my beloved beet

One of the benefits of gardening in the South. January 27: tomatoes are sprouting and onions are planted.

Eureka! I finally discovered a good use for whey left over from yogurt-making. Add it to the pot when cooking steel-cut oatmeal. Makes for a delicious tangy breakfast. (BTW, the soft-boiled egg and s.c. oatmeal combo is dynamite.) 🍳

Tragedy and Christianity are incommensurable,
he declared, which we’d have chalked to bluster
had he not, within the month, held a son
hot from the womb but cold to his kiss,
and over a coffin compact as a toolbox wept
in the wrecked unreachable way that most resist,
and that all of us, where we are most ourselves,
turn away from.
                              Bonded and islanded 
by the silence, we waited there,
desperate, with our own pains, to believe,
desperate, with our own pains, not to.

Started tomato plants by seed today in the garage. Will use grow lights when (if) they sprout, then repot, then into the ground come Spring. Never tried doing it this way before. Fingers crossed.

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... the third place tavern combines drinking with conversation such that each improves the other. The talking/drinking synergism is basic to the pub, tavern, taverna, bistro, saloon, estaminet, osteria -- whatever it is called and wherever it is found... [J]ust as conversation is enhanced by the temperate use of alcohol, the artful and witty game of conversation moderates consumption of liquor. As Tibor Scitovsky remarked with respect to those who know how to use a public drinking facility, "a half-pint of beer is to talk as bed is to making love -- one can do without, but does better with.”

• .75 oz Old Tom Gin
• .75 oz London Dry Gin (Tanq or Beefeater)
• 1.5 oz dry vermouth (I prefer Dolin)
• .25 oz Luxardo liqueur (worth having around for other classic cocktails, such as the Aviation)
• 2 dashes anise liqueur (absininthe, pernod, etc.)
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• lemon twist garnish (important!)

So beautifully balanced. [chef's kiss emoji goes here.]

“We aim to humanize those who have been objectified.”
   – Jessie Kornberg, Director, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles

From the wonderful Spitalfields Life: "In the seventies, while living in Mile End Place ... photographer Philip Cunningham took these tender portraits of his friends and colleagues."


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Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle
That while you watched turned to pieces of snow
Riding a gradient invisible
From silver aslant to random, white, and slow.

There came a moment that you couldn’t tell.
And then they clearly flew instead of fell.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

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American suburbs provide an excess of privacy, but deny proximity to those places upon which a community life depends.

Ray Oldenberg, The Great Good Place

Ten days in, my theme for 2024 is: “Be attentive”:

• Pay attention to what I pay attention to, and jettison stuff that doesn’t pay back with value.
• Improve focus on stuff that is valuable. (Takes practice!)
• Be attentive and responsive (or least present) to others.

(NB: They all take practice.)

Could any tiger
Drink martinis, smoke cigars,
And last as we do?

Ange Postecoglou: “I’ve loved my first six months as head coach of this fantastic football club. We are still very much in the early stages of our journey. We have been moving in the right direction in terms of the squad, style of play, results. Hopefully, you are enjoying the team we are becoming.” ⚽️

Without a doubt, my 2023 personal Word of the Year is "Ange Postecoglou".
(Two words, but you get it.) Coming in at #2 is "mate."
Come On You Spurs! ⚽

Louis Menand: “[Sontag] forbade her son to look out the window when they rode in a train; he needed to read about a place if he wanted to understand it. She never looked out the window herself.”

Mike Godwin:
     ... has the sheer absurdity of so many hyperbolic Nazi comparisons in popular culture made us less vigilant about the possible reemergence of actual fascism in the world? I think it shouldn’t — comparisons to Hitler or to Nazis need to take place when people are beginning to act like Hitler or like Nazis...
     We had the luxury of deriving humor from Hitler and Nazi comparisons when doing so was almost always hyperbole. It’s not a luxury we can afford anymore.

Sunday in late December
calls for one, with a celery stalk
and faint taste of Worcestershire,
to be sipped while eating
poached egg and corned beef hash,
in a hotel dining room
with someone you love. Touch
the hairs at his wrist
as the warmth endorses
all bed-lingering, non-churchgoing.
It's the solstice, remember,
when your frugal father
would hand around dollar bills
so the day would last longer. 
Stir ice into the rich red
and consider such Celtic rituals,
as you watch, beyond the tall windows,
pilgrims traveling the paths
past snow-fringed trees in the park.