Would have been my dad’s 85th birthday. Woulda coulda shoulda…
726 total COVID-19 cases in Boone County as of yesterday. I haven’t really been reporting stats on this journey, but that snapped up my eyelids like roller blinds, Hardin*.
Nicole and I have been visiting my mom. Whenever we’re in Monett, we like to walk around, and in the morning we jaunted down to the main drag and back. A very old house in pretty decent shape stopped us in our tracks and had us imagining living there, but it’s a domicile for those with ancient fix-it know-how.
Mom is a seamstress, and she’s made many masks over these months. I now have several very stylish ones for the coming days, weeks, months….
In the afternoon, we listened to an amazing clarinet recital streamed on Facebook live by a young lady named Lydia Krikke, who just happened to be the daughter of Janis Neher, the pianist who shone during by father’s service. In the very best sense, clearly the apple doesn’t fall far at all from the tree.
For dinner, we dined on delicious shrimp, cream cheese-stuffed bread, fresh sliced cucumber salad with onions. For a second, I thought we were in New Orleans!
Started a new graphic novel, Superman Smashes the Klan, by Gene Luen Yang (art by Gurihiru). It sounds corny, perhaps, but it’s quite the opposite. As my friend Rex had suspected when he learned I was reading it, the book’s based on a 1946 radio serial, but it’s masterfully brought into the present.
Also, we started a new cable series that all three of instantly loved: The Great, on Hulu. It’s about Catherine, and it is.
Streaming for Strivers:
I hope one day the lawyers get what’s tangled about the Joe Tex Dial / Atlantic discography straightened out, but, ’til then?
*Hardin’s a good friend for whom I specifically included that allusion.
The Overeem Farewell Tour: Dispatches from the Public School Trenches 