Monthly Archives: December 2007

the promises kept …

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After the promises have been kept, and the miles have been traveled, and the miles have been traveled, and the little horse has been brushed and put to bed in the barn, do you ever wonder what becomes of the speaker in Frost’s poem the next morning?

I have. I do.

Maybe he gets up a little later than usual, and looks out at the snow, and wanders into the kitchen – scratching himself and yawning – and his wife makes him pancakes.

Hmm, definitely a promising ponderable.

Anyway, I can’t think of any promises I kept well or faithfully over the Christmas days. We single uncle types need to fight the feeling of being a little more old and in the way, from year to year. So it goes. But we’re home from our yuletide expedition to the deep woods, and I’m back at the desk, back to the blog.

So how should I presume?

For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

Oh that Eliot, he always cracks me up.

But seriously, any reader suggestions on a good topic from the many possibilities of reading and writing?

and miles to go for a cup of joe

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Here’s a recipe which serves me well on nights like this, which happens to be the longest night of the year.

Uncle Kyle’s Solstice Decaf Mocha, ala Cheapo.

First you make a small pot of decaf coffee.
Pour some coffee into a favorite Christmas coffee mug (example pictured).
Add 1 packet sweetener (optional).
Add 1 small squirt coffee creamer, preferably fat free (optional).
From the cupboard, produce one packet instant hot chocolate mix, preferably sugar free.
Add about a third to a half packet of the chocolate mix.
Note: If you’ve wandered off into impending Winter without some of this stuff, Heaven help you. And don’t use the whole packet; you’re making mocha, not pudding. Besides even the low cal stuff is 60 calories a pop.
Stir languidly but with pensive sincerity, while staring out the kitchen window at your Christmas lights – or at the back-splash, doesn’t matter – until bored.
Serve hot and sip while blogging insipidly into the abyss.


(click to enlarge)

Shot with my phone, so not a great picture. But yep, the flier in the background really says “Join Us for a Holiday Party at the Pool !!!” That’s from the homeowners association. Took place last Friday: Christmas party, outdoors, by the pool. At night. Kids watched Rudolph and his nose struggle against the vice grip of prejudice on our portable giant screen system. Don’t you wish you lived here? I do.

Anyway, there’s a pretty amazing moon out there, so it’s not the darkest evening. But while you’re enjoying a steaming mug of Uncle Kyle’s Solstice Mocha ala Cheapo, here’s a poem for the longest evening of the year.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
– Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

football

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I was just checking the weather report for my little town.

Weather for Carpinteria, CA 93013
53°F
Cloudy
Wind: E at 4 mph
Humidity: 93%
Mon
Partly Sunny
62°F | 45°F
Tue
Rain
62°F | 47°F
Wed
Chance of Showers
58°F | 45°F
Thu
Chance of Rain
64°F | 43°F

If humidity is 93%, how come my skin feels like an old deflated football, out in the back corner of Grandpa’s tool shed, in the dust and cobwebs behind a rusted post hole digger and a lawn sprayer half full of 20 year old pesticide?

Hmm? I took a warm bath this evening in copious epsom salt, while perusing an issue of Poetry. That usually helps. The salt, not the poetry. And I’m using this lotion I absconded with, from a Red Lion Inn somewhere up the San Joaquin Valley last year. Well, those are complimentary right?

I need to drink more water maybe.

“He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.”
— Gen. Jack D. Ripper

Happy Birthday, Ludwig

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Today is Beethoven’s Birthday. If he hadn’t died in 1827, he would be 237 years old today. Damn, that party would be a hoot!

I first became a fan of Beethoven’s tunes when I was eight years old and started taking piano lessons. In college, I made extra cash by giving piano lessons. I still have a piano, though I don’t play it often.

(Note the two busts of Beethoven.)

So in honor of Ludwig’s day, here’s the first movement of his 9th Symphony. Enjoy.

something I heard

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on my iPod tonight:

We’ll dream as lovers under the stars —
of civilizations raging afar.
And the ragged dawn breaks on your battle scars.

— Jethro Tull, Velvet Green, 1977

Just a morsel for ponderment; let it lead you where it may.

it’s cold tonight

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It’s weird. I’ve had the heat going in my study for a while, and it got pretty warm. My little digital thermometer said 71.3 degrees F, so I turned the heater off. Went into the kitchen, put on the kettle for tea, walked back to the study.

It’s cold in here. Thermometer says 71.1. Brrr.

If I ever had it, I’m losing it, aren’t I?

whatever will be

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Jennifer Terran is one of my favorite musicians. She’s a Santa Barbara local, and I’ve been to some beautiful concerts at her special performance space in the foothills. Her version of Que Sera Sera has been featured in a commercial for Dell computers:

Congratulations to Jennifer for this cool exposure of her formidable talent, and prayers and blessings on the birth of her second child.

mother jones, kiss my blog

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I’m cheesed off at Mother Jones magazine.

Tonight, I watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition, as I often do on Sunday night. It was pretty cool. They built a home for a family in Vermont with a very disabled two year old kid. And as always, they did a great job. Beautiful house.

Not 2 minutes later, I open an email from Mother Jones about how bad and nasty the show is, how tasteless and crass because they go overboard in building stuff for people that’s too nice. No kidding, I’m not making it up. Moronic.

A few people try to make a difference for others. I don’t care what their motivations are, or what they get out of it, or how much or little they give relative to what they have. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re involved in making the world better for anyone besides yourself — better in any way when the sun sets than when the sun came up — you get an A+. Automatically, top of the class.

Because most people don’t do anything to help anyone else. They just sit there, not giving a wet slap. They get a C. You don’t have to care, but you just get to pass.

Some people steal and hurt and even kill others. They get a D-, right? There’s still some hope of reform.

If you want an F in my book, just sit there on your fat butt and do nothing except badmouth somebody who does good. Tell me they could give more, or differently, or question their motives. That’s how you really piss me off. Criticize someone who gives something away; stuff or money or time or anything.

Oh, it makes me mad. I could go on all night. I think I’ll make some tea and try to calm down.

Y’all don’t be sending me any links to Mother Jones, thank you kindly anyway.