Goodnight.

My sincerest condolences.....

If You Go Away, You Might As Well Take the Sun Away...

If You Go Away, Cyndi Lauper

If you go away, you might as well take away the sun....and then the powerful movement ... but if you stay.... I don't know if anyone can sing this better....it is absolutely haunting...

All I Want Is a Vision of You...

Picture This, Blondie

All I want is a vision of you ... all I want is 20-20 vision ... all I want is a vision of you ... picture this .. freezing, cold weather ... picture this ... my telephone number ... I will give you my finest hour ... all I want is a photo in my wallet ... a small remembrance of something more solid ... all I want is a picture of you...

Aren't those lyrics awesome? I don't think folks realize how really good some of this writing is ... hmmm ... as she would say ...

You Must Remember This ...

.... as time goes by...


Casablanca

Enough said....

... and this may simply be the best song ever...


Yellow River, Christie

... and, then like a moth to a flame, I am drawn to Allen Ginsberg.

Memories

This may or may not be the best rendition -- the accompaniment drowns Dolly out at some points -- but the words say it all.


I Will Always Love You, Dolly Parton

Continuing the Australian Theme

Japanese Story trailer. An incredibly good movie. Enuf said.

Goethe and Mid-Life Crises

"One reason why we enjoy reading travel books is that a journey is one of the archetypal symbols. It is impossible to take a train or an aeroplane without having a fantasy of oneself as a Quest Hero setting off in search of an enchanted princess or the Waters of Life. And then, some journeys - Goethe's was one -- really are quests."

-- W. H. Auden - Elizabeth Mayer, Introduction, Italian Journey, Wolfgang Goethe

"...the Sturm und Drang literary movement of which Goethe was then regarded as the leader stood for spontaneity of emotion as against convention and decorum...Such a movement has often arisen in history and the consequences have almost always been the same; those who embrace it produce some remarkable work at an early age but then peter out if they do not, as they often do, take to drink or shoot themselves."

-- W. H. Auden - Elizabeth Mayer, Introduction, Italian Journey, Wolfgang Goethe

"There is no reason to suppose that Goethe's life in Rome was anything like Byron's in Venice, but it is impossible to believe that it was quite so respectable, or so exclusively devoted to higher things as, in his letters home, for obvious reasons, he makes it sound. The difference between the over-refined, delicate, almost neurasthenic face of the pre-Italian portraits and the masculine, self-assured face in the portraits executed after his return is very striking; the latter is that of a man who has known sexual satisfaction.

-- W. H. Auden - Elizabeth Mayer, Introduction, Italian Journey, Wolfgang Goethe

Auden and Mayer summarize Goethe's remarkable life in twelve remarkable pages.

I, too, have been very fortunate in experiencing a number of trips, or quests over my lifetime.

There have been many such trips, or quests, and perhaps elsewhere, someday, I will run through all of them, starting with some quests lasting a week to some lasting months.

But three were life-altering events: a) Westfield, New Jersey, or more correctly, Union County, New Jersey; b) San Pedro, California, or more comprehensively, southern California; and c) Yorkshire.

In Another Life

Some years ago I was introduced to "road trains" in Australia. Don't ask. Truckers going north and south up and down Stuart Highway (87) right through Alice Springs in the outback.

Twists and turns in life are so interesting. I grew up with Apple computers. One of the first Apple computers I ever bought came with two CDs to demonstrate the video quality of the Apple. One CD was a "Beatles' Hard Day's Night" CD and the other was a CD of Alice Springs. That must have been some 20+ years ago. But I digress.

These are incredible truckers.


Great video, great music, Slim Dusty


Short video clip

In another life:


Highway Fever, Slim Dusty

Not A Day Goes By

I don't think there's a day that goes by, that I don't think about walking down the road from MHS and being offered a ride to PB. Not a day goes by.....

I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight

The lyrics have no relevancy to the years that have passed, but the title .... well, the title says it all, I wonder what she's doing tonight? Thinking about BBC Radio 2?


I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight, Boyce and Hart

... the relevancy .... I just wonder what you're doing tonight?

[March 30, 2010:  Now I know.]

Licorice and Rievaulx Abbey

During my multiple visits to Yorkshire between 2002 and 2004, a close friend introduced me to the abbeys in the shire. We visited them all, and visited them more than once. I think Rievaulx Abbey was one of my favorites.

Today, while tutoring a student, somehow the subject of licorice came up. We were curious about the origin of licorice. I guessed licorice originated somewhere in Africa or possibly southwest Asia. Wow, was I wrong. It originated in southern Europe.

But this, from Wikipedia, almost made me fall off my chair:

Pontefract, an old medieval town in West Yorkshire, England, was the first place where liquorice mixed with sugar began to be used as a sweet in the same way it is in the modern day. Pontefract Cakes were originally made there. In Yorkshire and Lancashire it is colloquially known as Spanish, supposedly because Spanish monks grew liquorice root at Rievaulx Abbey near Thirsk.

Maybe more later, but this is enough memories of Yorkshire for me for the moment. Not a day goes by ...