Saudade!

Morning all! And a Happy New Year! Our town (actually our piece of the ‘hood), this weekend, seems to be a bit less active than usual – seems it’s in a saudade mood (from my travels, referencing a mood as expressed in Brazil). There, saudade [sau·da·de], your word for our entry into the New Year; 2024.

This holiday week has been great with our whole gang together, lots of food, games, chats, and most importantly, Love. I hope that yours has been wonderful as well.

Oh, before I forget. Yes, the ‘wagons’ did make a stop here at our building, on the corner of Chaos & Mayhem

The Dutchman— For all my friends who have some inkling of the Dutch in you, here is your New Year’s gift from me. For everyone not Dutch, I’m sorry you’re not, but I’ll still gift you this song. Most versions are by Country singers, this one by Celtic Thunder.

Enjoy:

A Resolution – Over my morning coffee I filtered (pun) my New Year’s resolutions down to the one I can actually accomplish. I’ve made up my mind – it’s so recent that I haven’t even shared it with Marcia.

This coming year I resolve to attend the Western & Southern Tennis Open (beginning in 2024 it’ll be renamed “The Cincinnati Open”). There, it’s now news scattered far and wide, so I am on the hook. I’ve always enjoyed tennis. Never a “nutcase” on it but played it a fair bit – marginally. So, the question is, why go?

For the ambiance!

The city nearly lost its Western and Southern earlier this year. After the consternation of the possible loss dust settled, the Cincinnati Open will stay in the area for at least the next quarter century. This tournament is the final run-up of the New York Open. It brings the top players in the world.

The tournament has been around our town since 1899, has over 200,000 attendees, great food, great music, people from all 50 states and, as I’m told, here from 39 countries. Plus, a worldwide viewership of about 130 million. This thing is HUGE! And I want to be part of it at least once, and 2024 will be the year!

The photo shows the Main Court:

Election Update Line –This line from journalist Matt Taibbi: “Democracy Dies in Daylight” and it’s so true, especially as the end of 2023 is priming itself for a stunning start into 2024. Actually, the thinking comes from the Washington Post, when they pledged to save democracy, but now argue we need to be saved from it.

How, you ask?

How about this from Canada. A legitimate author in Canada wrote a book quite critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This past week this journalist/author, Ezra Levant, was fined $13,000 when a Federal Court sided with Justin Trudeau and ruled that his book, The Libranos, was illegal. The guarantees placed in Canada’s Charter of Rights, thus conveniently tossed aside by a small, appointed, and non-elected group.

Remember the adage, “innocent till proven guilty”?  But then, just how easy it is now for one person to erase the primary candidate of their opposition party off the ballot. And do so without any conviction on any charge, just inuendo and a ‘kangaroo’ committee. This was done this week in both Colorado and Maine.

Yesterday an unelected Federal Judge, days before going into effect (January 1). He blocked an Iowa law passed by the legislature last winter. The Law? Nothing to concern yourself about. It merely bans schools from using books depicting sex acts from school libraries and classrooms. It also blocks teachers in Iowa classrooms from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through the sixth grade.

Best sentence of 2023 – August 8, 2023: “I wish politicians would look out for miners, and not just minors on an island somewhere.” — Oliver Anthony, “Rich Men North of Richmond”

Movie  – Several of us headed out to the theater to watch “The Boys in the Boat”. It was well done and a was worthwhile watching, although I appreciated the book more.

In line with the whole rowing theme, I spotted this quote: “In rowing, you move forward by looking in the opposite direction, I learned that it’s OK to look back, as long as you keep pushing forward.” –Arshay Cooper, rower, author of A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America’s First All-Black High School Rowing Team.

Button-down Humor – lost a renaissance comedian early this past week, Tommy Smothers, at age 86, one member of a pair of brothers, Tommy and Dick Smothers. It was their mid Sixties, boundary-pushing political satire, which included veiled jokes about drugs, sex and American involvement in Vietnam. It also helped launch the careers of television and comedy institutions, such as Rob Reiner and Steve Martin” (The Hill).

Their anti-war satire comedy on primetime television riled President Johnson to the point where he called the President of CBS. Quickly the Smothers Brothers were told to cut it out. In turn they invited anti-war folk singer Pete Seeger on the show where he sang an antiwar song (the Seeger piece was cut from the show). With ratings on top of the CBS lineup the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was soon canceled.

As icons of the Sixties counterculture, it was Tommy who was invited to participate in the recording of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance”.

Please No more – Some things need to be put to rest and never to be revived. Some things happened in 2023 not to be repeated in this New Year. The perfect example occurred this past August. Subway restaurants offered a lifetime of Subway sandwiches if you were willing to formally change your name to ‘Subway’.

10,000 weak minded folks jumped on to this ‘amazing’ offer. One was picked. Subway followed up and even paid for the bureaucratic claptrap required to make the name switch.  I’m wishing ‘Subway’ the ‘winner’, a happy life.

New Year’s Weekend –

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

May Marcia have a singularly GRAND time on the big ‘0’ Birthday she’ll be celebrating this week.

And may Peace prevail! Shalom. Dirk

BONUS POINTS:

7 Sentences from news articles which explain 2023; except for one – which one is fake?

1) March 24, 2023: “Well, I lost half a day of skiing.” —Gwyneth Paltrow

2) April 26, 2023: “There’s no failure in sports.” —Giannis Antetokounmpo

3) June 13, 2023: “Sell the team.” —Oakland A’s fans

4) December 1, 2023: “To hell with this place.” —George Santos

5) October 11, 2023: “Same, except exactly the opposite.” —Sam Bankman-Fried

6) February 24, 2023: “Bert Parks, “Miss America” was never the same without him; did he ever win?” —@padretom99