August 3rd, 2017
Moning tru!! (A “Good Morning” that you might hear in in Tok Pisin that is an English based Creole spoken in Papua, New Guinea.)
It has been a pretty creative week for me this week. I finished 3 new paintings, finished shaping my first bonsai pot in ceramics, continued refinishing this bench that we keep in our bedroom and worked on a new chapter for Artifacts.
This week Jerry Garcia would have celebrated his 75th birthday. Jerry had a gentle soul and a quiet sweetness that mostly expressed its self through his fingers. If you ever had the chance to attend a Grateful Dead concert, you know what I mean. Happy Birthday Jerry,!!! Keep on Truckin’ 🙂
Dan Rather featured Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame on his Big Interview this week. I was very impressed by Mr. Water’s insights and observations. If you can try to watch it.
This week I learned some stuff:
• I found 5 USB drives in various drawers (yes even one in the Kitchen Drawer) and shipped them off to the folks who wipe them and fill them with global information and send them to the people of North Korea so they have some idea of what is happening in the world at large. The only other information source these folks have is State managed. Think of “Radio Free Europe” on a stick (only I hope this is less slanted towards the joys of democracy than RFE). Flash Drives for Freedom smuggles flash drives filled with films, books, and internet content. These little sticks cluttering up your drawers could be windows to the outside world for people blinded by a dictator. Look around find your stash and put them to good use here.
• I learned to get the rice correct in my Aroz Con Pollo but this time I used just chicken breasts. To my tastes, boneless, skinless chicken breasts are more about texturized protein than flavor. So I will update my recipe to include an overnight marinade with Mojo Corillio which is a citrus based Cuban marinade particularly good for poultry and fish but is ok for pork and beef too.
Website Update:
• This week I added a new section in our messy Kitchen Drawer. Lets face it, the UJT Kitchen Drawer was not like anyone else’s. It was too neat and organized! Most kitchen drawers you have to be kind of careful sticking your hand in because your brother might have put that spool of thread with the needle sticking out in there under the Pizza delivery flyers and such. So I got wild and crazy and created a Things That Don’t Fit section to place stuff that doesn’t fit anywhere else on UJT but still deserves our attention. I had a lot of fun doing the work and hope you will enjoy discovering what is this new corner of the UJT Kitchen Drawer. Check it out!
• This is the last week for you to do the New Vocabulary Quiz!!! Woohoo!!!
• This week I also added the lyrics for “Creeque Alley” from The Mamas and Pappas for your sing-a-long pleasure. Enjoy!
• I continued to add previous UJT Updates, numerous recipes, quotes and Interesting Humans.
• This week’s “Interesting Human” is Harry S. Truman. The most creative, tough and honest hat salesman to hail from Independence, Missouri.
Writing and Painting Update:
• I got to all my classes this week!! Woohoo! I fixed a pastel painting that turned out pretty nice, started a new painting and am building a new bonsai pot.
• I worked on Artifacts a little bit and felt really guilty about not getting Grandpa Stories republished yet.
Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• I was having a pleasant evening with my friends Red Bush, Irish Whiskey, Georgie the dog and a fairly decent movie that I found on Amazon Prime (such a cool deal!), when I noticed that my glass was empty and so was Georgie’s Throne. Georges Throne is the big overstuff chair in front of the tv that only Georgie uses. So curious and thirsty I went in search of more of the nectar of the gods and on my way back, located Georgie laying in the very middle of a large 2 car garage all by herself! I immediately suspected my mouth wash or deodorant until I remember that Georgie spends an inordinate about of her time either licking her nether regions or sniffing others and besides I had taken a shower recently. So I came to the conclusion that one of our dogs is ashamed of me. I am not sure at all about how I feel about that but it hit pretty high on my weird-stuff-o-meter!!!
• Dreams. Whew! This week I had a strange dream about my brother, Pat. He and I were young men working on some sort of project together. We were both tall, lean, sweaty and dirty. It was a good day bright, hot and we were doing a lot of smiling together. Then I sneezed. For real..not just in my dream. I sneezed so hard I woke myself up. I don’t think I ever even heard of someone sneezing in a dream. I woke up waiting for Pat’s, “Gesundheit!”.
Music Update:
This week we worked in a nice mix of old, new, soulful, and spiritual music that I hope you will love as much as I do. Click here for week’s UJT Radio program:
• The Mamas and Papas — Creeque Alley — This is John Phillips story of the group. John was a superb song writer and vocal arranger. He was very prolific writing so many songs and collaborating on even more. It is hard to believe that M&P were only together for about two and half years and made less that 50 public appearances. They had a huge impact.
• Mamas and Papas — California Dreaming — This song was perhaps their biggest hit and showcases their amazing harmonies.
• Taylor Swift — This Love — This is just a pretty song sung pretty. It also talks to me about a special love that must be let go to have forever. I like that she tells us that love is not one thing..not just a good thing but also a bad thing sometimes, too. My admiration for this young songwriter grows every time that I really listen.
• Jerry Garcia — Bird Song — From the vinyl !!! This one just popped up on the rotation. I am sure I have featured it before on UJT Radio but I went back as far as 2016 and figured if it had been that long ago, you all were in need of a Jerry fix.
• Gary Clark Jr. — Bright Lights — I love the intro on this one – it reminds me of that amazing dance scene by Jamie Lee Curtis in “True Lies”. This guitar player deserves your attention. I saw him to a cameo on NCIS New Orleans a while back and he just keeps getting better…Kids! what are you gonna do??!!
• Led Zeppelin — How Many More Times — This is just so tight and strong. I love the bolero refrain that takes up the middle part. Reminds me of a time that I cannot remember so well:)
• Eric Clapton/Santana — The Calling — This one is from Carlos’ Supernatural collaboration album. IT IS JUST SO GOOD!!! Enjoy:)
• Sarah Jarosz — Run Away — More pretty music from this pretty lady. This one is from her “Follow Me Down” album released in 2011. I apologize for misspelling her last name last week. I have fixed it on the copy stored in the UJT Kitchen Drawer.
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