Bookstore follies

If the time comes when we have to restart civilization - and all things considered, I'm not discounting the possibility - it would help to have a few choice scraps of what went before. The above cartoon by Barry Kliban strikes me as an excellent start, among other pieces by him. It's something to aspire to, yet something to relate to.

i b illin'

Making this brief because I'm about to hit the hay to recuperate. Somehow I got through the entire winter and early spring - winter's sequel - without getting sick. My luck just ran out, as I seem to have picked up some manner of cold. I think I know who gave it to me. No ill will, though. The man was just doing his job in difficult circumstances.

Thoughts (and thank you, Susan)

I've done a few things today. One is just to think. Or to meditate, you might say, although there's been no lotus position nor especially deep breathing. But yeah, I've had reason to think about where I'm at and what I'm doing.

Tonight, coming home, I passed a police car with its light flashing. Behind the squad car was a smallish SUV. The front bumper was a little mangled, and there may have been some other damage I couldn't see. I could have sworn I caught a cannabis smell from the vehicle.

Well, if so, I can only wish the guy good luck.

Light through water

Earlier in the evening we had a rainstorm. You could feel it in the air and hear a rumbling here or there well before it happened. When the rain came it was heavy, and the sky went dark.

It was only a brief storm, though, relatively speaking. It got darker than you'd expect for the time of day and the time of year. Then as the rain tapered off something unusual happened. The sky turned purple, a pinkish shade of purple, for a few minutes. After that, Gold. So it was a picturesque storm.

understatement

You might hear this song out of nowhere, as background music. In some ways it sounds like background. The vocals are rather deep in the mix. It sounds a little distant, mysterious. These aren't singers who went on to a great deal of fame, but once you start listening to them they can put you in a bit of a trance.

As to the above instructional video on "How to Dance Really, Really White" well, what more can I add?

At the front (of the classroom)

I have a good friend who's a school teacher. High school, in Pawtucket. It's been something of a crazy ride for him in all sorts of ways, but he's stuck with it. Because of his specialty and the way that his district is set up a lot of his students come from non-English-speaking homes, and he has to get them up to speed.

It's a hectic job, and around this time of year is when it gets especially so. I'm sure the job is rewarding, but I can also see why he hasn't taught summer school since he stopped having to.

The forest primeval

Menagerie from Brian Yulo Ng on Vimeo.

Good Lord, this is some gorgeous work! I don't know that it has a lot of plot, but it's loaded with texture and charm. I do notice a recurrence of living things here that turn out to be not quite what they first appeared to be. And that's true. Nature is always challenging our understanding.