We’ve made the transition from ‘straw ‘n pumpkins’ to the bright lights of the season. Marcia, as part of the transition, thought it a great idea to hang a string of patio lights in the sunroom. Now we realize that it should have remained just a thought. The reality is that now Marcia sits there happily knitting away, as if she were sitting in a lighted fish bowl. Hopefully we’re providing a bit of entertainment to walkers by.

Nevertheless here’s to a happy and fine Saturday morning to everyone. Since it’s early I made my coffee on the French Press and leave the pot sit till ‘Madame’ gets up. And so, we’re ‘marching’ on.

Caffè Vivace – our favorite Café by day and Jazz lounge at night became our haunt du jour last evening. We purchased tickets to see El Ritmo Del Mañana for an evening of Latin Jazz – the Christmas edition and their new album release party! Frosty never sounded so good!

All week Marcia and I plotted to get an early start since it’d been too long since our last taste of their fabulous African Peanut Stew (we were desperately trying to avoid them running out of stew). We weren’t disappointed; it was even better than the last time we had it.

     

The band was great, with the brass exactly like what we had hoped for. But, it was the gal, Zion Sosa, playing Congas and Beat Box who was amazing. It was exactly the start of the Holiday season I’d been hoping for.

     

”Everything depends on the individual human being, regardless of how small a number of like-minded people there is… on each person… and everything depends on each person, through action and not mere words, creatively making the meaning of life a reality in his or her own being…” ~ Viktor Frankl (1905 – 1997) Austrian psychiatrist

Viktor Frankl  Frankl was sent off to the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz where he lost both his parents. Just nine months after his release from the camps he delivered a series of lectures on the meaning and value of life: “Yes to Life, in Spite of Everything.” For these past 70-years the English speaking world has been oblivious to the existence of these incredible concepts and ideas.

Especially reading about the slippery slope on which Trudeau has placed Canada with an at will path of Euthanasia (with virtually little restraint) I thought it important to mention Frankl’s expressions on the true meaning of life. If you’re interested, it might be worthwhile to explore a bit more. Click this, it will lead you to an introduction.

Don’t Bring Me Down – the song which became a mega-hit back in 1979 by the Electric Light Orchestra popped up on my Spotify channel during one of my walks earlier this week.

The song was a last minute add-on to finish off their Discovery album with a loud piece; said Jeff Lynne who wrote it, as a dedication to the NASA Skylab space station which had come down from space.

Lynne continued working on the piece while the other members went out for a bite. With tape running an acquaintance popped in using the common German greeting of “Gruß” (Groos). Lynne kept that greeting in as a place-holder. Returning, the other band members heard ‘Groos’ as “Bruce”. It became the hook to the song and it’s probably the one bit you remember. Enjoy this early video of the song (and btw, unlike the sound the ELO was known for, this song had no strings and in the video the string players are shown as playing keyboards):

Cockwomble – One just has to love the Brits for their ability to use and assemble words found nowhere else in the English language. But wait, that’s not all. Many of these words have a very plain meaning, but the clever Brits by merely adding an adjective to what would be a noun can quickly turn it into a piece of derogatory slang. Hence a ‘cockwongle’ is someone who is obnoxious.

The common slang use is for a person, usually male, “prone to making outrageously stupid statements and/or inappropriate behavior while generally having a very high opinion of his own wisdom and importance”.

We just had our mid-term elections, does any of the above ‘ring out’? Didn’t we all vote for an array of cockwombles parading in front of us at meeting halls and on TV screens?

Two Cows – Here in three minutes is the most succinct description of all the various political, i.e. economic ideas, we are confronted by on a daily basis. Enjoy the look:

Fini –

• Last year Germany paid South Africa $800 million to stop using coal. Since then German imports of South African have increase eight-fold. Now, Germany is producing more carbon emissions per unit of electricity than South Africa. Is this climate imperialism?

• This week Canada’s PM, Justin Trudeau, spoke out on China’s extreme, Covid-19 related, lockdowns by saying this: “Everyone in China should be allowed to protest. We will continue to ensure that China knows we will stand for human rights with people who are expressing themselves.” Hey Justin, please advise what your RCMP goon squads were up to last February in Ottawa?

• This week the Netherlands embarked on a path to close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU rules. These are multi-generational and profitable farms. This is NUTS!

• I am just wondering who exactly supervises the various VW marketing entities. Is anyone at corporate providing an iota of oversight or was this on purpose?

• Since the whole Epstein ‘Love island’ business has dropped away, I thought you might want a look at the list of visitors and realize that it’s only Ghisaine Maxwell who is sitting in jail.

• Who of my dear readers remembers the purpose of this little canister?

• One year and here are a few of the changes which have occurred between January and December:

Ciao. Stay strong; keep learning – and now that the Holidays are looming, party hearty (but safely)!

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk

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