We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
I've always been told that the pursuit of personal "identity" with its "personality integration" and "self-realization" was a distinctly modern and Western notion. Perhaps a too-precious conceit of artistes and suchlike.
In recent years, we have even used something called "identity diffusion" as a diagnostic marker. It's a thorny topic that very few people ever think about.
When I meet a new patient (or sometimes just a new person), I never ask "Who are you?" I just ask "Tell me about yourself" or "Tell me about your life." I once met a fellow who told me that he was an "unresolved self." He was one of the most pleasant, well-put-together people I have ever met.
It is often said that psychotherapy and psychoanalysis are about inventing comprehensible, presumably explanatory narratives. Well, our narratives change with time. We evolve with time and experience; sometimes with awareness of our flaws and sometimes with awareness of God.
In the car, Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition. The lecture on Pascal is mind-blowing, a math and physics genius who invented the first binary "computer," who gave his life to Christ. Also, the lecture on Francis Bacon, where the prof reviews Bacon's False Idols of Knowledge and Science (from The New Organum (1620):
- The Idol of the Tribe: the arrogance that comes from agreement with one's colleagues - The Idol of the Cave: bias coming from one's psychology and background, and the vanity of attachment to an idea - The Idol of the Marketplace of Words: Wherein words take the place of real knowledge. - The Idol of Theater: Our received philosophical and scientific views as given by tradition and authority
It's better than college. Buy them on sale, and don't pay the library prices. Or trade with friends and neighbors, as we do.
You will thank me for this free ad for them. We are reviewing the big topics we have forgotten, or didn't have time to take in school. Things we need a guide for. Lifelong learning, like lifelong fitness, is a cliche but for good reason.
For me, it makes anything tasty - including burgers. Great with cheese and cream cheese. All cheese requires some fruity accompaniment. Really fine as a meat glaze. Heck, I dip my breakfast hard-boiled egg in some, and put some on scrambled eggs. I put some on rice too. It's not for little children.
Are not just for breads and toast. I think, best of all with cheese and meat. Or cream cheese or yoghurt. Not to forget on crepes and Swedish Pancakes.And venison requires a jam or jelly on the side just as pork requires applesauce. Lean meats need a kicker.
Apple Butter
For me, best on ham, chicken, or turkey sammiches. Also good with the things listed here.
Lemon Curd
Supposedly used for scones, but I like it on fresh fruit or I won't eat the fruit - except raspberries
If I were to approach a person on the street and list off traits like "doesn’t drive," "needs food prepared," "needs help with the remote control," "needs people to bring her beverages," "has trouble remembering things,” and "doesn't pay her own bills" about someone anonymously, he wouldn’t think I was referring to a current presidential front-runner in the year 2015. He would think I was referring to his poor nana, whom he had to place in a home because she wouldn’t stop yelling at the lamp and was at risk of accidentally microwaving her dentures.
Nine Signs of the Impending American Collapse - The unmistakable signs of a disaster from which we would all suffer, the fall of the once-greatest nation on earth, have left me “shaken.”
Litchfield County is the quaintest, best-preserved antique corner of Connecticut. The area was well-settled in the early 1700s and, judging by the size and style of all of the old farmhouses, these were prosperous farmers.
In this area, most of the old farms have been converted to weekend estates for the 1%. The antique places are perfectly-maintained. Old barns everywhere, still looking good. Thanks for all that charm and beauty, 1%ers.
We went over there and took a drive through Southbury, Woodbury, Washington, and Washington Depot. Nice. We were en route to see the Hollister House Gardens in Washington (good pics on their site). Mrs. BD wanted to check it out and to maybe get some garden inspiration.
The garden "rooms" are strongly architectural with walls and hedges, lots of stone, while the plantings are a jumble - or maybe not - probably a well-planned jumble. Engish-style gardens, the sorts of gardens my Mom aspired to. It's the owner's life work.
We had an early supper at the GW Tavern. Good fish. Too much food. I'd put the place in the "Stuff-and-Waddle" category of restaurant, what my sister calls "Sticky Bun restaurants."
My pics of the garden below the fold might or might not inspire your gardening -
Now that I'm back to an empty nest, there is a greater need to fill time on the weekends. Which means more relaxation and fun for the wife and me. We went into the city for a walking tour through Central Park. I get to walk it whenever I want, since my office is only a block away and lunchtime strolls are normal. I found out she had never been to Strawberry Fields, so that was a stop along the way. In addition, we walked through the zoo and saw the seals, the statue of Balto, Literary Walk, The Mall, the statue of Balto, and a host of other sights which require only the time and energy to walk for 2 to 3 hours.
There were two things which I don't see much of, though. The first was a street show on The Mall. About 8 young men exhibiting their athleticism, performing gymnastic feats for a crowd they'd assembled. They must practice a lot, they were all perfectly timed, in great shape, and their sales pitch was hilarious and frequently done in unison. I was plucked from the crowd, along with 8 other men for a supposed athletic feat. I had a feeling it was as much a shakedown as it was my being part of the show, and I was right. I was fine with it, though. After all, I was part of the show for 15 minutes, and I spent another 15 minutes or so watching them as part of the crowd. I figure they collected about $400 for all 8 of them after a half hour of work. Lots of people handing over 10's and 20's. They aren't earning a living doing this, but it's a good way to fill time and make spare cash. We enjoyed watching (and being part of) their performance, even if it cost us $20. I'd have spent more at a comedy club or at the US Open (which I won't be attending for the first time in several years).
Then there was this guy (or gal - not sure), and I realized "walking the park is so much fun...you just never know who you're going to see." I think I'll leave defining normal to others. The pumps are a nice touch.
It's too bad that all of the peaches on a tree begin to ripen at once. I pick before ripe. Up here, it's September for peaches and pears, October for apples.
I have a pal coming over today to help me with the harvest, and we'll split the harvest. He cooks stuff too, another old farm boy. It's been an excellent year for fruit trees in general in the Northeast: frigid long winter, wet spring, hot summer.
Maybe Mrs. BD will make a few Peach Pies and tarts for friends and kids, and I'll can up some preserves and Peach Chutney. She is a crust-making expert And I will keep a bunch to ripen fully on the tree to eat. I am fond of fresh peach slices on vanilla ice cream. Aren't you?
2:1 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
2:2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
2:3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet,"
2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
2:6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court?
2:7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
2:8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
2:9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
2:11 For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
2:12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
2:13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?
2:15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,
2:16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
2:17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Unless you need to carry lots of stuff, kayaks have mostly taken over from canoes for water recreation. I grew up with rowboats. Kayaks are much more fun. Some links:
And death shall have no dominion. Dead men naked they shall be one With the man in the wind and the west moon; When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone, They shall have stars at elbow and foot; Though they go mad they shall be sane, Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion. Under the windings of the sea They lying long shall not die windily; Twisting on racks when sinews give way, Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break; Faith in their hands shall snap in two, And the unicorn evils run them through; Split all ends up they shan't crack; And death shall have no dominion.
And death shall have no dominion. No more may gulls cry at their ears Or waves break loud on the seashores; Where blew a flower may a flower no more Lift its head to the blows of the rain; Though they be mad and dead as nails, Heads of the characters hammer through daisies; Break in the sun till the sun breaks down, And death shall have no dominion.
I recently learned that artist John Grillo had died in December, aged 97. He worked in his studio until the day before he died. I knew last year that he didn't have long to go.
I have a couple of his watercolors, aiming for one more for my HQ before the prices get out of hand. Met him a few times in his old age. Crusty, ornery old Cape Codder, eager to make money from his work. A stroke barely slowed him down.
Our friends at the Cove Gallery were nice enough to assemble a bunch of his Circus pictures for us to look at. A master colorist.
We are now in the midst of the Hebrew month of Elul. This is the month of extra introspection to recognize the errors of our ways, and to publicly admit them and ask forgiveness from those we may have harmed, and correct our ill ways for the future. Elul leads up to the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, at which our fate is sealed for the coming year.
This poem, "The Guy In The Glass", by Dale Wimbrow is appropriate.
When you get what you want in your struggle for self, And the world makes you King for a day, Then go to the mirror and look at yourself, And what that guy has to say.
For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife, Who judgment upon you must pass. The feller whose verdict counts most in your life, Is the guy staring back from the glass.
He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest. For he's with you clear up to the end, And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test, If the guy in the glass is your friend.
You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years, And get pats on the back as you pass, But your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you've cheated the guy in the glass.
I've always been told that the pursuit of personal "identity" with its "personality integration" and "self-realization" was a distinctly modern and Western notion. Perhaps a too-precious conceit of artistes and suchlike.
Richard Gere on 
Are We Shifting to 
Photo is a recent one of your Editor laboring on the farm, even on Labor Day. There is no rest for the weary.
Get Grillin’! Common Grilling Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
I recently learned that artist John Grillo 
