tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-299024792024-03-13T18:40:48.460-07:00Collectanae & Lucubrations of L. F. HawkinsL. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-13693961999394286562024-03-13T18:40:00.000-07:002024-03-13T18:40:17.252-07:00The Magic and Promise of Cervantes<p style="text-align: center;"><b> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">The Magic and Promise of Cervantes, with apologies.</span></b></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Who among us has not, at one time or another, entertained the dream, the idea, of a life dedicated to overcoming even one of the many injustices inflicted on the human race in this fractured and tortured world? To try, despite uncountable odds, to right even one unbearable wrong? To fight fiercely and fairly for a just and noble cause? To dedicate ones heart and soul and body to the challenge. To… to, but wait, I hear the orchestra tuning their instruments.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But there are other worthy challenges, some within the grasp and capabilities of mortals.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I have spent most of my life in, and with books - blame that, if cause be needed, on my father. (If only every child was so afflicted). And, occasionally, out of the tens of thousand books that have passed through my hands and eyes, the words of some of the authors have resonated with a frequency approaching the hum of gravitational waves rippling through the cosmos. <span style="color: #3c4044; font-kerning: none;">It is the sound of <b>no</b> hand clapping, but of harmony. But the desire to read more of their works, and to know more about their lives and times, is for some of us overwhelming.</span></p>
<p style="color: #3c4044; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #3c4044; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Thus are we disposed to accept the challenge.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">May I set the stage? I shall become a knight errant and impersonate a lonely man of books. <span style="background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Come, enter into my imagination and see him! His name... Lorenzo Hawkins, a country bibliophile, no longer young ... bony, hollow-faced... eyes that burn with the fire of inner vision. Being retired, he has much time for wine and books. He reads and studies books from morn to night, and often through the night as well. And all he reads excites him, yet oppresses him... fills him with indignation at man's murderous ways toward literature and books. And he conceives the strangest project ever imagined... to become a knight-errant and sally forth into the world and search out all publications extant written by, or in some way connected to the authors of his dreams. No longer shall he be plain Lorenzo Hawkins… but a dauntless book sleuth known as… <i>Lorenzo cercatore di libri.</i></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i></i></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">He will seek out the hidden, the blatant and obscure. Thrift shops, garages, barns. junk stores, abandoned cars, storage units, boats moored at marinas, bedrooms, igloos, foot lockers, yard sales, the tents of the homeless, and anywhere else a book might hide.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Somewhere he feels certain he will find his Dulcinea del Taboso.</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-34782064180924080332024-03-05T17:09:00.000-08:002024-03-05T17:09:38.297-08:00 Remembering the ‘Teddy Boys’<p> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">Remembering the ‘Teddy Boys’</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 29px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It was around 1951, and I was a young lad of nine or so living in Stourport-on-Severn in England. I’m not sure, even now, how I ever became aware of the term “Teddy Boys”, or how I understood what the word represented. I do recall that I was told, in some way or other, that they were a group of young people that dressed in rather fancy Edwardian clothes and would beat you up and steal your candy, or take the penny or two your mother might have given you for a ‘lady finger’, without provocation. Avoid them at all costs, I think I was told, even if you might one day become one of them.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 29px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One day I decided to go downtown for some reason, perhaps to visit my grandmother’s <span style="color: #3c4044; font-kerning: none;">confectionery,</span> but to get there I would have to run the gauntlet of what I thought were the “Teddy Boys” who hung out at the amusement park. Yes, I do recall passing a few rather specious and intimidating ‘Clockwork Orange’ type young lads leaning against whatever they could find to support themselves, but other than what I considered a definite scowl, I passed unhindered.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 29px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What can I say?</p><div><br /></div>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-60548129294437788372024-02-29T17:00:00.000-08:002024-02-29T17:00:28.253-08:00The Young Man and the Lake<p> </p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 29px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 29px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b>The Young Man and the Lake</b></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">A Story of Redemption</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 29px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He was a young man who fished from a rental rowboat on a small lake fed by the effluent from a sewer plant and he had gone eight minutes without taking a fish. In the first four minutes a boa constrictor had been with him, but after four minutes, without catching a fish, the boa constrictor told the young man he was as unlucky as Saul, which is the worst form of unlucky, and left. The boat continued to bob up and down with every flush of a toilet. The young man continued to fish, too embarrassed to return to the marina without a catch. The sun glared down from a cloudless sky. The young man dipped his hat in the water and sighed. He looked across the lagoon and into the trees, but he could think only of the fish that might be swimming beneath his boat.</p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">His name was Lorenzo, and he</p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-85292111989941910432024-02-26T17:40:00.000-08:002024-02-26T17:40:06.815-08:00How to Recognize an Old Logger<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px;"><b>How to Recognize an Old Logger</b></span></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They have a splintered view of things</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and walk with a wooden gait.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Their tongues are know to burn</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">under the heat of words and</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">they love kindling</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">always carry a knife</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to whittle away at things,</p><p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and people.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They smell of sawdust, fir sap,</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">tobacco, gasoline, and oil.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Their limbs are knotted.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There are burls</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">at each knee and elbow.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They worship Paul Bunyan.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Their children receive</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">wooden toys for Christmas.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If in doubt,</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">look for Spanish moss on the</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">north side of their faces,</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">or listen for termites</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">in their teeth.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Watch their eyes outgrow their faces</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">at any mention of the spotted owl.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Few are known to reach the age</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of old growth -</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">they prefer it that way.</p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-34124908828361475952024-02-22T19:29:00.000-08:002024-02-22T19:29:58.956-08:00from The Whinkla Chronicles<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Whinkla Chronicles</span></span></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday, many of my most recent fears were regretfully realized when I stumbled across a cache of partially burned papers buried in one of the fire pits Whinkla uses on Thomas Hardy night. l had been taking his dog Alexis for a walk along the irrigation ditch that runs across the rear of his property, and having no though at all about anything whatsoever except noting the clarity of the evening sky something below the bank caught my attention. Calling the dog to heel I scampered down the muddy incline to investigate. It was a bundle of tightly rolled pages of yellow paper, and although the pages were matted from soaking in water the text was still quite legible. I glanced at the topmost page:</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Notes on the Synthanation of Crhontium Silate</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">and Pltaferonic Acid</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">(extrapolated from the analysis of results</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">obtained from experiments conducted</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">between March 27 and July 15 2007)</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">NOT FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and thought immediately of rekindling the fire of Guy Fawkes.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After reading the cover sheet I decided not to read any further but to take the bundle of musty paper home to dry, and if possible retrieve from the soggy wad what information I could, but for what purpose I had no idea. Should I discover something untoward about my friend Whinkla would this mark me as a potential betrayer? Why did I think this handful of fool scrap might be of any importance? And were these pages really in Whinkla’s hand? Why didn't I simply raise my eyes to the top of the nearby Douglas firs, and the timeless firmament, which was my wont, and go home?</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There were stars enough in the sky on any night to satisfy anyone's curiosity, but, on this night my interest in the papers was piqued beyond any stellar wonderings. I wrapped the manuscript in my jacket and tucked it carefully beneath a thatch of heather, and whistled my way back to Whinkla's cabin. After a glass of a remarkable Cabernet and a potpourri <span style="background-color: white; color: #18191a; font-kerning: none;">of casual literary talk</span> I made my anxious way back to retrieve the manuscript. It pained me to decline Whinkla's kind and very rare offer to walk me to the edge of the dry lake and see me safely on my way home. He had never done this before.</p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I pressed my hand against my stomach where I had hidden the papers and . . .</p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-59182570474508870322024-02-20T18:45:00.000-08:002024-02-20T18:45:50.658-08:00The Bus<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Bus</span></b></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It had been a long day, beginning in the noisy 4 am marketplace of Santo Domingo, and now, in the darkness of early evening his destination was still more than three hours away. The road inland from Santo Domingo was filed with potholes, some deeper than his axles, as it had been since the first time he was driven over it more than five years before. He remembered that first encounter, the two flat tires, and the slow, embarrassing tow to Ciudad de Valles. The road had not improved. It was only that Leon. the driver, had adjusted to the horrible conditions that he still made the twice-a-week journey.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It had been a long day, which was not to say he was complaining. He had been built for work, and required only a little rest once in a while, gasoline to fuel his heart, oil to keep his joints moving quietly, and a caring driver to assure his happiness. But as he had grown older - just how old was he, he wondered, It seemed the hills were just a little steeper and the heat and cold more noticeable. His joints creaked despite the grease and oil, and his body ached more often than it once did, and the unforeseen jolting bumps in the roadway gave him a headache, still, it could be worse he told himself.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">They had passed through Pedro Santos and were nearing the turnoff to San Juan del Rio where he knew the road would deteriorate even further. Then, perhaps for contrast, and to lift his spirits, he thought about the time he had transported a group of European tourists to Mexico City. On highway 85 he had shown all of them how his tires could hum.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">During the last hours of the journey he had time to consider his passengers. The young couple, no more than teenagers, who had flagged him down just south of Ciudad de Valles. They carried one tattered. brown leather suitcase held together with a length of hemp, and a net bag filled with overripe oranges. It was obvious they were in love, perhaps recently married, or running away to get married. They had seated themselves toward the rear of the bus and when the old man with the parrot got off at El Abra they had taken his place in the back seat.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">He could feel the warmth of their bodies pressing together as they fought against sleep. And there was the noisy family occupying four seats near his middle, two on each side of the aisle. Behind them were their homemade wooden crates, one holding two bedraggled chickens, and another a young turkey. In another wooden box a small pig grunted and squealed. Directly behind the driver was a middle aged man who cradled in his lap a wicker cage holding five bright canaries. Across the aisle a middle-aged American couple, on their way to experience the strange and surrealistic concrete garden at Los Posas, dozed and listened to music written in an unknown tongue. Almost everyone was asleep. Only Leon and himself were alert and watching.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As they passed Tlalcolteno and turned on to Calle 5 de Mayo Sur he felt a few raindrops speckle his windshield. They were climbing into the Sierra Gorda mountains now, toward the town of Xilitla, and in a half an hour, maybe less, he would be resting quietly behind Leon's house as the passengers he had carefully cradled picked up their baggage and ambled off into the darkness to continue what was left of their lives.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-12806133273208024022024-02-17T18:32:00.000-08:002024-02-17T18:32:22.059-08:00Washing Dishes For The Millennium<blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Washing Dishes For The Millennium</b></span></h2></blockquote><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">The sink was overflowing with greasy dishes from an unremembered meal and it seemed like a good idea at the time to wash them. Or was that a bad idea? Who could tell? I decided to wash them, having only two options. But as I filled the cracked enamel sink with hot water, almost steam, the cups and saucers, plates and bowls began to move about and break apart. They fragmented into salmon-coloured, fish-shaped pieces that darted around in the dish water like pike-hunted perch.</span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">I blinked and found myself gazing out the two-paned kitchen window. I could see dawn was arriving, or perhaps it wasn't. Who could tell? Had I been washing dishes all afternoon? All evening? In the sink the salmon continued to frolic and disintegrate into smaller and smaller fry. I thought how happy they might have been had they been real salmon, or even sardines, and able, under their own cognitive powers, to travel down the dark drain on an adventure worthy of </span><span style="color: #3c4044; font-kerning: none;">Huck and Jim</span><span style="font-kerning: none;">, or perhaps leap up the dripping water, into the faucet and fin their way back, through mists and times to the place of their birth. Only they didn’t, they continued to deny whatever identity they might have had and continuing dissolving into a sandy mud that covered the bottom of my sink. I remember, I was upset, my cast iron skillet wasn’t dirty. I could have put this abrasive product to productive use, as a cleanser. I watched the school of salmon fry swimming back and forth, rubbing their granular, rough-scaled bellies against the bottom of my skillet and pulled the plug. I watched the salmon disappear down the drain.</span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Or was that simply gritty clay?</span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Who could tell?</span></p><div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-64661788186096132522024-02-09T19:18:00.000-08:002024-02-09T19:18:27.530-08:00 A Little About Kleadrap<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b> A Little About Kleadrap</b></h2><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;">I suppose I ought to tell you a little more about Kleadrap. As I said earlier, it's a small town. The main street runs east and west with perhaps five or six streets intersecting at a strange angle. It seems the surveyor who laid out the grid for the town was new at the game and failed to take into account the magnetic declination for the area, roughly 25 degrees. As a result all the cross streets intersect the main business street at something greater or less than 90 degrees. Each block thereby became a parallelogram. To compound matters, when the early pioneers constructed their homes they measured from the center of the nearby cross streets to lay out the foundations of their homes rather than employ the 3:4:5 ratio. As a result all the buildings in Kleadrap are parallelograms. The one time visitor may not be aware of this as the difference is slight and as all buildings in Kleadrap conform to this aberration it is not particularly noticeable. Visitors may leave with a nagging sense that something didn’t seem quite right but be unable to identify the reason for their unease. Of course the inhabitants are made aware of this aberration every time they lay down tile or wall-to-wall carpeting. None of the walls in these homes meet at a right angle.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Kleadrap has a population of around 600 people, a few more during the summer and fall when picking season (beets, rutabagas, and onions) is in full swing.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Main street accommodates one market, one gasoline station, one tavern, two gift shops, a post office, and two other buildings that are vacant most of the time, or house various businesses with a shelf life of only a few months.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Tax time sees and accountant move in and rent one of the apartments above the tavern, and once in a while a local, or occasionally an out-of-state, artist sets up shop, but there are too few people in the community, either permanent or transient to make any business thrive.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This was not always so. An opera house once stood at the corner of Third and A street. A twelve-grade school house, located next to the falling-down grange building, graduated twenty-seven classes over twenty-seven years. Now only the discovery of an agate marble, or tip from a spinning top indicates the activity that once took place.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Time dissolves everything, even memories.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-90035310854908636192024-02-07T17:17:00.000-08:002024-02-07T17:17:47.789-08:00Whistling Dixie for Beckett<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj879_ix3mwjmkvWXANfuMUMETfM23wpqd6LrByZe1rHB3y7rSLS3nK-CckBZEf9nCZk7_3b-4qCNAz4DJBvTkeZVeaco7oY-kcgzqEFAju0CQUkN6LaaZ-uDO-brmGMdf4emzXx98cFgMzv9I3UJKSZbVZxMc-ARw5DUN9o7KDE2H6ccCSORTI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2549" data-original-width="1912" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj879_ix3mwjmkvWXANfuMUMETfM23wpqd6LrByZe1rHB3y7rSLS3nK-CckBZEf9nCZk7_3b-4qCNAz4DJBvTkeZVeaco7oY-kcgzqEFAju0CQUkN6LaaZ-uDO-brmGMdf4emzXx98cFgMzv9I3UJKSZbVZxMc-ARw5DUN9o7KDE2H6ccCSORTI" width="180" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <b style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">Whistling Dixie for Beckett</b></div><p></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We have put the ghosts to bed and tucked them in. Alice will climb the stairs and sing them a lullaby and kiss their formless, gossamer foreheads. I will yank the cork from another bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and get a fresh glass from the dusty cupboard. Time is whistling Dixie in the withered leaves of the trees outside the sliding glass door. From a neighbor’s field of old growth conifers our resident owl sings for its supper; hoots religiously, as it does every evening, as if nothing of significance has happened in the world since yesterday to pause its mournful, haunting cries. Ritual can become dogma.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I hear the ghosts turning in their sheets and fluffing-up their pillows. The darkness grows deeper, longer. The cabernet descends as I raise my glass.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There was a time in my life when I considered becoming human, or at least attempting a facsimile. That urge passed quickly.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Winter continues, despite my best effort to ignore it.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">My discontent is meaningless, but no less real. I wait.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The only sunshine available is behind my eyes, and I have many anxious seeds.</p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-58477035106078933602024-01-19T18:40:00.000-08:002024-01-19T18:41:01.716-08:00Bearing the Weight<p> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;">Bearing the Weight of winter</span></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Eighth consecutive day of frigid weather, and more of the same in all forecasts. On most of the past seven days we have struggled to reach the twenties, and most barely crept above zero. The effect is cumulative. The first storm brought light, almost weightless snow that was almost a delight to shovel (My snowblower refused, and still refuses, to start, and without a place to work on the problem will likely remain inoperative for the remainder of the winter). Shoveling snow is therapeutic.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But the ephemeral fairy snow was soon followed by a succession of freezing rain and sleet events which have now constructed a carbon-steel covering over everything. It is impossible to shovel, and fruitless to chip at with a pick-ax. We are obviously not going anywhere for several more days. I only hope the roof can hold the accumulating weight.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When I was younger, up until my late seventies, I considered such atmospheric assaults a challenge. I loved the feel of sub-zero wind flinging itself against my face, and the tingling sensation in my fingers and toes as they began to freeze conjured images of nordic music. Of course the warmth of the nearby house was only a few long yards away. But, this continued cold has finally seeped into and through the house foundation, and when my under-house thermometer reaches the mid thirties I turn on a small electric heater. Thankfully I can program myself to wake whenever necessary. But if the power ever goes out for any length of time I’m not sure what I will be able to do to prevent the water pipes from freezing. I’d like to say I don’t worry about such things, but of course I do. Warmer (?) weather is in the forecast for the middle of next week, but all is relative. </p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-11878269071872314562024-01-18T18:11:00.000-08:002024-01-18T18:11:53.478-08:00Waking in Winter<p> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">Waking in the early morning - 7 am. Room as dark as the underside of a beached whale. Silence in every corner of the room. But outside there is a rustling akin to a moth's fluttering wings as snowflakes drift aimlessly from the vault of sky to find rest on roof or bedroom deck. I pull up the fluffy down comforter and turn on my side. Time for a pleasant, dreamy post sleep nap. . . .No! I turn back on my back, driven by guilt at my sloth, my indolence. I move various extremities in a rhythmic pattern: ankles 30 rotations in each direction. Move hips up and down forty-five times each. Neck rotations for a minute or so. Shrug my shoulders for as long as it takes me to find the intent to get out of bed. Thus do I prove to myself that I am still in control of my motor functions. And yet another day evolves into a vague sense of reality.</span></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-16349635146981541092023-06-23T18:47:00.000-07:002023-06-23T18:47:23.863-07:00The Pathetic Plight of my Piggy-Bank<h3 style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;"><b>The Pathetic Plight of my Piggy-Bank</b></span></h3>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What, for my family, had developed into an annual late fall ritual has had to be discontinued, due in part to Covid restrictions and the subsequent near shut-down of in-person shopping. That, coupled with the increased use of credit cards and on line shopping, for even the smallest of purchases, has tolled the bell on our annual ‘break-the-piggy-bank’ party.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I still pay for almost everything I purchase ‘in person’ with cash, both paper and metal. Call me old fashioned if you must.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Up until a couple of years ago I would end each day, at least those in which I had ventured out into what passes for ’society’ these days, by emptying my trouser pockets - once in a while a shirt or jacket pocket. Pennies went into a jar kept in a drawer, nickels and dimes were set aside for the vehicles - to pay parking fees/tolls when required. But quarters, and the occasional half-dollar (when was the last time you actually held a ‘half dollar’ in your hand?) went into the piggy bank. Every month or so I would heft the pig aloft and estimate its weight - not so much in pounds and ounces, but in value. After doing this for several years you develop a sense for these things.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I think it was nineteen twenty-one when I first noticed, mid summer, that the pig seemed to be on a very successful diet.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Prior to 2021 the primal smashing of the ceramic piggy bank would yield, when divided equally between two grandchildren and an aging grandfather, around twenty-five to thirty dollars each. Not a large amount, but one unexpected. Enough to treat your friends to burgers and fries at a fast food restaurant, and your grandfather to another bottle of cheap wine.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What to do with the ceramic pig?</p><div><br /></div>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-86079342053067122412023-03-04T14:07:00.000-08:002023-03-04T14:07:16.946-08:00The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne<h2 style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><b>The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne</b></span></i></h2><div><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">For a book concerning itself with the natural history of a very small district in England in the eighteenth century to remain in print since its first publication (1789) is astounding. Once I became aware of</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;">The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne</span></i><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">, by Gilbert White</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I wondered what made this book so special. Why would publishers keep it continuously in print for over two hundred years? Demand and profits obviously; but why is there such a demand today for a book of observations about birds and such from so long ago?</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I purchased a copy and read it. The book exceeded my expectations. I’ll admit, it’s certainly not a book for everyone, in fact, at the very least, one must be a naturalist in heart, mind and spirit - with a bent toward ornithology. The book is written, or at least presented, as a series of letters to a fellow naturalist, describing his observations of the local (Selborne) flora and fauna I found it mesmerizing, and exciting.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Mr. White was a person I think I could have shared a pint of Porter with and been at ease. Hard to find such people these days.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I made this note in February of 2017, hoping to find time to elaborate on my response/reaction to this book. Some things take time.</span></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-59206710443809096192022-11-21T17:02:00.000-08:002022-11-21T17:02:54.813-08:00Jig-Saw Puzzle Update<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJ5wP6iIQim4-FiC05mo2N1mouRaStJap9t9kKtFhmdN1mrLiLU9P_THZg1NyemaSYamYmUpaSQAzuQLpX38Re_q1UXHe7YZKbtZ5npxFkdrm71TxRL8bgobAMJnwa6GeoMTYmYz8B02Qo9fTaUC3E_xp3mPb9fZU7fynHImbXUi_c3zYlQA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJ5wP6iIQim4-FiC05mo2N1mouRaStJap9t9kKtFhmdN1mrLiLU9P_THZg1NyemaSYamYmUpaSQAzuQLpX38Re_q1UXHe7YZKbtZ5npxFkdrm71TxRL8bgobAMJnwa6GeoMTYmYz8B02Qo9fTaUC3E_xp3mPb9fZU7fynHImbXUi_c3zYlQA" width="180" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;">A Gustave Caillebotte Jig-Saw Puzzle Update</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Not to sound like Santiago in Hemingway’s classic story but we’ve been seven (thankfully not 84 - yet) days chipping away at this monster of a jig-saw puzzle. We have exhausted the few areas that display distinct colours or form and are left with most of the puzzle pieces just as they tumbled from the box. Most are in subtle shades of gray or black and present no obvious, discernible pattern. And, to add to the difficulty, many of the pieces look alike, even to the placement and shape of the die-cut edges. I finally decided to separate the pieces into groups based on total, overall colour. I started with the black pieces, (yet even here there were at least three different shades of ‘black’). Then I separated the blacks into sub-groups, ie those in which all four sides were ‘innies’, then those where all four sides were ‘outies’, if you get what I mean. Then those with three ‘outies and one ‘innie, then ’three ‘innies’ and one ‘outie’. etc., etc. After this was accomplished I subdivided these groups into ‘fatties’ and ‘thinies’, as some pieces are decidely taller than they are wide. Then I drank a bottle of Cabernet and went to bed for a couple of days.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Well, this approach seems to be working, though the time involved to place each piece might best be measured with an hourglass.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And thank goodness we have a table where the puzzle and its pieces can remain undisturbed while we plan our next move.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Working on this puzzle has hopefully refreshed my eyes regarding my perception of colour, and may yet make me a more reliable observer identifying the colours in a birds plumage, or the true colour of a passing cloud, or a swath of fabric viewed from a distance, etc. I tell myself, if nothing else comes of this, I am re-training my eyes to <b>really</b> see.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the meantime, to quote from one of my favorite authors, Samuel Beckett:</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“You must go on, I can’t go on. I’ll go on.” </i></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i>The Unnamable</i></b></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><i></i><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>or</i></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><i></i><br /></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 17.5px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”</i></span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #262626; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><b><i>Worstward Ho!</i></b></span></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-91348366273007866282021-12-20T19:26:00.000-08:002021-12-20T19:26:21.929-08:00How much should a stalk of celery cost?<p> <b style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px;">How much should a stalk of celery cost?</b></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">There they are, piled high in the produce section of your local supermarket, celery plants: a tight collection of fibrous stalks and leaves offered, usually, at so much a pound. I think the price is usually rather cheap, though you may beg to differ.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">To follow the development of a celery plant, or any other plant, from seed to a ‘marketable’ commodity, is a stress-strewn epic journey whose story is beyond the time I have available to explain. But consider: for a seed to be viable, and true to type, it must be grown and harvested under very controlled conditions. And as celery is a biennial, for a plant to set seed it has to be maintained for two years. Then, should the selected plants have produced a quantity of seed sufficient to justify harvest, there is winnowing and cleaning, testing for viability (germination percentage), and then there are the packaging and advertising and handling and transportation costs to consider. Finally, perhaps, we have celery seed available to the market suitable for planting.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, the farmer who has elected to grow celery for the consumer market must prepare beds and fields appropriately. And that is just the beginning. The process of growing a plant from seed to a product suitable for sale is long, expensive, and often very complicated, or at least time consuming. From greenhouse seedlings to field planting; timely watering and fertilizing, pest control - of insects, rodents, small omnivores, ungulates, and others that trespass in the dead of night. Then there is the spring/fall worry about a late or early frost (alarms at three or four am that cannot be ignored!). And there are a myriad other devastating things, beyond the imagination of the grower, that can and often do take place. One mistake in this journey/folly and an entire crop may be rendered worthless.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Try growing celery from seed in your backyard garden to get an idea as to what I mean. In fact, try growing almost any vegetable from seed to an acceptable standard of size, color, quality etc. and I think you will find that produce is cheap at almost any price.</p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-37875643396549153712021-12-19T18:35:00.001-08:002021-12-19T18:35:17.297-08:00Who might be standing in the checkout lane today?<p> <b style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px;">Who might be standing in the checkout lane today?</b></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ever wonder if the person in front of you, as you wait patiently, or impatiently, to check out of your favorite store with your groaning shopping cart full of goods, is a Nobel Prize Winner? Or maybe the recipient of a Pulitzer, or The Booker Prize, or perhaps the Palme d’Or, or even a recipient of a statue from The Academy, or a Golden Globe, or perhaps they may have qualified for a Fields Medal, or the Turing Award, or even the coveted Most Popular in my Neighborhood Award?</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yet, while it’s not beyond the mathematical and statistical range of probability it is highly unlikely they qualify for any of the citations mentioned, especially since the award for ‘Good Neighbor’ has yet to be established.</p><div><br /></div>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-9743374190646878342021-12-19T10:44:00.000-08:002021-12-19T10:44:44.908-08:00Small pleasures for winter days<p> <br /></p><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="caret-color: rgb(5, 5, 5); color: #050505; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguc6yt0jTmiPoMCAPTlhUkmmLUmYnazTujgMnrFdcJfKa4hi0mOnrfAw94KgF4O21vQAkjxzTAlILI-nQ3wG1DROBrpY4TI2T4EPIwKYT-4VD7_CRQ5ZArud4-RHKHXamEIOVB/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguc6yt0jTmiPoMCAPTlhUkmmLUmYnazTujgMnrFdcJfKa4hi0mOnrfAw94KgF4O21vQAkjxzTAlILI-nQ3wG1DROBrpY4TI2T4EPIwKYT-4VD7_CRQ5ZArud4-RHKHXamEIOVB/" width="320" /></a></div></div><h3 style="text-align: center;">It's that time of year</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Time to whittle down the list of seeds I would love to grow and face the reality of my physical and financial limitations. Some species demand specific conditions to germinate; others take two or three years to break dormancy, and all the time they need to be kept at specific temperatures and levels of moisture. More than once I have forgotten/neglected seeds planted in pots and placed in my seed refrigerator and when discovered found them etiolated beyond redemption. For some I don’t think I have time to start over, but probably will.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Never-the-less I still manage to snatch an occasional moment to muse, reminisce and jot down idle thoughts.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">As a teenager I was smitten by one or two classmates, but also fell in love with Chinese and Japanese poetry, to wit Li Po, Tu Fu (Du Fu), Basho and a host of others. Their influence is undeniable. Just finished a new biography of Li Bai (Li Po) and jotted down:</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">The three hundred cups of Li Po</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">must have been small.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">All I can manage is 7</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">before I can no longer count the stars.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and a haiku</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">So many stars tonight</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Where is the full moon hiding?</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Look! in your wine glass.</div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">Thinking of tackling <i>Finnegan’s Wake</i> yet again.</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aGFvxYly29TD0wLUYglsWTYtDNLbOmDgXfZvXXR52yU0IfNnfPRHJtbsUIobtpH2fJa-kDc305rBNdEyklravdk-mk-GSZ81nTUtoqPNhj79kkk5L-xMmQoiEaiEzCqV4Aw2/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8aGFvxYly29TD0wLUYglsWTYtDNLbOmDgXfZvXXR52yU0IfNnfPRHJtbsUIobtpH2fJa-kDc305rBNdEyklravdk-mk-GSZ81nTUtoqPNhj79kkk5L-xMmQoiEaiEzCqV4Aw2/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h2></div></div></h3></div>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-83623513391233925172021-08-29T19:49:00.000-07:002021-08-29T19:49:01.923-07:00Powers beyond our comprehension<p> </p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgVr5P8EJEUiAP-MpcAYqgNP9SuniV2E1rmFc6YGKOJsUbexkh-ordASkJnUTyOUDL1P_OLDFJA7oSXzPZeDvBfjJyTnG9_TEhQxhFPXojF5_YM3-2MyUrW_obMA_VZQORNeG/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgVr5P8EJEUiAP-MpcAYqgNP9SuniV2E1rmFc6YGKOJsUbexkh-ordASkJnUTyOUDL1P_OLDFJA7oSXzPZeDvBfjJyTnG9_TEhQxhFPXojF5_YM3-2MyUrW_obMA_VZQORNeG/" width="180" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;">So, fifty years ago in California I carved a piece of volcanic stone into a facsimile of an Easter Island moai. It was subsequently placed in the garden and then moved periodically as vegetation dictated.</span></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In 1974 we moved to Oregon where the environment was much less tropical, or even Mediteranean, but as several species of bamboo fared quite well above the 45th parallel, an area was developed where the Moai didn’t look particularly ‘out-of-place’. The statue was moved a few times in the eighties and nineties as the garden changed but then seems to have been forgotten/lost. For the past twenty or more years I have not entertained one thought about this volcanic rock artifact.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, this is where things get ‘strange’.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Yesterday, for a reason beyond my ken, I suddenly found myself asking: Whatever happened to that tiki you carved so many years ago? My memory was a complete, complete blank.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now, to put things in perspective, I try to walk through most of our gardens once a week, and the sudden realization I could not recall seeing this statue for many, many years was a little disturbing, I even thought that perhaps someone had appropriated it for their own enjoyment years ago.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Today, and don’t ask me why, (‘out of the blue’ is a phrase that comes to mind) I had a compelling urge to trim back a particularly agressive patch of <i>Pseudosasa japonica </i>and <i>sasaella masamuneana</i> ‘albostriata’. So with shears, secateurs, loppers and a formidable mattock in hand I began.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After only a few minutes I felt like Howard Carter discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun. As I cut back the bamboo I suddenly stared face to face with my (lost) ‘tiki’.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigYm7NEYAuhBQdgEb8p0aaLu5_AdbzvreplhhdfEeS4xknMxYLbuH6_ZdQGuMw2iKJivgFxCdGcUKCVcdcN384Ga6KqqgRlHQMFfh43NvArK4n9YNsCMsxHMkbNhB4nNuSNXyn/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigYm7NEYAuhBQdgEb8p0aaLu5_AdbzvreplhhdfEeS4xknMxYLbuH6_ZdQGuMw2iKJivgFxCdGcUKCVcdcN384Ga6KqqgRlHQMFfh43NvArK4n9YNsCMsxHMkbNhB4nNuSNXyn/" width="180" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-42839151537456800822021-03-29T16:57:00.000-07:002021-03-29T16:57:02.326-07:00Witch Hazel: Arnold Promise vs Pallida<p> <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;"><b>Witch Hazel: Arnold Promise vs Pallida</b></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A short note regarding Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ and Hamamelis japonica ‘Pallida’.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Both grow quite well here and their late winter/early Spring blooms are pure delight. But, if I could plant again (I’m too old now to plant too far into my future) I would definitely plant more ‘Pallida’.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">While there are many other cultivars that seem equally, or even more desirable, [and I may add one or two of those in the next year or two], for now ‘Pallida’ has my five pale-green thumbs up.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The colour of the bloom is a vibrant yellow, especially compared to “Arnold Promise’, and this year it has been blooming, as of today, for at least two months, or is that three? The branches are floriferous.’</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Arnold Promise’ is now displaying its red calyces, which are quite nice, but ‘Pallida’ blooms on, as if it has been told aging is a myth.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I think I am displaying my own gray calyces, and I’ve discovered aging is definitely not a myth.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLfaODf1XaStxt3Ov1sNBBSN0uFpiJX7lB9fCryZ7Un_iJQrMUkbmzhEdgnEeZJAttI1g7vHKFf1AO2LZyaP3l12z9V-x06wBXMmN-hsBUNfL5X_moyv8uaxJ57hDshJOpkS3/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLfaODf1XaStxt3Ov1sNBBSN0uFpiJX7lB9fCryZ7Un_iJQrMUkbmzhEdgnEeZJAttI1g7vHKFf1AO2LZyaP3l12z9V-x06wBXMmN-hsBUNfL5X_moyv8uaxJ57hDshJOpkS3/" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Arnold Promise [background]</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Pallida [foreground]</div><br /><p></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-38535280148704363402021-02-17T18:08:00.003-08:002021-02-17T18:14:05.961-08:00So many poems, so many poems and only myself to listen<p><b style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px;">From a Ben in the Cairngorms</b></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="color: #18191b; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black;">The </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">Hebridean </span><span style="color: black;">sheep</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">are gone from the braes,</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">even St. Kilda is silent.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Last years Bluebells are gray -</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">nod silently -</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">they have set no seed.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Much too late</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">for a nip of single malt</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to bring them back.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The copse of <i>Rowan</i> is leafless.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Calunas</i> have lost their purple haze.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Wind from the loch</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">brings nothing</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but decay.</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">You dare tell me</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">this is not the end of the world?</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps not,</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">but it is a good beginning.</p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>It Might Take</b></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve found</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">it might take a ‘Rocket Scientist’</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to get us</p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">out of this.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Reading Too Much Bukowski</b></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’ve been reading too much Bukowski</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">lately</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and drinking too much wine.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Perhaps it’s time</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to read Billy Collins</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">instead.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">At least I’ve never had a weakness</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">for the horses.</p><p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><br /></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-34706443088719115002020-11-28T09:29:00.001-08:002021-05-03T22:34:08.837-07:00 I Am Waiting<p><b> <span style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px;">I Am Waiting</span></b></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">I am waiting,</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">patiently,</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">for someone to pen</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">a prelude</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">to ’The Prelude’</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">I struggle in my bed,</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">wondering,</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">will there ever be a sequel</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">to ‘La Chanson de Roland’?</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">‘Metamorphoses’?</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">‘Beowulf’?</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">No!</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">the time of</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">dream and myth</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">has outrun us.</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">I can’t even sense</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">a song in the sod</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">for another</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">‘Leaves of Grass’.</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">But, like Ferlinghetti,</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">I will wait,</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">patiently,</span></p>
<p style="color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; background-color: white; font-kerning: none;">foolishly,</span></p>
<p style="background-color: white; color: #060606; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-kerning: none;">for a rebirth of wonder.</span></p>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-51544780835716171682020-07-30T19:24:00.001-07:002020-07-30T19:24:17.423-07:00Thorn from the Stone<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Thorn from the stone</b></p>
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<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Some years ago, when wolves ran wild and curdled the air with their ghostly howls, our garden was in a much wilder state and the occasional appearance of an elf, dryad, or mountain oread was not particularly rare. Only when they would suddenly dance out from the deep shade of a weeping Birch or willow did they elicit much of a surprize. Unicorns were much less common, and when one of those elegant, noble beasts wandered into our ken we would pause our activities and use the moment as an excuse to pour another glass of mead, or, in the middle of summer, a lighter ambrosial liquid. By remaining silent, motionless, and emulating the pose and posture of any of several Greek Gods they would pass among us without trepidation or apprehension. Then, one day, several years ago, a particularly large unicorn snorted and pawed its way down a newly created pathway we had hacked through the heart of a very old grove of willows. We were transfixed, mesmerized, for on the back of this uncommon animal sat what looked like <span style="color: #3c4044; font-kerning: none;">Antonius Block! I kept my head and my gaze to the ground; tried to bury my sanity in the larch bark mulch I had been spreading around the Meconopsis. I thought I might be dreaming, or had imbibed a glass too many of Cabernet. But when I forced myself to look up he was still there, sipping something from a horn-like vessel. Several moments passed. I feel, now, we were both attempting to find an avenue or boulevard of communication.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #3c4044; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">But, I’ve gone on too long, let me move quickly to the crux of the issue. Laughing like a happy banshee this unicorn mounted apparition took his double-edged basket-hilted sword and thrust in into a granite boulder beside the path. And, laughing hysterically he rode off proclaiming: only one with a pure heart will ever be able to remove the thorn from the stone.</span></p>
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<p style="color: #3c4044; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Many have tried; the blade remains, though not basket hilted.</span></p><p style="color: #3c4044; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7T5vM2Iy6fpBfWmsOJ22cqcPKR5QvfnRdTMF1u8QQ2mQM43b4A-gePOfSz6TO2WjDYeMGDr1dYubHNHhBdlKArGoaE4F919x9Rv5BRYNVCGLQncA-4u4kRw1qZTUc_oWC5DH/s2048/IMG_3169.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7T5vM2Iy6fpBfWmsOJ22cqcPKR5QvfnRdTMF1u8QQ2mQM43b4A-gePOfSz6TO2WjDYeMGDr1dYubHNHhBdlKArGoaE4F919x9Rv5BRYNVCGLQncA-4u4kRw1qZTUc_oWC5DH/s320/IMG_3169.jpeg" /></a></div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-74324499606588930652020-07-27T11:55:00.003-07:002020-07-27T11:55:43.344-07:00A Devastation of Hawks, not an Exaltation of Larks<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
A Devastation of Hawks, not an Exaltation of Larks</div>
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We live in the country so hawks are not a particular rarity, and this year we have two nesting pairs of Red-tailed Hawks <i>(</i><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-kerning: none;"><i>Buteo jamaicensis)</i> </span>raising their young in our Douglas firs. At first they were a curiosity, even though their aggressive behavior occasionally became alarming, even threatening. More than once I’ve ducked my head in reaction to a low-flying, noisy pass over. If you have never seen a hawk up close and personal you probably have little idea of the size of their talons, or their raptor beak. Their vocalization also leaves much to be desired. Their communication is harsh, shrill, there is nothing melodic or pleasant about it.</div>
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A few days ago, talking to my neighbors, we realized that a great change had taken place over the past couple of months. Virtually all other birds the area were absent. Most of the year I am awakened, just before sunrise, by a chorus of birdsongs. It’s a musical moment comprised of several different voices though I admit I cannot name the species by their call. Their chatter usually lasted the better part of an hour and then slowly faded away. I imagine them flying off to work for the day, collecting seeds, insects, nesting material etc. Seems we can now look forward to a ‘Silent Spring’, ’Silent Summer’ etc. and I can’t blame the unnatural hush on DDT.</div>
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We have a lot of raspberries and normally resign ourselves to loosing a small percentage of the harvest to birds - but not this year. I have not seen a bird anywhere near the heavily laden canes. And the bird feeder has become a delicatessen for the occasional squirrel. Humingbirds, which normally take two hands to count, are now a rare occurrence, even around the red, tubular flowers of various Penstemon such as <i>barbatus, cardinalis, eatonii.</i> In previous years, while weeding or deadheading the pentstemons, I’ve had Rufous or Anna’s Humingbirds hoover within two feet of my face while we each go about our business. This year they are almost as rare as hens’ teeth.</div>
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And, to add insult to injury, our population of gophers, moles, voles, shrews and other garden marauders seem unfazed by the presence of a few hawks (lost two cantaloupe vines to gophers overnight yesterday, and bush beans the night before.)</div>
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So, is the presence of the red-tailed Hawks a positive thing? For me an emphatic NO. I enjoyed their occasional presence in the past much more, just like some people.</div>
L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-75411028599277657092020-06-04T20:26:00.001-07:002020-06-04T20:26:11.598-07:00Paul Bowles - The Garden<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r0qxAxdef9w" width="480"></iframe>L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29902479.post-85347084070142122562020-05-25T19:21:00.001-07:002020-05-25T19:21:17.506-07:00The Doors of Reflection<div style="background-color: white; color: #16191f; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">T<b>he Doors of Reflection</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Bonsai, as a possible indicator of a persons conceived, pre-conceived, or ill-conceived perceptions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">After too many knee-bruising, back-straining hours in the garden I eventually forced my body to the back porch where I shed my tool belt and opened a fresh bottle of cabernet. I sat down, weary beyond belief. Perhaps I really am approaching eighty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But, unable to sit and relax for more than twenty-four seconds (I’ve timed it, several times) I decided to trim/clean/evaluate the few bonsai plants I still have. (I lost most of them a few years ago in an unpredictable, unseasonal freeze and vowed never to stroll that path again.) But, habits, good or bad, don’t fade easily.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So, what about the bonsai plants, and the doors of reflection?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As I sat, nipping a branch here; pinching a leaf tip there, my thoughts drifted to something I have thought about for many years. Not compulsively of course, but just one of the occasional random thought that worm their way, uninvited, into ones consciousness at odd moments when the world has nothing better to offer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I’m not an artist, but have, over my lifetime, sketched a number of ‘portraits’ of friends and personal heroes. For the most part they eventually resembled no one I would recognize. All became generic characters despite my effort. But, that is irrelevant. The thing I did notice about all of them was that I drew them either face-on, or with their heads facing to the left. Not one among them ever faced to the right,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Why? I questioned. Is it the result of being right handed? Do left-handed artists sketch, paint, render their human, or animal subjects facing right? Or is it purely happenstance?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Or, is my conception pre-conceived, ill-conceived? Perhaps there is no pattern to be determined. All is arbitrary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">When I find a morsel of undigested time I might go through my art library, especially the various auction catalogues which condense a lot of art over the centuries into a manageable form, and see, as regards portraits, which profile is most common.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Then, as a follow up, try to determine which artists were considered left or right handed and compare the results.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">All my bonsai plants are pruned with a left leaning inclination.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Off to look at catalogues.</span></div>
L. F. Hawkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15901000940092711639noreply@blogger.com0