Category Archives: General

Soaring to the sky!

What is it that transforms a state of commotion to one of accommodation and understanding? As rhapsodic as the result may be, the rejig is nothing more impenetrable than listening to one’s inner voice. The solution is within the problem. It is a time-honoured formula. The felicitous part of the beaconing is that the longer it is ignored, the louder it becomes. There are in fairness so many features which compete with the initial cymbal. Learning to listen to one’s own instruction is fraught with sometimes ungovernable suspicion – usually promoted by convincing but deceptive argument which only succeeds to prolong the initial annoyance.

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Politics

As gripping as American politics have been for the past four years, I’m hoping that with the second impeachment and Mitch McConnell’s castigation we’ve seen the last of Trump. The picture of a nation constantly at loggerheads is exhausting. I’m not saying American politics differs wildly from that of any other country, but the visceral nature of Trump has made it singularly depressing. Assessing the job of politicians from afar – that is, as a “member of the public” – is like the regard of another man’s pain; namely, innately prejudiced and uninformed. But the analysis does admit of some constancy.

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If I had it to do all over again…

Retrospection is not something I normally do. Looking back on or reviewing past events or situations, especially those in one’s own life, is I find usually plagued by wistfulness and regret. Quite simply, I have no regret. This does not mean I can’t see how transfigured things may have been if certain choices had been otherwise; but I never wished I had done so. I have on occasion visited singular junctures in my life when going one way instead of another would likely have radically changed my life. In every case I’m glad I went the direction I did. I see it not as mere accident but rather a positively beneficial outcome. Indeed I can become quite proud – even haughty – though I concede that is no shocker!

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The universe is ultimately personal

V – LA GRAPPE DE RAISIN
Mais ce que j’aimais plus que chaque chose en particulier, c’était l’ensemble des choses: la maison, l’air, la lumière, que sais-je? la vie enfin! Une grande douceur m’enveloppait. Jamais petit oiseau ne se frotta plus délicieusement au duvet de son nid. Elle était toute petite, ma vie; mais c’était une vie, c’est-à-dire le centre des choses, le milieu du monde.

Excerpt From
Anatole France,  “Le livre de mon ami”

Apart from the obvious desirability of business alliances when working for a living the only evident fealty in relationships is to family (in which I include amorous relationship) and friends. What distinguishes allegiance to family is the complete lack of necessity (unless you include duty);  but for the most part it’s sous entendu. What distinguishes friendship is the pleasure of association, a close second but nonetheless having an underwritten objective (though not so much a need or ambition). Competing with these predominantly selfless confederacies is the confession of the ultimately personal nature of the universe.

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Model car

When I was perhaps eight years old I received a wind-up toy car from Santa Claus.  I remember it well.  It was a silver coloured German-made racing car with a white rubber bumper. I spent Christmas morning propelling it about the smooth kitchen floor. When I wasn’t playing with it, I put it on a shelf for protection and admiration. Though I can’t imagine the model car initiated my subsequent interest in real cars there were characteristics of the toy car which match the qualities I like about the real things. I hesitate to say German engineering because I have only ever owned domestically manufactured automobiles; but the German tradition of creative superiority is an indisputable hallmark. Another is the sense of solidity and weight. Simplistic design is another. And overall stability. In sum, the feature of reliability was and is manifest.

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The country kitchen

There are two things I abhor: travel logs and recipes.  The reason?  They both inevitably dwell tarsomly upon the cause not the effect.  When it comes to globetrotting and tucking in I’d much prefer to hear what happened than how.  Accordingly I shall spare you, my dear reader, a repetition of the formula of last night’s meal other than to say, first, it was superb; and, second, it was pork tenderloin médaillons with mixed green salad and local baby potatoes.

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When is the right time?

How many times in your life have you asked yourself, “Is this the right time?” I suspect more than once.  You may even recall precisely when.  It is as likely to have transpired to your discredit if you chose to ignore the sonorous call. I’m thinking for example of would-be love affairs because those in my experience tend to strike home most noticeably. If by chance you were one who opted to do something about it, at the very least you know of what constitutes the deprivation; and, you may have stumbled on a great deal more. Whatever the outcome it no doubt inspires a wistful memory. A ship departing on the distant the horizon always does! On this Valentine’s Day I must however digress to less prismatic instances when the decision about the right time to do something also strikes us as unexpectedly.

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“…they do not till the land…”

The sophistry of the Republican party in acquitting Trump of impeachment marks the end of a pitiful era of American history. There is no one – including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – who does not think Trump engaged in criminal activity. The juncture does not however obliterate the underlying racism of the so-called “Make America Great Again” political army, a movement which goes back far beyond the turn of the twentieth century when Eastern European immigrants were condemned as itinerant pedlars for not “tilling the land” – that is, for being different (though I have no idea where the remote landowners were otherwise expected to get their dry goods). Americans have devoted centuries to name calling one another because they’re different; and, to this day they continue to do the same.  It amazes me that we humans have yet to develop a new way to approach our fears, something Trump and his acolytes capitalized upon.

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Survival of the Fittest

Mid-winter is a widespread occasion for a sobering look at one’s protuberant belly. Although the aim is less about the Darwinian theme and more about the Ralph Lauren objective – that is, less about diet and more about appearance – healthful eating is always cogent. It’s at least intellectually inspiring. And that of course is the real problem; namely, raising the spirited ambition from chatter to action.

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