. Balvin - Ay Vamos

Enrique Iglesias - Bailando ft. Descemer Bueno, Gente De Zona

Gente de Zona - La Gozadera ft. Marc Anthony

Rich Thompson

Revisiting some early posts in 177 and decided I just had to see what was up with Rich Thompson. Followed him at Cotuit, gave him a short post (those early post were all pretty short) when he made the Royals as the 14th and final position player in April 2004 and then lost track. Learned today from Wikipedia that while with the Royals "Thompson stole one base and scored one run in five appearances as a pinch runner. His only at-bat was April 20, 2004 against catcher Tim Laker, who was only pitching because the Royals led 15-5, and resulted in the speedy Thompson grounding into a double play". Spent rest of baseball career in minors until a broken foot in 2012. Now an accountant at KPMG. Thompson was an exciting,  intense and, yes, speedy ballplayer when with Cotuit. Imagine he brought the same energy to the pros ... and to KPMG as well.

Read more ...

Louis Malle's Phantom India ...

... a segment in Episode 2 "Things Seen in Madras" with enchanting Bharatanatyam dancers practicing at the Kalkashetra conservatory.