We Hereby Firmly Resolve

 

2025 Resolutions

1.  Go to every Holy Day of Obligation, and that includes Sundays.

2.  Go to Confession, at least once during the year.

3.  Write for one hour.

4.  Read for one hour.

5.  Keep better track of all medication refills and doctor appointments.

6.  Walk for at least 20 minutes a day.

7.  Pay more strict attention to diet, both in types of food and hours.

8.  Order no more than one book a month.

9.  Shower every day.

10.                    Try to get a leg exerciser.

11.                    Clean one shelf or nook a day.

12.                    Play at least 1 DVD movie a day.

                   I’ve never been a big one for making resolutions (much less keeping them) but considering my condition I figure I’d better make a few this New Year’s. They are for the good of my body, mind, and spirit. I’ve been getting rather sloppy about my Holy Days of Obligation (days when Catholics are required to attend Mass and avoid work and recreation). And I’ve never been too compunctious about Confession. I’ve never needed any resolution about reading before, but I’ve gotten rather lazy in that department, and, well, it’s always been a struggle to sit down to write. The shower thing might seem a little off-putting, but with my sore knees and on cold mornings it’s kind of hard to bring myself to it every day, which I’m sure would be healthier. The walks and leg-exerciser (if I get the leg-exerciser it should cancel out the need for walks – easier on the knees) are there to help circulation, and closer attention to diet (I’ve gotten better, but need to really crack down) should help in many ways. That should help financially, as will being more careful what books I order. As for the movies – I have tons of DVDs that just sit gathering dust on the shelves. Having one going on in the background (at least) should (at least) give the illusion of use (at least). Cleaning everything in my house at once is too tremendous; taking things in little increments is less overwhelming.  

                    So I begin 2025 with good intentions, at least. It’s a toss-up how long I can keep them. But I started practicing them today, and so far, so good. 

The End of the Year: 2019 Diary

 

12/26/2019: Fast away the old year passes. Up at 6:30 AM and showered. Now prayers, catechism, and Bible. Went in at 9 AM and got the stuff to make Kam bacon and eggs; also grabbed a couple of deviled eggs and made myself two ham sandwiches [Christmas leftovers]. John sent me an e-mail talking about their Christmas; good except 2 of their dogs got out of their pen and killed 2 of his cats. I sent him an e-mail about my Christmas. Straightened up the guest house and just about ready for a nap at 11:40 AM. Day gray but warm; door and window open.

Went in at 1 PM and Kam hadn’t eaten his eggs and bacon yet. I let out the Chis to grass, and ate a couple of ham sandwiches, pea salad, and deviled eggs. At 4 PM I let them out again, fed the pets, and made corn on the cob. Froze the ground turkey (it still looked and smelled good) and put the ham in the freezer as well. Made myself some mashed potatoes and gravy and three rolls for supper. Rosary at 6 PM. A not too good “Happy New Year, Charlie Brown” (1986) on tonight. I’m kind of distracted by figuring out how to get to Office Max and then Walmart tomorrow, or if I should wait until next week.

I went in at 8 PM to clean up, and S&A told me I need to be at home tomorrow to let the exterminator in, so no shopping for me. Also, I need to have the Rotts and the Chis in my house; the Chis in the bathroom, and the Rotts just loose, with Kam to keep an eye on them. So tomorrow I have to do what I can to dog-proof the guest house.

 

12/27/2019: Up about 6 AM; prayers, catechism, and Bible. Worked on what I could about safeguarding wires and such and setting up blockades. Last night I put away my Christmas things [including a display of Christmas action figures]; nobody ever saw them, but the good thing about setting them up is that they are now in good sorting. The cranky head elf from Rudolph lost his head this year. About 11 AM I got the Chis in, then about 11:30 AM got Kam in, then let the Rotts in, then at noon went to sit on the porch. S&A came, and a little later the exterminator. I let the Rotts back out at 1:30 PM, took the Chis in, then grassed and fed the pets at 4 PM. Kam hung out in the guest house until 8 PM. I prayed a rosary then went to bed.

 

12/28/2019: Up about 6 AM, prayers, catechism and Bible; got dressed and watched a little TV (TCM). At about 7:15 AM I heard it raining (contrary to the weather report just 30 minutes ago; when I looked it had changed) which puts my plans to go to Office Depot back a bit. It opens at 9 AM today, anyway, and that’s exactly how long chances of rain are. It’s such a schlep and my legs aren’t feeling great. I could wait until Monday when the bus should be running, but I feel antsy and want to get it out of the way. And then spend a little money on good cheer, while there’s still a chance of eggnog and fruitcake. Ah, me. There is a slim possibility that John might want to do something.

I decided that yes, I would go to Office Depot, and set off at 9 AM. It was cloudy and windy, but the rain had stopped. I had got as far as the automotive store when a nice lady flagged me down and asked if I wanted a ride. She and her mother drove me first to Office Depot (where I very quickly got my Word 365 card), then dropped me off at Walmart, even saying she would wait till I was done. But since I wasn’t sure how long I would take I urged her on her way and said God Bless You. I went in and got some stuff ($17 worth on the card) including eggnog, taquitos, and stuffing, then walked home. They had a complete Adventure Time DVD set, and if I had had enough money (it was something like $89) I would have bought it and given the rest of my AT DVDs to the kids. It was quite a slog back, but I made it (11 AM), then ate the taquitos and drank the eggnog and watched a bunch of Simpsons. It’s now 1 PM and I’m ready for a nap. Up at 3:30 PM and thinking about getting lottery tickets.

Decided no, let it ride a while. It has been so dark, damp, and dull today, and now at 6 PM the train whistles of gloom are blowing in the air. The right side of my head seems full of something; perhaps it is an infection from my cronked tooth. At least I have food, and for that I should be grateful. Made myself stuffing with clam chowder. Prayed rosary a little after 8 PM.

 

12/29/2019: Got up about 6 AM and wrote down a few fragments of dreams. That led me to proofread the first month of this Diary, which only left me time for prayers, then getting dressed and leaving for church. Used 2 canes, as my walking yesterday left me in pain. Sermon on the Holy Family. Went to the restroom afterwards, then took a strange route to get to Family Dollar. Perhaps it was so I could give a dollar to a poor fellow on the street, who claimed to be passing through, hadn’t had any water for three days, had his phone stolen. I got a few groceries and went home. It looks like at least S&A are gone (the wrecker’s out). Watched The Flintstones (Dino arrives – talking, and “Happy Anniversary” on the stolen piano), then The Simpsons (Futurama crossover), and ready for a nap, having eaten an apple and a bag of sugar wafers and straightened up the house and finished my catechism and Bible reading. Weather clear, cool, and sunny. 11:50 AM.

About 12:20 PM Susan called to confirm what we needed for chicken soup. I went in to get some ramen, then took some of my recycling out. When Susan got back, she brought out the two boxes of Pumpkin Delights, and I ate the last deviled eggs and pea salad.

At 3:47 PM I sent John this e-mail; though I think they are out of town:

“Hope you're enjoying a little down time now. Did you get to see The Nutcracker with everyone else?

“I myself took the rather insane route yesterday of going over to the Office Depot and getting a renewal card for my Microsoft Word 365, then swinging by Walmart to get some good grub (including eggnog). It was pretty gray and grim, but I'm feeling calm now that I've got the card, and don't have to fight the temptation to spend up all my money before I could renew. There was a complete all-seasons package of Adventure Time that I am sure would have been very tempting (I lack the last 3 seasons) if I hadn't already made my sensible purchase. The DVD section of Walmart has really shrunk. Did you notice? Today the weather is rather grand, and my leg is telling me I maybe should have waited till Monday, but I'm not sure if the bus is running then. Anyway, it's all settled now.

“I've been spending some time editing my Dream Journal (as I mentioned) and my Diary (for form, not content). It's been quite a year. I've cooked cabbage and taters about 50 times!“

About 7 PM, since I know there are no new Sunday shows, I took a look at Netflix and decide to watch “The Two Popes”. Eh, it’s okay; anything with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathon Pryce is bound to be pretty good. I take a little break and go in to look at the work on Kameron’s room; it’s progressing very well. Finish show at about 9 PM.  Bed not long after.

 

12/30/2019: Awake at 4 AM and decide to go ahead and start the day. Prayers, catechism, and Bible; finish the Gospel of John. I think I’ll shower now and get dressed. The right side of my head still feels muzzy and my right ear feels stuffed; could use some hydrogen peroxide, perhaps.

Showered, dressed, dug a lot of gunk out of my right ear, and moved a lot of shirts from the closet to the empty tall drawers between the bookshelves behind the couch. Now have more room and more hangers in the closet.  

Later in the morning Kameron came in about 9 AM after I had peeled him an apple. His stomach was feeling poorly, so he brought the Chis in with him to the guest house and he stayed with me all day. Eventually as the day wore on, he started feeling better and was able to eat crackers. Later in the afternoon I started the chicken soup (with rice, carrots, and dumplings. As the evening wore on Kam was able to eat some soup, have a few Pumpkin Delights, and some of my Cherry 7Up. We watched “Klaus” and “Jim Carrey’s Grinch” on Netflix, and later Kam watched “Almost Heroes” on his computer. Ginger peed on the floor, but who can blame her? Went into a patchy sleep somewhere along the line.

 

12/31/2019: New Year’s Eve, and last day of the decade. Up about 5 AM and Kameron going along merrily awake as usual. I typed down some notes on my dreams, and then we talked about dreams awhile. I decided I was up and said my prayers, read catechism and Bible. Caught up the Diary.

Made ramen. Kam finally went to sleep about 7:30 AM. And he got up at 1 PM. I grassed the Chis and took them in, and then we gathered up his stuff and took him inside, peeling him an apple. At 3 PM I went in and found Susan was home. I went in at 4 PM and fed the pets, then made Kam a couple of pickle and peanut butter folded. At 5 PM watched 2 episodes of the Flintstones and then some House.

Rosary at 7:30 PM. Went in at 8 PM and got some ramen. Kam called soon thereafter and ordered taquitos, TX toast, corndogs, and another peanut butter pickle sandwich. Just remembered that perhaps I should make a “Last Drawing of 2019”; it may very well be my first of the year as well.  

Notes: Of course, the Chis and the Rotts are the Chihuahuas and the Rottweilers, who coexisted very nicely. We were on quite a peanut butter and pickle run there for a while, a combination unknown to us when I was a kid. They were giving Kameron’s room an overhaul for the New Year; he’s almost as much a packrat as I am. The Last Drawing of the Year is something of a tradition that John and I keep up. I used to draw quite often but my arthritis makes it hard to hold a pencil steady. My creative endeavors tend more to writing these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGEBTsR4V1Y

Acknowledgements

 

Into the Archive: Serious Business

Cancer Ward, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1969 Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)

"Cancer Ward tells the story of a small group of patients in Ward 13, the cancer ward of a hospital in Tashkent, Soviet Uzbekistan, in 1955, two years after Joseph Stalin's death. A range of characters are depicted, including those who benefited from Stalinism, resisted, or acquiesced. Like Solzhenitsyn, the main character, the Russian Oleg Kostoglotov, spent time in a labor camp as a "counter-revolutionary" before he was exiled to Central Asia under Article 58.

The plot focuses on a group of patients as they undergo crude and frightening treatment in a squalid hospital. Writer and literary critic Jeffrey Meyers writes that the novel is the "most complete and accurate fictional account of the nature of disease and its relation to love. It describes the characteristics of cancer; the physical, psychological, and moral effects on the victim; the conditions of the hospital; the relations of patients and doctors; the terrifying treatments; the possibility of death." Kostoglotov's central question is what life is worth, and how we know if we pay too much for it. – Extracts from Wikipedia.

I have been trying to grow my familiarity with the work of Solzhenitsyn so I was pleased to find this copy for $20 at our library’s used book shop. The publishing history of Cancer Ward is fraught: it first came out as samizdat (self-publishing, without state approval in the USSR) with various unauthorized translations in the UK (Bodley Head) and the US (Dial Press) following soon. I am not sure what the status of this copy is; first authorized American edition? The bookplate inside says it belonged to ‘The C. R. Spences’ and there was a magazine review clipping from ‘SR’ (Southern Review of Books?) November 9, 1968 to help confuse dating. Hard cover.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1965; first Vintage International Edition 1994)

“In Cold Blood is a non-fiction novel by the American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 Clutter family murders in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas.

“Capote learned of the quadruple murder before the killers were captured, and he traveled to Kansas to write about the crime. He was accompanied by his childhood friend and fellow author Harper Lee, and they interviewed residents and investigators assigned to the case and took thousands of pages of notes. The killers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, were arrested six weeks after the murders and later executed by the state of Kansas. Capote ultimately spent six years working on the book.

“In Cold Blood was an instant critical and commercial success. Considered by many to be the prototypical true crime novel, it is also the second-best-selling book in the genre's history, behind Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter (1974) about the Charles Manson murders. Some critics also consider Capote's work the original non-fiction novel, although other writers had already explored the genre.” – Wikipedia.

Capote is another writer I’ve been interested in for a while, though I have never been too compunctious about getting his books. The fact that they had two copies there seemed to be a hint that now might be the time to expand. It’s a little battered but was only $2 and in a very readable softcover form.

Kim, by Rudyard Kipling (1901; this Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics Edition, 29^th Printing 1989)

“Kim is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India. "The book presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road." The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The novel popularized the phrase and idea of the Great Game.

 “The story is set after the Second Anglo-Afghan War (which ended in 1881), but before the Third (fought in 1919), probably in the period of 1893 to 1898.

“Kim (Kimball O'Hara) is the orphaned son of an Irish soldier (Kimball O'Hara Sr., a former colour sergeant) and a poor Irish mother (a former nanny in a colonel's household) who have both died in poverty. Living a vagabond existence in India under British rule in the late 19th century, Kim lives by begging and running small errands on the streets of Lahore. He occasionally works for Mahbub Ali, a Pashtun horse trader who is one of the native operatives of the British secret service. Kim is so tanned and immersed in the local culture that few realise he is white.

“Kim befriends an aged Tibetan lama on a quest to free himself from the Wheel of Things by finding the legendary "River of the Arrow". Kim becomes his chela (disciple) and accompanies him on his journey, initially walking along the Grand Trunk Road. On the way, Kim learns about the Great Game and is recruited by Mahbub Ali to carry a message to the head of the British Secret Service in Umballa.” -Wikipedia. And so on.

Kipling is another familiar author I’ve wanted to expand into, and Kim seems the logical next step. Is it a kid’s book or not? It is about a kid. “Roger Sale, in his history of children's literature, concludes "Kim is the apotheosis of the Victorian cult of childhood, but it shines now as bright as ever, long after the Empire's collapse..." Sounds intriguing enough for me.

The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden (1960; Thirteenth Dell Printing, January 1976). A Dell Yearling Book.

“On an early summer evening, Mario Bellini finds a cricket chirping near his parents' newsstand in the Times Square subway station. Papa Bellini allows Mario to keep the cricket in the newsstand as a pet despite Mama Bellini's fear that the cricket will attract more bugs.

“The cricket's name is Chester. That evening, Chester meets Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, best friends who live in an abandoned drainpipe near the newsstand. Chester tells them that he is from Connecticut and that he came to New York by being accidentally trapped in a picnic basket. Tucker and Harry show him Times Square, which he finds overwhelming.” – Wikipedia.

Now this copy might be considered a re-buy, as I have a very wrinkled paperback already, and this is a nice pristine soft-cover copy. I first read it back when I was in McQueeney Elementary. It became quite a series: “There were several sequels; Selden wrote six sequels to the book: Tucker's Countryside (1969), Harry Cat's Pet Puppy (1974), Chester Cricket's Pigeon Ride (1981), Chester Cricket's New Home (1983), Harry Kitten and Tucker Mouse (1986), and The Old Meadow (1987).” As you can see, most were published at a time when I was not following new children’s literature. I did get a hardback of Tucker’s Countryside (now in the Shadow Library) and they had a copy of Chester Cricket’s New Home there at the bookshop that I passed by. Chuck Jones adapted the original book into a half-hour animated special (April 1973), followed by two sequels, A Very Merry Cricket (1973) and Yankee Doodle Cricket (1975).

Going for $150 on Amazon. It figures.

The Shadow Library: Mark Twain Said It All

All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few except the “elect” have seen it, or, at least, taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me, it is such a pretentious affair, and yet so “slow,” so sleepy; such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print. If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle—keeping awake while he did it was, at any rate. If he, according to tradition, merely translated it from certain ancient and mysteriously-engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out-of-the-way locality, the work of translating was equally a miracle, for the same reason.

The book seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history, with the Old Testament for a model; followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint, old-fashioned sound and structure of our King James’s translation of the Scriptures; and the result is a mongrel—half modern glibness, and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained; the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern—which was about every sentence or two—he ladled in a few such Scriptural phrases as “exceeding sore,” “and it came to pass,” etc., and made things satisfactory again. “And it came to pass” was his pet. If he had left that out, his Bible would have been only a pamphlet.

…

The Mormon Bible is rather stupid and tiresome to read, but there is nothing vicious in its teachings. Its code of morals is unobjectionable—it is “smouched” from the New Testament and no credit given.

-         Mark Twain, from Roughing It, Chapter 16

["smouched" = to get by stealing or trickery; filched; pilfered]

 

My Christmas 2024

Snow 1973

Every Christmas is much the same; every Christmas is very different. My Christmas this year was very calm and very quiet. It has long been a tradition at Nolte Street that Susan and Andy and their kids and their kids’ spouses would gather, first for a breakfast of pancakes, fried eggs, and bacon, which I would prepare in enormous quantities, and then we would all open presents. Well, this year they all went to gather at Kaitlyn and Ryan’s house in San Antonio, which is most appropriate as that is where the little kids are. I stayed at home, as I could not really travel in their vehicle (too high, and I felt a little too queasy for the trip); I didn’t have to cook, and I was able to keep an eye on the house.

Susan, Andy, and Kameron returned in the late afternoon, and we all left to eat supper at the Grand Buffet Restaurant (Chinese, Japanese, and Asian cuisine). As it was one of the few eateries open at Christmas, you can imagine it was doing a brisk business. I got a fortune cookie at the end of the meal, of course. My fortune read “You will soon receive a gift with great gratitude.” And for once the fortune came true, soon, and in spades.

Returning home we settled down and opened our Christmas presents. I received $100, a 1 pound 12 ounce fruitcake, and a microwave from Susan and Andy (they just found out I’d been doing without a microwave for almost a year). That was surprising and appreciated and received with quite a bit of gratitude. But I also got a couple of books as gifts.

Beowulf: Translation and Commentary, Revised and Expanded, Translated by Tom Shippey, Edited by Leonard Neidorf (Uppsala Books, 2024). The main body is the poem Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon, and on alternate pages is Shippey’s translation, informed by his decades-long study of the poem. Almost 200 pages (a little under half of the 430-page length) are notes and appendices. I am pleased as punch to get this book; my appreciation of Tom Shippey has deepened over the past year. Besides being a reading experience, it adds to my pile of both Shippey and Beowulf books.

A Dictionary of Tolkien, by David Day (Thunder Bay Press, 2024?) Well, yet another sausage grind from his The Tolkien Bestiary, The A-Z of Tolkien, and Tolkien: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. On the other hand, it does claim to have some new writing and there are a few new illustrations (of no great skill or distinguished quality). While I confess that it has always been hard to capture a likeness of the Professor, it has the worst portrait of him I have ever seen. It is a beautifully bound book, and its size is much more handleable than my old Tolkien Bestiary, whose cover is starting to crumble. And it has a bookmark! All-in-all, I am pleased to have it, although it is not something I would have bought myself (don’t particularly want to put any more money in Day’s coffers). But it is still Tolkien, for a certain value of Tolkien. I wouldn’t rely on it as a source, but it is a good-looking book. And I do love expanding my Tolkien Archive.  So on the balance, yes, I am grateful and happy to receive it, though it may not exactly sound like it (lot of qualifiers there!).

Taking a Holiday

 

Washed-Out Christmas Memories

 

Not all Christmas specials have had the wide popularity and repeated viewings of the Rankin/Bass specials, or Charlie Brown, or the Grinch. Here are three (kind of obscure?) ones that are a tickle in my memory, that still at least evoke the milieu of my childhood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZWKAynlzs

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper (1978), by Chuck Jones. Jones created a dog for the dolls, Raggedy Arthur, who went on to become an established feature of the Raggedy franchise. Raggedy Ann and Andy (June Foray and Daws Butler) must foil Alexander Graham Wolf (who looks and talks like Wile E. Coyote but has a red nose like Ralph Wolf) who wants to encase every toy in an unbreakable plastic coating called Gloopstik, which will make them last forever but will make them unplayable. Talk about Mint-in-Box. After Arthur is encased in Gloopstik, they find that love will break the material. Wolf repents his ways and leaves before Santa can discover his schemes. Santa and his elves are all designed in Jones’s ultra cutesy style; in fact, I find the whole special most interesting to me as an example of the famous animator’s work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-pfUjNvtVs

Before there was A Christmas Story (1983), there was A Christmas Story (1972), an animated special by Hanna-Barbera. Goober the dog and Gumdrop the mouse find Timmy’s unmailed letter to Santa and must deliver it before Christmas. Three songs in the special were later re-used in the 1977 A Flintstone Christmas and another in the 1980 Yogi’s First Christmas. It came out the same year as HB’s The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn’t; both have that early Seventies vibe to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vmQe72ozeA

The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas (1973) was produced by Depatie-Freleng and aired on NBC. Ted E. Bear (Tommy Smothers) is curious about Christmas and decides to go in search of it, rather than conform and hibernate like all of the other bears. By the time he reaches the human world and a house where they celebrate Christmas, he falls asleep under the tree and becomes a little girl’s teddy bear present. I always wondered what would happen when he woke up. Also with the voices of Arte Johnson, Casey Kasem, and Robert Holt (look him up, he had quite a cartoon career).

Christmas 2019 Diary

12/19/2019: Up about 5:40 AM and wrote down dream. Caught up diary. Face the goal of at least 7 pages today. Prayers, catechism, and Bible. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on AMC; saw bits. At 9 AM made Kam eggs and bacon, and then my own ramen. Saw him off at 11:40 AM and grassed the dogs. Susan brought Andy sick home at lunch and Kam came home early (last day before Christmas vacation) and I grassed the dogs again. Ramen and broccoli salad for lunch. Managed to write two more pages, then gave up. Day nice and clear, and not so cold. About 4 PM I straightened up the back yard some, then went in to feed the pets and grass the Chis, and Andy asked me to uncover the plants on the porch and Nanny’s plant [what you might call a legacy bush, transplanted from our grandmother’s years ago; the last big freeze finally killed it, despite everything they tried]. Nanny’s plant put up quite a fight, but I managed it. Went in and later Susan brought me a Monterey Melt from Whataburger. Watched most of “The Fourth Wise Man”. I went to bed about 9 PM.

 

12/20/2019: Up about 5:30 AM, wrote down dream and caught up diary. At 6:30 AM began prayers, catechism, and Bible. Writing in the morning is the way to go, thinks I.

 "One can't help saying with the Russian philosopher - 'How is one to know what one doesn't know?' " --Ivan Turgenev, The Diary of a Superfluous Man.

Went in at 9 AM and confirmed that Kam was going to school again, but for short hours. Peeled him an apple, got my ramen, and went out. Finished up my pages (slightly over 21, as it turned out). Got Kam off to school (weather grey, cool, and with a drop or two in the air), then came in, finished out a paragraph, and sent it off to John at 11 AM, 2 hours earlier than I promised. So that’s that for a while. Kam said he’s bringing back food project food later.  I need to decide if I should go to DG today or tomorrow or have John take me to HEB and catch the bus back. All’s I know is that I want me some eggnog.

S&A came home for lunch (unusual for a Friday) and Kameron called me when he got near home. So they were here when I struggled outside (with a towel for mud and my trash to take out and an umbrella in hand (which I knocked down a ton of swords and canes in the closet to get). By the time I was outside Kam was already halfway down the driveway. I took the heavy basket and he brought in the tin of popcorn. After we got the food put away, they left, and I went back to the guest house. Later about 2 PM I went in for a couple of apples, an orange, and a grapefruit. It just struck 3 PM and I’ve been waiting 2 hours for John to get back to me about the writing; I hope he didn’t think I meant 1 PM when I meant 1 AM as the time I’d have the writing sent in by. I went out to the porch at about 3:20 PM on the off-chance, and while there one of those spam calls happened. While looking to delete it, I noticed a voicemail. John had called me and the stupid phone had gone to voicemail, even after I had waited all afternoon for this very call. Not three minutes later John drives up. He gives me the $20 cash, and a $25 Walmart card as a bonus, then we start talking. Mostly about reading and writing. He’s reading The Archipelago Gulag and enjoying it quite a bit. I tell him I am reading ‘Taras Bulba’ and Turgenev’s short stories, and Proust on and off. Finally, he has to get to work; he’ll be off next week, except Thursday. I go in to feed the animals and grass the Chis, then I go in with the leftover cabbage.

I find I can’t face the cold cabbage while I have any alternatives, so I eat the citrus fruit and candy corn while I can. Later I pick the potatoes and mushrooms out of the cabbage and eat them. I spend the evening flipping between Christmas specials and South Park and TMC movies. The Shanafelts left in the evening to watch the newest Star Wars movie – good Lord, I had to go back and look up the title, “Rise of Skywalker”, even though it has been plastered everywhere for the past 2 months; it’s such a non-event to me. Rosary at 9 PM. I hit the hay about 10 PM.

 

12/21/2019: Woke up a little after 3 AM and found this from John: Wow! That was delightful! Fun, fascinating- I haven't a clue where the plot is going, but I'm certainly hooked into it. Philo is a cool and unique little character.  The various reactions are coloring in your characters nicely as well. I love that rather than the horror of the supernatural, or the diabolic, the newbies are encountering the mysterious and odd, (although for all I know it can go in a different direction from here) , it is an aspect of phenomenological study that is fascinating and unnerving at the same time. I can see why you had a lot of fun with this. Very well done, my boy! By the way- was it Thomas Hardy you were trying to summon earlier? His name popped into my head a little while ago.

I replied: As for where the plot is going - not for this chapter, but for the book in general - keep your eyes on that cat!😉 Mr. Wheeler (I may speak of him, since he is gone from the narrative) is loosely based - at least his head is - on Andrew Klavan. And the author who I was trying to think of, and who popped into my head just as I was reading your e-mail, was Anthony Trollope, the studious and somewhat stodgy, important, less-colorful-and-thus-less-appealing than Dickens to modern audiences ... in short, the Gooper [elder brother in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof] of the Victorian authors. No wonder I couldn't recall him right away, even though I've enjoyed what I've read of his. But I don't feel compelled to read much of his vast body of works, though I have many waiting in the Kindle wings.

So I sat down and caught up my diary, put these e-mails in, and ponder whether I should lay down again, or get the day started. I want to be at DG when it opens at 8 AM.

I went ahead and laid down, slept till about 7 AM, got up, prayed, catechism, Bible, then headed out about 7:50 AM. Went in got stuff at DG, $11 worth; returned and ate a bunch of egg nog rolls and some Tortillas with salsa verde, and a tube of Pringles. House is on. Should I go to FD to get some Big Red? 10 AM right now.

Watched House until 1 PM. In the meantime, Kelsey called, and so I found everyone was headed out to the Shanafelt Family Christmas party down the street; later I found out they were using the front yard as a parking lot. I laid down and napped until about 3:45 PM, then I walked over to FD and got a couple of jugs of Big Red, and two more tubes of Pringles. Clicking between Harry Potter and The Simpson’s; a kind of a deserted day, when you know that everybody else (probably including KT and KS&RH) are off partying and haven’t even stuck their head in to say hello yet. It’s 5 PM, and I hear them coming home.

Rosary about 6 PM. Star Wars everywhere on TV and YT. Flipping from “Revenge of the Sith” to Simpsons. Had ramen about 8 PM, jazzed up with salsa verde and tortillas. What I’m really craving is meat and cheese. Now about 9:30 PM and considering hitting the hay soon, if the jug of Big Red I’ve consumed will let me sleep. No-one at all has come out to even say hello, but then, why would they? Nice attitude, Shleprock [the depressive character from The Pebbles and Bam-Bam Show].  10:30 PM made new playlist: On the March.

 

12/22/2019: Up at 1 AM and decided that while I was awake to go ahead and say my prayers, read the catechism, and then the Bible. Took a shower, and now it’s almost 2 AM. Will try in a bit to get more sleep.

Finally got to sleep about 3 AM, after worrying about church schedule for about an hour and not finding the answer anywhere. Drat my sieve-like memory. Awake at 6:30 AM, and got dressed, determined to abide the adventure and go as usual. Got dressed and ready to leave at 7 AM.

Glad I went ahead and went, because it was church as usual. And I actually had two dollars for the collection. A nice sermon on St. Joseph. Home a little after 9 AM, and made some more salsa tortilla ramen for breakfast, and watched several Simpsons. Now 11 AM. Andy came out and got me and I helped Susan make the holiday shopping list. Hurray! Finally saw Kelsey.

Ben Shapiro’s cousin played “Matilda”!

I only realized a couple of days ago that the “Teens” of the 21^st century would soon be over. That means one-tenth of a hundred years ended. It’s gone by so fast! In other years ending with ‘9’ I would have been thinking about it on and off all year; this time, what does the calendar really mean to me? [ I remember in 1979 I filled a little purple bottle with ‘Seventies Air’; that lasted about 3 days before I opened it again] Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’, into the future. 

Kept thinking all day I might get a visit from Kelsey, or at least they’d bring me some leftovers, but no dice. I did get to sew up Susan’s Christmas shirt at 10:30 PM, though. I don’t know if it was my hands or the wonkiness of the hole (I could use a table and a strong light over it, but the kitchen table is covered with cookie jars [Susan’s hobby]) but the stitching wasn’t my best.  I vacillate: tomorrow walk to Walmart and catch the bus home or rely on a ride? Or just do nothing? Did a little bit of writing, on my school memoir and a sci-fi tale. Watched the new FXX version of “A Christmas Carol”. They managed to turn Mrs. Cratchit into a mystical mumbo-jumbo mama and eliminate any boring old ideas about redemption out of the story. Lots of swearing and a little nudity. What would poor Charlie think?

 

12/23/2019: Dear Father in Heaven, here, at Christmas, we think of Jesus, the new life that is continuously being born in our hearts in the Bethlehem of this world, through which we pass for only a short time. Here we pause with angels and animals, wise men and simple folk, and most of all with family, to marvel over the greatest gift and mightiest work we could ever receive: Himself, and in Him, You. May we not pack Him away with the ornaments for another year or throw Him unheeded onto the pile of our possessions, but always hold Him dear and enjoy Him every day of our lives, and at last join with You in the joyous family gathering and eternal glad morning that is Heaven. Amen.

--composed right after I woke up and finished at 7:11 AM. Then said prayers, read catechism, and Bible. Now 7:41 AM. Ate apples and the last of the coconut macaroons.

Went in at 9AM and started my wash and grabbed some ramen. “The Maltese Falcon” on at 10 AM; at about 10:20 AM Kelsey knocked on the door and asked me to watch the Chis whom she had let out in the backyard. She was heading home. The Chis escaped to the front yard and I followed and was able to say goodbye to Kelsey again, then put my wash in the dryer and peeled Kam an apple. Listened to GGACP.

The rest of the day – well, folded my wash, dipped in and out of the Simpsons Marathon, had cheese tortillas for lunch. At 4 PM grassed the dogs and fed the pets; made salmon rings, couscous, and riced cauliflower for supper. I had my cauliflower and couscous with ramen.  Rosary at 7 PM; made Kam supper. Watched some of “The Shop Around the Corner.” Read more Turgenev. Bed about 10 PM.

 

12/24/2019: Christmas Eve. Up about 6 AM. Prayers, catechism, and Bible. Watched “The Boy Who Became Santa Claus”.  Went in at 9 AM and started boiling eggs. Then started putting the pea salad together. Finished that at 10 AM and began making the deviled eggs. Finished that at 11 AM. Cleaned up, came in and finished eating breakfast. At 1 PM I plan to make the cheesecake, and that’s all the prep I need for today.

So, I went ahead and started the cheesecakes a little after 12 Noon and finished (with washing up and taking out the recyclables) at 1 PM. Now nothing between me and Christmas Vigil Mass at 4 PM but getting dressed and walking over there. Must remember to fast.

I got dressed and left at 3 PM and got home at 5:30 PM. It was quite a nice service, including a pageant by the children. On my walk home talked to a nice couple going into St. Andrews. On coming home K&RT’s dogs are here, so I guess they are too.

I felt good over the evening, and over the time I set up a few of the Christmas action figures to make things look seasonal. Bed fairly early, after a rosary.

 

12/25/2019: Christmas day. Up about 6 AM, got dressed, prayers, catechism, and Bible. Went in at 7 AM and started making Christmas breakfast: bacon, pancakes, and fried eggs. “Otto, the Ugliest Christmas Egg [there’s always one left to the end].” Kelsey and Ryan came about 8 AM, then we all gathered for breakfast (including Kaitlyn and her Ryan). Cracked one of my back tooth-stumps on a bit of hard bacon and it nagged all day, but not insuperably so. Then we gathered in the living room for presents.  $100 dollars for me, and a new coat with a hood (just what I’ve been needing for years). We all lolled around watching Christmas movies. RH had to leave a little early, and Kelsey later. Then at about noon I started making the ham, boiling the bone for gravy (which made some of the best gravy for years, I think), preparing the rolls, and later (I had forgotten) opening a can of cranberry sauce. We ate at about 2 PM, then sat outside with the dogs a while, watched more movies (The Grinch – Jim Carey edition), and then cheesecake. Kaitlyn and Ryan packed up and headed out by 4:30 PM. It is almost 5 PM, and I’m ready to lay down for a bit.

Taras Bulba

Kenny called about 6:30 PM and he and his family wished me a Merry Christmas. They were having a “Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra” Christmas supper after he finished worked today. I asked him if he’d read my new chapters, and he said he and Isabel were reading them together. When I went in to pass along his greetings to S&A, they had just finished trying to eat more supper, but were still too full. I myself was still feeling full, but I agreed to finish off what they couldn’t, and it was a nice little “filling up of corners” as the hobbits say. Came in and finished reading “Taras Bulba” then said the Rosary at 8 PM. Then I tried to sleep but kept waking up (a jug of Big Red will do that) and at last I woke about 11:50 PM and caught the diary up. What will tomorrow look like? Well, some yummy leftovers and Kam asked for bacon and eggs.

I found Taras Bulba to be rather horrible, with the nominally Orthodox Cassock protagonists filled with a rather pagan vigor, stealing and subsisting on the work of the Catholic Poles and the Jewish people while despising them both. While the punishments the Poles meted out to the Cossacks were brutal, you can understand why, when you read about how this pirate band raids and pillages on the flimsiest of pretenses. Of course, this is Gogol's fictional account.

Sheesh. I just took a minute to write down a dream and then spent 2 hours proof-reading the 2019 Dream Journal. Now almost 2:30 AM.

 

The DVD Archive: March of the Wooden Soldiers

 

Babes in Toyland (1934). AKA March of the Wooden Soldiers

I was going over several Christmas movies in my head, and I was surprised that I hadn’t listed March of the Wooden Soldiers among my DVDs. I was further surprised when I found out I hadn’t listed it anywhere on the blog. So here it is. It is almost by courtesy a holiday movie, played around both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It has gone by many titles. It is both a Laurel and Hardy film and a children’s film, and it doesn’t quite succeed as either. Oh, it’s not terrible. It’s a strange, fever-dream of a movie, almost odder than the old black-and-white Alice in Wonderland of the year before.

          The story takes place in Toyland, a realm of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and children’s games. Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum work for the Toymaker, a man who supplies all of Santa’s toys. They must try to save their landlady Mother Peep (the Old Woman in the Shoe) from being booted out of her house by Silas Barnaby (the Crooked Man), who wants to marry Bo-peep, who prefers Tom Tom the Piper’s Son. After the duo foil Barnaby’s plots, the villain tries to lead an invasion of Toyland by the Bogeymen from the dark side of children’s imagination. But that fails when Laurel and Hardy activate a life-size troop of wooden soldiers that they have accidentally produced at the Toy Factory and drive the Bogeymen and Barnaby away.

“Based on Victor Herbert's popular 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland,” Walt Disney personally approved the appearance of Mickey Mouse (the Mouse Who Ran Up the Clock) in the film along with the use of the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" for the especially nightmare-inducing Three Pigs. There are some songs that do not seem aimed at a child audience which stop the action dead and seem to last forever.

The libretto was developed into at least three other productions,  by Disney in 1961 (with Ray Bolger as Silas Barnaby; we had a song from it on a record, a story in the big Storyland anthology, and a comic in the Walt Disney Digests, though I don’t remember ever watching the film), another a TV movie by Disney in 1986 (with Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves), and an animated MGM one in 1997 (some voices by Charles Nelson Reilley, Jim Belushi, and Christopher Plummer – how’s that for eclectic?). Characters, events, and relationships vary for each one as the libretto is adapted. Perhaps one day, someone will do it really right.

 

From Babes in Toyland (1934)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtUQIfa9byM

 

From Babes in Toyland (1961)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDP0TWJSgDI

 

Castle in Spain by Buster Poindexter

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3idwH42hQk

 

The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t But Then Was, Simpsons Parody

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mug1B1hBt5k