The World as I See It...or What I Discovered on the Way to the Colosseum

 Everyone has childhood memories of Thanksgiving, at least in the US.  I am no different.  I grew up in Michigan, and was raised near Detroit.   You may know all about the Macy's Day Parade.  I was raised with the J. L. Hudson's Parade, and it was just as impact-full.  Woodward Ave...J L Hudson Parade, Detroit, MI   So, we sometimes would make the trek to the parade, however, most of the time we would watch it from our living room, on our black and white TV.   After the parade was another tradition.  That was the LIONS football game.   The Lions' annual tradition of playing on the American holiday, which began in 1934, is nearly as old as the franchise itself. In fact, they're the biggest reason why football and Thanksgiving are synonymous, even if the Lions haven't enjoyed as much success on the holiday as other franchises. It all started on Thanksgiving Day in 1934, when owner George A. Richards decided to play on the holiday to attract more fans. Richards was kno

  As Henry David Thoreau so eloquently put it: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. That pretty much sums up where I am in my life...living deliberately. I like that notion.  So I began to think about what really makes

So, my family decided to deep dive into our gene pool.  Me...I had to follow.  Well, no surprises really.  Here is my make up .  But that is not what got my siblings and I talking.  It was our Neanderthal percentage.  Yes, we actually were vying for the higher percentage of the Neanderthal genetic contribution to our rather sketchy genetic history.  Yeah...Yippee...I have more Neanderthal DNA than..wait...what????   Well here is what I got for all that extra DNA ... Blame my hatred of green leafy vegetables on my ancient relatives.  No really... Who knew?  But here is the point.  The point is the nature nurture argument.  I side with nurture.  I like salty over sweet.  And although I don't eat salad much...I do love a great Greek salad  The fact is, we are a product of our biology and our upbringing.  And I like the idea...that I have a little of the Neanderthal in me...why?  Because I have a great immune system.  Several  Neanderthal  genes are also involved in the immune system a

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. " Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him." "There's something you should know the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us." "I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live." "No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us." "Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and fo

  歌舞伎 Kabuki   Kabuki means "song and dance technique"  Well isn't that just fitting.  I have often said..."don't get give me your song and dance"  Yes, my fellow Kabuki lovers...we are about to make the deep dive into everything Kabuki.  I once wrote about the poor reputation of the lemming.  In truth, the lemmings actual behavior did not warrant the lemming mythology.   So it is with Kabuki.  Jon Lackman wrote in his Slate 2010 article:  It's Time to Retire Kabuki:  Pundits use  Kabuki  as a synonym for “posturing.” The  New Republic ’s Michael Crowley, for example, has defined it as a “ performance , in which nothing substantive is done.” But there’s nothing “kabuki” about the real Kabuki. Kabuki, I’ll have you know, is one of  UNESCO ’s Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity! And it’s nothing like politics. It does indeed use stylized gestures, expressions, and intonations, but it’s far from empty and monotonous. As the scholar

 I lived in Palmer Alaska.  I owned a little 1500 sq foot house.  I had an acre of land.  The back side was filled with fireweed and cottonwood trees.  I had a bald eagle that lived in one of the trees, and moose often visited, parked right in my driveway...very rude.  I had a berm that I planted wildflowers on. Alaskan wildflowers are quite beautiful.  Truly, the colors in summer...to die for.  Like this below. ( I am a very visual kind of gal) 👇 The subdivision I lived in had a small float plane lake.  If you are a proper Alaskan, you own a float plane.  I was not proper...I just flew as a passenger on them.  So, near my home, is a place called Hatcher Pass.  Here is a little video. Hatcher Pass   Play the video...very nice indeed.  I lived only 10 minutes from that little piece of heaven.  You cannot trade all the money in the world for that, in my most humble opinion. Back to my moment.  I know, I know, it is always about me...of course it is.  So, during the winter I used to go t

 I  know this is going to sound almost impossible.  There are two Harvard Professors that are couples therapists and believe it or not...married for four decades. These two scientists?   Richard Schwartz and Jacqueline Olds 👇 That my friends is the look of love after 40 years Love may well be one of the most studied, but least understood, behaviors. More than 20 years ago, the biological anthropologist Helen Fisher studied 166 societies and found evidence of romantic love—the kind that leaves one breathless and euphoric—in 147 of them. This ubiquity, said Schwartz, an HMS associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., indicates that “there’s good reason to suspect that romantic love is kept alive by something basic to our biological nature.” If love lasts, this roller coaster of emotions, and, sometimes, angst, calms within one or two years, said Schwartz. “The passion is still there, but the stress of it is gone,” he added. Cortisol and serotonin levels retur

I don't know quite how I came across this particular YouTube channel.  Perhaps it was my constant search for perfect recipes.  Or, perhaps some impish YouTube algorithm tech decided that I had to become one of the over 13 million subscribers to this woman's channel.  So, what am I babbling about?  This 👇 Who is she? 👇 Who is Li Ziqi According to Professor Ka-Ming Wu, a cultural anthropologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong: “Li represents a new wave of Chinese soft power in that she’s so creative and aesthetically good, and knows how to appeal to a general audience whether they’re Chinese or not.” And yet, “I don’t think this is some kind of engineered effort by the Chinese state,” she says. Here is LiZiqi in an interview.  Amazing young woman.  I watch as she prepares meals that make me want to either move to China...or begin searching the country-side, for a place to begin my own, agricultural splendor.  She is an entrepreneur . 👇 Shop her site So, in our chaos fil

  This tune tells a tale...and I believe it is enough.   Enjoy, Love, The Lass

T here is no doubt that chance meetings and conversations have impact. I know this to be true.  I once had a conversation with a man, who would try to get me to go out with him, only to discover that the woman he had broken up with, was an acquaintance of mine.  He and I had to take a road trip for work. That 16 hour road trip, would produce a discussion of profound impact.  The result would be that the man and the woman in question would  reunite and  marry a short time later.  That was 12 years ago.  They are still madly in love, and very much grateful for a road trip, and a certain conversation.  (I just asked a lot of questions) 😉 Arnold Lakhovsky ,  The Conversation  (circa 1935) I could relate hundreds of important conversations over my lifetime.  Some resulted in good things for me, some resulted in life time friendships, and some resulted in great sorrow.  In any case, it is our desire to share our thoughts and feelings that propel us into the deep waters of conversation.  I a

W hen someone says, I own a farm.  What does that bring to mind?  Well for me, being from MI, I think of fields of corn, soybean, wheat, or maybe just dairy cows...with chicken coops.  You know what I mean...a farm. Michigan is also known for Christmas Tree farming, but, I really never counted that.   This kind of farm. 👇 This is a farm.   At least it was until an acquaintance said..."I have a farm".   I live in Oregon, well I should say I work in Oregon. Not by choice...but by chance.  Indeed, my employer decided that I needed to move to a place I never wanted to move to, nor would I have chosen as a possible final destination.   But as luck would have it, I have become acquainted with, an interesting person, full of surprises.  Because this man, out of the blue, casually mentioned,  "I own a farm".  Well maybe not those precise words, but you get the point.  So, I of course pulled up the mental image above.  Isn't that nice, he raises cows and chickens.  Som