Let’s open today with an Owl Chatter thank you to special friend Judy S for supplying much needed owls to us from up in Canada! An entire parliament! Five of them seem to be singing, or hooting, or trying to say something. What a wonderful surprise!
Would you take advice from this woman?
I would. It’s Angela Narciso Torres, from Brooklyn. Here’s the guidance she offered in her poem “If You Go To Bed Hungry.” It was the Poem of the Day yesterday from The Poetry Foundation.
If you go to bed hungry, your soul will get up and steal cold rice from the pot.
Stop playing with fire before the moon rises or you’ll pee in your sleep.
Sweeping the floor after dark sweeps wealth and good fortune out the door.
Fork dropped: a gentleman will visit. Spoon: a bashful lady.
Bathing after you’ve cooked over a hot stove makes the veins swell.
For safe passage to the guest who leaves mid-meal: turn your plate.
The adage goes: coffee stunts growth. Twelve grapes on New Year’s: the opposite.
Advice from the learned: hide a book under your pillow. Never step on. Never drop.
Every rice grain that remains on your plate you’ll meet again on the footpath
to heaven. You’ll have to stoop to pick each one of them up.
Our new friend Wendy sent more videos of her Scandinavian folk band from Vancouver. Here’s my favorite. Wendy is on the uke, seated in front in the blue skirt. And that’s Bernie Sanders next to her on the accordion.
Are you down on life? Trump have you bummed out? I can’t argue with that, and don’t blame you. But then something wonderful like this falls into your lap out of the blue. Or Rex commenter Gary writes about “exploding pedantic brains” and has you roaring. So don’t give up quite yet.
The cruelty and viciousness the administration has shown across the board has been so mind-numbing that I blanched for a moment when I saw that Krugman’s newsletter yesterday was titled: “A New Level of Trumpian Evil.” What new level even exists beyond the attacks on the trans community, foreign aid, women, health care, minorities, and on and on and on. So I was relieved when I summoned up the courage to read it and saw it was “only” about Trump’s paean to North Korea and dissing of South K. Phew.
Per PK, “North Korea isn’t simply a bad government, just another murderous authoritarian regime. It is something that has become rare, even among dictatorships: a full-blown totalitarian state, in which the government controls every aspect of life and even thinking dissident thoughts is a crime.
“[Russia and China are] mild and open compared with North Korea, where indoctrination is constant, where everyone must, if they value their lives, constantly praise the leader, whose name and portrait are everywhere.
“South Korea is, by contrast, one of the happiest stories in history: a functioning democracy, and an incredible economic success story.”
I’m going to steal his “musical coda,” which he introduces by saying: “Not usually a big fan of K-Pop, but the joy and national pride of this performance are infectious.”
The following is from a poem we are not going to share. Thank you Owl Chatter guard puppies! Woof, woof.
Drinking each day from the same mason jar,
our lips colonize the rim with slime.
This organism we cultivate is more, less capable: an injured
octopod, a four-armed couplet, injury-driven.
Oy.
The puzzle today was berry berry good! The “revealer” was “Hides one’s central point,” — BURIES THE LEDE. And the theme answers all started with a different type of berry. GOOSEFEATHERS; ELDERCARE; STRAWPOLL, and BLACKBART. At 63D the clue was “A drop of golden sun,” and the answer was RAY. I noted the following for the gang:
Does anyone think RAY (at 63D) might be a subtle nod to Raymond “Berry,” the Hall of Fame receiver for the Colts who was the favorite receiver of Johnny Unitas? If ever he deserved a spot in the puzzle, it’s today. Berry died at the age of 93 just last May. At the time of his retirement in 1967, he was the leading receiver in pro football history. He squeezed Silly Putty to gain hand strength. He didn’t start on his HS team until he was a senior even though his dad was the coach. He had an unremarkable college career and was the 232nd pick in the draft. His Hall of Fame biography includes this statement: “Why the Baltimore Colts selected him, even as a ‘future choice’ on the 20th round of the 1954 draft, is a mystery.”
Roger Allen, of the Dull Men’s Club (UK), posts:
Over the years, and through ‘natural selection’ each mug has gained a mate in the cupboard, not through colour or design, but fit and stackabillity….
(Middle shelf is high usage).
The system works and maintains harmony between dishwasher and cupboard….
Now these two have turned up!!
Sandra Davies: Just the one mug cupboard? Amateurs!
Greg Smith: Very lucky to find a left- and right-handed with the red handles.
Mark Allender: Stackability…. Stop it!
Phil Goodchild: I am flummoxed as to what those ‘bowl’ shaped items might be used for that are affixed to the cupboard door, I cannot fathom a correlation between those and a cupboard full of mugs and other paraphernalia.
Roger: Coffee pods.
Ian Thomas: My gosh man, where have you been since 2009?
Phil: I use my perculator and a kettle, it’s all I need to make a cracking brew of coffee. If there is a power cut there is no issue as I have an LPG oven and hob which means I can still boil water, make my coffee and cook.
Roger: Are you a survivalist..??
That vague feeling of unease that’s stirring is the approaching start to the football season, a terrifying prospect for Jets fans for whom the off-season is never long enough. Laughably, the Jets have placed their fate in the hands of Geno Smith at QB, with Aaron Glenn still head coach. Oy and oy. Can we just pivot to Taylor now? It will be interesting to see how Travis holds up in KC. The Chiefs have some coming back to do.
Oh, here she is now. Love the new cut, Swift!
We’ll see you tomorrow, Chatterheads. Thanks for stopping by.
One response to “A Bashful Lady”
i love the “watering down” of the crowd in Korea…..good clean fun
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