Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, February 20, 2022
through
Saturday, February 26, 2022
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It’s Saturday, February 26, 2022
Welcome to the 1,367th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
'Lake George, Free Study' (1872)
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Lead Picture*
'Lake George, Free Study' (1872)
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Commentary
Il neige.
It’s snowing.
For me, abandoning a vac card requirement is a step backwards, uncalled for.
People will get used to showing the card if we give the idea time to germinate.
We’re not.
I’m pro-vac card but reticent about relaxing indoor masking standards.
I don’t want to be in a crowded space with unmasked people. Covid isn’t the only thing being carried around.
I think of trains that we workers are obliged to take to work. Stuffed full of carriers of all kinds of things. Keep the masks as a permanent requirement for riding the trains.
I’ll mask up but my own masking isn’t enough for me. I don’t want to breathe in the variety of germs filling the train.
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Reading and Writing
Have begun work on the Query letter, basically a writing proposal prepared in a way acceptable to the industry, containing, among other things, the genre, title, length, the plot, author information, etc.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.
~Steven Wright
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from friend Alex S on the Dion post:
Great lead choice! One of my favorite people ever. Hope all is well!
Blog meister responds: Great music. And yes, I am well, thank you and best wishes.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Chicken Dijon.
Fry chicken in olive oil.
Remove.
Soften shallot and garlic.
Add stock and white wine.
Fresh tarragon and coriander.
Return chicken and cook through.
In a small bowl, whisk equal parts soured cream and mustard,
salt and freshly ground pepper.
Remove chicken.
Add contents of bowl to pan, whisk into pan sauce, and reduce to taste.
Pour over chicken on a platter.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Cousin Lauren in Ogunquit
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Short Essay*
This painting isn't large—just 10 inches by 14 inches—but somehow it still conveys a sweeping expanse of New York's Lake George.
The lake's grand beauty is conveyed with only a few colors and the masterful brushwork of John Frederick Kensett.
Following ideals of restraint and an attention to clarity that typifies luminism, Kensett painted Lake George on many occasions. The location was one of his favorite subjects, and that of fellow members of the 19th-century art movement known as the Hudson River School.
While many of that movement's painters depicted dramatic landscapes—storms, sunsets, soaring mountains—Kensett was seeking something more quietly transcendent. He captures that here in a canvas that could, at first glance, be mistaken for a photograph.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Friday, February 25, 2022
Welcome to the 1,366th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Duke Humfrey’s Library
Interior of Duke Humfrey's Library
Diliff - Own work
The interior of Duke Humphrey's Library, the oldest reading room of the Bodleian Library in the University of Oxford.
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Commentary
Last night, while dining at Abe and Louie’s, I friend of mine from the ‘hood came over to say ‘hello’.
It was a chance meeting but turned warm and effusive.
Later I joined their table and we had a great catch-up, although not all of the news exchanged was happy.
A lovely moment.
And then to listen to or read the news of a madman going amok. Domestically, this may help the Republican party. It may provide an opportunity for mainstream Republicans to purge the crazies who are Putin-Russia sympathizers. It’ll be interesting to see who lines up where.
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Reading and Writing
It’s official. I’ve begun working on the presentation of my manuscript to agents. First activity: developing a single page Query letter that concisely tells an agent the title, genre, and length of the book, as well as a single line or two summarizing the plot of the book.
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Wellness
Although my sleep was interrupted last night and I woke with a headache, unusual for me, I took two Tylenol, did 30 minutes work on my blog, and was able to get back to sleep. It is now a full week since my sleep was last disturbed. This is the first time in my life I have ever had such a stretch, even when I was taking melatonin.
How to explain it?
Age?
Have no idea and I am certain that neither does the medical profession.
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Understanding aging
My vertigo has gone. Today’s pain of the day was in my feet when I woke. That pain easily worked itself out with some use.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
A lot of people say to me, 'Why did you kill Christ?'
I dunno, it was one of those parties, got out of hand, you know.
~Lenny Bruce
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
One blogger wrote:
Dear Dom,
My vertigo was cured but going to a specialist at MGH located on Huntington Ave - sadly I don't recall her name but if you call MGH they should know. She gave me a neck massage and it disappeared. Might be worth a call
Blog meister responds: With my manuscript and some entertaining, I never have the time to set up a new relationship. My bad.
And another, same subject:
Hi Dom,
I too have dealt with vertigo episodes for several years. After the diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo,I just endured the events until they resolved on their own. Early last year I had an episode that prompted me to do some research. I came upon a technique that has proven to be extremely helpful to me and has diminished the frequency of the episodes. I have had only two of them in the last 14 months where in the past they were quite more frequent. Visit YouTube and call up Carol Foster, MD vertigo treatment. It’s a 4 minute video that I hope is as helpful to you as it was for me.
Good luck.
Sta bene,
I came across a copyrighted picture by friend Howard Dinin.
We’ve had his permission to print it here and it is so wonderful on so many levels I had to republish.
Blog meister responds: Likely I will find the 4 minutes.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
I treated my architect-friend Jack to dinner at Abe and Louie’s. That restaurant is steady.
The food was terrific. Steak, Mac and Cheese w Lobster, crabcake, baked clams. Service was fair.
Business was robust.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
howard pasta meat eggplant
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Short Essay*
Humphrey of Lancaster, Duke of Gloucester (3 October 1390 – 23 February 1447) was an English prince, soldier, and literary patron. He was (as he styled himself) "son, brother and uncle of kings", being the fourth and youngest son of Henry IV of England, the brother of Henry V, and the uncle of Henry VI. Gloucester fought in the Hundred Years' War and acted as Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew. A controversial figure, he has been characterized as reckless, unprincipled, and fractious, but is also noted for his intellectual activity and for being the first significant English patron of humanism, in the context of the Renaissance.
Unlike his brothers, Humphrey was given no major military command by his father, instead receiving an intellectual upbringing. Created Duke of Gloucester in 1414, he participated in Henry V's campaigns during the Hundred Years' War in France: he fought at Agincourt in 1415 and at the conquest of Normandy in 1417–9. Following the king's death in 1422, Gloucester became one of the leading figures in the regency government of the infant Henry VI. He proved a rash, impulsive, unscrupulous, and troublesome figure: he quarreled constantly with his brother, John, Duke of Bedford, and uncle, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, and went so far as to violently prosecute a dispute with the Duke of Burgundy, a key English ally in France, over conflicting claims to lands in the Low Countries. At home, Gloucester never fully achieved his desired dominance, while his attempts to gain a foreign principality for himself were fruitless.
A staunch opponent of concessions in the French conflict, and a proponent of offensive warfare, Gloucester increasingly lost favor among the political community, and King Henry VI himself after the end of his minority, following a series of setbacks on the war in France. The trial in 1441 of Eleanor Cobham, his second wife, under charges of witchcraft, destroyed Gloucester's political influence. In 1447, he himself was accused, probably falsely, of treason, and died a few days later while under arrest.
Humphrey was the exemplar of the romantic chivalric persona. Mettled and courageous, he was a foil for the countess Jacqueline of Hainaut, his first wife. His learned, widely read, scholarly approach to the early renaissance cultural expansion demonstrated the quintessential well-rounded princely character. He was a paragon for Eton College and an exemplar for the University of Oxford, accomplished, diplomatic, with political cunning. Unlike his brothers, he was not naturally brave, but opinionated; fervent and judgmental. He exaggerated his own achievements but idolized his brother Henry V. Despite the errors in both his public and private life, and the mischief he caused in politics, Gloucester is also at times praised as a patron of learning and a benefactor to the University of Oxford. He was popular among the literary figures of his age for his scholarly activity, and with the common people for his advocacy of a spirited foreign policy. For these causes he was known as the "good Duke Humphrey".
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Thursday, February 24, 2022
Welcome to the 1,365th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Dion DiMucci
DiMucci performing in New York
Ronzoni - Own work
Dion DiMucci performing onstage in New York
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Commentary
It is imperative that the United States stands fully behind Germany’s decision to halt work on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline by offering whatever aid is necessary to soften the blow of that decision to Germany’s economy.
In fact, the fast-approaching economic burdens that will hit all countries participating in the economic sanctions against Russia must be shared equally. And to the extent that the allied nations successfully balance the injuries all will suffer, will test the strength of our alliances.
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Reading and Writing
So after an intense but calm swapping of views, I’ve decided to raise the age of the protagonist by a year. The work to change the manuscript will take a couple of days. But it’s important to the story.
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Wellness
Despite my sleeping well this last week, I woke on Wednesday with my room tumbling around me. I had to grab hold of something, a wall, maybe, to prevent me from falling.
This has happened a dozen times a year for the last three years.
The vertigo faded over the next hour.
I will send a message to my PCP.
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Understanding aging
Is this vertigo an aging issue?
I’ll learn more when mu PCP responds to my query.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Those are my principles, and
if you don't like them...
well, I have others.
~Groucho Marx
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from my PCP in response to my query re: vertigo.
Hi Dom,
Sorry to hear about this - I know the episodes can be quite something. Do you have a sense if movement towards one particular side, left or right, is what triggers the symptoms. Often patients roll over in bed in one direction that triggers the vertigo. If we know the affected side I can send you the exercises that help alleviate the unsteadiness, spinning sensation.
Let me know.
Best,
John
Blog meister responds: I’m pleased at the promptness of the reply: within the hour. I don’t expect that every time. Must be the time of day he allocates for email responses, before the patients’ exams.
My response: Sorry that I don’t remember that. But please forward the exercises. I am still lifting weights regularly and am interested in anything that may improve my routine.
My bigger interest is whether this is an aging event that will grow in intensity and/or frequency as I get older.
BTW: I have stopped taking the ibuprofen. I have also stopped taking the melatonin I have come to rely on these last four years. A week into the cold turkey withdrawal I can report that my sleeping has NEVER been better. I don't have to understand it but hope it continues.
BTW: The constipation problem I had three months ago led me to a change of diet, consciously eating more plant-based food. I've added a small bowl of oatmeal [enhanced with a prune and some raisins and chia seeds] to my breakfast routine and daily portions of beans and greens to my dinner. The changes have worked well. I haven't taken stool softeners in a month [still taking fiber pills] and my movements are regular.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Last night I had steak and eggs for dinner.
The steak was leftover from the Rib Roast I made on Saturday.
I had roasted potatoes and broccoli.
Dinner was fine.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
early spring public garden
I love when the trees are budding, before the flowering.
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Short Essay*
Dion Francis DiMucci (born July 18, 1939), better known simply as Dion, is an American singer and songwriter whose music has incorporated elements of doo-wop, rock, R&B and blues. Initially as lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts, and then in his solo career, he was one of the most popular American rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. He had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a solo performer, with the Belmonts or with the Del-Satins. He is best remembered for the singles "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", "Ruby Baby" and "Lovers Who Wander", among other hits.
Dion's popularity waned in the mid-1960s. Toward the end of the decade, he shifted his style and produced songs that were more mature and contemplative, such as "Abraham, Martin and John". He remained popular in the late 1960s until the mid-1970s, and continues making music. During the 1980s, Dion produced several Christian albums. He returned to secular music in the late 1980s with Yo Frankie (1989). Between the mid-2000s and 2021, Dion released six chart-topping blues albums. Critics who had dismissed his early work, labeling him as a teen idol, praised his later work and noted the influence he has had on other musicians.
A Grammy-nominated artist, Dion has released more than 30 albums and scored eight Top 10 hits (ten including the Belmonts) on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Welcome to the 1,364th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
James A. Garfield
Unknown; part of Brady-Handy Photograph Collection. - This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cwpbh.03744. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.
Pres. James Garfield
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Commentary
Today was a stimulating discussion spearheaded by my daughter Katherine and engaging several of my dear manuscript readers.
What a lovely event to be a part of.
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Reading and Writing
Writing took a back seat to a spirited discussion of what age the protagonist should be.
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Understanding aging
Being involved in issues of any kind is a wonderful antidote to aging. Today, the intellectual stimulus of a group discussion was a welcomed event.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
A lot of people say to me, 'Why did you kill Christ?'
I dunno, it was one of those parties, got out of hand, you know.
~Lenny Bruce
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
A half dozen friends/readers/bloggers exchanged emails giving their reasons why the protagonist should be this or that age.
The consensus: adding a single year, changing her age from sixteen to seventeen, would satisfy those who wanted to see her older and those who felt sixteen was right.
Blog meister responds: I thank everyone for their input. A lot of good came from the discussion, even beyond the specific question of age. An edifying camaraderie was exposed.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
For dinner on Monday I had the bones from the Standing Rib Roast I shared with my family on Saturday.
And a bowl of spinach and beans made on Friday.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
dom kat and friends at kat's fourth christmas
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Short Essay*
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his death by assassination six months into his term of office. He served nine terms in the House of Representatives, and is the only sitting member of the House to be elected president. Just before his candidacy for the White House, he was elected to a Senate seat by the Ohio General Assembly, which he declined when he became president-elect.
Garfield was born into poverty in a log cabin and grew up in Northeast Ohio. After graduating from Williams College, he studied law and became an attorney. He was elected as a Republican member of the Ohio State Senate in 1859, serving until 1861. He opposed Confederate secession, was a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and fought in the battles of Middle Creek, Shiloh, and Chickamauga. Garfield was elected to Congress in 1862 to represent Ohio's 19th district. Throughout his congressional service, he firmly supported the gold standard and gained a reputation as a skilled orator. He initially agreed with Radical Republican views on Reconstruction, but later favored a moderate approach to civil rights enforcement for freedmen. Garfield's aptitude for mathematics extended to a notable proof of the Pythagorean theorem, which he published in 1876.
At the 1880 Republican National Convention, delegates chose Garfield, who had not sought the White House, as a compromise presidential nominee on the 36th ballot. In the 1880 presidential election, he conducted a low-key front porch campaign and narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Winfield Scott Hancock. Garfield's accomplishments as president included his resurgence of presidential authority against senatorial courtesy in executive appointments, a purge of corruption in the Post Office, and his appointment of a Supreme Court justice.
A member of the intraparty "Half-Breed" faction, he used the powers of the presidency to defy the powerful "Stalwart" New York senator Roscoe Conkling by appointing Blaine faction leader William H. Robertson to the lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York, triggering a fracas that resulted in Robertson's confirmation in addition to the resignations of Conkling and Thomas C. Platt from the Senate. Garfield advocated agricultural technology, an educated electorate, and civil rights for African Americans. He also proposed substantial civil service reforms, which were passed by Congress in 1883 as the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and was signed into law by his successor, Chester A. Arthur.
On July 2, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed and delusional office seeker, shot Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington. The wound was not immediately fatal. He died on September 19, 1881, from infections caused by his doctors.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Welcome to the 1,363rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Carlos Delgado
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States.
CC BY-SA 3.0
File:Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg
Created: Taken on 25 July 2012, 15:10:48
Location: 40° 46′ 46″ N, 73° 57′ 7″ W
About Media Viewer
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Commentary
Of course I love spending time with my family. Our meet-ups tend to be less frequent but for longer periods, like two to four days/nights at a time.
At every meet-up there is down time. It’s important to use that down time to stay abreast of whatever it is you’re working on when they’re not around.
It's like trying to stay on your diet when so many of the meals are ‘holiday’ meals.
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Reading and Writing
My daughter Kat, astute and cogent, has made a case for raising the protagonist’s age.
A half dozen of us are tossing ideas around.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories.
~Stephen Wright
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night Kat and I had dinner at a Turkish restaurant that came highly recommended.
Mahaniyom in Brookline. And it deserved its billing. It was a great evening and the food an important part of it.
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Short Essay*
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.
The Fifth Avenue building opened on February 20, 1872, at 681 Fifth Avenue. In 2020, it was closed for 202 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and attracted only 1,124,759 visitors. This was a drop of 83 percent from 2019, but the Met still ranked ninth on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Monday, February 21, 2022
Welcome to the 1,362nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Etta James, 1990
James performing in France in July 1990
Roland Godefroy - Self-photographed
La chanteuse américaine de blues Etta James en concert à Deauville (Normandie, France) en juillet 1990.
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Commentary
How do we handle the vast economic strength of China?
The dictators there weave their political messages into their economic policies.
Establishing a profitable business in China depends on kowtowing to their philosophies.
Our capitalistic structure cannot resist profits, even if we must bend to their messages.
Are they making us prostitutes?
Have we always been prostitutes?
Shall we just lie back and enjoy it?
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Reading and Writing
I am at a standstill until Monday at noon when daughter Kat returns to NYC.
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Wellness
I stopped taking melatonin, going from 20mg to zero.
I thought I would keep a sleep diary.
Over the last eight days I’ve slept perfectly for six days, 6.5 hours average sleep.
Two days I ended with 3.5 hours each, counting naps. Those two days I successfully toughed it through, staying productive the entire time. However, working out not possible on those days.
If I can maintain this rhythm I would live with it and forget ibuprofen and melatonin.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
I won't say ours was a tough school, but we had our own coroner.
We used to write essays like
"What I'm Going to be If I Grow Up”
~Lenny Bruce
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
We enjoyed a belated Christmas dinner of antipasti, lasagna, rib roast, broccoli rabe, and roast potatoes.
The four-hour event was filled with joyful and loving conversation.
In keeping with the season.
Belatedly.
This is from a couple of years ago.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
greenway art pig
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Short Essay*
Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz, and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.
James's deep and earthy voice bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She won six Grammy Awards and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. Rolling Stone magazine ranked James number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; she was also ranked number 62 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Billboard's 2015 list of The 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time includes James, whose "gutsy, take-no-prisoner vocals colorfully interpreted everything from blues and R&B/soul to rock n’roll, jazz and gospel"
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Sunday, February 20, 2022
Welcome to the 1,361st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Kererū
Kereru
Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia - Own work
Kererū perched on kōwhai at Otari Native Botanic Garden
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Commentary
The Celtics are playing enjoyable basketball.
Daughter Kat’s job is going very well. She loves it. The company deals with news-making issues and permits her to interact with company seniors and clients. She shines. That’s who she’s always been.
As a parent, all you can want is for your child to do well in good schools and at graduation, find such a fulfilling position.
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Reading and Writing
I am closing in on the finish of the manuscript.
A week away, best guess.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“There is only what is and that's it.
What should be is a dirty lie.”
~Lenny Bruce, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People
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Understanding Ageing
I’m feeling well.
Today’s aches are in my greater trochanters, the sides of my upper thighs.
They hurt when I walked.
I thought the aches would go away after a few steps; after a few minutes.
They didn’t.
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Got a request from a friend to have a conversation on his manuscript for a novel.
A conversation might unveil some thoughts that seem to be hiding from her.
Blog meister responds: Always happy to reciprocate.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Had dinner with Kat on Friday night.
We had some clams on the half shell, maybe her favorite food.
We also boiled an artichoke and dipped the leaves in a bowl of EVOO and salt and pepper. Delicious.
Then we had a North End Gravy followed by a vegan apple tart.
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Community Photos**
Tatte coffee shop dairy free sandwich
Not on the menu but the manager got it made
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Short Essay*
The kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) or New Zealand pigeon is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the bird in 1789 as a large, conspicuous pigeon up to 50 cm (20 in) in length and 550–850 g (19–30 oz) in weight, with a white breast and iridescent green–blue plumage. Two subspecies have been recognised; the second—the Norfolk pigeon of Norfolk Island—became extinct in the early 20th century. Kererū pairs are monogamous, breeding over successive seasons and remaining together when not breeding. They construct nests with twigs in trees, with a single egg clutch.
Found in a variety of habitats across the country, the kererū feeds mainly on fruits, as well as leaves, buds and flowers. Although widespread in both forest and urban habitats, its numbers have declined significantly since European colonisation and the arrival of invasive mammals such as rats, stoats and possums. However, the results of nationwide bird surveys indicate that there has been a significant recovery in the population of kererū in suburban areas. Despite this, as of 2021, the IUCN Red List classifies the species as "near threatened", while the Department of Conservation (DOC) classifies kererū as "not threatened" but conservation dependent.
Considered a taonga (cultural treasure) to the Māori people, the kererū was historically a major food source in Māori culture. However, due to the previous decline in its population, hunting is illegal. Customary use of kererū is restricted to the use of feathers and bones obtained from dead birds collected by DOC. This issue has received significant public and political attention, as some people argue that bans on kererū hunting are detrimental to Māori traditions. In 2018, the kererū was designated Bird of the Year by the New Zealand organisation Forest & Bird, and in 2019, the exoplanet HD 137388 b was renamed Kererū in its honour.
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