- First boat on a trailer bouncing down the street. Usually soon followed by another.
- Lights on in a seasonal second-home.
- Double the number of cars at the IGA from what’s been normal.
- Rain rather than snow.
- More than one vehicle parked overnight at the motel. And then international flags flying from its deck.
- Out-of-state licenses plates from other than a random New Hampshire or Massachusetts or Virginia vehicle. Beginning with Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee, but soon followed by Oregon, California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Ohio. Somehow, Florida doesn’t flood in initially.
- A change in the quality of daylight, from bright crisp to buttery.
- The first Mercedes in town since October. Or BMW, Audi, or Volvo.
- Green grass and dandelions.
- Somebody actually moving within one of the seasonally closed stores or galleries downtown.
Tag: Musings
Random notes keep springing up in no particular order
Here are a few more.
- Attempting to bridge many unanticipated combinations.
- Classical music is a connection to history of social thought and imagination.
- In the face of Covid-19, are we facing the death of dining out? And face-to-face shopping?
- You treated fame the way you treated me, which may explain everything.
- I didn’t really want to be a swami. Now, now I see, I wanted to be a rabbi!
- The misapplication of “culture” to be norm rather than higher learning and other downfalls, as in “classic rock”
- Cool beans, eazy-peezy.
- Chickens in the garden.
- What we transplanted last week looks happy, and the rats are gone.
- Practice & Devotion. In either order.
~*~
See how my mind and heart work? Really?
Imagine what Marx would have said about Putin
Or even Stalin.
The revolution was supposed to be about liberating the people, not obliterating them. Well, we have seen more than a few of them run amuck. The guillotine was one example.
As for wealth being the cause of war and class oppression?
It’s time for a devoted Marxist to stand up and expose the old spymaster. I was going to say “from the left,” but that distinction loses all meaning in our time. He’s going to brush off any criticism from capitalist countries, in part because of his Communist roots.
The tyrant’s grounding and career, let’s be clear, were largely party-line Communist, which claimed to be based on the teachings of Karl Marx. So somewhere in that philosopher’s matrix imprinted in Putin’s mindset may be the key to turning him around. Maybe even call him to repentance.
Just what manifesto is today’s czar wannabe following, anyhoo? Does anyone want to remind him what happened to the last one?
Pantry items I consider staples
No, not the usual listing of milk, bread, eggs, butter, potatoes – those are givens. Rather, the things special to me you’re not likely to pick up if you’re doing my grocery run.
- Olives. Big green stuffed ones, though I love ripe ones as well, elsewhere.
- Gin. Where did you think those green olives were going?
- Bagels. Or breakfast pastry.
- Craisins. They go well in yogurt or on a salad.
- Sunflower seeds. On that salad, too.
- Cookies and pretzels. Something to snack on.
- Garlic. Rather than onion.
- Lemons. And limes, for someone special.
- Orange juice, or grapefruit. Perk me up in the morning.
- Not as frequently but all the same: miso, sesame oil, rice vinegar, almonds.
What’s on your hidden list of essentials?
Ways American democracy is increasingly at risk
Spoiler alert. This is a rant. Here are some of the places I see us as American society being in deep doodah.
- Out-and-out lies, delusions, and false expectations “Making America great again” has done the exact opposite. And ideological preconceptions block any reality of what needs to be done. It’s a great sales pitch, but if you’re promising to fix something, you better master the details. Think about making your car or computer or anything else run better and who you’d trust doing the job.
- The center is coming apart, along with the breakdown of face-to-face community. Who belongs to a lodge or bowling league or even a church anymore? Without those, just how are our opinions tested and refined? It’s part of a decline of civic awareness and participation.
- Refusal to give and take, i.e. compromise, to work out solutions for the common good. Health care is a prime example. Any faults with “Obama-care” can be laid at the feet of those opposed to any health insurance for Americans who didn’t have union jobs or the like. And we know who’s opposed those unions.
- Disproportionate representation by rural states. Not just the Senate, either, but especially the Electoral College, which was a faulty way of accommodating Southern slaveholders to begin with.
- Disenfranchisement of voters, one way or another. Want to talk about “stealing elections”?
- PACs and other big-money corruption, leading to the undermining of the middle class. It’s why the rich are getting richer.
- An uninformed electorate, along with the economic collapse of responsible journalism coupled with the tainting of “liberal media” by certain self-interests. Where on earth have the left-wing editorial page columnists been in the past half-century, anyway?
- Blaming the victims rather than the super-rich. Talk about “entitlement”? Add to that the myth of the “self-made man.”
- The collapse of the tax system. I’m no fan of the Internal Revenue Service, but it’s been gutted to let those with the most to get away scot-free.
- Without excusing the left for its too-often sanctimonious airs, I’d say the real threats are coming from an increasingly barbarian right-wing. Or should that be “anarchists”? They’re not conservatives or patriots, OK?
Look, unlike many, I’ve read the Federalist Papers closely, the arguments behind the American Constitution. I can say definitively that MAGA is dead-set against its principles.
Your turn to weigh in. Just be polite.
It’s mostly a downward slope, right?
Ten things I don’t like about growing older:
- Fragile skin and easy bruising.
- Moles and stray hairs.
- Balding and graying.
- Forgetfulness.
- Sexual withering and incontinence.
- Slowing down in general.
- Inability to sleep in late. Worse yet, apparently I snore more … and louder.
- A receding gum line.
- Declining stamina.
- Lessened agility and equipoise, too. As for balance?
~*~
What’s hitting you? No matter your age.
Maybe I’ll get a kite
This place is windy 360 days a year.
The way Yakima was sunny, ten months out of 12.
In fact, there used to be a windmill across the street from my house.
What’s unique about the weather where you live?
What you can do with a banana
They do come in bunches. Here are some fine uses.
- Make a sinful split for dessert.
- Or banana bread.
- Or a smoothie.
- Daiquiris!
- Or, with the peel, become a pratfall comedian. (Are they really that slick?)
- You can also soak the peel in water to use as indoor plant food.
- Or rub it over bug bites, poison ivy, or rashes to relieve itching and promote healing.
- Or use the peel to polish leather and silver.
- Now, back to the full fruit, we won’t go into what can happen in private.
- My favorite? Feed ’em to a bunny! Which gives us more peels.
Get used to driving to Bangor if you wanna live here
Bangor, a 2½-hour drive from Eastport, is our closest metropolis this side of Canada. And getting there or back can be a bear in winter. Oh, yes, you need to keep your eye out so you don’t hit a bear. There’s even a lodge along the way that touts the services of a bear-hunt guide.
The city itself is about the size of Dover, New Hampshire – roughly 30,000 population, but unless we cross the border to St. John, New Brunswick, it still has the closest:
- Interstate highway.
- Major hospital and specialists.
- Airline flights.
- Mall and many big-name, big-box stores.
- Daily newspaper.
- Array of ethnic restaurants.
- Cineplex.
- Synagogue.
- Greek Orthodox church.
- Toyota dealer.
Smaller Ellsworth, gateway to Acadia National Park, is about the same distance to the south. It also offers some respite as a civilized alternative.
How flimsy are all those social media stats?
I know that everywhere you go, everybody seems to have their nose stuck in their cell phone, oblivious to just about everything going on around them. You know, the bubble people.
Or, where I’m now living, they have those phones up in the air taking pictures so they can look at what’s in front of them later.
Oh, my. What a world.
As a writer, I’m supposed to be active on all platforms as a matter of marketing , but as many others are discovering, those venues rarely lead to book sales or loyal readers. Let’s be honest.
I’ve toyed with some of them, but drifted away, even Twitter.
My primary social medium is here at WordPress, blogging. I know how to manage my posts easily. The Reader feels to me like a real mailbox, with dispatches from around the world – postcards, letters, clippings. As for you?
For that matter, I’ve never quite “got” Facebook. It’s cumbersome to navigate, most of the content feels like gossip cluttered with advertising, and I don’t like having to sign in to see what should be public information for local retailers, schools, or public events.
Still, living in a small town, I’m finding that’s where the local “party line” is, and checking in regularly is essential. I still have qualms about the bigger corporate picture, with its shadowy agendas.
Recently renewing contacts with folks from my ancient past has also had me turning to FB.
What’s surprising me, though, is the gap between those who are active in a social medium and those who are “members” but rarely or even never check in.
It’s not just FB. Even email accounts. I suspect many of my contacts are that way, too. Hello! Anybody there? Did you get my message? When was the last time they posted or commented? Take that as a clue to their presence … or absence.
The numbers, then, might not be nearly as big or influential as they’re boasted.
Meanwhile, I keep falling down these Internet rabbit holes, pursuing arcane information.
Where are you spending your time online? Or even elsewhere?
Jnana's Red Barn 