Category Archives: Life

Aug28

unfit for consumption. but so good.

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Johann Bach is remembered as one of the world’s greatest composers, known for orchestral compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos. But one of Bach’s lesser-known works is Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (“Be Still, Stop Chattering”) — a humorous ode to coffee popularly known as the Coffee Canata. Written sometime in the 1730s, Bach’s mini comic opera makes light of fears at the time that coffee was an immoral beverage entirely unfit for consumption. In the 18th century, coffee shops in Europe were known to be boisterous places of conversation, unchaperoned meeting places for young romantics, and the birthplaces of political plots. A reported lover of coffee, Bach wrote a 10-movement piece that pokes fun at the uproar over coffee. The opera tells the story of a father attempting to persuade his daughter to give up her coffee addiction so that she might get married, but in the end, she just becomes a coffee-imbibing bride.

“If I couldn’t three times a day,

be allowed to drink my little cup of coffee, in my anguish,

I will turn into a shriveled-up roast goat.“

-Johann Sebastian Bach

*thank you for putting this to music, johann, i feel the same.

 

 

 

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source credits: interesting facts, flypaper, wikipedia, etsy mug

Aug27

summerween.

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a bit confusing, like these leaves seem to be,

showing the colors of two seasons

—

listening to npr

they talked about starbuck’s

starting the pumpkin spice train

a month earlier this year

pumpkin spice everything = fall/autumn

 i don’t remember the calendar saying

that fall begins in august

the seasons/holidays/calendar

shift with the world of marketing

 not with the weather (90F) recently

or dates

but by creating their own

‘extended seasons and festivities’

 people get excited early

 start the buying frenzy

happy summerween

i’m holding out for my favorite real season – fall.

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‘the seasons change their manners, as the year had found some months asleep and leapt them over.’

-william shakespeare

 

here is a partial transcript of the npr conversation:

KIM: Summerween is that time of the year when major retailers start to promote all things sweater weather, even though shorts and flip-flops are still in season. George John is a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He says it’s been a trend for a while now.

JOHN: This is the trend of moving up Christmas and Thanksgiving and Halloween, the three big sort of seasons that run into each other, earlier and earlier and earlier.

KIM: But this year, fall- and Halloween-related goods seem to be popping up sooner than ever. Take Home Depot, for instance. The retailer launched an online Halloween campaign in April. In June, Lowe’s, Party City and Michaels all released spooky seasonal items online, earlier than in previous years. Most recently, on Thursday, Starbucks began serving its iconic pumpkin spice latte on August 22, the coffee chain’s earliest rollout yet. Most of the big businesses say that these early rollouts are in response to excitement from consumers.

JOHN: if they just stretch every darn holiday out to being a season, it just loses its meaning, and it loses its intensity. A risk they are willing to take.

 

 

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Source credits: Juliana Kim, NPR News, George John, University of Minnesota

 

Aug26

all the nothing.

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(not me, but similar to me yesterday, surrendering to life)

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my plan was to do a lot of nothing

but the universe wasn’t having it

with a surprise leak in my house

and a

‘microwave food explosion incident’

it wasn’t meant to be

but

onward

today is another day

 so far, so good

as most of the world is not yet awake.

—

“there’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”

*bill waterson

 

*William Boyd Watterson II is an American cartoonist who authored the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. The strip was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson concluded Calvin and Hobbes with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium.

 

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image credit: cbs news

Aug24

the old rooster of barcelos. (galo de barcelos)

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i have always been drawn to legends, fables, myths, and folk and fairy tales

and also have a love of tiny things

that is how this tiny painted ceramic rooster

 came to travel home with me from portugal

not much bigger than a coin

but a mighty symbol

 its presence is deeply intertwined with portuguese culture,

symbolizing the values of integrity, righteousness, and the pursuit of justice.

—

the tale that started it all:

The folk tale of the rooster of Barcelos, tells the story of a dead rooster’s miraculous intervention in proving the innocence of a man who had been falsely convicted and sentenced to death. The story is associated with the 17th-century calvary that is part of the collection of the Archaeological Museum located in Paço dos Condes, a gothic-style palace in Barcelos, Portugal.
According to the tale, a landowner in Barcelos had stolen silver and the inhabitants of that city were looking for the thief. A man became a suspect, despite his pleas of innocence.  He swore that he was merely passing through Barcelos on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to fulfill a promise. Nevertheless, the authorities arrested the man and condemned him to hang.
The man asked them to take him in front of the judge. Affirming his innocence, the man pointed to a roasted rooster on top of the banquet table and exclaimed, “It is as certain that I am innocent as that rooster will crow when they hang me.” The judge pushed aside his plate, deciding not to eat the rooster, but otherwise ignored the appeal.However, while the pilgrim was hanged, the roasted rooster stood up on the table and crowed as predicted. Understanding his error, the judge ran to the gallows, to discover that the man had been saved from death thanks to a poorly made knot. The man was immediately freed.Some years later, he returned to Barcelos to  sculpt the Calvary (or Crucifix) to the Lord of the Rooster (Portuguese: “Cruzeiro do Senhor do Galo“) The monument is located in the Barcelos Archaeological Museum.

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‘asleep in the legends of old.’

-John Keats, from The Feast of St. Agnes

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other interesting barcelos rooster facts:

In the 1990s U.S. sitcom Seinfeld, Elaine’s first apartment is shown furnished in kitschy style, cluttered with bric-a-brac, including a rooster of Barcelos.

The cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada in Spain keeps two live chickens in remembrance of the local version of the event.
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source credits: rooster camisa, we are portugal

Aug23

Tchau, portugal.

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tchau to the views

tchau to the cork trees

tchau to the interesting  people

tchau to the special treats

bienvenue to montreal, canada

where my very kind pilot

comforted a young boy

tired after his long travels

waiting to board our busy flight

bon voyage to montreal, heading home to the states soon.

hello to this happy crew in the baggage claim in detroit!

now it feels like home.

—

‘home is where all of your attempts to escape, cease.’

-naguib mshgouz

 

 

Aug22

the joy of life.

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moving around portugal

from the train station

 

by boats of all kinds

by bicycle

with friends

softly like our hotel cat

adorned with beautiful ribbons

with colors in the gardens, so full of life.

 

—

“the joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences,

and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon,

for each day to have a new and different sun.”

-chris mccandless

Aug21

live in the sunshine.

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oranges man

physics professor turned artist

hard to decide which…

port tasting in the cellars

seamstress

washing the sidewalk before the store opens

not sure exactly, but interesting


antonio, patio cafe guy, funny, full of info, and gets stuff done

uni students earning their tuition

bird man

slow boat on the river.

—

“live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”

-ralph waldo emerson

Aug20

a peaceful feel.

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‘if we are closed?

just ask next door!

our staff will happily open the door for you in the event that the store is closed!!!’

(could life be better than having your shoes cobbled as you have a refreshing beverage?)

 

sunglass man has the perfect glasses for all

fish, and rice, and olives, and herbs, and the biggest clove of garlic ever

chemistry/biology major raising tuition money in the traditional way

visiting where the knights templar lived, learning their fascinating history

 

welconing shop

beautiful tiles everywhere, each one a treasure.

relaxing on the balcony at night

the moon looking down

winding down from the day.

 

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‘portugal has a peaceful feel about it.

i sit on the terrace overlooking the vineyard there and i feel cut off from the world.

you need that sort of thing.’

– Cliff Richard, English musician.

Aug19

finery.

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“any portuguese town looks like a bride’s finery –

something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”

– Mary Mccarthy, American novelist, critic and activist

the sea, the beach, surfer’s paradise, the cliffs

club beach soccer/football  championship

medieval town, bookstore, fruit

fatima, miracles, stories, ancient well and tunnel

“i believe in the uncommon, the unusual and unlikely, even the miraculous.

i believe in nearly all things except impossibilities. that i can’t fathom.”

-richelle goodrich

Aug18

a new way of seeing.

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relaxing in a tiny grotto by the sea

tiny pink carousel

ancient fortress protecting the country from sea invaders

Tiago explains how Spain and Portugal had such a powerful relationship in the Middle Ages

that they agreed to sign treaties to split the world in half

at the westernmost point of europe

in a cloudy microclimate

on a cliff overlooking the sea

in a place

 the portuguese once believed to be the end of the world.

—

‘my destination is no longer a place, rather a new way of seeing.’

-marcel proust

 

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portugal, summer 2024