I have tried to keep my political opinions out of this blog. But since this post also deals with music, I am re-blogging from my seldom used Politics & Recipes blog.
I haven’t written anything of substance about politics in a long while. There have been a few Tweets, and I’ve re-Tweeted or shared other people’s Tweets that I like, but I have remained pretty much silent for quite some time. I wanted to give our President a chance to settle in.
I hadn’t planned on writing anything today, but I was listening to the original Broadway cast recording of Camelot this morning and things started falling into place.
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I know that Camelot is closely tied to the John F. Kennedy presidency, but I also think it speaks to our current administration. I’ll warn you in advance that a new production of the show would need some minor re-writing to bring it up to date, and President Trump would have to play two roles, but other than that I think it could have a run.
Once again N-N-1 has brought a variety of pictures and thoughts from different parts of the world. If this is your first view of N-N-1, the first N stands for the number of participants, the second for the number of photos (they should be the same), and the 1 stands for one time. All of the pictures were taken by the participants at 4 p.m. their local time on Sunday, July 16th.
I was walking along the bank of the ‘Little Elbow River’ at 4 p.m on Sunday. I was admiring the trees, and the idea for this poem came into my head.
By the Little Elbow
The trees stand stately
And true by the Little Elbow River
That runs through my town.
They witness the good and the bad,
The happy and the sad,
The wonderful and the terrible.
But they say nothing.
They just observe,
And occasionally fall though
The roof of a house,
And destroy a dream.
Next is a picture and some thoughts from cupitonians from https://thislabyrinthiroam.blog/, She is thoughtful as always.
While progress is defined by both the Brits and the Americans as a movement towards gradual betterment, us big city people think it’s a synonym destruction. Maybe we’re cynical because we see ‘progress’ being built on top of everything that’s old and beautiful. However, it’s always a lovely change of pace to see that all progress is not the complete wiping out of everything good. It is a good reminder that things can co-exist together, making something that much more magical. This picture was taken from a high rise futuristic mall that has been built in an old neighbourhood in Bangkok. You can see the Skytrain, but you can also see the houses of yesteryear and a nice community park.
Princess Butter from https://asplashofmylife.wordpress.com/ sent this delightful picture and short comment.
“You can’t sit with us!!”
Sea Lions can be such ‘Mean Girls’.
Finally I have a picture and words that sums up our past two weeks.
Cindy and I have been doggy-sitting Macon while Trina, JR, and Maely have been out of town enjoying the 100º+ weather in our great American southwest. Macon is a joy! He is still pretty much a puppy. He loves tying to unsuccessfully catch birds that he sees in our backyard. He also sniffs around the yard trying to track down the squirrels and bunnies that drop in to leave their scent. The house will be a tad lonely when he makes his joyful return home.
If you would like to participate in the next N-N-1, use the contact form below to send me a message with your email address and I will put you on our contact list so that we can notify you before the next go ’round.
Here is a picture from our vacation last year. I love the Grand Canyon. It has aged well.
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A couple of days ago I went in to get my quarterly blood draw to keep my Doctor (sorry, Primary Care Provider) happy for another three months. While I was waiting my turn to be stuck and have my precious bodily fluids taken from my body, I started looking around the waiting area at the other folks who were patiently marking time. Hey! Did I use patiently as a pun? I don’t know if it qualifies.
There were about half a dozen people there. Most appeared to be around my age. That age thing makes sense. Older people who have adequate insurance are more likely to see a doctor on a regular basis. We no longer feel that we are immortal. We know better.
I noticed that most of the men didn’t appear to care how they looked when out in public. Two of them were wearing shorts. One had on a particularly ugly pair of plaid Bermudas and the other guy wore a pair of denim cargo shorts. Both were wearing T-shirts, trainers, and baseball caps. Don’t get me started on men who wear caps indoors. There are a few places where it is acceptable, but I don’t believe our setting was one of them.
Along with those two were two more fellows in T-shirts, trainers, and baseball caps; but they were wearing faded jeans. That was OK except for the cap indoors. Who raised those people?
In case you are wondering, I was wearing a pair of gray denim jeans, a button-down short-sleeved shirt, and brown shoes. I failed to wear a baseball cap that morning.
There were three of us with beards. Two were scraggly, mine was neatly trimmed. Modesty prevents me from stating that I was the standard for excellence in that room.
There was another person waiting, but I honestly couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. Brown slacks, baggy T-shirt, dark slip-on sneakers, with a short haircut. Your guess would be as good as mine.
One thing we all (except for the androgynous one) had in common was that we were overweight. Some showed it more than others. A tight T-shirts is not the friend of the weight conscious. Did I fail to mention that my shirt was overly large and hid my excess blubber?
As I looked around the waiting area and remembered how I looked in the mirror that morning I had to admit that we are not aging well.
I took this picture while driving home from one of my granddaughter’s baseball games last month. It was, as you can see, a beautiful day.
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This is another one of my posts where I gather ideas that either don’t merit a full blog post, or that I’ve forgotten the thread of my thinking. Rather than let them set and never use them, I like to toss out these nuggets so that you can think about them.
Recently a commercial has appeared on television where a faceless voice proclaims that we “literally can’t live without WiFi.” Really? I admit that WiFi is a handy tool that usually makes life easier for us techno-dependent urban dwellers. But we can live without it. I can remember time when WiFi didn’t exist, and we survived. Really, we did! We could again…literally.
Little things on television and movies bother me. For instance, have you ever noticed when watching a murder mystery/thriller how the hero, when surreptitiously entering a home or business, will turn off a television or CD player or radio that is playing. The place goes from loud noise to silence. How is that helpful if you don’t want an occupant to know you are there? Why do they do that? Are they being critical of the (often dead) occupant’s taste in entertainment?
Here is a phrase that I came up with for use in one of my more philosophical thought trips. “I am not one of those people who see life as a series of metaphors.” I had planned to use this to explain why I will never be a great writer. I don’t have that vision. Maybe some day I’ll pick it up and finish the whole treatise. But I doubt if many people would be interested in reading it since I’m not a great writer.
I have a few more, but I haven’t given up on expanding them enough to use. Time will tell.
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Here’s a reminder about the next N-N-1. If you want t participate, take a picture at 4 p.m. your local time, on Sunday, July 16th. Send the picture to me along with a short, 50 to 250 word writeup (prose or poetry) and your blog address, no later than 6 p.m. your local time on Friday, July 21st. I hope you will participate. My emaii address is houseman@comcast.net.
I will be hosting a new N-N-1 on July 22nd. If you are interested in participating, please take a picture on Sunday, July 16th at 4 p.m. your local time. Send the picture to me along with a short, 50 to 250 word writeup (prose or poetry) and your blog address, no later than 6 p.m. your local time on Friday, July 21st. If you know of anyone else who might like to participate, please pass this information on to them with a short description of what N-N-1 is. Here is alink to a previous post that might help explain N-N-1.
Oh. The email for sending the picture and writeup, or to ask any questions, is houseman@comcast.net.
In case you didn’t notice it, we in the U.S. celebrated Independence Day yesterday, as well as on the previous three or four days. If you don’t live in the U.S.,you probably couldn’t help but hear about it from one or more of our ever-boastful citizenry.
I took the picture above while waiting for the fireworks display that we attended yesterday. That was the culmination our long holiday weekend. Let me tell you a little about what happened previously.
On Saturday and Sunday our granddaughter, Maely, played in a baseball tournament. Cindy and I were there for all four games. Maely was the only girl in the entire tournament and she played well. Though her team, The Bombers, did not win the tournament, the team that knocked them out voted Maely as her team’s Most Valuable Player. That took some of the sting out of the loss.
From the fourth game we rushed north to Monticello, Indiana to take a ride on the Madame Carroll paddlewheel boat on Lake Freeman. We would be gently cruising around the lake until the fireworks display would take place. While we waited for the fireworks we would be entertained by the exuberant DJ and the antics of those who chose to start their heavy drinking early. What fun!
We started out in the enclosed lower deck, but soon moved up to the next higher deck which was not enclosed. It was still hot, but there was fresh air. Unfortunately most of the serious drinkers were also on that deck. For quite a while they were constantly moving around, searching for an attractive person with a compliant attitude. As the evening wore on they appeared to become less concerned with the attractiveness of the people; just so long as they were compliant.
By the time the fireworks were ready to start, most of the crowd was highly intoxicated. There is nothing quite like watching a large group of drunk patriots squealing and laughing as fiery aerial bombs explode overhead. Near the end of the display it started to rain. At that point the fair weather patriots rushed for cover.
After the (fireworks) display, and after the rain ended, the drinking and the search for bedmates picked up tempo. One fellow sat a laughing girl on a chair and proceeded to give her a lap dance. All of his friends used their phones to video the event. Perhaps you can find it on Facebook. The fellow with whom she had arrived, not the dancer, finally came out of his stupor and staggered over to reclaim her. She stumbled away with him.
Another fellow, who appeared to be drunk before he got on the boat, had been attempting to chat up every woman he came across. At one point he saw Cindy and sloped his way towards her; no doubt to slur sweet nothings in her ear. But then he saw me frowning and decided to move on.
The trip back to the dock seemed to take forever, but we eventually got there. Those of us who were sober were scrambling to get off as soon as we could.
I hope that all of the drunken seekers of companionship found what they were looking for, whether in a warm bed or a drunk tank. There were probably a few new friendships started and a number of STDs exchanged. Happy Independence Day!
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Classical Gasbag 