Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, March 7, 2021
through
Saturday, March 13, 2021
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It’s Saturday, March 13, 2021
Welcome to the 1044th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Lawn tennis in the U.S., 1887
Prang (L.) & Co. - Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZC4-1180 (color film copy transparency), uncompressed archival TIFF version (5 MB)
Lawn tennis, 1887. Print. Published in: Viewpoints; a selection from the pictorial collections of the Library of Congress … Washington: Library of Congress …, 1975, no. 121. Slightly cropped from the Library of Congress digital version using the GIMP.
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2.0 Commentary
Our economy is about to be hit with a tsunami of cash.
Not al at too much.
But enough to be warmly felt, like the April sun on a too cool day.
Jobs will reappear to service this money and the economy will tick up.
But returning to the status quo ante is hardly perfect.
Poverty too widespread.
What we need now is a multi-trillion dollar investment in our infrastructure
that will end unemployment.
Will provide a job for anyone willing to work.
We should fear inflation?
I fear
poverty.
Lack of opportunity.
Hanging on to dead-end jobs.
Lacking education and training to elevate into better paying jobs.
Wage-earners earning less than $15.00 per hour.
Defense not forward thinking.
Inadequate defense.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists and who, in 1921, accused of double murder, were found guilty and eventually executed. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the city of Boston, and most scholars agree that they did not get a fair trial.
We have founded the Memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti, Inc. to install a memorial in recognition of the contributions of Italian immigration to American society and of our justice system that can make a mistake, apologize, and move forward.
I spend a good deal of time writing,
like Agendas, Mission Statements, Endorsements, emails.
Today we expanded our Board of Directors for the first time, from four of us to five.
Our new member fits right into what we’ve been achieving.
We also had an extended conversation with two artists who may be involved in the final bronzing of our art.
3.3 Storyworth
This is an application that my daughter bought me as a Christmas present.
Every week I am sent a question about my life.
The answers are mailed out to a list of people that Kat has provided.
At the end of the year I get a hard copy of the book.
This week’s question asks me to list things that fascinated me growing up.
Today I finished a piece on tennis.
Find it in out #11..0 Thumbnail section.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“I haven’t spoken to my wife in years.
I didn’t want to interrupt her.”
~Rodney Dangerfield
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5.0 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 Colleen G:
Hey Dom,
You always present such tempting ideas! :)
I've never been there.
You'd enjoy this food at-home adventure:
George and I had an idea back in November--Thanksgiving--that we would get a big turkey later in the winter and have it long after Thanksgiving, which is usually the only time we have turkey here.
We got a 20lb turkey for $14 and it remained in the freezer until last week.
We thawed it and cooked it Sunday--stuffing, turnip and all the fixings.
It was so delicious to smell in the house--and it was even more delicious because we didn't have any appetizers like we do for Thanksgiving.
Just got to dig in.
It worked out that it was still freezing cold here,
since it would have been weird if it was too springy
--but I hope it's something we do again to jazz up a late winter. I
t felt like our celebratory dinner that the pandemic is waning.
We even had St. Joseph zepolies for desert and I made turkey soup out of it yesterday, along with turkey sandwiches for lunch and the kids had them for dinner.
It's like a big whale washed up on the shore and we're going to use up every bit of it!:)
Happy Birthday today Dom! Enjoy whatever food adventure you find yourself on:)
Cheers,
Colleen
Blog meister responds: that's a great story!!! totally love the anticipation, the holiday atmosphere,
the feast.
your home!
what a great home.
my first big birthday smiles.
thank you, Colleen.
dom
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night I ate a delicious halibut filet
with an anchovy-garlic sauce.
Broccoli rabe on the side.
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11.0 Thumbnail
My daughter asks:
5 What fascinated you as a child Part Three: Tennis
Ever since I remember I answered this question the same way: Food, Tennis and Art
And I pursued these interests throughout my life.
This week, remembering Tennis.
I say remembering because while I’m still eating and visiting art museums,
I haven’t played tennis since the last police strike.
While I could trace my interest in food to my upbringing, how art and tennis came into my thoughts and dreams I have no inkling.
Movies, perhaps?
Perhaps.
At some point I must have played a little because
when we started playing family tennis I knew the rules.
We were five: Toni and I, and sons Dom, Mino, and Chris.
Tennis of Cape Cod had a Sunday deal and
I booked a Court, from 1 to 4pm, for one year.
Every Sunday four of us took to the Court and the odd man out
watched from the enclosed club seats above the Courts.
For being odd-man-out one got free access to a huge picnic basket
containing a brilliant array of food and drink.
Son Dom particularly loved the marinated mushrooms
from a nearby specialty food shop.
After every game, all four players swapped places on the court.
After four games, we switched odd man out.
One of the hallmarks of family tennis is that
you didn’t receive accolades for hitting winners.
Family tennis for us,
not a good player among us,
meant keeping the ball in play.
Relaxed, moderate exercise.
This went on for several years.
We were living on Cape Cod.
When oldest son Dom started his freshman year at Milton Academy,
and he stayed in Boston during the school week,
Mino and Chris started playing club tennis during the week.
Everyday.
They improved.
But there were a couple of youngster at the club who played competitive tennis
and were distinctly better than the boys.
-Dad,- Mino and Chris said to me one day, -We’d like to take tennis lessons to compete with the two stars.-
I didn’t know anything about competitive tennis but immediately researched the topic.
(What follows is the way tennis was organized forty years ago.
Today organized tennis might be totally different.)
Nelta came into our lives.
The New England Lawn Tennis Association.
We became members
Discovered that our goal was for the boys to become ranked players.
To be ranked, one had to defeat a ranked player in a sanctioned tournament.
I browsed the list of sanctioned tournaments for their age groups,
Chris, under 10; Mino, under 12.
The first available was for under-12-year olds, two weeks away.
Then came that day which illustrated
the tenacity that both boys would demonstrate all of their lives,
as students and in the professional career world.
Mino’s first Nelta tournament.
As soon as we arrived at the hosting club
I knew we had come to the wrong place.
Look left and you had a great view of four courts.
Eight players competing.
Look right.
Four more courts.
Eight more players competing.
Sixteen players.
Mino didn’t belong on the court with any one of them.
My heart sank.
My poor son.
But he was excited.
Full of piss and vinegar.
Soon he was on the court.
First set, 6-0, the other guy.
Second set a repeat, 6-0.
I think in the two sets,
Mino may have won a single point.
As I waited for him to shake hands and leave the court,
I braced myself to treat a dispirited and dejected son.
Never met one.
Instead, Mino ran to me beaming:
-Dad, so much fun! When can I play another one.-
Chris’ maiden entry not as disastrous.
His opponents had two fewer years of experience.
We had to commit full bore or give up hopes to ever beating a ranked player.
Full bore meant three hours every single school day, including Christmas and New Year’s Days.
Five hours on non-school days.
And adopting the Royal Canadian Air Force exercise program as part of a daily routine.
Tennis lessons were very expensive but I was willing to pay for them.
The rule was a lesson for every ten hours of play.
With this commitment progress was swift.
One of the more thrilling victories came early on in the boys’ commitment.
On a night Chris was visiting a friend, I asked Mino if he felt like playing a match with me.
We went out to the club.
That night turned out to be the first time Mino ever beat me.
Within two weeks after that, he advanced so much
I was not even a fitting warmup partner for him.
But of course the more thrilling moments came in tournament play.
Week after week the three of us drove out, dropping off each to his own tournament.
Sometimes they were at the same club.
That made it easy.
But sometimes they weren’t even on the same city.
I did some fancy driving to get them where they belonged and to watch one of them play.
Wish we had cell phones then.
In any case, months went by.
Their improvement was palpable.
Closer and closer they got to the level of a ranked player.
And finally, first Mino and then Chris won gloriously and
each became a ranked player,
one of perhaps fifty in their respective age groups in all of New England.
Pretty heady stuff.
One of the most difficult demands of pursuing the sport competitively was the amount of time required.
One of the great benefits of the sport was spending so much time with my two sons.
Unfortunately, a lot less time with my son Dom.
Although he did get some heady benefits which
I’m sure I’ll be able to talk about when answering other questions.
Besides the time, tennis took a huge amount of money.
Clothes.
Racquets.
Sneakers.
Court time.
Lessons.
Travel.
Motels.
Tournament fees.
Meals on the road.
The gains?
We made friends of the tennis families all over the New England circuit.
And tennis friends at school.
The boys learned discipline through the doing.
They learned that progress only comes with hard and dedicated work.
The Royal Canadian Air Force exercises kept us healthy and exercise still part of all of lives some forty years later.
The boys gained confidence through dominance.
Ranked players rare in tennis and
are likely to win most non-sanctioned tournaments they enter.
A lot of fun when your home town holds a tournament.
Most ranked players didn’t play in such non-sanctioned tournaments.
But Chris, who stayed small for his age until after high school,
loved entering such tournaments knowing he was going to beat boys older and bigger.
Ranked players also shone in high school tennis.
Unlike team sports like football and basketball in which high school play is what develops great players in their sports,
great tennis players bring their years of training and their obvious talent with them to high school.
On entering high school, the ranked players are so far advanced that very few (none) hopefuls are able to catch up to them.
Ranked players played in high schools for the praise, or
for their loyalty to the school but not
to improve their games.
College applicants have their NELTA rankings
to illustrate to college admissions committees that
this applicant knows how to use his time.
Highly-ranked players also are usually able to get letters from the prospective college’s tennis coach that this applicant is wanted.
A last benefit I’ll mention, as a marketing ploy,
manufacturers give ranked players free tennis shoes.
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It’s Friday, March 12, 2021
Welcome to the 1043rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
The carriage carrying George Floyd's casket
to his burial in Pearland, Texas, June 9
2C2K Photography - https://www.flickr.com/photos/2cheap2keep/49993492493/
The Last Mile Of The Way..
Funeral procession with a horse-drawn carriage of
George Floyd’s body down Cullen Blvd to
the Houston Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Pearland, TX 6-9-20
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2.0 Commentary
Encore Casino was a somewhat depressing visit.
On a Tuesday late afternoon, the floor looked 20% occupied.
Overcrowding not an issue here.
Most of the restaurants are closed.
Most of the open restaurants are severely limited as to days and hours.
The indoor mall is closed.
The first fifteen minutes was enjoyable,
seeing the lights,
hearing the little bit of noise.
Then, the one trick pony spent,
we went to the only place you could get a drink.
We ate some passable steamed mussels, drank our drink,
and waited for Fratelli to open.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.2 Conflicted
Three years ago agents passed on a manuscript I had finished.
The story, Conflicted, was great; the style not acceptable.
I put the Conflicted manuscript aside and turned my creativity to developing the blog.
After three years I developed a writing style
that the same people who had turned away from the Conflicted manuscript
find terrific.
Then my friend Howard Dinin suggested, “Rewrite the Conflicted manuscript as a blog.”
I spend a lot of time these days rewriting the manuscript.
Beta readers are enthusiastic.
3.4 Blog
No wriggle room here.
Every day requires its own effort.
3.5 Modernism and Existentialism
Online literature and writing classes for middle schoolers through adults.
Find community in a fun, dynamic learning environment and become a better reader.
It’s my granddaughter’s class. I’ve enrolled in the class on Modernism and Existentialism.
I must shine.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“I walk around like everything’s fine,
but deep down, inside my shoe,
my sock is sliding off.”
~Anonymous
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5.0 Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
From my friends, I received dozens of well-wishes on my birthday.
But as the day ticked away, several omissions grew more and more noticeable.
Not one of my children had reached out.
I spent the day with my cousin at the Encore Casino and returned home.
at 8pm I got a zoom link from my daughter,
who had promised that she and I would have a nice talk.
I zoomed in and there were all my children,
laughing and wishing out, Happy Birthday, dad.
We spent a great hour catching up.
Blog meister responds: Thank you my friends. Thank you my children. As I enter my eightieth year, a special day indeed.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Tuesday night my cousin treated me to dinner at
Fratelli’s restaurant at the Encore casino.
We shared a plate of
fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese.
They were perfect.
Then we shared a Veal Chop cutlet with arugula salad.
Also perfect.
Although the prices are substantially higher than any other Italian restaurant in Boston,
the quality of those two plates puts Fratelli on a pedestal.
How much is that worth?
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11.0 Thumbnail
George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African American man killed during an arrest after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers who arrived on the scene, knelt on Floyd's neck for a period initially reported to be 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
After his death, protests against police brutality, especially toward black people, quickly spread across the United States and internationally.
Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Floyd grew up in Houston, Texas, playing football and basketball throughout high school and college. He was a hip hop artist and served as a mentor in his religious community. Between 1997 and 2005, he was convicted of eight crimes. He served four years in prison after accepting a plea bargain for a 2007 aggravated robbery in a home invasion.[9] In 2014, he moved to the Minneapolis area, residing in the nearby suburb of St. Louis Park, and worked as a truck driver and bouncer. In 2020, he lost his security job during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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It’s Thursday, March 11, 2021
Welcome to the 1042nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Claude Monet's 1872 Impression, Sunrise
inspired the name of the movement
Claude Monet - art database
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2.0 Commentary
Airwaves full of good news, at least regarding
the infection rate and the
vaccination rate, and
the economy, sure to get a jolt when the relief bill kicks in.
Some sadness.
Murder on national scales.
The ugliness being bantered about regarding the English royalty.
The inevitable rehash of death of George Floyd.
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3.0 Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
Sacco and Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists and who, in 1921, accused of double murder, were found guilty and eventually executed. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the city of Boston, and most scholars agree that they did not get a fair trial.
We have founded the Memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti, Inc. to install a memorial in recognition of the contributions of Italian immigration to American society and of our justice system that can make a mistake, apologize, and move forward.
3.2 Conflicted
Three years ago agents passed on a manuscript I had finished.
The story, Conflicted, was great; the style not acceptable.
I put the Conflicted manuscript aside and turned my creativity to developing the blog.
After three years I developed a writing style
that the same people who had turned away from the Conflicted manuscript
find terrific.
Then my friend Howard Dinin suggested, “Rewrite the Conflicted manuscript as a blog.”
I spend a lot of time these days rewriting the manuscript.
Beta readers are enthusiastic.
Today I worked on converting more pages to the blog format.
3.3 Storyworth
I worked on a tennis entry.
I’m keeping up.
3.4 Blog
No wriggle room here.
Every day requires its own effort.
I must keep up.
3.5 Modernism and Existentialism
Must do some reading although am ahead in this area.
It’s my granddaughter’s class so I must shine.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Never follow anyone else’s path.
Unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and
you see a path.
Then by all means follow that path.
~Ellen DeGeneres
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5.0 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 Colleen G:
Hey Dom,
You'd enjoy this food at-home adventure:
George and I had an idea back in November--Thanksgiving--that
we would get a big turkey later in the winter and have it long after Thanksgiving,
which is usually the only time we have turkey here.
We got a 20lb turkey for $14 and
it remained in the freezer until last week.
We thawed it and cooked it Sunday--stuffing, turnip and all the fixings.
It was so delicious to smell in the house--and
it was even more delicious because
we didn't have any appetizers like we do for Thanksgiving.
Just got to dig in.
It worked out that it was still freezing cold here, since
it would have been weird if it was too springy--but
I hope it's something we do again to jazz up a late winter.
It felt like our celebratory dinner that the pandemic is waning.
We even had St. Joseph zepolies for desert and
I made turkey soup out of it yesterday, along with
turkey sandwiches for lunch and the kids had them for dinner.
It's like a big whale washed up on the shore and
we're going to use up every bit of it!:)
Happy Birthday today Dom! Enjoy whatever food adventure you find yourself on:)
Cheers,
Colleen
Blog meister responds: that's a great story!!!
totally love the anticipation,
the holiday atmosphere,
the feast.
your home!
what a great home.
_____________________________________
6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night’s dinner was a home run.
A dozen little neck clams and a rock crab
simmered in my cousin’s first Marinara Sauce.
With 3oz of linguini.
__________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail
What fascinated you as a child – Part Two: Art
I have no idea how I got the idea that the
pursuit of art was integral to my life came into my consciousness.
But the truth is that I never remember a time when art, along with tennis, and food, was not part of the tripod of interests on which I wanted to base my adult pursuits.
Certainly art was never mentioned at home.
Nor can I remember any art-related studies or activities in grammar or high schools.
College changed things.
From my first days at Boston University I became friends with
Rob Polomski, and, later, Doug Parker,
perhaps the two most talented artists at the SFAA.
The two, like me, freshmen,
knew each other but
as rivals,
fiercely jealous of each other’s college-wide recognition.
My first visits to art museums were invariably with one of them.
What tutors!
One of the two most important lessons I learned was that
artists see the world differently from others.
Listening to their takes on images we were both looking at was eye-popping.
The second lesson was that
trips to museums are fun and edifying; life-enhancing.
Georgianne Boyle, who I was seeing in my Freshman year at school,
didn’t care for at museums.
But Toni-Lee was as avid as I.
We spent many cheap, wonderful dates at the MFA.
Museum-going stayed as an integral part of our marriage.
We especially loved going to the major exhibitions the museums regularly mounted.
We justified spending a fortune on the catalogues of the exhibitions:
so much event-specific knowledge presented
so deliciously as to be irresistible.
Besides, two of us read the one catalogue.
That made each reading half-price.
It’s a rule of accounting.
And later we got great pleasure introducing our sons to the museums.
One of my favorite stories concerns our youngest son Chris.
Our other sons were two years older than Chris and
started full-time classes two years before Chris did.
That left Chris home with us on more than a few occasions when
we had no choice but to take him with us to exhibitions.
We may have been concerned about his patience, but
that concern short-lived.
While we paused in front of a painting,
Chris would find a perfect stranger to talk with.
The social aspect of the visits greatly pleased him and
we never had to convince him to come with us.
Whenever Toni and I took a trip, museums were integral.
We went on a ten-day trip to Rome making
the works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini direct our itinerary.
Toni listed all of Bernini’s works in Rome, and mapped out our day’s itinerary to track them most expeditiously.
It turned out to be multi-layered fun, taking us to the great museums and to small chapels, and to virtually every part of the city.
Memorable.
Two adventures in art stand out.
At a family get-together in NYC, I asked my three sons and was given permission to take my grandchildren to the MOMA:
Dom’s son, Dylan, age 5, Mino’s daughters, Francesca, age 6, and Antonia, age 5, Chris’ older daughter, Grace, age 3.
To this crew I contributed my second-marriage daughter, Kat, age 5.
I prepared for the trip by writing an analysis of
Picasso’s seminal Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
When the museum opened, my troop, first in line,
made its way to the painting.
We sat on the floor in front of it.
No one stopped us.
My sons and daughters-in-law retreated to a nearby room,
heads shaking skepticism that this was going to work.
Alone with the puzzled children,
I handed each of them a clipboard, a pencil, and an eraser.
On each clipboard, several sheets attached with
questions and space for the answers.
All of the children could write.
I read out the first question: name the three colors in this painting that are your personal favorites.
They looked. Thought. Asked questions about the questions. Wrote answers. Looked again. Talked some more about the painting. Wrote some more.
They were done with that question: their spaces filled.
They were proud and interested now.
Next question:
Which one is your favorite figure?
Can you explain why you prefer it?
And so it went.
For ninety minutes, until a very nice guard, complimentary to the group, asked if we could move on.
We had been given a generous amount of time.
Didn’t we agree?
Indeed we did.
We thanked the guard, picked ourselves up, and returned to the group.
Modernism entered the children’s lives.
And how about a little twist of fate?
I am presently taking an online course on Modernism and Existentialism in literature.
And who’s the course leader?
My granddaughter Francesca, who had her first exposure to it from me.
The second adventure in art came when I finally won full custody of my daughter Katherine.
In early September.
Two days before school scheduled to start.
We enrolled in one of Boston’s eighth grades and
soon discovered that
that grade at
that school for
that year was
an unmitigated disaster.
And this the year Kat was to apply to a highly-competitive private high school.
What to do?
Not equipped to home school her.
An idea.
I scanned the MFA website and enrolled both Kat and I in
several series of adult-oriented art courses for the fall and winter..
Day after day we commuted to the museum and
enjoyed the series of speakers and teachers,
often highly regarded scholars in their fields.
It was an important time for Kat because
it exposed her to advanced lectures and slide shows,
stimulated and developed her thinking,
and developed an unusual relationship with her father as peer.
When it was time to start the application process for the member schools of the Independent School League,
we worked together on the applications very easily.
In the event, Kat got into seven of the eleven schools she applied to, and wait-listed by two others.
To this day, twelve years later,
we help each other with editing, ideas, and support.
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It’s Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Welcome to the 1041st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
The Madonna in Sorrow
Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato - http://www.bridgemanartondemand.com/art/104827/The_Madonna_in_Sorrow
A dark painting of a woman wearing a black veil, staring out of the portrait with her hands clasped gently in prayer.
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2.0 Commentary
Both the gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and
the Quran describe Mary as a virgin.
As a Catholic I ask:
Why is a virgin birth so important
to God,
to the Church?
Isn’t marriage a sacred state?
According to Church theology it is.
A husband and wife
have sex and
produce children.
Fulfilling God’s mandate.
So why is Mary’s virginity at birth and continuing virginity so important?
We’re taught that
a married couple can please each other
in any way.
So why is it important to preach that
Mary didn’t physically please Joseph?
We know that she was human.
Had ailments and other physical needs.
Am I being sacrilegious if I wonder
what our teachings might have been had
the Church hierarchy had been
fifty-per cent women?
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3.0 Recurring Reading and Writing Events
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
As President of the Memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti, Inc.
spend a good deal of time writing,
like Agendas, Mission Statements, Endorsements, emails.
Today I did just that, writings that touched on most of these areas.
An agenda with a Friday deadline, a deadline without a meeting on it.
Refining the Mission Statement.
Producing an Endorsement format.
And a flock of emails.
3.2 Conflicted
Three years ago agents passed on a manuscript I had finished.
he story, Conflicted, was great; the style not acceptable.
I put the Conflicted manuscript aside and turned my creativity to developing the blog.
After three years I developed a writing style
that the same people who had turned away from the Conflicted manuscript
find terrific.
hen my friend Howard Dinin suggested, “Rewrite the Conflicted manuscript as a blog.”
I spend a lot of time these days rewriting the manuscript.
Beta readers are enthusiastic.
I rewrote 35 pages of the Conflicted manuscript and sent it out to volunteer beta readers.
Their contributions were splendid.
I reworked the manuscript incorporating many of the suggestions.
I decided to hire an editor to read these pages watching out for tenses, point of view, syntax, grammar, and plain old typos.
My granddaughter had a perfect person for the job.
Victoria and I will speak on Tuesday.
She wants to hear my thoughts before she starts.
For myself, I would like to methodically convert a few pages every day.
How many?
I don’t know.
Right now, at 9.05am, I realize that converting the Conflicted manuscript into a blog format
may have created some chronological errors.
I decided to create a chronological calendar to accurately check it out.
Took a couple of hours.
I was right.
I was wrong when I transposed the manuscript to the blog.
But I found and corrected the two errors.
3.3 Storyworth
This is an application that my daughter bought me as a Christmas present.
Every week I am sent a question about my life.
The answers are mailed out to a list of people that Kat has provided.
At the end of the year I get a hard copy of the book.
This week’s question asks me what things fascinated me growing up.
I spent one week talking about food.
Tomorrow I am publishing what my fascination with art got me.
And started then, I will finish the third part of the same question
talking about tennis.
3.4 Blog
No wriggle room here.
Every day requires its own effort.
3.5 Modernism and Existentialism
Must do some reading although am ahead in this area.
It’s my granddaughter’s class so I must shine.
3.6 Trip to Tuscany
Not reporting on this today.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
The crows seemed to be
calling his name,
thought Caw.
~Jack Handey
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5.0 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 James Pasto, one of our Sacco and Vanzetti Board of Directors,
after a flurry of emails among us that illustrated our dedication
to spreading good will among all men and women,
starting with ourselves.
Jim’s comment:
What a team!!!
Blog meister responds: Amen, brother.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night I made myself a cheeseburger.
I used cheese to top it plus
a salad with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and peppers,
mixed with microscopic amounts of relish, mayo, oil, and vinegar.
It was decent.
The burger was a tad small, 6oz as opposed to the 8oz that I normally use.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Mary was a 1st century Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth,
the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus,
according to the canonical gospels and the Quran.
According to Christian theology, Mary conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit while still a virgin, and accompanied Joseph to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.
Both the gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin,
and as being betrothed to Joseph, also in Matthew and Luke.
According to Catholic and Eastern Christian teachings,
at the end of her earthly life,
God raised Mary's body directly into heaven;
this is known in the Christian West as the Assumption of Mary.
Mary has been venerated since early Christianity, and
is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion.
She is said to have miraculously appeared to believers many times over the centuries.
The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches
believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Theotokos (Mother of God;).
There is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and
devotional practices of major Christian traditions.
The Catholic Church holds distinctive Marian dogmas, namely
her status as the Mother of God,
her Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity, and her Assumption into heaven.
Many Protestants minimize Mary's role within Christianity,
basing their argument on the lack of biblical support for any beliefs other than
the virgin birth (actually a virginal conception).
Mary also has the highest position in Islam among all women.
She is mentioned in the Quran more often than in the New Testament,
where two of the longer chapters of the Quran are devoted to her and her family.
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It’s Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Welcome to the 1040th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Rounds of Parmigiano-Reggiano
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2.0 Commentary
My post-vaccination life begins.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday I have dinner engagements.
Despite my excitement,
I’ll follow all the CDC guidelines.
Even on Tuesday, at the Encore casino.
Interesting.
I know of three French Bistros in Boston:
Ma Maison, La Voile, and Rochambeau.
I think the genre is the most successful.
I have been to each of these restaurants at least four times.
At all three, prices are rational, service is excellent, and the food is quite good.
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3.0 Reading and Writing
These are among the activities I’m involved in every day.
3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
I completed the agenda for our next Board of Directors’ meeting and
have mailed it out.
This week, the Board will engage in a series of phone calls to clarify and amplify.
On Friday, the 19th, we’ll zoom meet and review our progress.
3.2 Conflicted
I completed the rewrite of the first section of my manuscript.
I am greatly indebted to the readers who have given my terrific feedback.
And I sent the pages off to a professional editor.
I anxiously await her analysis.
Meanwhile, I’ll carve out another chunk of the story and
shape it using the template I’ve been developing.
3.3 Storyworth
Give this a high priority today.
Am working on things that fascinated me growing up.
Today the subject is art.
I get a new question tomorrow.
3.4 Blog
No wriggle room here.
Every day requires its own effort.
On Sunday, I got an early start and was mostly done before I went off to the café.
3.5 Modernism and Existentialism
Must do some reading although am ahead in this area.
It’s my granddaughter’s class so I must shine.
3.6 Visit to Tuscany, Plans
No work on this today.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
If trees could scream,
would we be so cavalier about cutting them down?
We might,
if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
~Jack Handey
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5.0 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 Tommie T:
Love reading about goats - of which, I know little.
What I do know is that goats will eat almost anything.
My brother had a pet goat named "Nannie Mae."
My father, having grown up in mining towns throughout Alabama loved goats and
thought my brother would love to have one.
My mother, on the other hand, thought naught.
Anyway, among our many pets- white mice, Guinea pigs, cats, dogs, roosters, fish - John, my brother, had a goat.
She was precious and loyal.
She followed Johnny like a dog, and cuddled with him.
The only problem was they she ate everything- rosebushes, flowers, and eventually the sleeves out of my cashmere sweaters from Scotland - a gift from our USNavy father.
The sweaters had been on the front porch awaiting the drycleaner' s pick up.
That was when my mother sent Nannie Mae to the farm.
My brother has since told me that this was one of the saddest days of his young life.
He said that Nannie Mae followed his car as far as she could.
Blog meister responds: How sad! Lovely, but sad.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Saturday night I experimented and the result not wonderful.
Edible.
Not worth the calories,.
I added leftover steak and pork roast to a pan of Marinara Sauce.
Then I added some leftover peas.
And several large Italian shell pasta.
I got a mish-mash.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Parmigiano-Reggiano is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cow's milk and aged at least 12 months.
It is named after the producing areas, the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, the part of Bologna west of the Reno, and Modena (all in Emilia-Romagna); and the part of Mantua (Lombardy) on the right/south bank of the Po. Parmigiano is the Italian adjective for Parma and Reggiano that for Reggio Emilia.
Both "Parmigiano-Reggiano" and "Parmesan" are protected designations of origin (PDO) for cheeses produced in these provinces under Italian and European law.
Outside the EU, the name "Parmesan" can legally be used for similar cheeses, with only the full Italian name unambiguously referring to PDO Parmigiano-Reggiano.
It has been called the "King of Cheeses" and a "practically perfect food".
In America, you must be guided by the EU protected name: Parmigiano-Reggiano.
If you buy ‘parmesan’, you are buying a different product that is simply not as fine as the product from the Italian provinces.
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It’s Monday, March 8, 2021
Welcome to the 1039th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Jack Handey
at typewriter
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2.0 Commentary
Politics.
How strange the machinations of our political leaders,
cf. the tortuous route of biden’s covid bailout package.
How sorely missed they’d be if
a minority of our population is allowed to short-circuit our democracy.
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3.2 Conflicted
Did some serious editing on the first entries.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Before you criticize someone,
you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way
when you criticize them,
you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.
~Jack Handey
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5.0 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 Tommie T:
We just finished Anne With an E.
I loved every moment!
Maybe because I am the mother of a precocious daughter and a professional educator.
It also was reminiscent of the way I grew up thinking of our nation -
watching The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie.
As a counselor in another of my professions, I loved the dynamics between the adoptive parents and Anne, as well as those of the "busybody " neighbor and
the new teacher in town.
I hope you enjoy the series as much as I.
Blog meister responds: I thought it was terrific!
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night I enjoyed a bone-in Pork Roast with my cousin.
Dinner was terrific.
She made a classic Old Fashioned replacing the bourbon with
Captain Morgan Private Stock Rum.
Tasty and fun.
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11.0 Thumbnail
Jack Handey (born February 25, 1949) is an American humorist.
He is best known for his "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey", a large body of surrealistic one-liner jokes,
as well as his
"Fuzzy Memories" and "My Big Thick Novel" shorts, and for
his deadpan delivery.
Although many people assume otherwise, Handey is a real person, not a pen name or character.
Handey's earliest writing job was for a newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News. He lost the job after writing an article that, in his words, "offended local car dealerships".
His first comic writing was with comedian Steve Martin.
According to Martin, Handey got a job writing for Saturday Night Live after
Martin introduced Handey to the show's creator, Lorne Michaels.
For several years Handey worked on other television projects: the Canadian sketch series Bizarre in 1980; the 1980 Steve Martin television special Comedy Is Not Pretty!; and Lorne Michaels' short-lived sketch show on NBC called The New Show in 1984.
Handey returned to Saturday Night Live in 1985 as a writer.
Deep Thoughts
In April 1984, National Lampoon published the first of Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts.
Additional Deep Thoughts appeared in the October and November 1984 editions as well as in the short-lived comedy magazine Army Man, while more appeared in 1988 in The Santa Fe New Mexican.
The one-liners were to become Handey's signature work, notable for their concise humor and their outlandish hypothetical situations. For example:
If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.
Handey's work next showed up in the Michael Nesmith-produced TV series Television Parts in the format which later became famous on Saturday Night Live (though in Television Parts, Nesmith provided the narration).
Some of these segments appeared in the compilation video of that program, Doctor Duck's Super Secret All-Purpose Sauce.
Between 1989 and 1990, Deep Thoughts were shown during commercial breaks on The Comedy Channel with Handey's narration.
Between 1991 and 1998, Saturday Night Live included Deep Thoughts on the show as an interstitial segment (between sketches).
Introduced by Phil Hartman and read live by Handey (neither actually appeared on screen),
the one-liners proved to be extremely popular.
Hartman intoned "And now, Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey...", and
peaceful easy listening music played while the screen showed soothing pastoral scenes, much like a New Age relaxation video.
Handey then read the Deep Thought as the text to it scrolled across the screen.
They became an enduring feature of SNL, which often had multiple Thoughts in each episode, and made Handey a well-known name.
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It’s Sunday, March 7, 2021
Welcome to the 1038th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Goat-herding
Goat herding is an ancient tradition that is still important in places like Egypt.
Hassanelsayadd - Own work
This is an image of "African people at work" from Egypt
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2.0 Commentary
Weather ticking up.
After Sunday, five of the next seven days will be 50* and up.
Nice way to kick winter out the door.
However, we expect many days to come to fall to 40*.
When that happens, let’s not complain that it’s cold.
Instead, remember the cold snap we endured in February when
winds caused the temperatures to effectively fall to single digits.
The dam has broken.
After near a year of a choked-off social life,
a surge.
A careful surge.
Not a huge, raucous get-together for a dozen, but
a series of dinner parties for three or four people.
Seven in the next fifteen days.
I’m thirsty for these moments.
Basically, dinner is my time of the day when I can truly relax,
even if I am responsible for the meal,
which I am on four of these occasions.
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3.1 Sacco and Vanzetti
We started the day with a Zoom Sacco and Vanzetti Board of Directors meeting that was gentle, lovely, and short.
And we booked a zoom with an artisan
who will explain the bronzing process to us.
Met with a candidate for the Board of Directors of the Sacco and Vanzetti Memorial.
He would be a good add to our efforts.
3.2 Conflicted
A little bit of work done.
3.3 Modernism and Existentialism
Read an hour of To the Lighthouse, Virginia Wolf,
preparatory to Wednesday’s on-line class.
The class keeps sharp a part of my head that might otherwise permanently dull.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
“My mother always used to say:
The older you get, the better you get,
unless you’re a banana.”
~Rose (Betty White), The Golden Girls
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from dear friend, Tommie T:
Love reading about your and Toni-Lee's adventures, and especially about Dom's - the best restaurant I had the pleasure to experience twice.
I will never forget your sitting at the table with Marilyn and me as you guided us through the evening menu.
To top it off, you had your chauffeur take us home in a limo - a first for me.
At that dinner I decided I liked you.
You were so kind and generous to us. . . Two southern women on a "girls' get-a-way" weekend.
Marilyn and I still talk about that evening as we are sitting on my porch sipping some good Oregon wine.
At this point in time Chris and Leigh may have been dating or just good friends.
The second time I had dinner at Dom's was with a group of professors from several universities- Montclair State, University of South Carolina, University of Southern Maine,etc - we were at a conference in Boston
I called for reservations - you were booked-
I asked to speak to your wonderful son, Dom, and he made a space for our party of 8 or 9. We had so much fun and the food was fabulous.
We talked about that meal for a long time.
And then, on that first trip, you took Marilyn and me to see the Winslow Homer exhibit which was so meaningful to me.
And even more so because you had done extensive research on this artist and knew his work so well.
What a wonderful gift.
At the time, I don't think you knew that I love art, so again, I thought, this guy - I like.
We can have some great conversations, and I can learn a lot!
Thank you, Dom.
Blog Meister responds: I remember that trip and the MFA quite fondly. Love you, my dear.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night I enjoyed another meal of the New England Boiled Dinner.
Still some leftover.
I put everything into a food chopper and made a soup.
It’s rich and delicious enough to make a meal out of it.
Perhaps with a crusty baguette and butter.
Hungry all over again.
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11.0 Thumbnails
The domestic goat or simply goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) is a subspecies of C. aegagrus domesticated from the wild goat of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe.
The goat is a member of the animal family Bovidae and the subfamily Caprinae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep.
There are over 300 distinct breeds of goat.
It is one of the oldest domesticated species of animal, according to archaeological evidence that its earliest domestication occurred in Iran at 10,000 calibrated calendar years ago.
Goat-herding is an ancient tradition that is still important in places like Egypt.
Goats have been used for milk, meat, fur, and skins across much of the world.
Milk from goats is often turned into goat cheese.
Female goats are referred to as does or nannies, intact males are called bucks or billies, and juvenile goats of both sexes are called kids.
Castrated males are called wethers.
While the words hircine and caprine both refer to anything having a goat-like quality, hircine is used most often to emphasize the distinct smell of domestic goats.
In 2011, there were more than 924 million goats living in the world, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
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