Category: Tendrils

TEN NOXIOUS WEEDS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments

They won’t coexist. They strangle any competition. At heart they’re boa constrictors with stubborn roots. And if that won’t work, they’ll just suffocate it.

  1. Yes, grass. When it gets in the garden beds, it pushes everything else out.
  2. Ground ivy. We have two types all over the place.
  3. Virginia creeper.
  4. Multiflora roses.
  5. Japanese honeysuckle.
  7. Goutweed (St. Jerome wort?).
  8. Stealth maples. Don’t laugh. Twice in two decades a pleasant little shade garden reverted to forest.
  9. Japanese knotweed.
  10. Dandelions, with their deep roots. Ditto for Queen Ann’s Lace.

Mint comes close. We have both spearmint, east of the house, and peppermint west of the Smoking Garden. But sometimes it comes in handy. Especially for folks who want contractors bags filled to brimming.

~*~

What would you add to the list?

Virginia creeper is an attractive weed … until it starts smothering everything it’s overrunning.

TEN FAVORITE PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments

Admittedly, I’m a pretty sedentary guy. I spent my career in an office. And a writer spends hour after hour at a keyboard or researching or reading. So here’s what I do when I’m in full-body motion. And remember, “favorite” here is all relative.

  1. Swimming a half-mile a day, usually in Dover’s indoor pool.
  2. Hiking and walking.
  3. Cross-country skiing.
  4. Folk dancing. New England contras and squares, Greek, and English country, especially.
  5. Singing in a choir. I’ve mentioned the Revels Singers how many times now?
  6. Stacking firewood … there’s an art to keeping it from collapsing.
  7. Shoveling snow … just don’t tell anyone it can be pleasurable in short doses.
  8. Mowing the lawn … love my battery-powered Ryobi.
  9. Collecting seaweed for the garden … yes, it’s a pain, as well. Some things are mixed blessings.
  10. Pushing a wheelbarrow. Usually, there’s an additional chore involved, like trimming the hedges or moving compost.

I hope to get bicycling back on the list. I loved it as a kid.

~*~

What keeps you in shape? More or less?

Continuing the poetry parade, see what’s new at THISTLE/FLINCH.

TEN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT JUNE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment
  1. Birthdays … my wife’s and then elder daughter’s.
  2. Natural light lasts long into the evening and returns again early in the morning.
  3. Warmth! Open windows!
  4.  Nobody gives you funny looks for ordering ice cream.
  5. We get serious about charcoal grilling.
  6. Ox-eye daisies blaze forth.
  7. I don my Hawaiian shirts for more than contradances.
  8. Mountain laurel bloom.
  9. Bare skin all through town the sidewalks fill with people once again.
  10. I can put my snow shovels away.

~*~

What do you like about June?

Sounds like a balanced meal to me. Damariscotta, Maine.

 

TEN HOT HISPANIC MUSICIANS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

According to one amiga and her buds:

  1. Dulce Marcia.
  2. Jencarlos Canela.
  3. Rolando Polo, pop-opera tenor.
  4. Moneda Dura.
  5. Balvin.
  6. Willy Chirino.
  7. Shakira. (And here I’m trying to keep this to performers new to the rest of us. So be it.)
  8. Manolito Simonet.
  9. Gilberto Santa Rosa.
  10. Myriam Herandez.

Admittedly, this list is biased in a Cuban direction. But it’s a start.

~*~

Digame más. I’m all ears. Any other world music talent we should know about?

A whimsical fence. Warren, Maine.

Of course, this is totally unrelated to the theme. Just another thing on my mind.

TEN FAVORITE LIFEGUARDS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

We’ve tried to keep them from getting bored as we swim laps. They’ve done the same. Come to think of it, I doubt that I’ve ever used any of these names in my fiction.

  1. Tynisha.
  2. Caleb.
  3. Hannah.
  4. Nate.
  5. Emilee.
  6. Lexi.
  7. Jess.
  8. Moriah.
  9. Matty.
  10. Alec (plus Alex, as a team).

~*~

Dustin Hoffman’s moonlighting job in Stranger Than Fiction almost made the list, but real life wins out on this one. Come to think of it, these could all be movie stars.

Well, how’s that for a prompt? Who do you know who’d you cast in a movie? Turn into a big celebrity, if you could?

Wisps of morning fog on the Damariscotta River, Maine. Tall masted clipper ships built just upstream once passed by here on their way to long trips on the oceans.

Of course, this is totally unrelated to the theme. Just another thing on my mind.

TEN REASONS NOT TO WORRY ABOUT A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE COMING YOUR WAY

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 5 Comments

Do I really have to define this? To be honest, until recently about all I knew about the topic came from overhearing someone who’s truly terrified about it, but then you have to realize he’s terrified by everything, including his own shadow. A little research, though, casts the possibility in a much calmer light. For instance:

  1. It’s essentially a suburban phenomenon, should it erupt, starting at the malls. You don’t go there, do you?
  2. That also means it’s afraid to venture into the ghetto – and anything close to center city.
  3. It self-selects for Trump country, something like the plagues of Egypt. By the way, there’s no harm in sprinkling your doorposts with sheep’s blood, just in case. (You may want to keep some on hand.)
  4. It also heads straight for Walmart. Think of the cockroach hotel ads, “They go in but they don’t come out.”
  5. It runs in terror at the slightest whiff of high culture – paintings, fine literature, jazz, classical music, opera (especially) ward it off. Keep a good supply of Shakespeare quotes at the tip of your tongue. They’re better than any arcane spell you could cast.
  6. There’s some debate about whether it’s spread by infected people or by an airborne virus. Here’s a hint: It has no sense of humor – it’s completely defenseless against laughter. Or really bad jokes. (“You hear the one about two zombies go in a bar?”)
  7. As people? Traditional slow zombies will get in the way of the newer mutant fast zombies. They’ll start tripping over each other, which will lead to biting their rivals. New research indicates their blood types won’t match and that will be that. End of the show.
  8. Or consider traffic gridlock. Major highways and bridges stop moving at a given volume – and many zombies will expire right there. You really didn’t expect them to be walking anywhere, did you?
  9. And as a virus? Simple. Stockpile your vitamin C. And take it faithfully.
  10. They won’t want your home-canned green beans. Or any other greens, for that matter. It’s too quiet where I live. Zombies would be looking for live action. I’m more worried about garden slugs.

~*~

So what potential global catastrophes are keeping you up nights? And how would you advise coping?

 

African violets in a cozy window.

Of course, this is totally unrelated to the theme. Just another thing on my mind.

 

TEN REASONS ‘CITIZEN KANE’ IS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

While Orson Welles usually gets the genius kudos, much of the creative brilliance in this 1941 masterpiece arises in the seasoned experience of his collaborators Herman J. Mankiewicz and Gregg Toland.

  1. The nature of the story itself. It’s not exactly likeable. We want to befriend Kane but can’t. He starts out as charming but more and more becomes a sphinx. The newsmen themselves are nobodies. As for his wives and lovers? And yet there’s something gripping in the rise and fall of this spoiled rich boy turned tycoon and populist turned brutal cynic and failure, plus his times. (Sounds topical, considering the White House now, doesn’t it?) Pulling this off is much more difficult than it sounds, and yet we’re swept along throughout. In short, anything but a conventional screenplay.
  2. The soundtrack. Welles and Mankiewicz were grounded in radio drama, not filmmaking. And so they brought to Hollywood a revolutionary ear for not just dialogue but everyday detailing background sounds like footsteps and doors. Their radio perspective also meant they could envision a scene from the way it unfolded within a viewer’s head and not just how it might appear on a stage in front of us, the way directors and writers had framed movies before this.
  3. Cinamatographer Toland. In his work with Hollywood great John Ford, Toland had begun exploring a new technique called deep focus, which allows multiple things to be present within a single shot. In Kane, this comes to full fruition. Tons have been written about what’s happening in the background or how multiple items come together to make their own statement or put everything into a fresh comprehension. And it holds opportunities for emotional depth previously absent in cinema.
  4. Optical illusions. Again, give Toland credit. They serve as guideposts, according to film critic Roger Ebert in his lovefest to this film.
  5. Visible ceilings. You never saw these in a movie before. Sometimes it required cutting a hole in the floor. But it made for some much more dramatic visuals. Again, Ebert has much to say about this, for good reason. I think the ceilings are an emblem of many other similar breakthrough touches that advance this movie light years ahead of convention.
  6. The blending of drawings, real sets, and wipes. Welles was surprisingly economical in obtaining some of his spectacular impressions and moving the story across time.
  7. The witness. Always in a corner, observing or even commenting. A great storytelling device.
  8. Complete artistic control. RKO executives agreed to make no cuts in the footage. In addition to writing, directing, and taking the starring role, Welles had unprecedented complete artistic control. Amazing. The one compromise was forced by the film board, which nixed the brothel scene. Alas.
  9. Common misperception. Unlike the widespread tale, the story’s not even about William Randolph Hearst, whose opposition undermined of its chances for commercial success.
  10. Kane prompted Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel in homage. Not that I viewed them in chronological order.

Oh, yes, if you want to know about “rosebud,” you really do have to look up Ebert’s take. We do miss him.

~*~

What movie and its special effects have especially impressed you? These days we practically take them for granted.

~*~

See what’s new at THISTLE/FLINCH.

 

TEN THINGS I LIKE ABOUT MAY

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 7 Comments
  1. Green – lots of bright green.
  2. Lunching in the Smoking Garden on any sunny day.
  3. The hammock comes out from storage.
  4. Trees are covered in new leaf.
  5. Fresh asparagus. You can’t buy anything like this.
  6. Our own lettuce in abundance.
  7. Whales are migrating north — a great time to take a whale-watch cruise.
  8. If you could only see my ferns in all their glory.
  9. The kids are still in school … in case we decided to play tourist, things are still uncrowded.
  10. Alewives migrate up the river, pursued by cormorants, fishermen, and eagles, along with osprey.

~*~

What do you like about May?

Osprey are truly incredible birds. They can hover over a river, do a power dive into the water, and emerge with a fish that they then turn to face the airflow. Not that I’ve yet captured any of that on my camera — some photographers specialize in the challenge.

 

TEN FAVORITE DESSERTS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 6 Comments

For me, it’s:

  1. Pie, rather than cake.
  2. Really creamy vanilla ice cream.
  3. Or gelato. I’m more open to other flavors here, too. Unless it’s Tahitian vanilla, which comes close to ambrosia.
  4. My wife’s really changed my mind here.
  5. Anything creamy, actually. Tapioca float, panna cotta, custard – she knows the long list.
  6. Crème brulee. Don’t tell me it’s mostly custard, not when it’s done right. And that shattery top is like walking on ice-covered puddles when we were kids. You just love to hear it crackle.
  7. Blueberry torte, as my wife makes it. With our own blueberries, natch. Makes a great breakfast, too.
  8. A hearty red wine accompanying a chunk of dark chocolate.
  9. Or their cousins, creampuffs or eclairs.
  10. Fresh strawberries, as in shortcake. (Well, you wouldn’t call that cake now, would you?) Although actually, I tend to think of this more as starting the day.

~*~

What would you add to the list?

 ~*~

Towels and a washcloth await guests in the room across from my studio.

Of course, this is totally unrelated to the theme. Just another thing on my mind.

 

TEN THINGS I DO EVERY MORNING

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

(Well, almost every morning – and waking up doesn’t count.)

  1. Shuffle down the stairs to the kitchen. Get a big mug of thick coffee laced with milk and sugar.
  2. Climb to my third-floor studio, boot up, check up on WordPress activity.
  3. And then emails and other social media.
  4. Get a round of Duolingo Spanish in. Muy bien.
  5. Return to the second floor. Dental hygiene. Good boy!
  6. Down to the ground floor. Be briefed on the overnight news by my wife. This can’t be happening. Glance at the day’s front-page headlines. Consider the weather forecasts.
  7. Regard the birds at the feeder. The squirrels, too.
  8. Get a second big mug of coffee, perhaps accompanied by toast and jam or homemade yogurt.
  9. Return to my studio to focus on a round of writing and revision. Butt time, as Charles Bukowski so aptly put it.
  10. Back to the bedroom. Dress properly for the rest of the day … and shift gears for whatever’s at the top of my to-do list.

~*~

So how do you jump start your day?

 

Baskets of all sizes and shapes hang from the beams in our kitchen.Of course, this is totally unrelated to the theme. Just another thing on my mind.