Saturday, March 28, 2026

Saturday ["No Kings Protest" (#3)], March 28, 2026 -- over two months since my last post (has IT lifted)


                            U of D green space ... Newark, DE ... No Kings Protest ... thousands came.

                                                   Rep. Frank Burns' favorite poster from the protest. 

On this crystalline, blue, clear day, "No Kings Day", its third iteration after two last year, at some 3,000 locations across the US and the world (at least Canada); the 4th birthday of Michael Monti, the cars parked on Cook Road, the passengers exiting with presents; our Chinese neighbors began planting in the backyard (the flower haven of one Betty Asbell, who to my great upset, we have not stayed in contact as she is in a rest home in Middletown, not far from Lisa and Larry Connor (443-433-8983) with a pile of potting soil on the driveway, Keon's play trucks on the concrete patio in back, he carried a rake toward his father, Alex, who was turning the soil with a spade as mother Sue took photos ... it was such a nice family moment as I took down Peg's laundry from the line, a windy day where we did bedsheets and a load of her stuff, which I brought in too early and had to lay out in Sandra's old room on the wooden rack and on plastic hangars hooked to the door frame to her bedroom, where I made the bed. Earlier, to the sounds of the MET's broadcast of La Traviata (what a tuneful opera by Verdi), I'd made my bed and later dusted my clothes drawer. 

Phillies lost in the 10th inning to the Texas Rangers, 5-4; but the Flyers won their 8th road game in a row, in Detroit, by a 5-3 score. A nailbiter as they were up up 4-0 before the Red Wings scored 3 goals in just over 2 minutes late in the 3rd period. Philly scored an EN goal to seal it. Phewwww!!! Owen Tippett, flying on the ice, scored a hat trick, the third of his career. I got the same mention , "Phew!" from when I completed the  Connections on the NY Times website. Down to my last chance and I saw the connection and got the 3rd row and solved it. Sometimes it just takes time to see and others, it's too tough to answer. 

Brian Price, who worked and retired from SEPTA and who now lives in Portugal, posted on FB from Paris where he's visiting his sister. His photos are b/w and are arresting in their simple beauty and quiet and aloneness. I posted a comment that they reminded be of Eugene Atget.















Brian Price ... Paris, March 2026.



















Eugene Atget ... early 1900s (date ?)

Referring to the capitalized "IT" in the blog post header, I am trying to describe, minimally and with a facile acronym, both a pronoun, mostly, and a noun; but its derivation, its etymology, its root source, for me, is the grinding and dispiriting, to say the least, depression that has locked my being in its grasp for well over a year now. Is "IT" moving onward or am I going to be thrown into the manic phase of a "supposed betterment" and wind up not moving forward at all. Time is of essence. My billion heart beats are heading toward its sunset and I have to stop fucking around and hiding behind self-abuse covering as ephemeral pleasure (sure). 

Well, today we sang together, working on today's hymns which will be sung as choral leaders of the congregation for our visiting minister today at UUSMC, Rev. Lyn Cox (they, them), Central East Region Field Staff, Unitarian Universalist Association. We Will Carry Each Other and Benediction, both in the online UUA hymnal (Sing Out Love). We rehearsed (Peg is a good piano player) on the Kurzweil RG200 electric and she was direct in her quick corrections of my diction and pitch but we sang, some acapella, and it sounded and felt good. Should do it more often and hopefully we shall just prior to her plane travel to the other side of Earth to an island in the Indian Ocean. 

On another neighborly note, walked across the street, hoped not to alarm Kevin who was working on a car to replace a steering strut and another part, an advanced automotive repair job that is right up his alley. Gets his parts from Rock Automotive which sends frig magnets for each purchase. Both, in the garage and kitchen, are covered, he says, with the attractive attachments. He swears by their quality and low cost. 

Well, he is an engineer and so is his son, 31, who just graduated with an electrical engineering degree from UD and now with works with his dad, who guaranteed a job at the facility he works, a place that gets a lot of DOD contracts and desires to hire Americans for their open positions due to the sensitive nature of the work intelligence-wise. I queried him on that statement and he said it honestly. But it is revealing to learn about your neighbors when you take the time to talk and ask a few caring questions about family. 

Thursday, January 8, 2026 ... Peg's made pancakes (wonderful smell), Schumann's Cello Concerto on the iPhone

Robert Schumann never heard his cello concerto composed in 1850 and it languished for 50 years before a young Pablo Casals championed it and played it often during his long career. The YouTube is a link to a recording of Casals with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. 

I'm now "clipped and shorn" after a visit to Great Clips at Limestone Crossing, next to the dermatologist office where Katherin (spelling on the receipt), born in Salisbury, Md, whose been in Delaware for the last 6 years, cut my hair. She likes to use scissors to do a haircut (does a better job than clippers, a more natural look) and she did a nice job ($21 plus $4 dollar tip). 


Main Street, Salisbury, MD, in the 1930s.

 

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Wednesday, January 7, 2026 ... A new year where my first resolution is to arrest the plummet of spirit and life

Belarus 













The system of legal war began to end after World War I, when, in 1928, states renounced the act of war in the signing of the 
Kellogg-Briand Pact. It was signed five days after the birth of my father in The Hague, Netherlands to one Hendrika Verhaaf

lodgment -- 
Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, defended the attack as a means of assuring “that foreign countries don’t have a lodgment inside our hemisphere.” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/opinion/trump-venezuela-america-first.html 

Nick called last night, did not hear the call (was listening to the Flyers game, a priority for selfish self, but he had bad news) and I didn't call him back till early this afternoon from the bathroom. Cleo had a lot of fluid removed from her chest and the x-ray showed a mass. She's feeling fine and he took her home but the prognosis is not good. Cleo is about 6 years old. Nick was upset. She's his family and like Lexi he became truly bonded to her. He puts his heart and soul into his pets and that says so much about his love for family, whether human or canine. 

Peg auditioned this early evening for Coro Allegro. She was asked to sound out a rhythm, then do some sight singing and then sing a nice little melody. She'll learn in a couple of day whether she's made it into the group. 

We took down the Xmas decorations today. Wrapping the ornaments in paper and storing all the red ribbons in one box. The tree was folded, placed in plastic sheeting pieces and then stuffed in the cylindrical box, aged and worn, then the handles were looped with string and tied around the box with a slip knot. Stored it upright downstairs in the corner next to the large-breasted woman painting in the basement. 




  1. 1.
    literary
    a place in which a person or thing is located, deposited, or lodged.
    "they found a lodgment for the hook in the crumbling parapet"
  2. 2.
    the depositing of money in a particular bank, account, etc.
  3. 3.
    Military
    a temporary defensive work made on a captured part of an enemy's fortifications to secure a position and provide protection.
Origin