November 9, 2017
“Emesiere” You might hear this in the hot humid morning in Nigeria.
Did you have your deviled egg last Thursday ?
Today is MICROTIA AWARENESS DAY !!! November 9th is dedicated to spreading hope and knowledge concerning a congenital birth defect, when the ear(s) do not fully develop during the 1st trimester of pregnancy. Approximately one child in every 9,000 is born with Microtia.
What happen in Texas this week is another horrific example of why we need one set of national rules governing ownership and access to weapons. 14 children were hurt or killed by a weapon that should never been accessible by the ex-Air Force wife beater. I have always been an optimist. But 2017 had given all of us so many things to consider from the bad column of possible outcomes. I feel the anguish of the truly devout baptist families who were hurt and lost friends or family members. Their loss is our loss. Its not a philosophical or political concept dripping to the floor of that church. It is the pieces, parts and blood of those innocents shot while singing their love of God. They will have all died and suffered in vain if we fail to demand our representatives create a strong, rational set of weapon ownership rules and begin to enforce those rules nationally.
This week I learned some stuff:
• We have lived with a piece of drywall covering the hole in the ceiling in our hallway for almost 18 years. A project forgotten until I had to checkout what it would take to install the ceiling fan in our master bedroom. So I took the measurements, and built the cover out of plywood and pine. The trick was to create a framed insert with some sort of locking device. It turned out to be more of a challenge than I had first thought. The whole thing reminded me of how much I enjoy working with wood.
• Have you seen Tom Steyer’s TV ads for the Impeachment of Trump? While I agree that Trump is a limited, self-centered characterless individual. I agree that he is perhaps a mentally defective individual, who in a burst of misguided anger at the status quo, Americans voted against the establishment and for someone who is willing to say anything to get elected. Having said that, Spence is Trump’s secret weapon. If you study this individual, you may find him even more frightening that SCROTUS. He is certainly smarter and more connected. And should Trump be deposed, Spence, will surely appoint someone just as abhorrent as his Vice President. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a legislative branch with some leadership, character and backbone?
• 1.5 – 5* TRILLION dollars of debt! That is the estimated cost of the so-called, “tax reform proposal” being debated in the legislature. This is more of the same “trickle down” nonsense that Republicans always inflict on the American people but the fact is (and there is lots of data on this) that nothing trickles down. The benefits of these policies are almost exclusively held at the top tiers of wealth. In fact, these changes will impede economic growth, tighten the capital markets and inspire greater offshore investment at the end of the day. Let Larry Summer’s one of the architects that kept us from depression not so long ago, explain it to you. Please encourage your representatives to do the research and vote their conscience based upon the predictable outcomes of this terrible policy change. (* depends upon how accurate growth estimates are)
Website Update:
• Second week for the New Vocabulary Quiz.
• I added a new poem that I wrote as part of my Writers Workshop assignment called, “A Lyrical Love Poem ”. The members of my workshop seemed to enjoy it so I thought I would share it with you all.
• This week I also added the lyrics for “September Grass” from James Taylor. Enjoy!
• This week you will find some more yummy OFG(Old Fat Guy) tested recipes to feast on.
Writing and Painting Update:
• I worked on the Pumpkin Painting some more and started a new one of Chewy. We will see.
• I wrote another poem this week.
• I got to my Pastel class. I am not feeling it this time. I am not sure why. I have done some pretty good work but just not that inspired by this medium.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• I was a little encouraged by local election results this week. Hopefully, the threat of being flushed out of office will provide the useless weasels masquerading as elected representatives in Congress enough backbone to go back to being useless and stop doing stupid things. Maybe we can get thru the next three years with doing too much more damage.
Music Update:
Click here for week’s UJT Radio program:
• Orleans — Ending of a Song — Larry Hoppen left us so many beautiful songs. This is a deep cut from their, “Let There Be Music” album. This is a sad one about breaking up.
• Paul Cardall — Sweet Escape — This is a beautiful instrumental from his, “Faithful” album released in 2005.
• Roberta Flack — Killing Me Softly With His Song — This is a sweet song about falling in love with someone through their music. Having a life long fantasy of being a lovable busker, I always loved this one and Joni Mitchell’s song.
• Joni Mitchell — Real Good For Free — From the Vinyl !!!! This is a live version with the LA Express from her, “Miles of Aisles” album.
• John Prine — Paradise — This was another one of my formative anthems from my Bradford Angier, “One Acre and Security” days when we were all going to go back to live on the land. I first heard John Denver sing it in concert. I didn’t find out till later that Mr. Prine actually wrote the song. I got to hear it a lot, drinking wine at the Red Mule in Norfolk (Russ Kirkpatrick sang it).
• U2 — This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now — This another great song from their great, “Songs of Innocence” album.
• Alanis Morissette — Everything — This song kinds of grabs me and won’t let go. She is so intense.
• The Allman Brothers Band — Jessica — From the Vinyl !!!! This is a shout out to my favorite daughter! I love you so much. This is just an amazing example of the boys doing instrumental magic rock and roll. Hell, it just makes me smile.
That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; And always remember … The best is yet to come!
As always, thank you for being my friend!
James
Under the Jacaranda Tree URL: http://www.jfmccann.com