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 saw that my three kids are a team. They are all quite different in interests, temperament, etc., but they support each other, help each other, enjoy each other, text each other, love each other. Bonded despite all of their differences in literary tastes and curiousnesses. Fortunately but probably not by accident, we all have dwellings within 40 miles of each other (2 have beginning NYC careers, and the third did but moved on/out). My theory is that every kid needs to confront NYC at least in youth. Good for humility if nothing else.
As readers know, I get a huge kick out of NYC. Have theater tix for next Sat., and dinner, which is good, but just wandering around is a blast for a country boy like me.
It is a comfort and a pleasure to a middle-aged fellow to see that they will remain a bonded family when we parents are dead and gone. I imagine their future Thanksgivings and Christmases, and maybe continuing the ritual Cape Cod family reunions with our annual family morning Wellfleet Triathlon with all of my sibs and any available kids (bike around 15 miles ending up at Long Pond, race across Long Pond and back maybe 1/2 mile or more and try not to drown, then run about 7 miles back home for a hearty breakfast. Better yet, to the Lighthouse for blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs). Family traditions are important life foundations. Body-surfing in the ocean in the cool north Atlantic. The annual family baseball was good too. Batter Up! My Mom at 84! She knew how to hit a baseball and to do lots of other things too.
Their being fond of, and grateful to, their parents is good too. Already, they will drop anything to give us a hand when needed. Blessed, I guess. Will do the same for them as best we can.
- He claims that the harder you exercise, the more your appetite tends to diminish. I find that to be true. He had to ask Mrs. BD to make sure I eat four bites of protein daily at the least, for nourishment. Like a hard-boiled egg or a slice of ham. I don't want it and I often don't do it. As I have reported, he works me quite hard so that I stumble out of there with weariness and muscles burning. I don't want to eat hardly anything anymore. He insists I have to have at least a small amount of carbs daily too, but I usually just don't want it. It's an interesting phenomenon. All I want is water and caffeine, and a little wholesome (organic) Indian tobacco. Before this process began, I was mostly ready for anything tasty (but nothing suqary) despite having no meaningful weight issue. Now, I have little appetite and can never come close to finishing a really nice restaurant meal. I try to force it to be sociable, but I can't do it. Everything is a doggy bag worth two more left-over suppers. We go out to places with friends often, weekly at least, and I feel embarrassed by how little delicious stuff I want.
- He seems to feel I can lose another few lbs or so, around my middle. I can see what he means, but my trousers are already trying to fall off. Says it can only be done by the right diet - meat and eggs, low carbs. No problem. He says people tend to feel that they have to finish their meals - whatever they are served - and thus lose their sense of what is sufficient. They ignore the moment when any hunger they may have felt is gone and disconnect from their bodies. Stop then. Don't just go on eating mindlessly until the thing is finished, as if somebody else was in control of you. "Clean your plate" was a Depression-era admonishment for children which created two generations of fat people. What is sufficient to maintain, even under a rigorous fitness program, is not very much as long as it is protein-heavy in proportion. Buffets are the worst.
- He says "Lite Aerobics," like fast walking, jogging, road bicycling, or 40 minutes on the elliptical or the treadmill, are better than sedentary but not valuable for building fitness, endurance, or for fat-burning. They can keep you mobile but not improve fitness. He says ten minutes of maximum-intensity aerobics is much better. For now, for my "off-days" he likes 10 min intense bike for warm-up, then a rest, then 10 mins intense elliptical, then maybe 5-10 mins intense rowing. Or 2 out of the 3, mix and match. Efficient exercise. I still cannot do 10 mins of intense elliptical but I can do "relaxed" elliptical for an hour. Waste of time, he says - and boring. I am also told by my doc that it is the intensity which burns a little fat, enhances endurance, and induces collateral cardiac supply (which will help you survive your first heart attack). Those are good things. Gotta feel the burn or it isn't worth your time. No pain, no gain. That applies to all exercise, apparently. Brief, high intensity for resistance or for cardio rather than time spent. My doc is in great shape.
- Factoid to remember: Even high-intensity aerobics, verging on anaerobic, will not burn your fat if you have carbs on board. Your body preferentially burns bagels over body fat. It's easier because carbs become sugar - cheap energy - during digestion. A bagel = sugar.
- Overloading muscles is the only way to improve strength. You injure your muscles, and they come back stronger. That strength is what improves endurance. A surprising amount of that "good" damage comes from the Eccentric Phase of weight exercises - not when you are pulling or pushing, but when you are doing the opposite in a slow, controlled fashion. He thinks I am ready for "Negative Reps." He advised me not to bother with high-rep exercises.
Well, it's all interesting physiology. Physiology is a fascinating topic.
Seen in a friend's driveway in CT this weekend. I always love to see snakes, even the poisonous ones we have around these parts - Copperheads and Rattlers. But this guy isn't that.
My Dad had good snake eyes. He once found us a baby Timber Rattler about 8" long.
I posted about the Cumberland Swing a few weeks ago. The good guy who makes those heavy swings for covered porches is excellent but has trouble finding time to make them. The Porch Swing Company makes similar ones for half the price. Perhaps not built for a 200-year life, but pleasant. Made by Amish.
A fun town to visit. Historic and salty. Been there a number of times. Excellent seafood restaurants, jolly pubs, comfortable antique hotels and B&Bs, and interesting architecture. Interestingly, also the oldest synagogue in America as was noted by George Washington. People like to visit the grand old "cottages" but they aren't too interesting to me although I guess you have to do it once.
A few friends of ours have recently bought weekend homes there. I don't want one but it is a pleasant location with plenty of good social activity around clubs and boats.
Salt Water New England - whoever she is - was there this week. Nice boat. Good photos. Too bad she didn't stop by the important and elegant Newport Flower Show where she might have met Mrs. BD and her good pals. Mrs. BD would have stayed longer for the parties, etc. but we have a wedding today. That magnificent show attracts people from all over the US and Europe and they even bus them in from the airport.
“Normative
sociology, the study of what the causes of problems ought to be,
greatly fascinates us all” - See more at:
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/06/normative-sociology.html#sthash.I4faI8Ij.dpuf
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth!
Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border-side, And he has lifted the Colonel's mare that is the Colonel's pride: He has lifted her out of the stable-door between the dawn and the day, And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away. Then up and spoke the Colonel's son that led a troop of the Guides: "Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides?" Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar: "If ye know the track of the morning-mist, ye know where his pickets are. At dusk he harries the Abazai -- at dawn he is into Bonair, But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare, So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a bird can fly, By the favour of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the Tongue of Jagai. But if he be past the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye then, For the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal's men.
I considered butterflied lamb, and considered short ribs. Finally decided to keep it simple - burgers on the barbie. I haven't done burgers on the grill yet this Spring.
We'll have three Dads (including me) and 10-12 people for lunch. I'm cooking. Fathers grill meat on Father's Day to signify their masculine hunter-gatherer role in life.
I like to server burgers with hard rolls, chips, and a platter of pickles, sliced onions, and sliced tomato. If somebody wants a cheeseburger, I'll use a slice of Saga Blue. Bowl of German potato salad from the market. Male cooking.
I'll probably grill up my usual platter of veggies too as a side: red peppers, onions, scallions, eggplant, mushroom, summer squash, all with browned or slightly-burnt parts and splashed with olive oil. People love my simple grilled vegetable mix and it makes excellent leftovers. I grill with charcoal + firewood.
When I do burgers, I never use lean meat. What's the point? I put the meat in a big bowl, stir it up with a little Worcestershire sauce or Soy sauce, plenty of ground pepper and Kosher salt, some garlic powder or dried onion soup mix, or sometimes a little herbed bread crumbs to hold the juices. I like them to come off the charcoal crunchy and dark on the outside and pink in the middle. Ten minutes or so, depending on the heat.
Beer, wine and bubbly water with some lime. Ketchup? You betcha. Made a batch of hot pepper jelly/relish for thems as got the nerve to try it. Hot as hell itself. Tasty on a burger. Some of my peach chutney too from last fall. Those condiments are good with anything.
We'll have a birthday cake for dessert, because we have one of those to take note of this week. Yellow cake with Mocha frosting. Except for the birthday, I would have cooked up a big Blackberry Cobbler for dessert. Even men can make that.
"He headed back to Woodstock when the tour wrapped and continued to work on the piece. "The first two lines, which rhymed 'kiddin' you' and 'didn't you,' just about knocked me out," he told Rolling Stone in 1988, "and when I got to the jugglers and the chrome horse and the princess on the steeple, it all just about got to be too much."
CHARLIE HEBDO WAS UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: Obama on Charleston shooting: “Let’s be clear —this kind of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.”
How to make weddings fun even in cheesy catering halls.
Crazy, bawdy lyrics of C'e La Luna Mezz'o Mare. "Marry the guy with the cucumber. " The singer has the real rough southern Italian peasant accent - wonderfully bad.
According to psychologist David Lisak, “the vast majority of sexual assaults on campuses, in fact over 90 percent, are being perpetrated by serial offenders.” These people, Lisak suggests, are not only “prolific” but calculating, too: “They’ve perfected ways of identifying who on campus, for example, are most vulnerable.”
Jindal went right to the top, taking aim at President Barack Obama."Find me an enemy he can name," Jindal said. "He won't say radical Islamic terrorist. He goes to the Coast Guard, at this military graduation, warns them about climate change. Now he can agree he's going to protect us from microwave popcorn and french fries.
"I've got a deal for the president," Jindal said. "I'll protect my kids from the Oreo cookies if he will do his job as commander in chief and protect us from the terrorists."
The design of anything is always an interesting topic. Bouquets, clothing, furniture, buildings. It's not just interesting for gays and females.
One of Mrs. BD's hobbies is floral design. She competes, seriously. She has seen tons of books on the topic but she recommends one short one which goes through the fundamentals: Balance, Emphasis, Harmony, Proportion, Rhythm, and Unity. Cool stuff:
It's not a "how to," it's more about the "what." The mechanics and the how-to are another complex topic but over the years I have learned a bit about that too as have most of the genial husbands of the garden club ladies.
I told her that my Mom got so deep into the art of it it that she finally quit it all in older age, and decided to just throw handfuls of wildflowers, daisies, and grasses in vases. However, with all of her training she knew how to do that with simplicity and taste.
Sailed on that fine ship several times as a youngster out of Pier 40 in Manhattan. Nobody has ever regretted taking at least one (non-military) trans-Atlantic ship crossing (well, excepting Titanic, Lusitania, Andrea Doria, etc.) Elegant ship, no stabilizers.
When you get out of a harbor, a tiny little boat comes out to take the harbor pilot back to port. Regardless of weather or seas. Trans-Atlantic all very cool, especially when you run into nasty weather.
The HAL's ad used to be "Getting there is half the fun." In my view, way more than half.
NYC: Hooray for the High Bridge -
Man Who 
Are Humanities Degrees Doomed? 
Photo: 
Photo from Sipp's 
The design of anything is always an interesting topic. Bouquets, clothing, furniture, buildings. It's not just interesting for gays and females.
The 
Photo from