Tuesday, September 26, 2017

An Autumn Reading List

Some of the radio stations to which I listen, and some of the magazines I read often suggest summer reading lists.  The books they recommend are always new books, often light fare masquerading as deep literary fiction.   The authors are typically named Sheldon, Collins, King, and Higgins Clark; all renowned for writing page turners that can be picked up while sunning at the beach and put down again to play in the waves with children. But to the best of my knowledge, no one ever suggests reading lists for the Autumn.  Maybe, this is because autumn is a serious time of year; a time when the crops are brought in, and one has to face the fact that winter is just around the corner and if there isn't enough food in the barn by now winter is going to gnaw.   Autumn doesn't lend itself to fun reading.  It is a time for more serious words that require lengthy digestian.  So, here is the list of books I recommend for autumn.

1.  Graham Green's The Quiet American reveals the naiveté of America at the beginning of the Vietnam War.

2.  Reynolds Price's Blue Calhoun, a story of a discontent middle-aged man and a too young woman bears the distinction of being the only book I ever bought because of a review in the Wall Street Journal.  

3.  Marcus Porcius Cato's Di Agri Cultura is the oldest existing work of Latin prose. (There are really good English translations.)  I first encountered it when I was working on an M.A. in ancient history and was researching the wine trade.  I fell in love with the books practical advice and smile evoking insights, such as when Cato tells his reader to visit a farm more than once before buying it, "and while you visit and inspect", because sellers will pressure you to buy right now, "leave yourself a way out." 

4. The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley gets it's name from the aromatic lawn at the house where all the main characters are gathered decades after they were all together the last time, on the eve of WWII.  It has been observed that people who lived through that war divide time by saying, "...but that was before the war", "...but that was during the war". and "... but after the war we...".   This book is another literary example of that phenomenon, and a very good one.

5. A.S. Byatt (Her real name is Dame Antonia Susan Duffy (She is a DBE and so is her sister.), wrote a very good book.  No. That is not correct.  Possession is a marvelous book.  It is two, no, three stories as two historians working without knowledge of each other research two Victorian poets.  I know, it sounds boring but it is a love story and mystery and a guide to the world of academic research, and all of this is given to the reader in various types of literature; poetry, narrative, epistolary, and more.  It is worth every penny you will pay for it.  It will keep you awake at night.

6. In some ways, Earnest Hemingway is a summer writer; his stories are often set in Phaethonic (Yes, I invented that word.  Not even Shakespeare tried to adjective-ize that pagan god's name.) climes that stir up a longing for extended holidays in Spain or the Caribbean.  But unlike the fiction usually recommended for summer, Hemingway's short stories compel reflection.  I mean, a man dying alone in a bull ring, or just trying to get through a hot night without crawling inside a bottle is not the light airy entertainment of, say, a Cussler.  Hemingway is the man who in six words wrote the saddest story ever I've ever read:  "For sale.  Baby shoes.  Never worn."  I am not recommending any of his novels, rather his short stories, and in particular, the Finca Vigia edition.  Reviewers didn't like this collection (it wasn't orderly enough for them) but I do.  I have no idea how the editor made his (or her?) decisions but some of them were truly genius.  For example, one of the short stories is broken up and the different pieces are placed between other stories.  It recreates the feeling of a serial, like the Lone Ranger serial that used to be screened at Saturday matinees.

I doubt anyone will read all of these books in one autumn, but I hope some of my readers open at least one of these books.  Happy reading.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Good Little Monkeys

Another cartoon I've liked ever since the first time I saw it is Good Little Monkeys, also dating from the 1930s.  My mother had a little ceramic statue of the Goodie Goodie Monkeys that I always liked. (You can find them for sale on eBay.)   Gosh, I don't think I've seen it since I was 7 or 8 years old.

Anyway, when I was a kid I used to walk around singing to myself "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, No. We're the goodie goodie monkeys everywhere we go."

The concept comes from the teachings of Confucious which when translated into Japanese is 
"Mizaru, kikazaru, iwazaru" ("don't see, don't hear, don't say").  And since "-zaru" sounds like "saru" (Eng. monkey) the Japanese made these little statues and called them The Three Wise Monkeys.

I don't know how the monkeys became popular in the United States.  Perhaps, they were brought over the ocean by immigrants. 


Of course, all three of the monkey behaviors are presaged in the Bible:


See no evil -  "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes"  Psalm 101:3


Hear no evil - "A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue." Proverbs 17:4


Speak no evil - "Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth..." Ephesians 4:29

One of the things I really like about this cartoon is the role played by books.  The books step in to rescue the monkeys from the Devil.  There is a lesson there.



Happy Harmony*** Good Little Monkeys (1935... by andythebeagle

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Health improvements

Back in February I weighed weighed 339 (or 336, I don't remember) pounds, was wearing size 5X shirts, could barely walk, was experiencing frightening breathing problems, was drinking a couple of gallons or more of hard liquor a week, and was experience diabetes symptoms.

Now I weigh 299, am wearing a 2X shirt, am able to walk, am breathing fine, and haven't tasted alcohol since August 24.  Best of all is having no diabetes symptoms.    My goal weight is 190.

I made it through withdrawal without to much suffering and only two hallucinations.  The only problem I seem to have from doing that is cloudy thinking.  For example, addition and subtraction is difficult right now.  But I read that that will improve over time.  I hope so.  It's a little bit embarrassing.

Wednesday, September 06, 2017

Planning for Christmas

Kathleen and I have been planning for Christmas.  We talked, briefly, about traveling to New York for Christmas but decided against it.  I've completed most of my Christmas shopping.  I am not a big fan of buying lots of Christmas presents so it's not very difficult for me to do.  I prefer Church and food and good stories and singing to presents, though it is pleasant to see them all under the tree.

The biggest thing accomplished so far is planning the menus.  It looks like a lot but it is spread out over two months, and we hope to have guests over for most of these meals.  And we might be going to my sister's house on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, so we might be making an Astro Weenie Christmas Tree to take over there with us.

Below are the menus we have decided on.  You might notice several appearances of mashed potatoes.  They are Kathleen's daughter's favorite food.  And because both of Kathleen's children were born on Theophany I am going to bake two birthday cakes for them.  Anyway, here are the menus.  I think it will be much fun.


First day of Nativity Fast (November 15)
Cracked crab (November 15 is the first day of crab season in California)
Steamed artichokes

St. Nicholas Day (December 6)
St. Nicholas buns (for breakfast)
St. Nicholas Shells
Green Salad
Bishop’s bread

St. Hermans Day (December 13th)
Salmon steaks
Broccoli orzo

Christmas Dinner (evening of December 25th)
Roasted boar’s head (We will be singing the song) Roasted turkey
Cranberry walnut pie
Spicy orange salad Mashed potatoes GravyGreen beans with walnuts Cranberry sauce
5th Day of Christmas (Dec 29)
Good Old Meat Pie
Peas
Mashed potatoes GravyPineapple Upside Down Cake (pineapple slices standing in for the 5 golden rings)

New Year’s Day/Saint Basil’s Day (January 1)
Prime Rib (I've never made this and am a bit worried.)
Cranberry salad
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Brussel’s sprouts
Vasilopita
Pecan chocolate chip pie
12th Night (January 5) (just before we run out the door to church)
Fruitcake
Theophany (January 6)
Crown Pork Roast
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Fruited Molasses Balls
Birthday cakes (French Vanilla Cake & Carrot)

Saturday, September 02, 2017

Bottles

Even when I was a little kid  i noticed the difference between cartoons made in the 1930s through the 1940s and the cartoons being made when I was a kid in the 1970s.  It seems that cartoons made in that earlier time were made for adults, or a least for kids who aren't utter dullards and are able to get a joke.   One of the reasons I like this cartoon so much is that it has references to stuff I saw in my house or in my grandmothers house.  It changed forever how I would think of a bottle of Witch Hazel.