November 15 to November 21 2020

Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, November 15, 2020
through
Saturday, November 21, 2020

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It’s Saturday, November 21, 2020
Welcome to the 944th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0 Lead Picture
Laocoön and His Sons

An ancient sculpture, rediscovered in 1506; now in the Vatican Museums.
Mannerism role-model
The artists of Mannerism greatly admired this piece of sculpture.

Hagesandros, Athenedoros, and Polydoros - Marie-Lan Nguyen (2009)

Laocoön and his sons, also known as the Laocoön Group.
Marble, copy after an Hellenistic original from ca. 200 BC.
Found in the Baths of Trajan, 1506.

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2.0 Commentary
My research into Parmigianino brought me quickly to Mannerism.
Picture it.

The Renaissance has peaked, producing three of the greatest artists that ever lived working simultaneously.
Parmigianino was a young talented artist.
Was he going to be a copycat?
Follow in their style and listen to the critics complain that he’ll never be as good as DaVinci or Michelangelo or Raphael?
Or will he strike out on his own as did the first of the Renaissance artists when they broke from the Gothic and Byzantine styles?
Parmigianino helped birth Mannerism, a style that emerged in the late 1500s and successfully challenged the rubrics of the Renaissance, the style staying in vogue for almost a century until it, in turn, was replaced by the Baroque.
My own political affiliation is out: I am a Mannerist.

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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
From his Madonna of the Long Neck, Parmigianino took the research to Mannerism.
Delightful reading.

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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
I’ll never forget my Granddad’s last words to me just before he died…
“Are you still holding the ladder?”

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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 is from Sally C:

All that poultry to consume! You’ll be ready for a medium-rare slab of beef!

 Sally

Blog meister responds: You hit it on the head!

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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night I fried a simple piece of sockeye salmon taking extra care to crispt the skin.
It worked.

Dry the skin.
Totally cover the bottom of the fry pan with salt and pepper and bring the pan to medium-hot.
Wipe the fish with olive oil and then salt and pepper.
Skin down, cook fish for seven minutes.
Turn over and fry another minute and a half.
Serve with a piece of lemon.

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7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

 
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11.0 Thumbnail
Mannerism, also known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it.
Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century.

Stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the harmonious ideals associated with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo.
Where High Renaissance art emphasizes proportion, balance, and ideal beauty, Mannerism exaggerates such qualities, often resulting in compositions that are asymmetrical or unnaturally elegant.
The style is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.
This artistic style privileges compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting.
Mannerism in literature and music is notable for its highly florid style and intellectual sophistication.

The definition of Mannerism and the phases within it continues to be a subject of debate among art historians.
For example, some scholars have applied the label to certain early modern forms of literature (especially poetry) and music of the 16th and 17th centuries.
The term is also used to refer to some late Gothic painters working in northern Europe from about 1500 to 1530, especially the Antwerp Mannerists—a group unrelated to the Italian movement.
Mannerism has also been applied by analogy to the Silver Age of Latin literature.

Characteristics

Mannerism was an anti-classical movement which differed greatly from the aesthetic ideologies of the Renaissance. Though Mannerism was initially accepted with positivity based on the writings of Vasari, it was later regarded in a negative light because it solely view as, "an alteration of natural truth and a trite repetition of natural formulas."
As an artistic moment, Mannerism involves many characteristics that are unique and specific to experimentation of how art is perceived.
Below is a list of many specific characteristics that Mannerist artists would employ in their artworks.

Elongation of figures:
often Mannerist work featured the elongation of the human figure – occasionally this contributed to the bizarre imagery of some Mannerist art.

Distortion of perspective:
in paintings, the distortion of perspective explored the ideals for creating a perfect space. However, the idea of perfection sometimes alluded to the creation of unique imagery.
One way in which distortion was explored was through the technique of foreshortening.
At times, when extreme distortion was utilized, it would render the image nearly impossible to decipher.

Black backgrounds:
Mannerist artists often utilized flat black backgrounds to present a full contrast of contours in order to create dramatic scenes.
Black backgrounds also contributed to a creating sense of fantasy within the subject matter.

Use of darkness and light:
many Mannerists were interested in capturing the essence of the night sky through the use of intentional illumination, often creating a sense of fanatical scenes.
Notably, special attention was paid to torch and moonlight to create dramatic scenes.

Sculptural forms:
Mannerism was greatly influenced by sculpture, which gained popularity in the sixteenth century.
As a result, Mannerist artists often based their depictions of human bodies in reference to sculptures and prints.
This allowed Mannerist artists to focus on creating dimension.

Clarity of line:
the attention that was paid to clean outlines of figures was prominent within Mannerism and differed largely from the Baroque and High Renaissance.
The outlines of figures often allowed for more attention to detail.

Composition and space:
Mannerist artists rejected the ideals of the Renaissance, notably the technique of one-point perspective.
Instead, there was an emphasis on atmospheric effects and distortion of perspective.
The use of space in Mannerist works instead privileged crowded compositions with various forms and figures or scant compositions with emphasis on black backgrounds.

Mannerist movement:
the interest in the study of human movement often lead to Mannerist artists rendering a unique type of movement linked to serpentine positions.
These positions often anticipate the movements of future positions because of their often-unstable motions figures.
In addition, this technique attributes to the artist's experimentation of form.

Painted frames:
in some Mannerist works, painted frames were utilized to blend in with the background of paintings and at times, contribute to the overall composition of the artwork.
This is at times prevalent when there is special attention paid to ornate detailing.

Atmospheric effects:
many Mannerists utilized the technique of sfumato, known as, "the rendering of soft and hazy contours or surfaces" in their paintings for rendering the streaming of light.

Mannerist color:
a unique aspect of Mannerism was in addition to the experimentation of form, composition, and light, much of the same curiosity was applied to color.
Many artworks toyed with pure and intense hues of blues, green, pinks, and yellows, which at times detract from the overall design of artworks, and at other times, compliment it. Additionally, when rending skin tone, artists would often concentrate on create overly creaming and light complexions and often utilize undertones of blue.

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It’s Friday, November 20, 2020
Welcome to the 943rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0 Lead Picture
Madonna with the Long Neck by Parmigianino

Parmigianino - Madonna dal collo lungo - Google Art Project
Parmigianino - gAEsEn4eJXVHyg at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum

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2.0 Commentary
Wednesday was cold.
Too cold for last year’s winter jacket.
Time today for its replacement: the Canada Goose that I bought a month ago.
It was as advertised: impervious to the cold and the wind.
It does, however, weigh as much as a coat of armor.
I’ll take the weight.
Cold weather drives me indoors and impedes my four-mile daily walk.
Corroding my health.
I’ll take the weight.

I’ve had a touch of a cold for the two days.
When I get any kind of sick I sleep poorly.
I thought such illnesses force our body to take more sleep.
Not me.
Don’t know why.

I spent a good part of the afternoon fetching coffee.
This was the last day that fell onto Microsoft to vacate its premises in the Prudential Center and a bunch of the gals and guys were on hand to clear the last of it out.
I enjoyed being invited to drop in.
On another day I will take the crew out for a Chinese Banquet.
They were too tired today.
This is the way the world ends.
Nor with a bang but a whimper.

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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
So today I started research on one of my favorite paintings:
Madonna with the Long Neck by Parmigianino.
Read the analysis by Wikipedia which I’ve reprinted in today’s Thumbnail.

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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Parallel lines have so much in common.
It’s a shame they’ll never meet.

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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 in South Carolina:

I am laughing with you on your situation with multiple birds! What we do for our children! I have done the same many times over the years! 😂

Had a teacher friend many years ago who put up the tree and decorated for Christmas. 
She got a call from her college -aged daughter (only child) who said that she could hardly wait to get home to decorate and put up the tree.
My sweet friend immediately went to work undecorating and taking everything off the tree! 

The Gentleman In Moscow is one of the best books I have ever read. It took me forever to get into it, but after about 40 pages, I could not put it down.
It is so tightly written as in the Great Gadsby genre.
Not a wasted word!
It is a book that one thinks about again and again.
I was affirmed in my thinking about this book when I read that Bill Gates ( whom I hold in high regard) has extolled this book as one of the best. 

Blog meister responds: Kids make for good stories. And Colleen G, who recommended the book, will be happy for your support.

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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night I had a boneless loin pork chop.
I made it with a mustard sauce and the whole was delicious.
And inexpensive since the pork was on sale.

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7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

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11.0 Thumbnail

The strange, adult-like proportions of the child and the elongated neck of the mother in its colloquial name should count against Parmigianino’s most famous work, yet somehow they seem to imbue the painting with its own unique kind of grace and stillness.

In fact, everything in this painting is radical and innovative, from these proportions to its strange perspective, to the
highly unusual placement of figures within the painting – they show a painter trying hard to find new ways of depicting the familiar scenes attempted by all his predecessors. For all its apparent flaws, Madonna with the Long Neck is a triumph – proof that a radical new way of working can lead to a masterpiece.

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It’s Thursday, November 19, 2020
Welcome to the 942nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.co

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1.0 Lead Picture
SpaceX Crew-1 launching from Kennedy Space Center

NASA/Joel Kowsky - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/50608040942/in/photostream/

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi onboard, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 missionis the first crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Hopkins, Glover, Walker, and Noguchi launched at 7:27 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission onboard the orbital outpost. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

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2.0 Commentary
Watched Sam Donaldson last night.
Remember him?
An esteemed anchor on network news when that’s all there was.
Sam Donaldson agrees with me.
Trump’s hold over the Republican Party will weaken over time.
Donaldson’s take: Trump has hurt the country by denying facts which makes it impossible for the two mainstream parties to define a common ground.
His views were a breath of fresh air.

America’s first transition of power, the defeat of John Adams and his Federalists by Thomas Jefferson and his Republicans, showed the world that we were different.
Disappointing by accepting and courteous.
And that was the start of a tradition long-honored in observance, until this day, in fact.
Over two hundred years.
Donald Trump’s unfortunate legacy will be a double memory: the exacerbation of the covid-19 epidemic and his attempted coup d’etat.
Which do you think is worse?

His punishment for those transgressions has already been meted out; and it fits the crimes.
Has to fit: he was the judge, jury, defendant, and executioner throughout the allegations.
Guilty as charged.
Guilty of what he hated most: losing.
He has burned an indelible L on his own forehead.
Visible for all to see.
A mark hecklers will remind him of wherever he goes.
A mark Washington DC and New York City party-throwers will be mindful of when next they draw up guest lists.
A mark that is also a ticket to a trip that has already started.
A trip to nowhere
but that day by day will take him lower and more distant from mainstream power centers.
Until he’s only left as titular monarch: King of the Lunatic Fringe.

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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
Did not work on it.

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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
What has one finger and is very demanding?
A ransom note.

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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 Howard D in my request to him to research my newly-bought sanitizing wand in terms of its efficacy in killing viruses.

I’m sorry to say, what I was able to find out is that these wands, though built on well-established science and principles of deployment (UV-C rays DO kill the kinds of microorganisms in question, as well as a slew of other dangerous bugs), they are most efficacious and are only certified for medical use for those very large devices that are mainly used in hospitals to disinfect whole rooms.

These large devices, used in hospitals and industrial settings, will not fit in your EDC (every-day-carry) knapsack or fanny pack, but are usually rolled around (the smaller portable models) and have timers to provide constant exposure for from a quarter hour to two hours. It’s expected the space to be decontaminated will be devoid of occupants. All UV, but this kind especially, are very injurious to living tissue, and especially bad for the skin and eyes, and especially in the dosages and the time length of exposure that makes them effective with COVID-SARS-2.

They are less effective, even on exposed flat surface, where they work best, if there is any barrier to the light on the surface, such as dust or liquids, or dirt buildup. Also, UV rays are straight lines, and only microorganisms in “line-of-sight” of the lamp will be treated. These things cannot see into crevices, cracks, around corners, and so they won’t be of any use with things like your phone or your computer, or even the facets of an object, like a book, that is lying on one side. Only that side of the object directly exposed to the lamp will be treated.

In short, though these are not toys, and surely well intended, they are essentially useless, as they aren’t powerful enough nor are they in practice used for long enough exposure times (which means exposing the operator to potentially harmful UV rays) to kill surface contaminants.

One unfortunate aspect of this is calling them wands, which, though true, they are but only because of their shape. They present too much of an association in our culture to other wands, like the security wands in airports (which are electromagnetic, and have penetrative radio waves to detect metal) or magic wands, like they use at Hogwarts.

Passing one of these, even with a magic incantation, quickly over your dining space in the coffee shop is not going to protect you.

Sorry.

For a broad and general overview about these devices (mainly describing the medical configurations that are approved for clinical use) see this helpful page from the FDA.

Otherwise, if you do use the wand, don’t look at it, and don’t expose bare skin to its rays. Try to set it up to give a good long dose, say 15 minutes, to whatever it is you’re worried about decontaminating.

You’d actually be much better off with a Clorox disinfectant wipe, used vigorously on all surfaces, both in direct sight, and around nooks and crannies. Don’t wipe it off. Just let it dry. Takes about 40 seconds.

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/uv-lights-and-lamps-ultraviolet-c-radiation-disinfection-and-coronavirus

xoxo

h

Blog meister responds:  Thank you, my friend. But here is part of the sales blurb from the manufacturer:

🌸[Disinfect Quickly and Effectively]:This UVC sanitizer travel wand uses powerful Ultraviolet-C light to kill up to 99.9% of bacteria. Just turn on the ultraviolet sanitizer light wand, hold the portable uv sanitizing wand, then wave it slowly over anything you want to sterilize, sweeping back and forth 4 or 5 times(About 10-20S). It naturally eliminates germs and bacteria, with odorless, chemical-free, no residue and no secondary pollution.

Here is the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CZGQBR3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday afternoon I broke rhythm and had my main meal at noon.
At Legal Seafood at Long Wharf,
Had a half-Caesar Salad and a portion of Fried Clams.
This was my best Legal Seafood experience ever, for service and food.
At night I had a plate of Turkey Soup.

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7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

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11.0 Thumbnail
SpaceX Crew-1 (also known as USCV-1 or simply Crew-1)[5] is the first crewed operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
It is also the first crewed night launch by the United States since that of STS-131 in April 2010. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Resilience launched on 16 November 2020 at 00:27:17 UTC[1][a] on a Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Center, LC-39A, carrying NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker along with JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, all members of the Expedition 64 crew.
The mission is the second overall crewed orbital flight of the Crew Dragon.

Crew-1 is the first operational mission to the International Space Station in the Commercial Crew Program. Originally designated "USCV-1" by NASA in 2012, the launch date was delayed several times from the original date of November 2016.
The mission is expected to last 180 days, meaning the flight will return to Earth sometime around May 2021.
Resilience is expected to return to Earth via splashdown for reuse for another future mission

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It’s Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Welcome to the 941st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0 Lead Picture
Snow geese in Quebec, Canada

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2.0 Commentary
Wednesday was cold.
Too cold for last year’s winter jacket.
Time today for its replacement: the Canada Goose that I bought a month ago.
It was as advertised: impervious to the cold and the wind.
It does, however, weigh as much as a coat of armor.
I’ll take the weight.
Cold weather drives me indoors and impedes my four-mile daily walk.
Corroding my health.
I’ll take the weight.

I’ve had a touch of a cold for the two days.
When I get any kind of sick I sleep poorly.
I thought such illnesses force our body to take more sleep.
Not me.
Don’t know why.

I spent a good part of the afternoon fetching coffee.
This was the last day that fell onto Microsoft to vacate its premises in the Prudential Center and a bunch of the gals and guys were on hand to clear the last of it out.
I enjoyed being invited to drop in.
On another day I will take the crew out for a Chinese Banquet.
They were too tired today.
This is the way the world ends.
Nor with a bang but a whimper.

______________________________________
3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
So today I started research on one of my favorite paintings:
Madonna with the Long Neck by Parmigianino.
Read the analysis by Wikipedia which I’ve reprinted in today’s Thumbnail.

______________________________________
4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Parallel lines have so much in common.

It’s a shame they’ll never meet.

_____________________________________
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 in South Carolina:

I am laughing with you on your situation with multiple birds! What we do for our children! I have done the same many times over the years! 😂

Had a teacher friend many years ago who put up the tree and decorated for Christmas. 
She got a call from her college -aged daughter (only child) who said that she could hardly wait to get home to decorate and put up the tree.
My sweet friend immediately went to work undecorating and taking everything off the tree! 

The Gentleman In Moscow is one of the best books I have ever read. It took me forever to get into it, but after about 40 pages, I could not put it down.
It is so tightly written as in the Great Gadsby genre.
Not a wasted word!
It is a book that one thinks about again and again.
I was affirmed in my thinking about this book when I read that Bill Gates ( whom I hold in high regard) has extolled this book as one of the best. 

Blog meister responds: Kids make for good stories. And Colleen G, who recommended the book, will be happy for your support.

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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night I had a boneless loin pork chop.
I made it with a mustard sauce and the whole was delicious.
And inexpensive since the pork was on sale.

_____________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

__________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail

The strange, adult-like proportions of the child and the elongated neck of the mother in its colloquial name should count against Parmigianino’s most famous work, yet somehow they seem to imbue the painting with its own unique kind of grace and stillness.

In fact, everything in this painting is radical and innovative, from these proportions to its strange perspective, to the
highly unusual placement of figures within the painting – they show a painter trying hard to find new ways of depicting the familiar scenes attempted by all his predecessors. For all its apparent flaws, Madonna with the Long Neck is a triumph – proof that a radical new way of working can lead to a masterpiece.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It’s Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Welcome to the 941st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0 Lead Picture
Snow geese in Quebec, Canada

Cephas - Own work
Snow geese (Anser caerulescens), Cap Tourmente
National Wildlife Area, Quebec, Canada

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2.0 Commentary
Here’s a story.
We’ll be five for Thanksgiving dinner.
I announced a goose.
Then asked Richard Case at Roche Bros in Boston if he could get one for me.
He did and proudly set it aside.
$70.00.
Meanwhile, I did want turkey for dinner so I bought one on Wednesday and roasted it on Sunday
to enjoy it in the days before the holiday.
While it roasted my daughter texted that she and William would really prefer turkey on Thanksgiving.
Okay. Easy.
I said.
So.
Roast Turkey Sunday night.
Turkey pot pie on Monday.
Turkey stock with the remainder of the bird.
Some of the stock to make Turkey Soup on Tuesday;
the rest of the stock to reduce until concentrated enough to add to my store of Turkey Gravy.
Then focus on the goose.
Kat and Will will be at apartment on Saturday so I’ll roast it then.
We’ll finish the goose by Monday and our kitchen will be ready for a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving.

Now stuck with three expensive birds to eat over the next twelve days.

 
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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
I researched Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch.
Good to be back with the readings.

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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
Someone stole my mood ring.
I don’t know how I feel about that.

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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:

Hi Dom,

I am reading a book right now for my bookclub that I think you would love. In fact, I haven't even read the description or what it is supposed to be about, but I just got it from the library and started reading it and I am absolutely loving it. The writing is absolutely delicious and I was thinking you'd really appreciate it because there are a lot of references to food and wine and the finer things in life. I think it would be a bit hit for you--even beyond just enjoying the beautiful writing style. Again, I'm only 200 pages in, so can't speak for the rest of the book, but so far so great!

It's called A Gentleman in Moscow written by Amor Towles. If you're looking for something to wrap yourself in during the cold days ahead, this is it.

Cheers,

Colleen:)

Blog meister responds: I will.


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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I enjoyed a Turkey Pot Pie.

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7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

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11.0 Thumbnail
A goose is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae.
This group comprises the genera Anser (the grey geese), Branta (the black geese), and Chen (which includes the white geese), the latter sometimes being placed within the genus Anser.

Some other birds, mostly related to the shelducks, have "goose" as part of their names.
More distantly related members of the family Anatidae are swans, most of which are larger than true geese, and ducks, which are smaller.

Goose heaven

The term "goose" is more properly used for a female bird, while "gander" refers specifically to a male one.
Young birds before fledging are called goslings.
The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team, or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump.

When cooked carefully in an oven, they are called Roast Goose.

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It’s Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Welcome to the 940th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0 Lead Picture
The Hunting of the Snark

Henry Holiday (1839-1927) after Lewis Carroll
[Real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832-1896) -
The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits by Lewis Carroll,
MacMillan and Co, Limited, St. Martin's Street, London, 1931.

Second of Henry Holiday's original ilustrations to "The Hunting of the Snark" by Lewis Carroll. This illustrates Fit the First: The Landing, and shows various members of the crew, who are described therein.

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2.0 Commentary
For the next 85 days, can I be careful enough not to injure myself or contribute to an accident which leads to an injury significant enough to talk about?
For those same 85 days can I be lucky enough not to come down with a disease or illness and not be the victim of someone else’s negligence?
If the answers to those questions is Yes!, then I will be starting my 80th year in reasonable health.
Notable.

I must be more careful.
I have the unfortunate habit of daydreaming when I walk and,
walking familiar streets,
I tend to walk on remote control.
Why not? It’s a route I know well.
And that’s the problem.
My familiarity makes me careless.
I often find myself stepping into a street without looking about.
Sadly, drivers don’t factor daydreamers into their calculations.
They assume that no pedestrian will step into a street,
especially in downtown traffic
wherein vehicles are universally occupied with making that light.
With a little care, I can slightly shift the odds of making it to my eightieth year.

Speaking of care, I bought a portable sanitizing wand which I use on my trips to my cafes.
I run the wand over the table, chair, and couch before taking a seat.
Have gotten several positive remarks.
In addition, I bought a small case of 1oz bottles of hand sanitizer
to carry in my handy waist pouch.
So much safer to touch buttons and door knobs now that I can very easily pull out the travel container and immediately sanitize.

I would like to avoid COVID-19-infection in the last few weeks of the so far unchecked pandemic.
Extra attention suits us as we wind down.

Hopefully.
Hopefully the vaccine will pass its testing.
Hopefully at the 90% effective rate it is posing at the moment.
Hopefully being 147 years old gets me some priority in the vaccine-distribution process.

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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
A Roman legionnaire walks into a bar, holds up two fingers and says,
“Five beers, please.”

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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

In a conversation in my morning café trip came this scenario.
We are witnessing the high-water mark of the extreme right-wing of the Republican Party.
And it was a high mark.
A near coup d’etat, in fact.
Crazy people found their way into the highest levels of the Republican Party,
intimidating the legitimate right into submission.
Forcing them to play along.
For a while, this lunatic-fringe will continue to hold sway.
But their time is running out.
After the Georgia run-offs, the vacating of the White House by Trump, and President-elect Biden’s swearing in, the crazy people will be cast adrift.
The rightful Republican Right will slowly emerge.
Will coalesce around individuals not named Trump nor primarily beholden to him.
Will give the majority of Republicans alternative heroes.
Unfortunately, the Republicans will be weakened because a significant portion of them will continue membership in the lunatic-fringe and not support the more mainline leadership.
But that’s the price they will have to pay.
Eventually, years from now, the Republicans will return to their former strength.
America will become a plodding, slowly-forward-moving, two-centrist party democracy again.

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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Had a delicious Roast Turkey Dinner.
From the ample turkey leftovers, I will make a concentrated turkey stock to add to my Turkey Gravy and turkey soup for dinner soon.

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7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

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11.0 Thumbnail
The Hunting of the Snark is a poem composed by the English writer Lewis Carroll between 1874 and 1876, typically characterized as a nonsense poem.
The plot follows a crew of ten who cross the ocean to hunt the Snark, which may turn out to be a highly dangerous Boojum.
This is the second of Henry Holiday's original illustrations for the first edition of the poem.
It introduces some of the crew, whose names all start with "B"; the Bellman and Baker are on the upper deck, with the Barrister seated in the background;
below are the Billiard-marker, the Banker and the Broker, with the maker of Bonnets and Hoods visible behind.

Illustration credit: Henry Holiday, after Lewis Carroll; restored by Adam Cuerden

The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is a poem written by English writer Lewis Carroll. It is typically categorized as a nonsense poem. Written from 1874 to 1876, the poem borrows the setting, some creatures, and eight portmanteau words from Carroll's earlier poem "Jabberwocky" in his children's novel Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

The plot follows a crew of ten trying to hunt the Snark, which may turn out to be a highly dangerous Boojum. The only one of the crew to find the Snark quickly vanishes, leading the narrator to explain that it was a Boojum after all. The poem is dedicated to young Gertrude Chataway, whom Carroll met at the English seaside town Sandown in the Isle of Wight in 1875. Included with many copies of the first edition of the poem was Carroll's religious tract, An Easter Greeting to Every Child Who Loves "Alice".

The Hunting of the Snark was published by Macmillan in the United Kingdom in late March 1876, with illustrations by Henry Holiday.
It had mixed reviews from reviewers who found it strange.
The first printing of The Hunting of the Snark consisted of 10,000 copies.
There were two reprintings by the conclusion of the year; in total, the poem was reprinted 17 times between 1876 and 1908. Carroll often denied knowing the meaning behind the poem; however, in an 1896 reply to one letter, he agreed with one interpretation of the poem as an allegory for the search for happiness.
Henry Holiday, the illustrator of the poem, considered the poem a "tragedy".[a] Scholars have found various meanings in the poem, among them existential angst, an allegory for tuberculosis, and a mockery of the Tichborne case.
The Hunting of the Snark has been alluded to in various works and has been adapted for musicals, opera, plays, and music.

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It’s Monday, November 16, 2020
Welcome to the  939th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0 Lead Picture
Fernand point and kitchen

Many year ago, I had dinner here with my wife Toni-Lee.
We met Madame Point.
She was a goddess.
Toni-Lee cried when she read the story of Fernand’s death and the stars.
For a year after Fernand’s death the world of gastronomy collectively waited with bated breath.
Would Madame Point be able to hold the stars without her famous husband?
She did.

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2.0 Commentary
Today was busy with contacts.
It’s rewarding to make time to respond to close friends.
Life is so demanding and time slips past so unobtrusively that long periods elapse before we make contact with someone we dearly love.
Today was make up and gentle  day.
So many people and topics:
Thanksgiving plans.
Tracking a lost sanitizing wand.
Getting a DVD player to sync with laptop.
Creating a Zoom account.
Setting up a Zoom meeting re: a memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti.
Responding to an author’s forum.
Ordering games for Thanksgiving.
Ordering goose for Thanksgiving.
Editing a piece for a dear friend.
Sending a link to a friend.
Writing something on Yelp to counter a negative written re: a fine and gentle barista.
No time for research on Tuscany.
Maybe tonight.

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3.0 Tuscany, extracting an essence
No research today.

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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
My wife accused me of being immature.
I told her to get out of my fort.

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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 Sally C, triggered by a post of my last meal out.

Dear Dom,

Your mention of Ma Maison reminds me of a far less pleasant culinary experience about forty years ago, in far-away Down East Maine. The remote establishment, on a side road off the beaten track of US Route One, was called La Domain. I don't remember what business my companions and I had in that neck of the woods, but after our meal, and the subsequent illness of one of our party, we determined never to engage in business anywhere near there again. Thereafter we referred to the place "La Tomaine."

Sally

Blog meister responds: When asked how she found the place, she wrote:

No recommendation. We happened upon it while driving home after a day of doing whatever it was that took us out that way. I don't remember ever seeing it again, although I did go down that road sometime later. It probably shut down for lack of customers - either because they didn't want to return or
they expired.

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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tonight I enjoyed a turkey dinner.
Did not eat it at its maximum and it paid me for my inattention by drying out.
Too bad.

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7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

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11.0 Thumbnail
La Pyramide is an iconic establishment and a keystone in the history of French gastronomy.  Since 1822, only four families have been running the place.
In 1922, Auguste Point purchased the restaurant, already planning on handing it down to his son, Fernand.
The young Fernand, who was then training in Evian with the famous chef Paul Bocuse's father, took over the restaurant in 1925, after his own father passed away.
He renamed it La Pyramide , after the Roman obelisk that stands proudly on Vienne's town square, just a stone's throw away.

Fernand Point brought a new dimension to the place, firstly by expanding it, but more importantly by serving a modern cuisine.
He was a man of strong personality and with a massive figure, who imagined a new way of cooking.
In 1933, he became the first Chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. He trained many famous chefs, such as Paul Bocuse, the Troisgros brothers and Alain Chapel.

Much as he was strict and unforgiving in the kitchen, Point (often with Paul Bocuse as his apprentice and wing-man) was known to play pranks on his patrons and visitors.
Parisian high society visitors would find themselves ushered into the kitchen, pushed into a corner, and fed one of Point's latest and greatest dishes under the pretense of being asked to evaluate the readiness of the offering while Bocuse, hidden underneath a prep table, whitewashed the heels of their shoes.

Postmen or visiting locals fared not much better, in one famous stunt Point ordered Bocuse to paint the bicycle of a visiting gendarme pink while Point distracted his visitor.

After Point's death, his widow, Mado, carried on and maintained the restaurant's 3-star rating for many years.

La Pyramide is nothing short of an institution.
Today, it is still the only establishment in history that have kept three stars in the Michelin guide for 53 years.
They remained after Fernand Point's death (in 1955), carried by his wife until 1986 and then by his daughter, who sold the place to a property development group in 1987.

Patrick Henriroux , a Michelin-starred chef at La Ferme de Mougins, along with his wife Pascale, took over La Pyramide at the age of 31.
Their first Michelin star came seven months later, in 1990, celebrating the fine cuisine served by Patrick Henriroux and the couple's professionalism.
Then, in 1992, La Pyramide was awarded a second star in the Michelin Guide, which it has kept ever since.

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It’s Sunday, November 15, 2020
Welcome to the  938th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com

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1.0   Lead Picture
Erwin Rommel Memorial, place of his suicide with a cyanide pill, Herrlingen (2019)

Olga Ernst - Own work
Erwin Rommel Gedenkstein am Ort der Selbsttötung in Herrlingen (2019)

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2.0   Commentary
Friday ends the streak of amazing weather we’ve enjoyed for a week.
The lasting effect of the balm
is to reduce the number of cold days we usually endure to get to Thanksgiving.
A wonderful time for most/many/some of us.
Wonderful in that family members put down
the important work and
the distances that regularly separate them and
bend every effort to return home to enjoy meals and time together.

Well and good if you’re connected.
I am connected this holiday and
am looking forward to my daughter’s return home with
her boyfriend William to be joined by
our cousin Lauren and
her boyfriend Rob.
We have concrete plans to cook together,
eat an Italian Gravy with a bevy of meat and homemade pasta,
play an outdoor beanbag game,
eat together again,
a roast goose,
plan Kat and William’s first kitchen,
play a board game,
watch a movie,
discuss William’s first chicken stock,
and, at midnight,
join the excitement of Black Friday.

A far cry from last Thanksgiving
when I tried to convince myself that being alone had its points, too.
I drove, I had a car then, I drove to Ogunquit for
a cold, lonely walk along the Marginal Way.
It was nice.
Not titillating, but nice enough.
And then I drove to Kennebunkport
to eat at the White Barn Inn.
I had their chef’s holiday dinner.
Not outstanding, but nice enough.
And on the drive home I counted and recounted, I know what Trump is going through, the ways that being alone was, well, if not better,
at least nice enough.

And if that defines joylessness,
still a far cry from the abject hunger so many millions of Americans will suffer.
Add to the gaunt, excruciating loneliness.
And for some, such loneliness
a welcome relief from the violence that,
unprotected from the street,
they must try to dodge.

Hey!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year!
Hey! Pass the suicide pills!

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4.0   Chuckles/Thoughts
I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high.
She looked surprised.

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5.0   Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com

This from dear friend Victor P, entitled Enduring Confidence:

Dom,

I thought you would like to read this. For one, I have seen the word “abstemiously” used twice in a matter of a few days and secondly  because we can witness evidence of human nature repeating itself. From all your postings it seems that you are doing as well if not better than your contemporaries.

Stay safe and well,

Victor

Blog Meister responds:
thanks Victor.
I hope you're well, too.

It is true that I am lucky enough that in the last two years I've had only three reportable but not significant injuries: the bike that slammed me to the ground and knocked me out, [with no lingering aftereffects], about a year and a half ago. The second, a serious cut to my knee from a fall on an escalator in the Prudential Center. And finally, a torn ligament behind my knee from simply rising up in the wrong way.

At our age, my friend, we know this: there is not a day we don't wake up without an ache here or a pain there.
I just choose not to report these. Boring.

As to 'abstemious,' funny how a word ignites thoughts.
Half a dozen responses to it, all of them different.

love hearing from you,

God bless.

Dom

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6.0   Dinner/Food/Recipes
Friday night my cousin and I had dinner at Ma Maison.
A wonderful evening.
From frog’s legs to Pasta with truffles, to Coq au Vin, to braised Lamb shank.
And don’t forget a glass of Mumm’s and a bottle of Santenay.
And great conversation.


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7. “Conflicted” podcast

Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.

https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela

The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both

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11.0 Thumbnails
A suicide pill (also known as the cyanide pill, kill-pill, lethal pill, death-pill, or L-pill) is a pill, capsule, ampoule, or tablet containing a fatally poisonous substance that one ingests deliberately in order to quickly achieve death through suicide.
Military and espionage organizations have provided their agents in danger of being captured by the enemy with suicide pills and devices which can be used in order to avoid an imminent and far more unpleasant death (such as through torture), or to ensure that they cannot be interrogated and forced to disclose secret information.
As a result, lethal pills have important psychological value to persons carrying out missions with a high risk of capture and interrogation.

The term "poison pill" is also used colloquially for a policy or legal action set up by an institution that has fatal or highly unpleasant consequences for that institution if a certain event occurs.
Examples are the poison pill shareholders rights amendments inserted in corporate charters as a takeover defense, and wrecking amendments added to legislative bills.

During World War II, British and American secret services developed the "L-pill" (lethal pill) which was given to agents going behind enemy lines.
It was an oval capsule, approximately the size of a pea, consisting of a thin-walled glass ampoule covered in brown rubber to protect against accidental breakage and filled with a concentrated solution of potassium cyanide.
It could be carried in the mouth, shaped as a false tooth; if it was accidentally swallowed it would pass harmlessly through the body.
To use, the agent would bite down on the pill, crushing the ampoule to release the fast-acting poison. Heartbeat quickly stops and brain death occurs within minutes.

After the war, the L-pill was offered to pilots of the U-2 reconnaissance plane, who were in danger of being shot down and captured flying over Eastern Europe, but most pilots declined to take it with them.

The Central Intelligence Agency began experimenting with saxitoxin, an extremely potent neurotoxin, during the 1950s as a replacement for the L-pill. According to CIA Director William Colby, a tiny saxitoxin-impregnated needle hidden inside a fake silver dollar was issued to Francis Gary Powers, an American U-2 pilot who was shot down while flying over the USSR in May 1960.

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