Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, September 5
through
Saturday, September 11, 2021
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It’s Saturday, September 11, 2021
Welcome to the 1,217th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Mao Zedong 1963
неизвестный (unknown) -
http://sarbaharapath.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Mao2.jpg
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Commentary
I qualified to get my third covid shot on Wednesday by way of a walk-in at Target on Cambridge St, Boston. On the morning after, I am feeling no effects.
I had spent the morning trying to get a copy of my vac card. Frustrating. When I returned to my apartment in the late afternoon, I got in contact with CVS where I got my vaccinations and discovered that I qualified for the booster shot and the CVS on Washington St had walk-ins available. I hustled over there at a high speed. But they were dispensing only the Moderna. But the North End CVS has the Pfizer. I hustled over there at a high speed. To find out they had no extra shots for walk-ins. But the CVS on Cambridge St did. I hustled over there at a high speed. My luck changed for the good. I got my shot and a new vac card showing three shots. A miracle. I spoke to my dear friend Mike and he told me that Staples laminates vac cards as a public service. I was passing one on my way home and stopped in and they laminated my card (and a copy). Voila. So easy.
The lesson: tenacity extends the effort, buying time for a bit of luck to show up and bite you on the tush.
I didn’t have a vac-card to take with me on my upcoming trip to NYC and was issued a new card after my booster shot. In NYC Yu must show your card at restaurants and places of assembly. I’m going down for a 30 hour trip that includes both a restaurant, Amelie’s, a Guide Michelin rated: Bib Gourmande restaurant, followed by a lecture by Colin Whitehead, winner of back-to-back Pulitzer prizes. We read the Underground Railroad in my granddaughter’s class. It’ll be myself, daughter Kat and Francesca.
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Reading and Writing
The hours on the telephone on Wednesday tracking down a copy of my vac card precluded work on my manuscript.
That sucks.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“But, masters, remember that I am an ass;
though it be not written down,
yet forget not that I am an ass.”
~Dogberry
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C on foraging.
Dear Dom,
“Black Trumpets!” Also known as “trumpets of death.” Agreed: delicious! With a name like that, you’re likely to retain the picking site for yourself. I’m glad you found them.
I have found several puffballs lately. It’s amazing how quickly they erupt into being. I walked down the street one day and – no puffball. The next morning, same route, and there was a puffball nearly as big as a softball.
Farther along my walk, I watched as the town grounds-crew mowing the common hit another puffball the size of a volleyball (which had not been there the day before). It was pretty badly shredded, but surprisingly had enough structural integrity (if puffballs can be considered to have any kind of structural integrity) to still be in one piece. It looked like a foam-rubber pillow that had imploded.
The softball-sized puffball came home with me and became part of my breakfast, sliced and fried in butter. A bit like slightly rubbery marshmallow but tasty. I’ve had other puffballs – other species, no doubt – with a firmer texture. All delicious.
Sally
Blog meister responds: Great fun with great tastes at the end.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Lisa. David, Mt Monadnock
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night I sauteed some shrimp with shells in olive oil and garlic. I added cooked broccoli rabe, more oil, salt, and pepper flakes. When it was ready, I added more pepper flakes, more salt, and a tablespoon of EVOO.
Delicious.
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Short Essay*
Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), also known as Chairman Mao and popularly rendered as Mao Tse-tung, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which he ruled as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party from the establishment of the PRC in 1949 until his death in 1976. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist, his theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Friday, September 10, 2021
Welcome to the 1,216th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Ālī Qāpū
Amir Pashaei - Own work
This is a photo of a monument in Iran identified by the ID
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Commentary
Two covid thoughts. One is that I have an easier time accepting masking this go-around than I did when first wave struck.
And two, a hope that we have seen the peak of the virus and events will begin to recede.
And speaking of hopes, don’t we all hope that more people come to realize the need for strong action to reduce carbon emissions?
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Reading and Writing
I believe I come to an understanding with my protagonist. Have elicited a new attitude on her part that will enable me to present her story in a more interesting and palatable way. Now for that free hour to enable me to write it!
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“I say there is no darkness but ignorance," said William Shakespeare.
How would he know, he knew everything?”
~Brian Spellman, If the mind fits, shrink it
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Sally C, taking me to task for a photograph of an ice cream presentation that she finds a trifle la-di-dah. Esoteric, if you will.
Dear Dom,
I may be plebeian, an avowed member of the hoi polloi, and that’s OK with me. But that photograph of “ice cream with fruit” – I sure hope it tasted better than it looks. I recognize blueberries, but dare I ask the identity of those other ingredients? Feta cheese under that flesh-colored piece of (I assume) fruit? A pear (I hope)? Please enlighten me.
I hope you are with me if such a creation, artistic or not, is ever laid before me.
Cheers!
Sally
Blog meister responds: oh ye of little faith! i'm 80 and i often forget. i forgot. except that it was splendid.
and I would be delighted to share such a dessert with you,.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday I had a delightful dinner with David and Lisa, my niece. She had made a pate of ham, pork, and mushrooms and it was a knockout. Then she and I collaborated on an olive oil sauce of black trumpet mushrooms and shallots (yes, our own foraging. Lisa and david are masters of foraging.) served on angel hair pasta. A rare and exciting gastronomic experience. And David finished the slow-roasted chicken in a Weber which added a great smoky taste to the bird. We drank a S Margherita Pinot Grigio. An excellent value.
After dinner we went out for an ice cream, mine heaped on with hot fudge and whipped cream. Yummy!
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Niece Lisa and David
Mount Monadnock in background
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Short Essay*
Ali Qapu Palace or the Grand Ālī Qāpū is an imperial palace in Isfahan, Iran. It is located on the western side of the Naqsh-e Jahan Square, opposite to Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, and had been originally designed as a vast portal entrance to the grand palace which stretched from the Naqsh-e Jahan Square to the Chahar Baq Boulevard. The palace served as the official residence of Persian Emperors of the Safavid dynasty. UNESCO inscribed the Palace and the Square as a World Heritage site due to its cultural and historical importance. The palace is forty-eight meters high and there are six floors, each accessible by a difficult spiral staircase. In the sixth floor, Music Hall, deep circular niches are found in the walls, having not only aesthetic value, but also acoustic. Ālī Qāpū is regarded as the best example of Safavid architecture and a symbol of Iran's Islamic heritage.
Fresco from the portico of the palace, depicting a Persian woman
The name Ali Qapu, from Persian ‘Ālī (meaning "imperial" or "great"), and Azerbaijani Qāpū (meaning "gate"), was given to this place as it was right at the entrance to the Safavid palaces which stretched from the Naqsh-e Jahan Square to the Chahar Baq Boulevard. The building, another wonderful Safavid edifice, was built by decree of Shah Abbas I in the early seventeenth century. It was here that the great monarch used to entertain noble visitors, and foreign ambassadors. Shah Abbas, here for the first time, celebrated the Nowruz (Iranian New Year) of 1006 AH / 1597 C.E.
Ali Qapu is rich in naturalistic wall paintings by Reza Abbasi, the court painter of Shah Abbas I, and his pupils. There are floral, animal, and bird motifs in his works. The highly ornamented doors and windows of the palace have almost all been pillaged at times of social anarchy. Only one window on the third floor has escaped the ravages of time. Ali Qapu was repaired and restored substantially during the reign of Shah Sultan Hussein, the last Safavid ruler, but fell into a dreadful state of dilapidation again during the short reign of invading Afghans. Under the reign of Naser ad-Din Shah the Qajar (1848–96), the Safavid cornices and floral tiles above the portal were replaced by tiles bearing inscriptions.
Shah Abbas II was enthusiastic about the embellishment and perfection of Ali Qapu. His chief contribution was given to the magnificent hall, the constructors on the third floor. The 18 columns of the hall are covered with mirrors and its ceiling is decorated with great paintings.
The chancellery was stationed on the first floor. On the sixth, the royal reception and banquets were held. The largest rooms are found on this floor. The stucco decoration of the banquet hall abounds in motif of various vessels and cups. The sixth floor was popularly called the Music Hall. Here various ensembles performed music and sang songs.
From the upper galleries, the Safavid ruler watched Chowgan (polo), army maneuvers and horse-racing in the Naqsh-e Jahan square.
The palace is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 20,000 rials banknote.[1] The palace is also depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 20 rials 1953 banknote series
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Thursday, September 9, 2021
Welcome to the 1,215th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Saint George and the Dragon
a small work (29 x 21 cm) for the court of Urbino (Louvre)
Raphael - Own work
Saint George and the Dragon
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Commentary
I’ve spent too much time listening to Playlists on Spotify. Time for me to get back to Albums. Started with Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, then Paul Simon’s Graceleand, now back to Bob and ‘Highway 61 Revisited’.
What a wonderful day with my niece Lisa and David. We went mushroom foraging and found black trumpets. They were delicious in a spaghetti sauce.
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Reading and Writing
I have a path forward on my manuscript but am losing all day Tuesday for a mushroom foraging event with my sweet niece, Lisa, and husband David. Fun for me but will add to my desire to get back to my writing.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I ate my third and last meal from a roast duck I made a few days ago.
To spice it up I combined some of my Duck Gravy from my freezer with capers, green peppercorns, red wine, and yellow curry paste. It was delicious and fun.
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Short Essay*
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italian; March 28 or April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520), known as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period.
Raphael was enormously productive, running an unusually large workshop and, despite his early death at 37, leaving a large body of work. Many of his works are found in the Vatican Palace, where the frescoed Raphael Rooms were the central, and the largest, work of his career. The best known work is The School of Athens in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura. After his early years in Rome, much of his work was executed by his workshop from his drawings, with considerable loss of quality. He was extremely influential in his lifetime, though outside Rome his work was mostly known from his collaborative printmaking.
After his death, the influence of his great rival Michelangelo was more widespread until the 18th and 19th centuries, when Raphael's more serene and harmonious qualities were again regarded as the highest models. His career falls naturally into three phases and three styles, first described by Giorgio Vasari: his early years in Umbria, then a period of about four years (1504–1508) absorbing the artistic traditions of Florence, followed by his last hectic and triumphant twelve years in Rome, working for two popes and their close associates.
His father was court painter to the ruler of the small but highly cultured city of Urbino. He died when Raphael was eleven, and Raphael seems to have played a role in managing the family workshop from this point. He trained in the workshop of Perugino, and was described as a fully trained "master" by 1500. He worked in or for several cities in north Italy until in 1508 he moved to Rome at the invitation of the pope, to work on the Vatican Palace. He was given a series of important commissions there and elsewhere in the city, and began to work as an architect. He was still at the height of his powers at his death in 1520.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Welcome to the 1,214th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Marie-Gabrielle Capet
Marie-Gabrielle Capet - cAG60XrEvniXAA at
Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level
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Commentary
I had no adventures this past Labor Day weekend, but I do have three of the next nine days active with family and friends. On Tuesday, Sept 7th, mushrooming with niece Lisa and her husband David; and next Tuesday and Wed hanging out in NYC w daughter Kat and Granddaughter, Francesca. The occasion a lecture by Carson Whitehead, author of the Underground Railroad, a book that Fran and I covered in her online literature class. We’ll have dinner at Shanghai Joe’s, a favorite of ours. And reasonable.
BTW: I’m taking the Acela down at half price: $49.00 each way. Amtrak is having a sale. What a bargain. Would that they could freeze the price at that level, car usage would take a serious hit.
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Reading and Writing
I think I’ve had the breakthrough I’ve been searching for this last week. So my writing of this section can continue, albeit in a direction different from where I had started.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“I want to have a romance so grand,
it would have made Shakespeare fumble for words.”
~Sanober Khan
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Sunday night I had a wedge of Eggplant Parmesan from Eataly. It was pretty good.
I prefer my recipe using roasted eggplant cut into ½” slices, with a glorious Marinara Sauce and Parmesan Cheese. Three elements when each made properly, produce an exceptional meals.
This was not that.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
ice cream w fruit
the artistry is brilliant.
I took this picture a year ago, Sept 6, but I forget where and I don’t have the time (or interest) to research it. I’m thinking a 1-star Guide Michelin restaurant in Brooklyn.
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Short Essay*
Marie-Gabrielle Capet (6 September 1761 – 1 November 1818) was a French Neoclassical painter. She was born in Lyon on 6 September 1761. Capet came from a modest background and her previous background and artistic training is unknown, but in 1781 she became the pupil of the French painter Adelaide Labille-Guiard in Paris. She excelled as a portrait painter and her works include oil paintings, watercolors, and miniatures.
Marie-Gabrielle Capet was born in Lyon in 1761. In her youth, Capet attended a public drawing school located in her town. In eighteenth-century France, the Royal Academy of Art was responsible for training artists and exhibiting artworks at the Salon that glorified heroic values promoted by the Bourbon monarchy. Until the French Revolution, the Royal Academy of Art in Paris was the central institution for official artistic practice, and limited its number of female students to four at a time. In 1781, twenty-year-old Capet moved to Paris to become the student of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1749–1803), a Neoclassical artist who was admitted to the Academy in 1783.
Capet showed her early work at the Exposition de la jeunesse, and later exhibited at the Salon when it was opened to all artists after the French Revolution. Her body of work included miniature paintings, oil paintings, and pastels, which were praised for their virtuoso draftsmanship and use of color. Many of her pastel paintings were portraits, though by 1808 she was regarded as a history painter in her own right. She counted among other customers several members of the royal family, and other members of Paris society, such as the lawyer Pierre-Nicolas Berryer and the playwright Joseph Chénier.
Capet and Labille-Guiard not only enjoyed a professional relationship, but were also close family friends. Capet would move in with her teacher at the Louvre until Labille-Guiard's death. Even after Labille-Guiard married the painter François Vincent in 1799, Capet continued to live in their home. After Labille-Guiard's death, Capet lived with her husband until his death in 1816. Upon his death, Capet purchased Labille-Guiard and Vincent's estate.
Among her works the best known are those of Mesdames Adelaide and Victoire, Madame Vincent surrounded by her pupils, Mlle. Mars, and Jean-Antoine Houdon. At that time the Academy had limited the members of women painters to only four female members. She died in Paris in 1818.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Welcome to the 1,213th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture*
Hurricane Ida
Hurricane Ida approaching Louisiana on August 29, 2021.
NOAA - https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/details/noaa-public/goes-16
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2.0 Commentary
When I got my covid shots (February 2021) the vaccination card was not treated as an important document. I got the distinct impression I should save it to qualify for the second shot.
I did.
After I received my second shot, I sent the card into my health care provider.
They professionally added the proof of vaccination into my files.
Q. When I go to NYC, will a printout from them suffice as proof?
It appears that it will.
I have an electronic copy of the record and will get it put on a card so it feels more professional.
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3.0 Reading and Writing
I’m organizing my thoughts for the next section of my manuscript.
Assembling the facts that I must include, in the hope that as they gather I will be inspired as was Handel while writing the Hallelujah chorus:
“ I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself seated on His throne, with his Company of Angels.”
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“I guess I ought to be aware of what to look for, is all.
The signs of true love, I mean.
Is it like Shakespeare?"
I sat up and took Tootsie's hands.
"You know, is it all heaving bosoms and fluttering hearts and mistaken identities and madness?"
The sound of the phone ringing downstairs made my heart leap.
"Yes," Tootsie said with wide eyes, holding tightly to my hand as I jumped up. "Yes, it is exactly like that.”
~Therese Anne Fowler, Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
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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 fron Sally C:
Dear Dom,
From 1996-2002, Phillip and I lived on the outskirts of the tiny mill town of Occoquan, on the Occoquan River, a tidal estuary that feeds into the Potomac south of Washington. DC. The town of Occoquan (population about 1000) is in Prince William County, but the workhouse you mention in today’s post is indeed in Fairfax County, across the river from the town as soon as the land levels out. (The road climbs very steeply from the river.) The area in which the prison was built is called Lorton. At the time the workhouse was built (construction began in 1910), it was quite the model facility, which provided the prisoners the opportunity to farm the land, both for vegetables and livestock, as well as training in other trades. The prisoners also operated a brick factory using the native clay that was abundant on site. Their bricks were used in construction of all the buildings.
When we lived there, the site had gained notoriety as one of the most violent and overcrowded prisons in the country. The prison closed in 2001 and the property turned over to the county, open for redevelopment. I remember chatting with one of the guards there once, who said he hoped that at least one of the original buildings would be kept, for the site’s architectural heritage. Most of them have been restored and repurposed, a suburban mini-community with homes, apartments, retail space, and a museum (part of which addresses the suffrage issue), but the developers retained many of the details to remind visitors and residents alike what the place once was. The prison was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
Blog meister responds: How terrifically appropriate. Thank you, Sally.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
I bought a wedge of Lasagna from Eataly for Saturday night’s dinner.
It was good. Their interpretation is a multilayered casserole featuring pasta.
The layers of stuffing/sauce were pretty stingy.
I buttressed the meal with a bit of leftover sauce and meat in my freezer.
It worked out.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Here’s a photo of what some of the buildings look like today.
These were formerly Occoquan workhouses.
Photo compliments of Sally C
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Short Essay*
Hurricane Ida was the second-most damaging hurricane to strike the U.S. state of Louisiana on record, behind only Hurricane Katrina, and is tied for the strongest landfall in the state by maximum winds with Hurricane Laura a year prior and the 1856 Last Island hurricane. Ida was the sixth-costliest hurricane on record, surpassing Ike of 2008. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Ida originated from a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea that developed into a tropical depression on August 26. The depression organized further and became Tropical Storm Ida later that day near Grand Cayman. Amid favorable conditions, Ida intensified into a hurricane on August 27, just before moving over western Cuba. A day later, the hurricane underwent rapid intensification over the Gulf of Mexico and reached its peak intensity as a strong Category 4 hurricane while approaching the northern Gulf coast. On August 29, the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana. Ida weakened steadily over land, becoming a tropical depression on August 30 as it turned northeastward. On September 1, Ida transitioned into a post-tropical cyclone as it accelerated through the northeastern United States, before moving out into the Atlantic on the next day.
Ida knocked down palm trees and destroyed many homes in Cuba during its brief passage over the country. Throughout its path of destruction in Louisiana, more than a million people had no power in total. Widespread heavy infrastructural damage occurred throughout the southeastern portion of the state, as well as extremely heavy flooding in coastal areas. New Orleans' levees survived, though power line damage was extensive throughout the whole city. There also were high amounts of plant destruction in the state. The remnants of the storm produced a destructive tornado outbreak and catastrophic flash flooding in the Northeastern United States on September 1. Flooding in New York City prompted the shutdown of much of the transportation system.
As of September 4, a total of 70 deaths have been confirmed in relation to Ida: 27 in New Jersey, 18 in New York, 13 in Louisiana, 5 in Pennsylvania, 2 in Mississippi, 2 in Alabama, 1 in Maryland, 1 in Virginia, and 1 in Connecticut. The death toll continues to climb steadily, and the true death toll may be considerably higher. The storm has caused seven indirect deaths, including a Louisiana man mauled to death by an alligator after walking through Ida's floodwaters. Two electrical workers died while repairing power grid damage caused by the storm. Four people have died in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning while using generators with inadequate ventilation. The storm has caused at least $50 billion (2021 USD) in damages, of which $18 billion was in insured losses in Louisiana, making Ida the sixth-costliest tropical cyclone on record. After the storm passed, nearly all of the oil production along the Gulf Coast was shut down. Thousands of crew members were deployed in Louisiana, and hundreds were rescued. Power outages were expected to last weeks, possibly up to a month. States of emergency were declared for Louisiana and portions of the Northeast. Several sporting events were also moved, delayed, or cancelled by the storm.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Monday, September 6, 2021
Welcome to the 1,212th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture*
Pauline Adams
Pauline Adams, three-quarter-length portrait, sitting at a table in prison clothes with right arm raised holding a cup. Mrs. Pauline Adams of Norfolk, Virginia, was arrested when picketing the White House on Sept. 4, 1917, and sentenced to sixty days in Occoquan Workhouse. She was arrested again at a watchfire demonstration on Feb. 9, 1919, but was released on account of lack of evidence. She was one of the speakers on the "Prison Special" tour of Feb-Mar 1919. Source: Doris Stevens, Jailed for Freedom (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1920), 354. Part of the top edge of the cup has been reconstructed; see upload history for comparison.
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2.0 Commentary
Just finished two TV series, Clickbait and The Defeated.
I found both entertaining.
Clickbait is a limited series crime story that includes the subculture of extensive Internet use.
The Defeated is a crime series set in 1946 Berlin with an unusual glimpse into life in that city including the division of the city into zones and the aftermath of the massacre of the Jews in Germany.
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3.0 Reading and Writing
Am trying to figure how to follow the well-received opening chapter of the manuscript. May be on to something.
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4.0 Chuckles and Thoughts
“You aren’t in the ivy halls of your miserable literature pursuit now.
Without wasting more time,
will thou cometh to the pointeth?
Dost thou wanteth us to stayeth or leaveth?”
~Pawan Mishra, Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy
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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 friend Sally C:
Dear Dom,
A big reason why you have walked less this summer than usual may well be because it poured just about every day in July and about half of the days in August.
Downpours are not conducive to extended outdoor activity, walking or otherwise.
If we have a decent September, you will likely see your walking – distance and time engaged – increase significantly, and likely match previous levels.
Here’s to a good daily constitutional!
Sally
Blog meister responds: Love Sally’s positivity. Everything she writes is encouraging and supportive.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
On Friday night I had a filet of grouper. To make a little offbeat Bistro Cream Sauce (my own nomenclature) I softened shallots in butter and olive oil. Addes wine, stock, and lemon juice to the pan and reduced the liquids by 50%. And then added a bunch of aromatics in tiny portions: curry paste, anchovy paste, mustard, capers, green peppercorns, salt, and parsley. Waited a moment and added heavy cream.
I tossed some al dentissimo linguini from the boiling water into the cream sauce and let it finish cooking, about 1 minute.
Served the linguini as a first course and the grouper and remaining cream sauce as the main.
Lovely.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
20 somethings on start of Labor Day weekend
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Short Essay*
Pauline Forstall Colclough Adams (June 29, 1874 – September 10, 1957) was an Irish-American suffragist who took a militant approach to the campaign and then went to prison for her political beliefs.
In August 1913, she was one of 300 delegates to a suffrage conference in Washington, DC; she was one of three members from the state of Virginia.
She became president of Norfolk division of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage from 1917 to 1920. She and twelve other picketers were arrested 'for attempting to "flaunt their banners" in front of Woodrow Wilson's reviewing stand before a Selective Service parade on September 4, 1917.' They chose prison over a $25.00 dollars fine and were sent to the workhouse at Occoquan, in Fairfax County, Virginia. Adams spent time in solitary confinement deprived of personal grooming items. The heated exchange between her and the judge was reported as follows:
Miss Pauline Adams, Norfolk, Va., had a spirited tile with the judge. "I want to tell you," shouted Miss Adams, "that democracy will never be suppressed by prison walls."
"And I want to say to you," thundered Judge Pugh, "that suffrage never will be obtained as long as these methods of your's [sic] prevail."
"But the president has said — " said Miss Adams.
"But the courts say you can't", returned the judge."
The president has said," shouted Miss Adams, "that I can picket and the president's word is higher than the courts."
"Twenty-five dollars or sixty days," replied the judge.
After she was released, she and nine others were treated to a dinner at Cameron House in Washington, D.C. A newspaper reports that the detainees were cut off from all contact with the outside world and were without books or writing material during their incarceration. They were released on November 4, 1917.
In December 1917, she and five other "pickets" filed an appeal with the decision of the Police Court, charging that their rights were 'flagrantly disregarded in the trial court and that they were not accorded a fair and impartial trial'. The appeal was successful. 'The court held the information against the suffragettes was too vague, general and uncertain to warrant a conviction.'
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Sunday, September 5, 2021
Welcome to the 1,211th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Last of the Mohicans 1920
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Lead Picture*
Last of the Mohicans 1920
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Commentary
Looking forward to a Tuesday visit to my niece’s home in Maine.
We’re going mushroom foraging.
Very exciting although I worry about bending.
I’m 80. Well, a few months short, but 80.
I will return to the Pru today for both my morning and afternoon writing segments.
It saves about 45 minutes of transportation.
And greatly reduces exposure to the elements.
So far, my productivity has increased.
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Reading and Writing
I continue to read The Goldfinch.
My manuscript has hit a slow down while I absorb some ideas from beta readers.
.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
“The worst feature of the Common Core is its anti-humanistic, utilitarian approach to education. It mistakes what a child is and what a human being is for.
That is why it has no use for poetry, and
why it boils the study of literature down to the scrambling up of some marketable "skill"
[...] you don't read good books to learn about what literary artists do...
you learn about literary art so that you can read more good books and learn more from them.
It is as if Thomas Gradgrind had gotten hold of the humanities and
turned them into factory robotics.”
~Anthony Esolen
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This note and link from Jim P:
Hi Dom,
Just read your blog and keyed in on your café comment. Me too. I’m writing from a café now. I get a lot done. I like to be amidst the bustle, and also like the quiet periods.
Here is an article you might find interesting:
How Coffee Fueled Revolutions—And Influenced History - HISTORY
Intrigued by your “changes to the blog” comment.
Jim
Blog meister responds: This is a great link. I found it fascinating.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Thursday night I enjoyed a pound of St. Louis Ribs, on sale @ W Foods.
Simple slow-roast followed by a robust broiling. I pasted on some gochujang sauce on one side and it was perfect.
Served it with a handful of leftovers: baked beans, sauerkraut, mixed grilled vegetables, mashed potatoes, and rabe.
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Community Photos**
Winslow Homer’s the Life Line, the painting
Winslow Homer’s the Life Line, description
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Short Essay*
The Last of the Mohicans is a 1920 American film adapted from James Fenimore Cooper's 1826 novel of the same name. Clarence Brown and Maurice Tourneur directed an adaption by Robert Dillon — a story of two English sisters meeting danger on the frontier of the American colonies, in and around the fort commanded by their father. The adventure film stars Wallace Beery, Barbara Bedford, Lillian Hall and Alan Roscoe.
The film was well received at the time of its release. Film historian William K. Everson considers The Last of the Mohicans to be a masterpiece. In 1995, this film was deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Community Pictures with Captions are sent in by our followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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