Friday Freebies

 

Friday morning came early today. I limped down to the kitchen to make a Yeti of coffee around 4:30 aye-em. Outside the snow glowed a faint blue from the full moon. The air, according to my phone, was a frigid 10F. I am glad I was inside. 

I don’t know why I’m up early. If you do, please let me know. 

That image is the tree in the family room. The big nine-footer is in the living room by the front window. The wife always makes the house beautiful and elegant. I dig it. Your mileage may vary. That’s okay, we don’t have to like the same stuff. 

Me? I’d be that guy with so many tacky decorations outside you need to follow a path to the front door. I suppose that is a metaphor for our lives. The wife always is polite and classy. I’m a tacky, uncouth, redneck at heart. 

RIP Mr Cropper

 

Curious Courtesy

Culture is a funny thing. The first time I was in China comes to mind. My Chinese colleague and I were riding the subway in Shanghai, returning from a late dinner. Like everywhere in China, the car was crowded, but somehow we managed to get seats. At each stop more and more people pushed their way in. A little old wizened Chinese lady boarded carrying a couple of shopping bags. She stood near me and I instinctively stood and offered her my seat. I rode the next 25 minutes or so standing in the crowded car. 

As we finally disembarked at the stop for my hotel, my friend asked me why in the world I gave up my seat? I tried to explain, but he was so confused. “You had to stand the whole trip when you had a good seat!”

Never was I more aware that what passes for politeness and courtesy in my culture may not be true everywhere. 

I thought he was dead

Huh, I thought Robert Blake died years ago. Apparently he passed over the weekend. 

Ma Nature dumped another 4” or so of snow last night. I will head out when it gets light to shovel it away. It looks beautiful right now. 

I noticed some rabbit tracks in the snow on the patio. I have a bag of old stale peanuts, maybe I’ll throw them out there for him and his buddy the squirrel to munch on later. Or maybe not. 

Ba-boomp

I’ve been married 41 years and I don’t regret a single day of it.

And that single day was August 23, 1985 — she was visiting her mother that day…

In the air, there's a feelin' of Christmas

 

It’s a Small World.

 September 3, 1942- Sinatra sings his last show with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Where?

Indianapolis, Indiana at the Circle Theater. A venue still open. It is the home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. 

How Sinatra got out of that contract is the stuff of legends, and perhaps even great gangster movies. 

Funny enough, the next great singer who was a cultural phenomenon was Elvis Presley. He too played his last concert in Indianapolis.