Sunday, November 3 to Saturday, November 9 2019
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Lead Picture , Saturday, the 9th
The Montana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed
from May 26, 1864, when it was split from the Idaho Territory,
until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted as the 41st state in the Union as the state of Montana.
Welcome to the 582nd consecutive post to the blog, existentialautotrip.com
Find details to all pictures in the Thumbnail section of the blog
Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva
Below: Pool of Bethseda
Robert Bateman (1836 - 1889) – Artist (British) Details of artist on Google Art Project - MQGyTUkYBd2EYA at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level
Read tasting notes in the Thumbnail section of the blog.
Thursday, the 7th
Welcome to the 580th consecutive post to the blog, existentialautotrip.com
Below, Monk Testing Wine by Antonio Casanova y Estorach (c. 1886)
Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 06.336.1.jpg
Read the wine-tasting notes in the Thumbnail section of the blog.
The blog? Features a daily three to four-minute excursion into photos and short texts to regale the curious with an ever-changing and diverting view of a world rich in gastronomy, visual art, ideas, chuckles, stories, people, diversions, science, homespun, and enlightenment.
Observing with wit and wisdom, Dom Capossela, an experienced leader, guides his team of contributors and followers through that world, an amusing and edifying conversation to join.
Note that the blog is also the first place that posts the "Hello! my friends," videos and the
“Conflicted” podcasts.
Every Sunday we start a new seven-day post, every day adding new ideas to the post.
A new chapter of the podcast is added on Sunday.
A video is added on Monday.
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Commentary
Posted Saturday, Nov 8, written Friday
The restructuring of my day, of the blog, continues.
I don’t have all the answers yet.
But I do feel a loosening of the choke-hold that the blog, podcasts, and videos had on me: that’s to say that by reducing the workload on myself, I’m able to achieve my daily goals.
Now to use the time to improve the way I post daily.
My gratitude to you who stay following the blog.
Posted Friday,, November 8, 2019, Written Thursday
Morning routine interrupted.
The period ending the summer sentence: returning the summer barbecue equipment to Waltham, a ninety-minute event.
Bringing the barbecue to the city apartment a waste since neither cousin Lauren’s nor my schedule allowed the time to prepare dinner, 31 floors below, at the barbecue pits beside the pool and lawn.
Oh, well. We both achieved other goals given higher priority.
Snow in the forecast.
I find that a bit of a nuisance: snow should wait at least until after Thanksgiving, don’t you think?
In good years, the nasty white stuff should not appear until Christmas Day.
Perhaps I’m dreaming of.
Today, Wednesday, November 6, 2019
This morning I recorded my first podcast in a professional studio.
It’s Chapter Six of Conflicted, to be posted on Sunday, November 10, the first day of next week’s posting.
Under the direction of the studio technicians, the recording itself went smoothly.
The product quality?
I’ve only listened to a minute of it and still confidently state that it is light years superior to the well-intentioned efforts of my glued together home studio.
We’ll see.
Earlier this week:
Am writing this on Tuesday, the third day into my restructuring.
I think it’s working.
So many little duties that have gotten shunted aside I now have time to get done.
Necessary nuisances.
Haircut appointment, late afternoon.
An expensive pair of sunglasses broke with no recourse to recoup the money.
So angry with myself; with the ridiculous expense.
I stopped into the little store downtown that sells items necessary for daily getting about: hats, umbrellas, gloves, jerseys — everything el cheapo.
I bought two identical ten-dollar hats there about six months ago after losing a $45.00 hat.
I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on that $10.00 jobby.
Well, yesterday I bought an ugly pair of sunglasses there, two of them actually, for $8.50 each.
I’ve already gotten a compliment on them.
Lose away, fellas.
The price protects me.
Welcome to our 579th consecutive post.
Entered over Weekend:
So I start the first seven-day post with a picture of JJ and John at the Blue Bottle café.
Pertinent because I’m trying to restructure my days to accommodate my daily posts to the blog, plus the videos, and podcasts, still leaving room to market the output.
So Monday morning, beside all the chores we do to get ready to ‘go out,’ I spent an hour restructuring the lines of Chapter Six of the manuscript I’m converting to the Conflicted podcasts. I wrote the Introduction and the Epilogue to Chapter Six, as well as doing some work on the body of the text. Must get it ready for Wednesday when I will be recording it at a television studio. First time with professional backup. Exciting.
I left for the Prudential Center about 11.00am, made an appointment for 25 minutes of personal training, and went to the café to work on the blog.
Afterwards, I’ll pick up tomorrow’s dinner, a steak and vegetables, and I’ll lift (the club is quiet for a bit at 3.00pm,) otherwise it is overcrowded. Then I’ll head home.
After reintegrating into my apartment, I’ll try to complete my work on Wednesday’s podcast.
The restructuring appears to be working.
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News re: existentialautotrip.com
Posted Saturday, the 8th, written Friday
Did not get into Google Play.
But took a step towards it.
Maybe tomorrow.
That was the name of an Everly Brothers song.
Of course, Who Were the Everly Brothers?
Bye,. bye, love.
Posted Friday, November 7, 2019, Written Thursday
Been working on expanding the sites containing our podcasts.
Today we hope to add Google Play to our list.
Today, Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Notice that today marks another tweak, compliments of Colleen G and Howard D, adding daily to a week-long post, clearly noting the daily adds.
Earlier This Week:
A nice result of building the blog by daily accretion is what happens today in the “Mail” section: posting a poem, a literary-reader’s response, and the author’s response to that.
Check it out.
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News re: volunteers to work on the blog
Looking for someone or two who would like to help with some part of the blog.
Are you interested?
domcapossela@hotmail.com
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A “Conflicted” podcast
Chapter Five, Conflicted, by Dom Capossela
Conflicted is a 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.
In Chapter Four, we watched Diana’s introspection, learning about her spiritual separation from God, her fears, her decision to move into the world on her own, her acceptance of her role in defeating the devil’s Plan B to destroy humanity, and her name change to Dee, a signpost indicating the emergence of a new persona.
In this chapter, Chapter Five, we will watch Dee begin to assemble her team, adding an important new ally to her inner circle.
Chapter Six to be posted on Sunday, Nov 10.
Links to the Podcasts
From here, within the blog, you can access all podcasts with this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331
The podcasts are also available on the social media of your choice.
On Sound Cloud, search: dom capossela conflicted
On iTunes, go to ‘Conflicted’ and select the Sound Cloud link.
Dom’s website: existentialautotrip.com
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A “Hello, my friends!” video.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Thinking Poodle
Poodle lost in jungle finds himself in great danger.
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Tuesday’s Dinner (Posted on Thursday)
Clam and Mussels steamed in Bouillabaisse
Delicious.
Sunday’s Dinner posted on
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Dinner on Sunday was an “I come in peaceaparty, featuring pizzas and arancini from Umberto’s, stuffed clams, and pumpkin pie. Everything was readied the day before.
And tasted like it.
I won’t do that again.
Fortunately, my guests were all kind and ate across the board.
We did enjoy watching escapist fare: I Come in Peace, aka, Dark Angel.
Recommended only for fans of Dolph Lundgren and really bad script writing.
I Come in Peace.
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Chuckle of the day:
The more recent posts are on top:
From Jerry Seinfeld:
"My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law."
"Make no mistake about why these babies are here - they are here to replace us."
"When someone does a small task beautifully, their whole environment is affected by it."
"That's the true spirit of Christmas; people being helped by people other than me."
"A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it."
"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason."
"Pay attention, don't let life go by you. Fall in love with the back of your cereal box."
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We love getting mail.
Contact me at domcapossela@hotmail.com
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
This from Kali L:
I write this poem to you
to the women that used their art
to cradle me and bathe my wounds in love
I write this poem to you
to the women that held me as my body
shook the earth with sobs
I write this poem to you
to the people that sat with me
and held my hand when the others
walked away with pieces of my heart;
I hope they did something good with them.
This life it gives and it gives and it tests and tests.
I never want to say that it takes.
Web Meister responds: Like everything you write, lovely. Thank you, my dear.
Which also elicited this response from Colleen G:
Wow--Kali's poem!
It seems she may have stumbled upon the pieces that were taken only a small distance and put down for her to find again like a single lost glove or a scarf left on the fence of a popular walking spot. She had done the difficult work of going back and visiting the spots where she remembers she was and has collected these lost pieces up again.
Maybe she has already donated the matching glove or doesn't care for the scarf anymore, but she has managed--it seems--to have collected them and put them toward a new, some may even say: better, purpose.
Her poems appear to me like a mosaic of broken glass---so much more beautiful because of the difficulty of fitting broken pieces together and making art out of it.
In layman's terms: great poem!
Cheers,
Colleen:)
Web Meister responds: Poetry eliciting literature. Well put, my dear.
Colleen G’s literary comment eliciting this from the author of the poem, Kali L:
Oh my gosh
WHAT A GIFT!!!
Thank you for seeing my words and seeing me
This feedback is astonishing
how generous and how kind
I am speechless and honored
Kali
Web Meister responds: I love the exuberant spontaneity, the response without filter. So happy to be posting these.
But wait!
There’s another:
From Colleen G,
Thanks Dom:)
Making something literary is effortless with such an inspiring catalyst provided by fellow writers. Like dancing--it's so much more natural when the other person knows a step or two--haha.
Enjoy the weekend.
Cheers,
Colleen:)
Web Meister responds: Not all pretty women produce such pretty words.
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Thumbnails:
Posted 11/08/19
The Pool of Bethesda
A pool in Jerusalem known from the New Testament story of Jesus miraculously healing a paralyzed man, from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John, where it is described as being near the Sheep Gate, surrounded by five covered colonnades or porticoes.
It is now generally identified with the site of a pool in the Muslim Quarter of the city, near the gate (now called the Lions' Gate) and the Church of St. Anne, excavated in the late 19th century.
Until the 19th century, there was no clear archaeological evidence outside of John's Gospel for the existence of this pool, which prompted some scholars to argue that the gospel was written later, probably by someone without first-hand knowledge of the city of Jerusalem, and that the pool had only a metaphorical, rather than historical, significance.
However, the site subsequently excavated by archaeologists seems plausibly to fit the description in John's Gospel.
It also corresponds to the location of Byzantine and later Crusader churches dedicated to the healing of the paralytic, beginning with the 5th-century Byzantine Church of the Probatike (the "Sheep Church").
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Wine Tasting Notes
My son sent some bottles of wine that we are to taste in tandem, although 300 miles apart.
I tasted the first bottle on Wednesday.
Here are the notes I sent him:
Chateau L’Enfant
2016
Pomerol.
Thursday:
The color was a well-saturated purple, indicating youth, although there was a touch of red indicating movement towards maturity.
The feel of the wine, the assertive tannins, corroborated its youthfulness.
I decided it needed aeration and put it through the Vinturi. The wine responded wonderfully, the tannins being considerably softened. My notes are based on the aerated wine.
The nose is lovely, fruit and berries.
The mouth is full: tannin and fruit blended very well. Spice.
Found it a little ‘dusty.’
Wine is elegant and smooth, easy to drink, rewarding with its fullness.
An excellent, long aftertaste.
Ranking the wine: 85. Well worth the money spent.
In a year, wine will be perfect.
Am going to tape notes to the other two bottles and drink them next year.
I vacuum sealed the bottle and drank it again two days later.
It needed no additional aeration.
The wine was terrific.
Although it lost some flavor it was better balanced, acid to fruit.
And the fruit was apparent by the bushel.
A lot of fun.
A tip o' the hat (U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, 1924) after signing an Indian treaty
Sly devil that he was.
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Thanks to my son, Mino C, for the case of wine for us to taste in tandem. It’s fun.
Earlier in the Week:
Thanks to Colleen G and Howard D for bundling on me to recreate the blog by continuing the daily posts by integrating them into a single weekly post, indicating from day to day what has been newly tweaked.
Thanks to Kali for her poetry and responses.
And to Colleen for enriching the blog and contextualizing Kali’s work.
And to Lauren for giving me the idea of lightening my load. Sometimes you need someone from the outside to remind yourself that the water’s getting deep.
And Adam for cautioning me against two podcasts per week in favor of one.
Thanks to Jerry Seinfeld for today’s jokes.
Thanks in general to the Microsoft team at the Prudential Center for their unflagging availability to help with a constant flow of technological problems.
Always thanks to Wikipedia, the Lead and the Thumbnail sections of the Blog very often shaped from stories taken from that amazing website. They are truly worthy of public support.
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Good Morning
So, time spent in a professional studio, time spent talking with Colleen, time spent getting today’s post ready, and at Microsoft learning more technology.
Whew!
Would you like a no-doz?
But now? Gotta go.
Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?
See you soon.
Your Taeyeon