Being Antiphilosophic?

Happy Saturday Morning – our one day ‘cold’ snap did just that, lasted a single day and then back into the seventies. My watch gave me a good sleep rating; it too knows what I will accept and what I won’t. Too much negativity from that timepiece and it’ll realize that my messy-stuff drawer is just a step or two away. Comprende?

I’ve finished my early coffee. Now, ready to pour another one I’ll get Marcia’s ready since I hear stirrings.

Last week I mentioned that mid week I had plans to attend a performance by StringSource (a four-person string quartet) playing at the Norman chapel at Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum. Immediately after posting I went to order a ticket and discovered it had Sold Out. That’s the bad news.

Now the good news. They are also playing in Washington Park (across from Music Hall in Over the Rhine) at the end of the month. No fixed numbers of seats in the park, and if the weather is decent enough Marcia thinks she could make it too (especially since I’ll bring a pair of bag chairs).

Fingers crossed.

Edmund Burke – Edmund Burke (1729–1797) in his 1790 book titled “Reflections on the Revolution in France” has a line I quoted below. He was objectively regarded as the philosophical father of modern conservatism, he championed traditional institutions, constitutional liberty, and gradual political reform. A standout thinker during his time; “an antiphilosophic philosopher and an influential statesman skeptical of what states can do.” (Hertog Foundation)

“People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors”

Keep that line from Burke in mind as we view the current riots in Europe as their youth in partnership with those of their massive influx of recent immigrants, all rampantly are ruining anything of value – historically or financially.

We too are on the cusp considering the mid-term elections here as our youth’s negative look at things such as Ai; all especially if we turn the spotlight on today’s educational lack of direction in subjects such as history, civics, economics, and such.

Black Monday – this past week, way back in 1987 the stock market’s bottom dropped out when the Stock Market’s Dow fell 22.6% in that one single day. For those of you not in ‘tune’, no, it absolutely was NOT an orchestrated event to occur exactly on a special day previously called Black Monday!

Best Monday – What a great start to the week! Marcia had a final visit with her soon-retiring endocrinologist. He said that all her blood work numbers were exactly where they should be. He was delighted! We, likewise, were just as excited.

From there it was off to our nearby county Board of Elections where we voted early. The process couldn’t have gone smoother, even when it took both of us to get our address verification question right (smiley face).

Then, off to the Quatman Café for dinner; burgers as good as they come. Celebrating her great medical news, Marcia had her first draught in 10-months – a Yuengling Lager. Me? I had my first (a favorite) bowl of Mock Turtle Soup also a first in 10-months – this soup was served at President Lincoln’s first inauguration dinner.

Cheffery – As some of you know, these days I am spending more time in the kitchen. While I do think I have some semblance of a ‘feel’ for mixing and blending spices and herbs, for most of the other stuff when preparing a meal, I am a hack.

Having said that, I am not averse to learning something new now and then.

Earlier this week it was a soup and sandwich combo. The sandwich I had selected required fried bacon, and here is where I tried a truly unusual way I had read about a while back. Totally a novel method. And it worked!

According to the instructions I took my half pack of bacon slices and kept them in their folded store sleeve – then rinsed the whole thing under hot water.

Then I took about five sheets of kitchen toweling, scrunched these up under that same hot water. Carefully straightened out the sopping wet toweling, laid the bacon package at one end and rolled it all into a neatly wrapped package. Placed it on the edge of the turning plate inside a microwave and turned it on.

I set the microwave for 4 minutes. When I unwrapped the steaming pack it was a ‘voila’ perfectly fried, straight, bacon strip moment; and NO grease splattering all over the place.

Give it a try unless you dislike bacon, then try it with something like, oh say, Kale.

Me? I think 100% of my three readers will be trying this bacon frying method.

This week’s Interlude – A quick re-read and I discovered that there are a few ‘dark’ spots on this week’s Ramblings. Hence, here are two lines from this week’s Interlude piece’s lyrics:

I’d like to keep my issues drawn
It’s always darkest before the dawn

Good luck, I know you’ll get it right! The answer is below, and remember, no cheating on the answer.

Enjoy!

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk
BONUS POINTS:

Personally I do not know of one acquaintance who does not like Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of Sherlock Holmes. Throughout the stories there is quite a list of characters, many of whom show up in multiple stories.
Sir Doyle did not operate in a vacuum. In fact, he invented Sherlock after a real person. From the following list of characters, one is not a ‘cast’ member but is the real person who was his Sherlock character’s model and this is one of the names below.

Next week I’ll divulge who that individual was – see if you can deduce the correct answer – Sherlock style.

1. Dr. John H. Watson
2. Joseph Bell
3. Mary Morstan
4. Mycroft Holmes
5. Inspector G. Lestrade
6. Irene Adler
7. Professor James Moriarty
8. Mrs. Hudson
9. Sherlock Holmes
10. Colonel Sebastian Moran
11. Tobias Gregson & Stanley Hopkins

Last week’s Bonus Points answer – #6
Answer, this week’s Interlude: Florence and the Machine “Shake it Out”

Really? Playing Ove

Happy Saturday Morning – Okay, is it just me getting old and curmudgeonly or is it a new generation which, by and large, doesn’t give a hoot?

Back a few years there was a Swedish movie with the name ‘Ove’ in it. Ove, an older character obsessed with wanting to keep his housing project, as the expression goes; “the best that it can be.”

Maybe if one can see themselves as being like an Ove character from a movie – then the answer is sitting front and center. Possibly my middle name should be, “Dirk Ove P.”.

Now once posted I best enjoy my coffee while I am sitting back a bit with a smile still curling in the corners. Afterwards I’ll start my next Condo roundabout.

Meanwhile I’ll ponder the critical thinking of Oscar Wilde:

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

Family members P. & J. & their son Pete – Just asking you to keep Pete in your prayers and thoughts. I understand that in life we witness and experience a wide array of turmoil, troubles, sickness, etc. However, every so often we witness a life where out of the blue, they’re experiencing an almost impossible “tough row to hoe.” With the diagnosis of Functional Neurologic Disorder – young Pete is in such a shape and the very best in medical knowledge is at wits end.

Thanks for keeping them front and center!

Isn’t it interesting that the more we believe that we’re about to ‘jump’ another hurdle that it appears we’re facing multiple more? Isn’t it fascinating when you realize that notwithstanding all the medical advancements we’re witnessing how much more there is to exploere?

Best of Blink – A little over a century ago as the fall bird migrations got underway there was one bird which darkened the skies and where millions of them flew by on for hundreds of miles. It was claimed that that bird, the passenger Pigeon, was the most pervasive species on earth. Hunters shot them, shooters just for shooting, and there were natural issues. Then on September 1st, 1914, the world’s last surviving of her species, a passenger Pigeon affectionally known as “Martha” (honoring First Lady Martha Washington), died at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens.

During the 19th century our nation deemed John James Audubon (1785-1851) as the preeminent Painter of birds. The 20th century, similarly, had that spot taken by Cincinnati’s own, John A. Ruthven (1924-2020) – quickly labeled as his century’s Audubon.

Ruthven created a painting of “Martha” which he gifted the Cincinnati Zoo (it hangs in the Zoo’s boardroom). It gets better, in 2013 he created a vast (seven story building) mural in downtown Cincinnati; “Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon.”

For Blink the large building displaying the Ruthven mural of “Martha” was brought to life at BLINK 2026 with a nighttime light and projection animation. Thus, animating Ruthven’s mural across the whole side of the building.

StringSource – We are very lucky to be walking distance from the amazing Cemetery and Botanical Garden, Spring Grove, and the wonderful lineup of year-round activities and events. This coming Thursday my plan is to attend the hour and a half string concert playing music from the 1970’s and 1980’s this string quartet will perform – violins, viola, and chello. Looking forward to attending.

This week’s Interlude – There are a myriad of artists and groups who seem to come out of nowhere with a number that both sticks with their audience and seem to be everywhere. I guess the label; “One Hit Wonder” is accurate. This week’s piece you’ll mumble; “I’ve heard that before”, and you probably have.

Good luck, I know you’ll get it right! Remember, no cheating on the answer.

Enjoy!

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk
BONUS POINTS:

With our first Fall small temperature dip it also means that winter will be here sooner rather than later. A hundred years ago getting ready for winter was an all-consuming chore. Massive amounts of firewood and coal had to be garnered. Food was an issue. Even the newly popular automobile required serious care. In fact, many car owners would simply put their auto up on blocks and just store the ‘contraption’.

Which of the following (ONE) was actually popularly used to manage their wheels during winter:

1. Whiskey poured into the radiator
2. Let their dogs sleep in the garage with the cab’s doors open
3. Rig light bulbs in and under the car lit at night
4. Hang old blankets behind garage doors and windows
5. Place a thick layer of sawdust on the garage floor
6. Place boxes of Baking Soda inside the car’s cab.

Last week’s Bonus Points answer – #3
Answer, this week’s Interlude: 4 Non Blondes, “What’s Up” (1893) – lead vocals by Linda Perry

It was Brilliant

Happy Saturday Morning – Back in town. Back to enjoying the town’s Blink. Back to not driving on a leaky tire. Back the battery having recharged – vehicle and body!

Having said all that, the one piece of the ‘puzzle’ that stayed constant was the coffee. Lovely, or as the Brits and Canadians would say, brilliant!

Ben Hur – While in Canada I started to read Ben Hur, a book written by then local Union Major General L. Wallace (the same one who saved my city of Cincinnati from being overrun during the Civil War). I loved Wallace’s opening dedication for his book, so here it is and used by me as my quotation for this week:

“to THE WIFE OF MY YOUTH
who
still abides with me”

Northern Comfort – Our little cabin, Northern Comfort, up north has been sitting idle for way too long. Keep it that way for too long and Mother Nature begins to take ownership. The Dutch have a saying for that situation. I don’t think that there’s a need to translate, it’s pretty obvious.

My lake neighbor said that this winter there had been an inordinate amount of snow. As the melt got underway it reached a point where snow (not sure how many feet, but feet it was) finally slid off the roof. That caused a massive smash onto the stairs that connect yard and deck. The force caused the deck-screws attaching the stairs to the deck to snap.

The fix was a reset and in place of deck screws, four 6” Carriage Bolts took over the task.
Fixed!

Then, I ended up playing lumberjack by cutting 3 growing Pine trees, two of those were right against the cabin.
Fixed!

But there’s more. The snow and winter weather had decimated the tarps which were supposed to protect our SeaNymph fishing boat and the Pontoon.
Fixed!

Screenshot

Plumbers are Great – I hadn’t been up north a day before the call came in. Back home the ladies were experiencing an overflowing toilet. They called our plumber but were advised they could not respond unless the owner ordered the call. So, from the depths of the forest I got a hold of our plumbers. By two o’clock they were on site and unleashed a massive snake on the issue – 60’ to the main line.
Fixed!

And thus it was how I spent a few short days in camp. Truth be told, it could easily have been weeks. Can’t forget, the color was glorious!

Blink – is a big event for our town. What is it? Blink is an internationally celebrated immersive light and art event. Two years ago, it drew interest from artists from here and around the world, with 944 total submissions from artists in 65 countries. That year’s festival featured 37 projection mapping projects, 31 light-based installations, and 19 permanent murals.

This year it extends to 30 city blocks (2.5 miles). The art runs across many mediums including projection mapping, light-based sculpture, interactive installations, and mural works. The only issue is coping with the many, many thousands of fellow ‘gawkers’.

Adrianne, Vai, and I went to the opening which was a drone show, and we then went into Washington Park to see how Music Hall was done up. I shot the video below showing two of the several variations of displays on the building. I loved it!

PS. Do yourself a favor and up the volume a tad.

Bellingham Church – the little church, in nearby to the cabin in Kynoch (a four-house widening in the road), had a celebration for an event almost impossible to repeat. Their church member and their organist, Margaret Reed, had passed earlier this year after being the organist in her church for SEVENTY years (yes, that’s 70). That’s Guiness World record stuff!

Mid way the last century it was Marcia’s dad and my father-in-law, a preacher who would on occasion lead the service at Bellingham United Church while vacationing in the area. Just think, a then young, Margaret Reed could have already been the organist. Wow!

It was a lovely service. At one point a bronze plaque in her remembrance and recognition was unveiled. That, along with a tasty luncheon afterwards – especially so for me during my solo stint.

This week’s Interlude – There was a time in the mid-20th century where in clubs and on radio segregation was the norm. Today’s musical interlude began as a black R&B number. Through a whole series of convolutions, the song became a pop song in England and eventually a college Marching Band number. In time, several decades later it became an official U S State’s R&R track.

Good luck, I know you’ll get it right! Remember, no cheating on the answer.

Enjoy!

Life is AMAZING!

Dirk
BONUS POINTS:

Yesterday was the day that the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. Over the years many names have been submitted. Which of these names listed below is the one name actually selected as the winner over the years. The actual award is awarded on the day of Alfred Nobel‘s death, the 10th of December since 1901.

1. FIFA
2. Castro
3. Pillay
4. Putin
5. Jackson
6. Hitler
7. Mussolini

Last week’s Bonus Points answer – # 1
Answer, this week’s Interlude: Hang on Sloopy, McCoys