May 28th, 2020
“સુપ્રભાત (suprabhat)! ” or “Good Morning”in Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in India, Bangladesh, Fiji and many other countries by about 46 million people.. It is Day 70 of the California Lock Down (i.e. Some relaxing of shelter in place + more retail openings+ some restaurants/bar openings + Face Masks are Required in Public).
Gutters! It doesn’t rain all that often here in southern California so I guess having gutters on your house is less important than it might be for someone living in a rainier climate. But when it does rain, the rain sheets off my roof and lands about 18 inches from the side of the house. We don’t have basements here, so keeping water out of them is also not a priority. But it rains enough for the splash to discolor the stucco near the ground. So I am thinking we need to get some gutters up. Oh Boy!
This week I learned some stuff:
• It is hard to match wall paint color and texture. Home improvement and paint stores have “color match” optical scan based color matching that can use a 1in. square of the current color and develop a “matching” formula but it is not always exact. There is also the texture consideration – flat, eggshell, satin and glossy. Naturally, I picked the wrong colors and texture twice. It looks like I will be painting a wall in the near future.
• May 28th is the 149th day of the year (because 2020 is a leap year – but there still only 216 days till Christmas!). On this day in 1937, Volkswagen, the iconic German automobile manufacturer was founded; Today in 1940, Belgium surrenders to Germany in WWII; In 1942, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people In retaliation for the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, architect of the holocost; Today in 1958, Cuban revolutionary forces under Fidel Castro overwhelm a Cuban army post in El Uvero; After 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display in Milan today in 1999; On this day in 2002, the last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.; In 1888, Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach was born today; Ian Fleming, English journalist, author and creator of James Bond was born on this day in 1908, T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist was born today in 1910; Patch Adams, American physician, author and founder the Gesundheit! Institute was born today in 1945; On this day in 1971, Audie Murphy, American soldier and actor, Medal of Honor recipient passed away.
Website Update:
• Week two for the “New” Vocabulary Quiz.
• A “New” UJT Musical Trivia Quiz …Whooo Hooo!!!
• Just one new recipe this week. I tried a very tasty new (for me anyway) pasta dish, Kalamansi Butter Miso Pasta.
Writing, Ceramics and Painting Update:
• I still haven’t gotten back into painting much. I did attend a virtual watercolors class via Zoom. It was great seeing my class mates. I enjoy hanging with those folks even if I am not painting as much.
• Grandpa Stories is still not re-published.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• I heard that the little cigar store where we held our semi-weekly, Great Left Coast Poker, Smoke and Lies Society meetings is an another victim of COVID-19. It will not be reopening even when permitted. I had to arrange for some of the lads to pick up our poker table and chips last weekend. Kind of sad, we really liked the place and people.
Music Update:
Another tiptoe though the archives to share some things you might missed or never have heard or at least not heard recently.
This week’s UJT Radio Program:
• Jack Johnson — Mediocre Bad Guy — Jack kind of creeped up on me and took me by surprise with his amazing and completely unique musical style. This one comes from his second album, “On and On” released in 2003.
• Balmorhea — San Solomon (Full Band Version) — This one is from their, “ Rivers Arms” released in 2012.
• Extreme — More that Words — This is a very atypical song for these boys and I think, very pretty. It seems to carry more meaning for me, as I get older. We are what we do. If we love some one we love them. I thought John Mayer said it well in his song, “Lover is Verb”. If we are sorry about what we have done, we stop doing it. Just saying the words don’t mean “nuffin’ “. This is from their 1990 release, “Extreme II: Pornograffitti”.
• Eric Clapton – Magnolia (feat. John Mayer) — Eric Clapton introduced me to J.J. Cale way back when he recorded Cocaine. This is a beautiful song from his “The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale” album released in 2014.
• Otis Redding — (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay — This is probably one the first truly soulful songs I learned to love as a teen. This one came out and was a big hit in 1967 on his (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay/Lorene” album.
• Jimmy Buffett — Gravity Storm — Jimmy just has a great way of putting things in the proper perspective to not only get by in life but to thrive. This is another great song from his great album, “Off to See the Lizard” released in 1989.
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!