2.5.2024 – what will the day bring

what will the day bring
when the day starts out playing
the Liberty Bell march

Big Bill wrote:

To sleep, perchance to dream — ay, there’s the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

The undiscovere’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?

I put it to you:

to wake, to face the day, ay there’s the rub:
For in the day of waking, what reality will come.

I got up today and followed my morning regime of shower, coffee, newspapers, clothes, medicines and nostrums and sat down if front of my computer to start work.

I turned on my computers, logged in and clicked the link to the online radio station from London that plays behind my day and heard the single stoke of a bell.

Then band music began to play in the unmistakable style of a John Phillip Sousa march.

The bell sound identified the piece of music as Sousa’s Liberty Bell March, which according to Wikipedia, was written by Lieutenant Commander Sousa as part of unfinished operetta but became famous as march.

Also from Wikipedia, The ship’s bell from the SS John Philip Sousa, a World War II Liberty ship, is housed at the Marine Barracks and is used by The President’s Own in select performances of the march.

The march follows the standard form of AABBCDCDC. The trio (sections C and D) uses tubular bells to symbolize the Liberty Bell ringing. The bells usually begin during the first breakstrain (section D), but some bands use them at the first trio (section C).

This is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum, snare drum, and strings.

For me?

For me and a lot of people my age, the Liberty Bell march meant one thing.

It meant Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Again from Wikipedia,

The march is best known today for being associated with the British TV comedy program Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969–1974), which used as its opening theme the version performed by the Band of the Grenadier Guards and published in 1938. Cast member Terry Gilliam, the only American member of the troupe, argued for the use of “The Liberty Bell” because it had fallen into the public domain by that time and could thus be used without the need to pay royalties. He has said the piece was chosen because the troupe thought it would not be associated with the program’s content, and that the first bell strike and subsequent melody would give the impression of getting “straight down to business.”

The Monty Python mode of presenting the tune was with a single strike of the bell, lifted from the third section and increased in volume, followed by a strain of each of the first two sections, followed by the famous stomping foot animation and a noticeably flatulent “splat” sound reminiscent of a whoopee cushion.

John Cleese once described the show and comedy at large as a ‘accepting a ridiculous situation and then proceed through the situation logically.’

For example Mr. Cleese pointed out, what if sidewalks were perpendicular?

Mr. Cleese answered that by saying something like, ‘If sidewalks were perpendicular, people using the sidewalks would have to be outfitted like alpine mountain climbers.”

Which led to sketch of the Python Troup making there way up a sidewalk with ropes, pitons and thick winter clothes with a background narration of a tense BBC presenter pointing out all the danger of climbing a sidewalk and the awful scene of one the climbers losing their grip and rolling down the sidewalk, plunging to sure death.

Of course, the entire time, real people are walking up and down the sidewalk, past all the climbers.

Accept a ridiculous situation and then proceed through the situation logically.

Its February and gray and rainy and cold here and everywhere.

Through out literature people ask about things God created and ask why.

Why Mosquitos?

Why Platypuses?

I ask, Why February?

The country faces a Presidential election where by most accounts, most folks don’t like or want either candidate and there is a near consensus of those who haven’t lost their minds that these candidates cannot be the best people for the job in a country of 330 million.

Wars are becoming common once again through the world.

Nature again seems to be trying to wash us all away, but only because we, the world as whole, pissed off nature and messed up the climate.

And my day started with the sound of single stoke of a bell.

Accept a ridiculous situation and then proceed through the situation logically.

As Bette Davis said, fasten those seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy flight.

For in the day of waking, what reality will come.

At least the song got me to look towards the coming day with a laugh.

Tune in tomorrow.

12.5.2023 – comes quiet stirring

comes quiet stirring
a vast pulsating music
the Sun delivered

There is a neighborhood where we like to walk near our house where this group of about a half dozen families like to decorate their homes for Halloween and Christmas.

Most years it seems to be a benign competition.

This year, somehow, someway, the families involved got together and coordinated their efforts.

Each house went all out as usual.

Decorating starts before Thanksgiving and by the long weekend giving thanks, that end of the street glows.

I cannot imagine how many hours and dollars are invested in these displays.

The amount of time alone needed to put it all together would stop me from even thinking of entering the competition of individual home decoration.

Then, to show their bond of community they turned the sidewalk that spans this group of houses into one long tunnel of light.

Every 10 feet or so of sidewalk has a 7 foot high hoop of PCP pipe that is wrapped in lights.

Each hoop is connected with extension cords to the next hoop.

You can walk the length the block under an arbor of Christmas lights.

Don’t get me wrong.

It is impossible to walk down this sidewalk, under the lights, and not feel better, a little happier for doing it, for being there.

You can’t look at this lights from across the pond, with the water reflecting the lights, and not feel better, a little happier for doing it, for being there.

I cannot imagine the time and human effort that its required to put on such a show.

As I drove to work this morning the sun was about to come up out of the Atlantic Ocean.

Far into the vast the mist grows dim,
A deep and holy silence broods around,
Fire burns beyond the vaporous rim,
And crystal-like the dew bestrews the ground.

The last laggard star has fled the glowing sky,
Comes a quiet stirring and a gentle light,
A vast pulsating music, throbbing harmony,
Beyond the Sun delivered from the gloom of night!*

No human effort required.

No extension cords.

No PCP pipe.

The earth revolves daily and somewhere in the world, the Sun is coming up.

You feel better, a little happier for seeing it, for being there.

*The poem is Dawn by WH Auden.

10.28.2023 – immanence of ghosts

immanence of ghosts
foam’s oblivion whitening
under crumbling coasts

From the poem, Ultimatum, published in Vigils by Siegfried Sassoon, 1935, LONDON, WILLIAM HEINEMANN, LTD.

Something we cannot see, something we may not reach,
Something beyond clairvoyant vision of the years
Our senses, winged with spirit, wordlessly beseech.
Meanwhile rife rumourings of the earth are in our ears, —
The lonely beat of blood, the immanence of ghosts,
And foam’s oblivion whitening under crumbling coasts.

I watched the sunrise this morning.

I watched the sunrise this morning with my morning coffee in my hand and my morning reading in my lap.

I watched the sunrise this morning looking out my window over the roof of the building next door.

I watched the sunrise this morning but I never saw the sun.

The sky above the building next door was black, full dark black, then first light black, then dark gray, then gray, then silver gray, then silver then the lightest light blue as the particles in the atmosphere began to pick to the presence of the ocean about a mile away from me but miles away from the sky.

To the sky, the ocean is almost just rumourings of the earth

Those particles in the atmosphere are something we cannot see, something we may not reach.

I understand or at least, accept the physics of what is happening here.

The colors are there.

Not just in our senses … or are they?

That ocean reflects its color into the sky while the foam’s oblivion whitening under crumbling coasts.

I watched the sunrise this morning and never saw the sun.

10.26.2023 – the term for morning

the term for morning
grogginess grouchiness is
sleep inertia

Grogginess.

Grouchiness.

That’s me.

I have never ever been a morning person.

I can’t say I am an anytime of the day person to be honest.

But waking up?

Forget about it.

Of late, I have been noticing how much longer it takes for the caffeine to make a difference.

I am on a ‘hybrid’ schedule and I work from home and I work in the office on different days so getting into a daily rhythm is proving to be a bit difficult.

As I think about how long it takes to wake it seems to make it all the harder to wake up.

Then I read the article, “The Art of Being a Morning Person (Even if You’re Actually Not One)” By Catherine Pearson a reporter for the Well section of The Times, covering families and relationships.

Ms. Pearson writes: Even if you are a naturally early riser, you may not wake up ready to start the day — or even in a particularly good mood. The clinical term for the grogginess and grouchiness many of us experience after waking up is “sleep inertia.” It tends to last 30 to 60 minutes, though the length and intensity depend on the person and circumstances.

I like that.

Inertia.

Sleep Inertia.

Isaac Newton’s first law of motion states that, “a body at rest remains at rest“.

Mr. Newton’s first law is also known as the law of ‘Intertia.’

A body at rest stays at rest.

Yup, that’s it all right!

Ms. Pearson writes: Simply acknowledging that reality can help bring a feeling of peace and acceptance to the morning, she said. Find ways to protect that quiet time: Maybe sit in bed and take a few deep breaths. Couple it with a strategy known to increase wakefulness, such as soaking up some sunlight (or bright artificial light) or moving your body …

So if your goal is to wake up earlier — or to mitigate early morning grouchiness — it is essential to build in immediate rewards … Consider what would feel good in the moments after you wake up. Maybe it’s a delicious breakfast, she said, or cranking up some music that you love.

Be patient with yourself. “Habits are very persistent, and you shouldn’t expect them to change immediately … If you set in place ways to reduce friction, and ways to increase rewards, you’re more likely to be able to change.”

I like it.

I will have to work on other essential, immediate rewards.

But my first choice for a reward is to crawl back under the covers.

And over come a general reluctance to face my day.

On the other hand maybe I will embrace grogginess and grouchiness.

It is who I am and I am what I am.

Though I will feel some empathy with those other drivers out there who have to share the road with me.

7.12.2023 – sun rises from ocean

sun rises from ocean
joggers are out in numbers
island comes awake

In season, tourist traffic makes the morning commute an issue.

Not like out of season.

Out of season, with school in session, enough teachers, students and buses have to be at schools located out on the island, rather than on the mainland, that car traffic slows way down and I leave early in the morning to avoid it.

In season, there is no school traffic to speak of and car travel is a little bit faster but there is the tourist traffic to worry about.

I don’t mean cars.

I mean bikes.

I mean joggers.

Joggers and bikers line the roads early in the morning.

Joggers on the sidewalks and foot paths, ignoring the crosswalk signs.

You need an eye for cars.

An eye for traffic lights.

And an eye to watch out for those joggers.

Those people who sweat and strain, body all aching and wracked with pain all the work year long, waiting for vacation and once they get here to the island, the get out of bed at the crack of dawn … to go running.

The island is quiet in the morning.

The sun rises silently, without noise.

I make my way to work and park.

I walk through the hotel complex to my office.

The only sound is the early morning birds and the housekeeping staff with their vacuums getting started on their day.

That and the low sound of feet, padding in running shoes, hitting the pavement.

The sound of tourists enjoying their vacation.