The postman and Polonaise

I was 15 years old and playing the mini-grand in our beach house, a house with big windows and with a mail slot in the front door. The front door was open on this warm day. I wasn't surprised when I saw our regular mailman making his way to the door, big mail pouch hanging off his shoulder. He paused in the doorway and looked at me and Mom. I stopped playing. "I play the piano," he cheerfully announced. He asked if he could play for us.

Our mailman, Norm Maillet (cool name for a mailman), had a special talent and wanted to share it with us. We invited him in immediately. It was an other-worldly experience, seeing our 1970s bushy-headed, mustached mailman in official blue postal shorts making his way to our piano.

He promptly sat on the piano bench and banged out all of Chopin's Polonaise with vigor and accuracy. What an incredible treat. And soon he was off to deliver mail again. I had just listened to a man play masterfully. He was amazing. And he was a postman, and he had resumed his route.

After eight years of piano lessons, I had learned some grandious pieces. This guy's skill clarified in an instant how puny my skills were. It would take years and years of hard work for me to reach his level. I decided then that I wouldn't learn Polonaise, that I wouldn't expend myself in lessons and practice to achieve that great skill yet end up in a job that had nothing to do with music. That's what went through my mind as a 15 year old.

Crazy Colorado

Colorado Springs. At 8:30 pm, I took the sunset shot and turned the opposite direction for the shot of the house. My sis checked the weather report: severe thunderstorm approaching. A couple of hours later, hail fell like crazy, clogging the rain gutter downspout. Two hours later, I went out to see pretty much clear skies. What a change. The next morn, I took the bottom right photo.

What is this plant?

I'd like to know what plant this is (that my sister bought and also which my mother received in a gift plant basket). Thanks for your help!

The better half

Lawrence of Arabia. I'd never seen it. When I saw the DVD set on the shelf at the library, I grabbed it. It had been a long work week. I put a disk in the DVD player and plopped into the recliner.

Long sequence of music at the beginning. No picture. Ah, I'd seen that done in a few other old movies...a big overture that was probably cool in the big theater. Eventually, there was transition music and the picture appeared.

Lots of action and drama. I was having trouble "getting it"--whatever I was supposed to enjoy about the movie. Okay, I was distracted with a laptop computer, too, and I replayed many scenes.

Then the movie ended. That sure felt shorter than I expected, and I could tell that the writer wanted me to think it was a profound ending, but I just found it odd. It was The End. I went to bed.

This morning, I ejected the DVD to put it back in the jacket and saw the other disk. What is this, special features? Nope. Disk 1.

That time of year

Drat, time to change the car clock again. As always, it's about being near the car at the time that I happen to remember my clock needs resetting.

For two weeks, every time I remembered my car clock, it was either not near noon or not convenient. This time, I was cruising to work and the "10:55" on my clock go through to my brain. Somehow, my brain told me that 10:55 was minutes away from noon. I had only five minutes to pull over, get a wrench, unhook my car battery and set up the camera on the tripod and attempt to look relaxed. Done.

That time of year

Wow, it's been a year already?

Big improvement this year: I wore a watch which I set an hour earlier to internet time with an alarm that got me out there early enough to relax with coffee for the special moment. (Last year, I looked at a clock on the wall inside, then ran out to the previously disconnected battery cable, counting down in my head.) It's important to do these things.

The traditional Irish meal

Mom and Jan cooked the traditional boiled dinner with corned beef. I thought today, "What can I cook for today?" I wanted to try cooking something I hadn't cooked before.

I decided against squid. Passed on the live clams. Ah, of course. Yellow tail snapper, garlic and rosemary olives, red onion, spinach, garlic, calamonsi drink...

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Update, 3/19: So much for good plans! I thought I had a sharp knife, but trying to cut through this fish was like trying to write on a Coke can with a ball point pen. When I finally got through along the top and bottom of the fish, I tried a technique I saw on a cooking show and got one good fillet from one side of the fish. But now that the fish was half as thick, it was half as stiff as it used to be, and it was tougher for me to cut straight. Those commercials make it look so easy. The second half of the fish ending up as a pile of fish bits. Eventually, I seasoned and pan fried what I had, scales and all, and the little bits tasted pretty good. I took the rest to work and fought bones and scales. So, now I have the plate of goodies minus a fish. And smelly fingers.