The writer Tim O’Brien turned 79 this week. He was drafted and sent to Vietnam out of college, and described his hometown as “a town that congratulates itself, day after day, on its own ignorance of the world: a town that got us into Vietnam. Uh, the people in that town who sent me to that war, you know, couldn’t spell the word ‘Hanoi’ if you spotted them three vowels.” But he saw a silver lining there — it gave him something to write about. This is how one of his short stories starts:
“First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of his rucksack. In the late afternoon, after a day’s march, he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending.”
O’Brien’s (and wife Meredith’s) two sons were born when he was 56 and 58. Here’s the mishpocha.
Andy Spragg, of the Dull Men’s Club (UK), writes:
A few days ago, I persuaded management [the wife] that our frying pan and wok were both long overdue to be replaced, and I hotfooted it to Robert Dyas in Thame before she could change her mind. It cost me about £30 for a pair of quality replacements, for things we use several times every week, and what deep dull joy came my way when I used them for the first time. Polenta slices – guaranteed to stick like sh*t to a blanket in the old frying pan – sliding around like friction hadn’t been invented yet. Fried eggs – no more tearing them to shreds in the battle to flip ’em over – once the underside had set, over they went. I’m here to tell you, folks, don’t hang on to old hobware.
Victoria Tredwell: Cast iron. No Teflon.
Andy Spragg: Why are so many people equating “non-stick” with “Teflon?”
Victoria: Probably because that’s what is usually sold
Andy: I wouldn’t know where to start picking fault with that particular statement.
Victoria: Stupid reply.
Janette Bremner: DON’T FLIP YOUR EGGS: you’ll be having people think you’re American.
Andy: Even Americans get some things right.
Avi Liveson: Not lately.
Ade Brownlow: I lived in Thame. The Robert Dyas is obviously new. One of the pubs had great wooden benches that acted as resonators when you farted on them. That still work?
Andy: Do you remember the name of the pub, or where it was? Asking for a friend.
Shaun Gisbey: I know the place, it was called the Farting Bench and Whistle.
Ruth Hunt: We have several saucepans that are pre WW2.. they will never EVER be referred to as “hobware.” They are all “pans” named for their designated purposes….sauce pan, frying pan, etc.
[OC note: I can’t find anything on the word “hobware.”]
We pride ourselves at Owl Chatter at improving the lives of our readers. Teaching things. So, e.g., today let’s learn about “prone” and “supine.” The clue in today’s puzzle was “Facedown,” and the answer was PRONE. If you lie facedown, you are prone. If you lie on your back, you are “supine.”
How to remember the difference? Supine and spine are close: So if you are lying on your spine (your back), you are supine. [I told this to my daughter-in-law Sarah and she said she knew that from yoga. So the yogis among you may already know this.]
Here’s today’s quiz: This pretty girl is: ??
Sublime!
At 26A the clue was “Delight,” and the answer was SEND. One commenter didn’t see the connection, and was referred to the following:
“Home of Banff National Park” at 27D was ALBERTA. If you don’t know this song, you oughta. Gives me goose bumps. Ian Tyson wrote it. Neil Young is singing it here. It’s called “Four Strong Winds.”
Think I’ll go out to Alberta
Weather’s good there in the fall
I got some friends that I could go to working for
Still I wish you’d change your mind
If I ask you one more time
But we’ve been through this a hundred times or more
Four strong winds that blow lonely
Seven seas that run high
All those things that don’t change, come what may
If the good times are all gone
Then I’m bound for movin’ on
I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way
The trip has been great! Incredibly perfect weather. We visited the Frick Museum in P’burgh — very nice. Terrific Thai food at Noodlehead including a first for us — a Duck Curry that was out of this world. Happy to see the Tigers and Yanks advance. Saw Michigan best Wisconsin with Sam (on TV). Good times.
Let’s close with this poem by W.S. Merwin called “The Pinnacle” from today’s Writer’s Almanac.
Both of us understood
what a privilege it was
to be out for a walk
with each other
we could tell from our different
heights that this
kind of thing happened
so rarely that it might
not come round again
for me to be allowed
even before I
had started school
to go out for a walk
with Miss Giles
who had just retired
from being a teacher all her life
she was beautiful
in her camel hair coat
that seemed like the autumn leaves
our walk was her idea
we liked listening to each other
her voice was soft and sure
and we went our favorite way
the first time just in case
it was the only time
even though it might be too far
we went all the way
up the Palisades to the place
we called the pinnacle
with its park at the cliff’s edge
overlooking the river
it was already a secret
the pinnacle
as we were walking back
when the time was later
than we had realized
and in fact no one
seemed to know where we had been
even when she told them
no one had heard of the pinnacle
and then where did she go
See you tomorrow, Chatterheads! Thanks for popping by.
The Wellington Files 