Cloister Commentary, Day 362: When the Rain Comes

We awakened to pouring rain, flashing lightning, booming thunder–and some dude screaming epithets into the pre-dawn dark from the driveway next door. Nicole thought it was happening in her waking dream, but alas it was not.

https://youtu.be/QSvVVzH3O5E

We celebrated St. Pat’s with soda bread and a pint of music from that talented nutcase Van Morrison and The Chieftains (their team-up is passionate and evocative), with a Pogues chaser. Somehow it was fitting that I ran out to the truck through a thick downpour and drove to work accompanied by more sudden flickers of electricity. It may have been St. Pat’s (and Biden Bucks Day for some), but the main news was horrifying and unfortunately nothing surprising.

My recurring tutoring appointment did not materialize inside the Zoom Chamber, so applied myself to two alternate tasks (damn, I have the to-do bug!): attending to more fine details regarding a scholarship George Frissell’s family is giving to an outstanding David H. Hickman High School senior in May (thanks to many donors via GoFundMe), sprucing up my office further (updating my monthly Top 10, dusting books–first time I’ve done that, rearranging furniture for imaginary visitors), checking in with my teacher interns’ host teachers about their stellar mid-term progress.

When I got home, I had to mop some water out of the basement “Kitten Room”–we need a sump pump. More rain’s on the way. We squeezed a long walk in between downpours, discussed a home improvement future, ate more corned beef and cabbage, read and scrolled, and faded into Hypnos’ land with a couple of episodes of Kim’s Convenience. You may have noticed I use the simple teacher-trick of repetition quite frequently in these commentaries–on purpose. This show is consistently entertaining.

Streaming for Strivers:

Spoon ‘n’ The Brute. Their chemistry made my day and night yesterday, and is gonna make it this morning. Jimmy was Arkansan; Webster was KC-born.

Cloister Commentary, Day 358: Squeezing Some Fun Out of Life

Top 10 Things Yesterday That Made Up for Losing an Hour Today:

(randomly ordered)

1) Nicole decided to make corned beef and cabbage for St. Pat’s and found a head of cabbage as big as mine.

2) We had an unplanned chat with our neighbor Shireen as we finished our and she began her walk.

3) We listened to classic reggae all day, but the highlight was taking in The Wailers’ stunning live-in-the-studio “Burnin’ and Lootin’.” Stopped us both cold as it usually does–a more frightening, intense, and real song I know not of.

4) It was chilly enough for it to be a perfect day to slurp ramen noodles for lunch.

5) At two different junctures, our cats (or more accurately, different units of our cats) seemed to form phalanxes for us. We were never in danger or on the attack.

6) My bangs had started tickling my nose, so Nicole gave me a perfect haircut. I had threatened to shave off my beard, but after 6-7 years the result might have been doughy and disturbing.

7) I read an exciting chunk of James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novel Heaven’s Prisoners. How many are there, Hardin? I may have to read them all after all; this may be my favorite.

8) Donnie Harden Jr and I had another of our Facebook Messenger music gabs, this one about the crashes that claimed Otis and Skynyrd. We also turned over in our minds the complications of those Southern rockers.

9) After talking about it for months, we finally watched Anthony Hopkins’ KING LEAR. Hopkins and Jim Carter were stellar; Florence Pugh and Karl Johnson were underemployed. Also, the endings of the First Quarto and the First Folio were combined, which was either a stroke or a cop-out, I’m not sure.

10) Trying their oyster mushroom Cabernet ravioli and red gravy, we confirmed once again that Pasta La Fata is still the thing around here.

Extra credit: we pretty much fell asleep laughing through two episodes of Kim’s Convenience. And Tux was foiled in one of his ongoing attempts to block our goodnight kiss.

Streaming for Strivers:

Still celebrating the great jazz drummer Roy Haynes‘ 96th birthday up in here.

Cloister Commentary, Day 350: THE 7TH AND FINAL SUSTENANCE AND SUCCOR AWARDS*

*not that we all won’t continue to need sources of both

Every 50 days of the pandemic, I’ve tried to highlight material that’s been helping Nicole and I up the mountain. I’m leaving off with this commentary on Day 365–a not-so-nice far-from-round year–so here end the awards. But I live to share on Facebook, so that doesn’t much matter!

BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES RECORDINGS:

Wau Wau Collectif: Yaral Sa Doom
Dolly Parton: A Real Live Dolly
The Supreme Angels: Drinking of the Wine
Showbiz & AG: Runaway Slave

BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES SHOWS:

Kim’s Convenience
Men in Kilts
Sweet Smell of Success
The Durrells of Corfu
All Creatures Great and Small

BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES BOOKS:

Stephanie Soileau: Last One Out Shut Off the Lights
Ibram X. Kendi: How to Be an Anti-Racist
Hubert Selby, Jr.: Requiem for a Dream
Brian Coleman: Check the Technique–Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies
Thich Nhat Hanh: How to Fight

BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES EATS:

Barred Owl Butcher

Yes, I know it’s not over.

Streaming for Strivers:

Top of the line arrangements and sliding!

Cloister Commentary, Day 348: Palpability

So now I hear the feds are ordering states to vaccinate teachers. I guess educators just needed to suffer the requisite existential anxiety and local blowhard hostility first. We’ll see if that news holds up–it’s only 12 days ahead of the current educators’ tier, so big effin’ deal.

Ok, I’ve breathed. Our first day after having received a COVID shot felt mildly lacking in burden, unsurprisingly. Just doing mundane things–dropping off a package at the P. O., picking up a book at the library and food from a restaurant–seemed breezier. And it’s not just us; I sensed it while out and about. I’m not ready to discard my mask (maybe in 2022), but a further touch of that relief I mentioned yesterday was in the air.

Started a new book, Hari Kunzru’s Red Pill. If the whole thing’s as great as the first three pages I’ll be finished by the weekend.

Nicole and I took another long walk and communed with our neighbor Shireen on the back porch. I decided to take an evening’s break from my CPap mo-sheen and we fell asleep watching Kim’s Convenience.

Streaming for Strivers:

An ice cube rubbed on life’s bee stings.

https://youtu.be/j2J0JyS0Bv4

Cloister Commentary, Day 311: What If?

My brother called yesterday morning to tell me Mom has shoulder surgery scheduled for Monday. She sustained a tear in a wind-and-rainblown fall in November that’s gradually come to torture her, and the news that the procedure’s just around the corner was the best we’ve received lately. Also, barring an emergency between now and then, she’ll be the first surgical patient ever at Monett, Missouri’s new hospital. Not exactly the thing one longs to be known for, but hey–she’ll take it. If only COVID vaccinations came that quickly….

I’m deeply enjoying an old book I picked up used a couple years ago called What If?, in which esteemed historians look at the possibilities had major events in world history happened just a touch differently (example: what if Alexander the Great had died at 22 at the Battle of the Granicus River, as he nearly did…or what if he’d lived into middle age?). I might have ended up a history major if high school teachers had taught the subject the way these experts frequently do. I found myself wondering whether a similar entire book couldn’t be written about the past year.

We finished Season Three of Cobra Kai (the series needs to be roundhouse-kicked at this point, but a future season looms) and sampled Kim’s Convenience, which frequently drew explosive laughter from both Nicole and me. It felt a touch…broad, but perhaps my Korean-American friends can weigh in with a perspective if they’ve seen it. Also, I wonder how good the book from which it’s adapted is.

Streaming for Strivers:

Slip inside this house.