March 18th, 2016
Maidin mhaith! (A fine Gaelic good morning to you !!!)
The Ides of March!!! These were tough times for the great Roman Emperor Caesar who was learning the fatal limits of power and loyalty. This is the week the special folk celebrate St. Paddy don’t you know. Everyone on earth tries to be a little Irish and every Irishman tries to welcome them home. In my 63rd year, I am enjoying a fine single malt Irish Whiskey for the first time and as my virtual friend, Henry Morgan, playing the role of Col. Sherman Potter said so aptly, “ They don’t put enough “o”s in “Smooooooth” to cover this taste.
This week I learned some stuff:
We lost another great musician this week. Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake and Palmer took his own life as he pondered his remaining time with limited use of his right hand due to illness and nerve damage. He was 71 years old and pondering retirement after one more tour of Japan.
I have been having flashbacks of a culinary sort lately. Some of you may remember one of the Grandpa Stories about an experiment involving the optimum number of Martinis one can consume at lunch and still remain employed that my friend Todd and I conducted back in the late 1970s or so. Well, lost in that story was the fact that the experiment was conducted in a Chinese restaurant near Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company where we were both employed as Engineering Analysts at the time. Another fact lost in the scientific notation of the experiment was that this restaurant featured THE BEST BAR B Q EGG FOO YUNG on the planet!!! The sauce was so creamy and smooth. I have been searching all over trying to find someone who can duplicate this dish. I finally gave up and have decided to do it myself. So this week I taught myself how to make the Bar B Q Pork..yum!!!
Dr. Oliver Wendell Homes, not the former Chief Justice of the United States but his father, was the American doctor who had the temerity to suggest that doctors start washing their hands between patients immediately saving thousands of lives in the 1880s and millions since.
Website Update
This is the last for our “new” Vocabulary Quiz.
I added an excellent quote from a first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt this week. “ Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; that’s why they call it the present.”
I also added my recipes for Chinese Bar B Q Roast Pork and Left Over Bar B Q Roast Pork Egg Foo Yung…yum !
Painting Update:
Slowly, step by step, I am making my way to the paints.
Writing Update:
I took the week off from still finding typos in GPS.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
Do you remember those cool glass door knobs in the older buildings when you were a kid? Sometimes when the sun was going down and the light was coming in sideways through the windows it would catch those knobs and project colors on the doors. They seemed to project much brighter when I had after school detention.
I was thinking about some more of the silliness that is continuing to spew out of our presidential campaign. A couple of weeks ago Mr. Trump was was seriously discussing the viability of building a physical wall between the United States and Mexico. Yeah, thats what we need a 1,954 chain link fence between us and our neighbors to the south. Its just the wrong conversation! Just like the governors banning Iranian immigrants from settling in their states because they are afraid they might actually be terrorist. These are not the discussions of thoughtful individuals. We, all of us humans, need to breathe, love, eat, learn and care for our kids. All the rest is just how we choose to do it and at whose expense. We need to build fewer walls and open more doors if we are going to find peace for our children. We are well past the time when walls, fences or smarter bombs can help us. Its no longer nations but individuals who we fear. We need to start talking about how to building better more effective ways to share the incredible wealth our planet and our abilities has made available to us and our children. No one’s wealth is worth a single starving child or anyone’s innocence slaughtered. We are taking about the wrong things for the wrong reasons and it is time to stop. There will be no need to be afraid of people who have what they need just as we do, especially if we help each other get to that place. I just thing its weird that as clear and positive as this line of thought is, no one of our “leaders” is making the case for more sharing of resources, greater transparency and less secrecy. The greater the gaps between people the less effective defenses become. How many more silly ideas such as a 1,954 mile fence do we have to listen to before someone starts to work on eliminating the need for such stupidity.
Music Update:
As usual you will find an eclectic mix of music her on the ole UJT radio dial but I want to encourage you to explore from these starting points. You know that I love the old songs but if you haven’t checked out any new music by Bruce Hornsby or David Crosby or Graham Nash, David Pack or any of the other greats then you are missing some wonderful times. This UJT thing is supposed to whet your whistle you know.. inspire you discover more…I hope it does.
The Clancy Brothers – The Irish Rover — Raise your glasses Lads to the good men of the Irish Rover lead by their Capn’ Mic McCann ..Happy St Paddy’s to you one and all!Thanks to brother Chris Feely for this one!!
Kings of Leon – Use Somebody — This is just a great tune to make you smile. Its one of those across room fantasy songs and I hope we have all had lots of these. Oh and yeah..the music is great too… enjoy!
Rod Stewart – Forever Young – This one goes out to my baby sis who came all the way from Sebastian, Fl to Las Vegas, NV to see the great elderly midget this week. This one is for you, Doots and to me you will remain … Forever Young!
Graham Nash – This Path Tonight — This is the title cut from his new release coming out this month. I am excited. Graham is a neighbor of mine of sorts (he lives up in La Jolla and I live down the street from the Rolls Royce repair shop so I get to see his beautiful blue convertible R-squared driving by every once an awhile.
Bruce Hornsby – Listen to the Silence – This is maybe one of my favorite funky Zen songs going. From his “Spirit Trail” album which also came out in 1998 and features one of the more incongruous cover images that I have seen in awhile. There is so much wisdom packed into this tune, it just hurts my old head to hear some much common sense in just 4 minutes and 35 seconds!
Jackson Browne – Walls and Doors — Another tune form his most recent, “Standing in the Breach” album. This is just a great song about understanding that all the differences between people are the differences that we create.
David Crosby – Hero – This is the sweet title tune from his 1998 album. This boy still has the chops and he trots them out for all to hear on this well produced song.
Joe Bonamassa – Asking Around for You (Live from the Royal Albert Hall) — This is another cut from his great performance in London. Its a great blues mix featuring excellent vocals, horns and of course, Joe’s guitar.. Enjoy.
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