Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, December 5, 2021
through
Saturday, December 11, 2021
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It’s Saturday, December 11, 2021
Welcome to the 1,293rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
A Christmas Carol, 1951
UK quad poster for the 1951 film Scrooge
Renown Pictures - https://www.amazon.co.uk/SCROOGE-1951-Alastair-QUAD-POSTER/dp/images/B004GIGLK0
Scrooge (1951), re-titled A Christmas Carol in the U.S., starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge, Michael Hordern and Mervyn Johns and Hermione Baddeley as the Cratchits. According to critic A. O. Scott of The New York Times, this film is the best one ever made of the Dickens classic.
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Commentary
What pisses me off are movie scenes depicting suave characters, some scenes even emphasizing wine drinking, who reach for their wine, served in elegant glasses, lift their glasses by the bowl instead of the stem. Anyone knows that one’s fingers and palms warm the wine. That’s why wine glasses have stems.
It’s okay if the character is a working stiff who is simply quaffing the wine. But like a James Bond, no, no,
Don’t do it to me fellas.
What makes me smile is this from JPMorgan Chase Global Research: "2022 will be the year of a full global recovery, an end of the global pandemic, and a return to normal conditions we had prior to the COVID-19 outbreak." Important factors driving this forecast are achieving broad population immunity, a return of global mobility, and a release of pent-up demand from consumers (e.g. travel, services).
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Reading and Writing
On Thursday I am writing for Part Four, the final installment. I am still projecting Jan 15, 2022, as the time hen I will be close enough to the completion of my manuscript to project a firm completion date.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
You only live once,
but if you do it right,
once is enough.
~Mae West
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
Dear Dom.
WRT Santa Clause: Here is a poster I made for the funeral of our dear friend, Willi Runk, who (among other characters) portrayed St. Nicholas as depicted during the American Civil War. I captured him in this sketch. He was actually making smoke wreaths around his head, just like in the poem. Willi was a delightful man, dedicated to his profession as a teacher and as a living historian, with as gentle a nature one could ask for. No push-over, though – he had an iron will which he wielded only when necessary. We miss him terribly – such a blessing on our lives!
Sally
Blog meister responds: Totally wonderful.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night I had more leftovers. But I did execute a Pot Roast.
On Thursday afternoon I am going to use some of the gravy to add to my Beef Gravy store and more of it to create a pasta sauce.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Sally Chetwynd’s Santa Clause
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Short Essay*
Scrooge (released as A Christmas Carol in the United States) is a 1951 British Christmas fantasy drama film and an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843). It stars Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, and was produced and directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, with a screenplay by Noel Langley.
The film also features Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Dilber, Scrooge's charwoman. George Cole stars as the younger Scrooge, Hermione Baddeley as Mrs. Cratchit, Mervyn Johns as Bob Cratchit, Clifford Mollison as Samuel Wilkins, a debtor; Jack Warner as Mr. Jorkin, a role created for the film; Ernest Thesiger as Marley's undertaker; and Patrick Macnee as the younger Jacob Marley. Michael Hordern plays Marley's ghost, as well as the older Marley. Peter Bull serves as narrator, by reading portions of Dickens' words at the beginning and end of the film; he also appears on-screen as one of the businessmen discussing Scrooge's funeral.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Friday, December 10, 2021
Welcome to the 1,292nd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Kate DiCamillo
DiCamillo at the 2018 National Book Festival
Fuzheado - Own work
Kate DiCamillo at the 2018 U.S. National Book Festival
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Commentary
When the guests have gone home the cleanup is often burdensome. My recent dinner party ended on a happier note.
Only one of my two-drawer dishwasher is working and it is not deep enough to hold my wine glasses. So I decided to use plastic glasses. At three glasses each for ten people, that’s 30 glasses I didn’t have to wash and put away.
My guests were enthusiastic helpers and helped wash the antipasto plates to be reused for the Midnight Chocolate cake, and washed the pasta plates to be reused for the roast beef. Their help reduced the dishwasher loads by twenty plates.
And when dinner was over, they scraped and rinsed all the plates, and stacked them ready for the dishwasher.
A sweet ending.
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Reading and Writing
I finished Part Three ahead of schedule.
The last part, Four, will take some reconstruction. I’ll know in two or three days how long it’ll take to write it. I’m wild guessing two weeks.
My original goal was to be so far along that on January 15, 2021, I would be so close to the finish that I could accurately guess an end date. Still thinking that.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
~John Lennon
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
My daughter and I are going to see S. Sondheim’s ‘Company’ during my visit to NYC. We’ve been trading links to articles about his making of, and to the music.
Blog meister responds: I am continually amazed at the worlds that the Internet brings to us.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Wednesday night more leftovers.
But the excitement is the preparation of Saturday nights main course. Two dear friend are visiting.
In a Dutch Oven I seared a large chuck roast. Really seared it. And removed it.
Then I sauteed the vegetables in the same fat as I did the beef: onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers, chilies, garlic
Sprinkled flour.
Added tomato paste.
When veggies were a bit softened, came three liquids: beef stock, a 14oz can of small tomatoes, and red wine.
Returned the meat to the pot.
Cooked for three hours.
I thickened the sauce and will use some of it on Cheese Ravioli.
And the rest of it on the Pot Roast.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Boston Harbor Hotel from the water side.
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Short Essay*
Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American children's fiction author. She has published over 25 novels, including Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Magician's Elephant, the Mercy Watson series, and Flora & Ulysses. Her books have sold around 37 million copies and won various awards. Four have been developed into films, and two have been adapted into musical settings. Her works have won various awards; The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses won the Newbery Medal, making DiCamillo one of six authors to have won two Newbery Medals .
Born in Philadelphia, DiCamillo moved to Clermont, Florida, as a child, where she grew up. She earned an English degree from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and spent several years working entry-level jobs in Clermont before moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1994. In Minnesota, DiCamillo worked in a book warehouse and attempted to get a book published. Her first book to be accepted for publication was Because of Winn-Dixie, which was critically and commercially successful. DiCamillo then left her job to work full-time as an author.
From 2014 to 2015 DiCamillo was the American National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. She lives in Minneapolis and continues to write; her most recent novel, The Beatryce Prophecy, was published in 2021.
She began regularly writing while working in the book warehouse, waking up at 4:00 am before her shifts on weekdays to write around two pages. After four years in Minnesota, DiCamillo met the author Louise Erdrich, who offered her encouragement. DiCamillo submitted her books to several publishers. She received in return 473 rejection letters. She was also encouraged by the author Jane Resh Thomas. By the turn of the 20th-century, despite her efforts, DiCamillo had only several short stories aimed at adults that had been published in magazines.
DiCamillo's first book to be accepted for publication was Because of Winn-Dixie by Candlewick Press, a story about a girl who found a stray dog and took it home. She was aided by a 1998 McKnight Fellowship grant which had allowed her to focus more on writing. She had conceived the book's plot during the winter of her first year living in Minnesota, when she was missing her Florida home[ and upset over her apartment's policy of prohibiting dogs. DiCamillo gave her draft to one of Candlewick's sales agents who was at a Christmas party held by The Bookman. The book was initially given to an editor who left the company on maternity leave and was lost in a pile of other manuscripts. It was rediscovered when the employee's office was cleaned out by Kara LaReau. She was offered and signed a contract. After a rewrite, the book was published in 2000. Flo Davis, the wife of a founder of the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain, sponsored DiCamillo to visit various schools in Florida and widen the book's reach. It was a quick commercial and critical success. Afterwards, DiCamillo moved into a house and focused on her writing full-time. She told the Chicago Tribune in 2004 that she forced herself to write two pages every day, which took her between thirty minutes to an hour on average. In 2017, DiCamillo estimated that she spent about 12–15 hours a week writing and 35 to 40 reading, mainly adult fiction. She often traveled to talk about her writing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, DiCamillo reported that she wrote every morning for 100 days.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Thursday, December 9, 2021
Welcome to the 1,291st consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
James Cook
Official portrait of Captain James Cook
Nathaniel Dance-Holland - from the National Maritime Museum, United Kingdom
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Commentary
My holiday dance card is filling up.
Q. Have I learned to balance my friendships with my call to complete my manuscript?
So far my holiday writing bailout is the four day trip I’m taking to NYC, December 16-19.
I am counting on having lots of writing time on the train back and forth to NYC, and during down time in my hotel, and in cafes while waiting for the next events. I am definitely not planning to sightsee.
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Reading and Writing
I finished Lee Childs latest book. Thank goodness.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
"The purpose of our lives is to be happy." -Dalai Lama
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Jim P:
Hi Dom,
Re: your reference to George Forster’s report. I have read it and some of the other reports. I taught a course about a debate about Cook in anthropology between Gananath Obeyesekere and Marshall Sahlins.
One of the thing I love about your blog is its wide range of topics. I never know what I will find. Sort of like Captain Cook!
Your friend,
Jim
Blog meister responds: Thank you, Jim. I love the article in today’s Short Essay.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night I had half a lobster salad sandwich and a bowl of Turkey Soup.
it was fine.
For my dinner party on Saturday night I’ve come up with a great idea: a Pot Roast or Short Ribs with a sauce suitable for a Pasta course as well.
I’ll print it out tomorrow or the next day when I actually make it. But it’s in my mind’s eye and I know it will be brilliant. Yippee.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
My Brilliant Friend
The third season (the penultimate) returns in March.
This is one of the greatest TV Series in history.
Get into it.
While not playing strictly by the rules, coming across this in my files rekindles my enthusiasm for this extraordinary program.
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Short Essay*
Cook was killed by the Hawaiians on his third voyage. Before that, they had welcomed the sailors and seemed to treat Cook as a divine being, with the commoners bowing down to him, and the priests incorporationg him into a ritual to their god Lono. All was well when his ships left around February 12th but they ran into a storm and at least one ship was damaged, so they returned to the main island. The Hawaiians attitude towards the crew and Cook was different now – distant and even hostile. On February 14, 1779 a fight broke out and Cook was killed.
Sahlins had argued in his book Islands of History, that the Hawaiians viewed Cook as the their god Lono because he arrived in Kealakekua Bay during the rainy season when the god Lono was in ascendancy – he was the god of peace, growth, and prosperity. Cook’s ships resembled the image of Lono (a sail) and so Sahlins argued that the Hawaiians treated Cook as the god Lono and incorporated him into their rituals. Cook left just at the time when the season of Lono was ending and the season of Ku, the war god, was beginning. Sahlins argued that Cook was out of ritual sync when he returned and so that contributed to the hostile reception.
Obeyesekere in his book The Apotheosis of Captain Cook. European Mythmaking in the Pacific argued that Sahlins was wrong about the Cook as Lono argument, and he gave other reasons for the Hawaiians attitudes, all based on practical concerns having nothing to do with ritual or religion. His book won great acclaim and was the talk of academia. But then Sahlins came back with one of the most devastating rebuttals in academic history with his book How Natives Think: About Captain Cook for Example. It is tour de force of critical thought and documentary analysis of the sources, such as Forster’s and other reports, journals, etc. I think Sahlins won the debate, but there is still some room for consideration as in the end we really can never know why the Hawaiians killed him.
Tony Horowitz wrote a good popular book on Captain Cooks’ voyages called Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before. It retraces his three voyages, give biographical information, and discusses the Obeyesekere-Sahlins debate.
Two interesting points. First, Cook kept a meticulous record of events in his journal, but the pages that recored his last few days in Hawaii are missing. Second, all three of his sons were in the Navy and all three died early deaths, two of them under suspicious circumstances!!
Written by Jim Pasto for a course he taught.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Welcome to the 1,290th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Saint Nicholas
Jaroslav Čermák (1831 - 1878) - Sv. Mikuláš
Galerie Art Praha
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Commentary
On the positive side, the recent tweak to my schedule, substituting Boston Sports for Planet Fitness, has worked brilliantly for me. Without having to dress to go out and without having any transportation issues I never miss my workout.
On the negative side, I’m still working with food, trying to balance my need for more fiber with the high caloric content that a lot of high fiber foods, like beans, bring with them.
And isn’t all of life like that? Always trying for balances.
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Reading and Writing
Am getting caught up with my writing and am getting the rhythm for keeping up with my reading.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."
~Albert Einstein
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
My friend Tucker is not well. We talked about the formality of ‘staying home from work’ when you’re already working remotely.
Blog meister responds: I’ve always done at least 50% of my work at home. That’s going back 50 years. That must make me a pioneer of some kind.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I had a lobster salad sandwich and a couple of the ribs from the Rib Roast I made Sunday. They were both very good.
I have dinner guests for Saturday night. Two wonderful people who go back to my childhood and, after a twenty-year hiatus to raise families, I have been excellent friends with for the last ten years. Life is like that.
I’ve decided on the first course: Eataly’s Ravioli with Marinara Sauce I made yesterday.
For a main course I’m considering a Pot Roast or a Braised Short Ribs or a Chicken Cacciatore. These are items I haven’t had for ages and really like.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Aglio e olio
I like to add a little color to the otherwise boring look of the sauce.
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Short Essay*
Saint Nicholas of Myra[a] (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (Greek: Μύρα; modern-day Demre, Turkey) during the time of the Roman Empire. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker.[c] Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the traditional model of Santa Claus ("Saint Nick") through Sinterklaas.
Very little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas. The earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death and contain many legendary elaborations. He is said to have been born in the Greek seaport of Patara, Lycia in Asia Minor to wealthy Christian parents. In one of the earliest attested and most famous incidents from his life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them. Other early stories tell of him calming a storm at sea, saving three innocent soldiers from wrongful execution, and chopping down a tree possessed by a demon. In his youth, he is said to have made a pilgrimage to Egypt and Palestine. Shortly after his return, he became Bishop of Myra. He was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian, but was released after the accession of Constantine. An early list makes him an attendee at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, but he is never mentioned in any writings by people who were actually at the council. Late, unsubstantiated legends claim that he was temporarily defrocked and imprisoned during the council for slapping the heretic Arius. Another famous late legend tells how he resurrected three children, who had been murdered and pickled in brine by a butcher planning to sell them as pork during a famine.
Fewer than 200 years after Nicholas's death, the St. Nicholas Church was built in Myra under the orders of Theodosius II over the site of the church where he had served as bishop, and his remains were moved to a sarcophagus in that church. In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants of the region were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuk Turks, and soon after their church was declared to be in schism by the Catholic church, a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed the major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the church without authorization and brought them to their hometown, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola. The remaining bone fragments from the sarcophagus were later removed by Venetian sailors and taken to Venice during the First Crusade.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Welcome to the 1,289th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
Santa Claus, the classic
1881 illustration by Thomas Nast who, along with Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus.
Thomas Nast - Edited version of Image:1881 0101 tnast santa 200.jpg.
Thomas Nast's most famous drawing, "Merry Old Santa Claus", from the January 1, 1881 edition of Harper's Weekly. Thomas Nast immortalized Santa Claus' current look with an initial illustration in an 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly, as part of a large illustration titled "A Christmas Furlough" in which Nast set aside his regular news and political coverage to do a Santa Claus drawing. The popularity of that image prompted him to create another illustration in 1881.
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Commentary
Not all carefully planned events work out as hoped.
The much anticipated occasion of our first annual Cousins’ Christmas gathering
was as spectacular as they come. The group was perfectly suited for a happy, convivial evening.
A splendid start to the Christmas season.
We all hope that the upcoming events we have planned work out as well.
Nothing could improve on Sunday evening.
Love to all.
BTW: The food worked out well.
NB: One of the reasons the dinner worked so well was the cooperation of the guests in the serving and cleanup.
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Reading and Writing
Sunday, as I made final preparations for my dinner for ten, I had precious little time for reading and writing.
Monday, I have the distraction of an hour-long technical meeting on the handling of pictures using Windows software. I’m close to understanding it and I hope this meeting is what I need to be in control.
Despite that distraction, I know I’ll return to my schedules of both reading and writing.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
In this life we cannot do great things.
We can only do small things with great love.
~Mother Teresa
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from Howard D:
The dog’s name is Hestia. Hestia is the Ancient Greek name of the Goddess of Hearth and Home.
Hestia is a Shiba Inu, an ancient breed, originating in Japan, and one of six ancient breeds, all related genetically, whose breeding was dedicated to the household of the Emperor.
The Shiba, whose genealogy has been traced back at least 2500 years, has, among modern breeds, the largest ratio of shared genes with what is theorized as the nearest “relative” genetically to domestic dog breeds, also of the family Canidae, the wolf. Which is to say, shibas have more wolf genes than any other breed, though in some cases by a very slim margin.
Not all six breeds have survived, and even the shiba was reduced to what was estimated as about 2500 dogs, on the islands of Japan during WWII, but the breed was revived and is now thriving.
xo
h
Blog meister responds: I know how much this dog means to Howard and Melissa. She couldn’t want a better home.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Dinner last night was an antipasto of marinated mushrooms, grilled asparagus, ceci bean salad, and a heap of olives. We drank Rustica prosecco. Deliciously dry.
Next, a plate of Fettucine with Lobster Sauce.
Then, a perfectly done Rib Roast with rabe and potatoes, peas and corn and drank a wonderfully aged Barolo.
Then, a Flour Midnight Chocolate Cake with hand-beaten whipped cream. Looked beautiful and tasted fine. For me, it lacked the intensity I look for in anything chocolate.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Howard’s dog Hestia.
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Short Essay*
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy to well-behaved children, and either coal or nothing to naughty children. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole, and flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.
The modern character of Santa is based on traditions surrounding the historical Saint Nicholas, the English figure of Father Christmas and the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas.
Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white-bearded man, often with spectacles, wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, red hat with white fur, and black leather belt and boots, carrying a bag full of gifts for children. He is commonly portrayed as laughing in a way that sounds like "ho ho ho". This image became popular in the United States and Canada in the 19th century due to the significant influence of the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas". Caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast also played a role in the creation of Santa's image. This image has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books, family Christmas traditions, films, and advertising.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Monday, December 6, 2021
Welcome to the 1,288th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
James Guthrie
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing - Restoration by Godot13
Engraved BEP portrait of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury James Guthrie
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Commentary
As an American of Italian descent, with deep, emotional ties to all things Italian, the demise of Chris Cuomo’s life as a news commentator has greatly saddened me. I don’t look for blame. This is life unfolding. And it isn’t always pretty.
I have for years been proud that Chris ‘made it’, to “ ‘A’ Number One, King of the Hill, Top of the Heap,” if Frank will pardon my tiny rewrite. While I’m not proud of his demise, I am proud that he loved his brother.
Goodbye, paisano, Chris.
You will be missed.
Be well.
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Reading and Writing
I am pleased that through the preparations for my dinner party I have maintained and exceeded my writing goals. My Dec. 12th goal will be completed three or four days early. After Sunday night, my writing schedule has little to disrupt it.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
"The only impossible journey is
the one you never begin."
~Tony Robbins
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
My conversations have been centered around the party I’m having tonight, Sunday night. It’s been a lot of work but the effort is rewarded in many ways. As a nervous host I am calm knowing that the roast only has to go into the oven, the gravy and side (broccoli rabe and potatoes) are already prepared. The lobster sauce is made. The cake is made. The appetizers are ready, and the table is set. It’s 6.00am and I have a full ‘half-day’ open for creative writing.
Blog meister responds: Hard work pays off.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Saturday night for dinner I had a preview of the Lobster Sauce I made for Sunday night’s dinner. A bit of a cheat, perhaps. But harmless. I made a lot. It was delicious.
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Pictures with Captions from our community**
Pork Roast, slow cooked
Hope to replicate the success of this on Sunday night for my dinner party.
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Short Essay*
James Guthrie (December 5, 1792 – March 13, 1869) was an American lawyer, plantation owner, railroad president and Democratic Party politician in Kentucky. He served as the 21st United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin Pierce, and then became president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. After serving, part-time, in both houses of the Kentucky legislature as well as Louisville's City Council before the American Civil War (and failing to win his party's nomination in the Presidential election of 1860), Guthrie became one of Kentucky's United States Senators in 1865 (until resigning for health reasons in 1868 shortly before his death). Although Guthrie strongly opposed Kentucky's secession from the United States and attended the Peace Conference of 1861, and sided with the Union during the Civil War, he declined President Abraham Lincoln's offer to become the Secretary of War. As one of Kentucky's Senators after the war, Guthrie supported President Andrew Johnson and opposed Congressional Reconstruction.
Guthrie also was a director of the Louisville and Portland Canal Company, the first president of the University of Louisville, and presided over the Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1849 (which explicitly ratified slavery in the state until its abolition after the Civil War). During the Civil War, Guthrie resisted federal pressure to nationalize the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, but allowed the Union to use it to move troops and supplies.
* The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Pictures with Captions from our community are photos sent in by our blog followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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It’s Sunday, December 5, 2021
Welcome to the 1,287th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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Lead Picture*
A Voyage Round the World
Title page of the first edition
Georg Forster (printed by W. White)
- https://archive.org/details/b30413849_0001/page/n10
Title page of Georg Forster's book A voyage round the world"
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Commentary
The day before the party.
It’s been a lot of work for one person.
Selecting and buying the wines. Making decisions on glasses.
Discovering I may be caught up in the supply chain issues confronting so many of us.
I am missing a part for my dishwasher and instead of having a two-drawer unit, I am reduced to one, the shorter one that can’t wash the big glasses that I have. I have resorted to plastic.
I will also seek the help of my guests in a thorough scraping and rinsing of the dishes.
The only pricing surprise I had was the escalating cost of lobster meat. It ended up at $75.00 per pound for the tails and $65.00 for the knuckles and smaller pieces. At three pounds, the lobster course cost more than the Rib Roast.
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Reading and Writing
Not spending a lot of time reading but I am writing. The dinner I’m hosting Sunday requires so much effort it’s hard to find time for anything else.
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Chuckles and Thoughts
Life is never fair,
and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not."
~Oscar Wilde
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
The long email exchanges today were technical in nature. Tucker helping me work with pictures.
They come from many sources and are handled differently. I’m beginning to understand.
We’ll continue our lessons on Monday.
Blog meister responds: Thank you, Tucker.
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Dinner/Food/Recipes
Having had a delicious dinner at Douzo in the company of my coffee mate Luna, being alone today, and unimaginative. I returned to Douzo for the second day in a row.
Although the conversation lagged, the food was as fine as it was yesterday.
Hats off to Douzo.
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Community Photos**
Menorah
From several years ago.
Sorry I forgot the provenance
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Short Essay*
A Voyage Round the World (complete title A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop, Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, During the Years 1772, 3, 4, and 5) is Georg Forster's report on the second voyage of the British explorer James Cook. During the preparations for Cook's voyage, the expedition's naturalist Joseph Banks had withdrawn his participation, and Georg's father, Johann Reinhold Forster, had taken his place at very short notice, with his seventeen-year-old son as his assistant. They sailed on HMS Resolution with Cook, accompanied by HMS Adventure under Tobias Furneaux. On the voyage, they circumnavigated the world, crossed the Antarctic Circle and sailed as far south as 71° 10', discovered several Pacific islands, encountered diverse cultures and described many species of plants and animals.
When they returned to England after more than three years, disagreement about the publication rights for a narrative of the journey arose. After plans agreed with John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to publish a joint work with contributions by both Cook and Reinhold Forster had fallen through, Georg, who was not bound by any agreement with the Admiralty, began writing Voyage in July 1776. He published on 17 March 1777, six weeks before Cook's A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World appeared. While 63 copper engravings, paid for by the Admiralty, illustrated Cook's account, only a chart of the southern hemisphere showing the expedition ships' courses illustrated Forster's Voyage, which was sold for the same price.
While Forster organised Voyage chronologically, he wrote it as entertaining literature, focusing not on the nautical aspects of the voyage but on scientific observations and on the cultural encounters with the peoples of the South Pacific. This was well received by critics, who praised the writing, especially in contrast to Cook's book, but sales were slow. Controversy continued after the publication. Resolution astronomer William Wales suspected Reinhold Forster of being the true author and published many accusations in his Remarks on Mr Forster's Account of Captain Cook's last Voyage round the World that prompted a Reply to Mr Wales's Remarks in which Georg defended his father against the attacks. Voyage brought Georg Forster great fame, especially in Germany. It is regarded as a seminal book in travel writing, considered a major influence on the explorer Alexander von Humboldt, and has become a classic of travel literature.
*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily or exclusively on Wikipedia to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Community Pictures with Captions are sent in by our followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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