Pie Today?

A little rain early. I stayed in bed. I start to make coffee but I’m out of grounds – no enough for a single cup. This demands a trip into town. Immediately – like right now!  I find a shortcut that shotens the distance by half. I went to the store – bread, baloney for the dog, a red bell pepper, beans, ham shanks and an avocado. I was on the way home. Damn it! I forgot the coffee. It is hell getting old. I turn around and go back. This time I remember the coffee (well I could have gone in and have came back out and stood in the parking lot scratching my head – now what was it I came all the way back to get? Wasn’t there something I wanted to pick up?).

What looks like the first time is actually déjà vu, a gala premiere after a long rehearsal period, some scene that memory has gotten expert at lighting – Durs Grunbein – Bars of Atlantis, 2010  p99

The heat is back – turn of the AC, play in the water, drink lots of beer

It seems almost on principle that he never cuts more than a day’s supply. Nor is he different in this form most woodsmen here – Theodore Enslin – Then and Now – 1999 p30

One in ten people born in Mexico live in the United States

Racial animosity in the US makes redistribution to the poor, who are disproportionally black, unappealing to many voters. American political institutions limited the growth of a socialist party, and more generally the political power of the poor – The Brookings Institute, 2001

It is 10:45. My only source of time is the vehicle clock. I only drive when I travel to my next camp site. Pick up provisions and get some ice which only lasts for up to two days (a lot less in the heat of the summer). The sun is already beating down. On the way out I stop at the river access – dark waters tannin stained. Water striders boat across its surface. The sun feels good. A truck arrives with a boat in tow. I need to move; get out of his way so that he can launch his boat. I eat lunch at Fred’s Fish House. The sign said best fish and hushpuppies in Arkansas. I guess you could mess them up if you didn’t change the oil often enough or tried to fry without letting the oil get hot enough. This is were every one in town – all the pick-up trucks congregated at noon. Must be good. “The special today is…” and she repeats her memorized speech so fast I am unable to follow most of what she says but I do make out that it includes four pieces of fish or of chicken (the customer's choice which). “What kind of fish”, I ask? “Catfish,” is if there was no other. It was more that I wanted but I order it anyway – four fillets of catfish deep fried in a cornmeal batter with slaw, a pickle, fries and two hush puppies, “Was everything good? Would you like some pie today?” And she’s now at a table across the room, “Everything all right. Pie today? You guys be good.” “Always good.” “Doubt that.” “Thank you and good day.” “Pie today?” And it was damn, good catfish, but hushpuppies are just hushpuppies. Eat your grits and bare it.

The eye is simply the better historian: it selects and compares and keeps space and time at a distance. The ear, by contrast, is completely engrossed by the present – Durs Grunbein – Bars of Atlantis, 2010  p117

Conformity is the counterpart of liberty and not injustice. There is no such thing as the liberty to conform; only the liberty to not conform

The Government argues that there are times when the interest of national security require the Government to mislead the Court. The Court strongly disagrees. The Government’s duty of honesty to the Court can never be excused, no matter what the circumstances. The Court is charged with the humbling task of defending the Constitution and ensuring that the Government does not falsely accuse people, needlessly invade their privacy or wrongfully deprive them of their liberty. The Court simply cannot perform this important task if the Government lies to it. Deception perverts justice. Truth always promotes it – Islamic Shura Council of S Cal vs FBI (9^th Cir Mar 30, 2011)

SWEETPEA

An inflated Popeye

            Would not Bluto

                        Make

As Olive Oyl shoots

                        Up

And Whimpie pays   

            Someone back

And just whose baby

            Are you anyway

            Sweetpea?

We deserve / more kindness / Than we give ourselves / To each other / we are gentle – Theodore Enslin – Then and Now – 1999 p38

Liberals feel that individuals need to be made free from the evils of society while conservatives believe that society must be made free from the evils of individuals – one belief could not exist without the other.

There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can’t remember what the second is – Mark Hanna

If life were a bee

Then life it would be

There is no crisis zone on the globe or in the mind were you don’t run into poets, no dirty work for which they consider themselves too fine or too romantic – Durs Grunbein – Bars of Atlantis, 2010 p110