Here’s something a little more melodic. I don’t understand a word of it, and it’s probably better that way.
Author: Don
Morris on, Van
I’ve never been a great Van Morrison fan, but I kinda like this one.
Budget Orchidaceae
Memo to the blogosphere
When you come across a hot ‘n’ juicy tweet, take a screencap. Don’t just post a link, because by the time I read your take, the link usually leads to something like the above.
Folly and fish
An old favorite that popped into my mind this morning.
Trapped in an alternate universe
We’ve been living in a counterfactual world since at least 1960. Nixon won the election, but in our space-time continuum, Kennedy was inaugurated president. It looks like we’re at another inflection point. So, what now?
What may be coming our way is an odd kind of “new colonialism,” with flyover country—that Dark Continent formerly known as places like Kansas, Alabama, and Tennessee, largely inhabited by reactionary troglodytes—reduced in effective power to mission territory for our enlightened coastal elites; who, after all, are much smarter than the rest of us and have the expert skills to run our complex technocracy.
And of course, they’ll do all this unselfishly, heroically really, for the benefit of us natives.
What’s going to come of the electoral mess? Nothing good, as we’ve discussed ad nauseam. The likely outcomes — the ones produced by humans, excluding meteor strikes and plagues and other acts of God — range from “bad” to “inconceivably horrible.” There really aren’t any Forces of History, my friends, but something out there wants what it wants, and what it wants, apparently, is rat utopia, the kinder gentler police state, Karen uber alles. Even the increasingly unlikely event of a total Trump victory in the courts only delays it a few years, tops. We all know which way the world is heading.
So… what do we, as individuals, DO?
Tend your gardens. Raise your children. Be loyal to your friends. Pray. Meditate. Read the great books, view the great artworks while that’s still permitted. Enjoy your time in the sunshine, because that’s all any of us ever really get in this world. Amor fati.
See also Edward Feser.
Today’s useful word
Areorobonekomimiocracy (noun)
Government by robot catgirls from Mars.
Today’s useless word
Moderate (adjective)
A term used in political advertising. It doesn’t actually mean anything.
Survivor
December arrived last week and wiped out most of the garden outside. The weather has since reverted back to October, and it turned out that the cold and snow barely touched the California poppies. They started blooming back in the middle of May, over five months ago. After their big display in May and June, and unlike the rest of the hardy annuals which faded out in the summer heat, they kept going and have always had a few blossoms open. Not even the snow and ice a week ago stopped them. There’s mild fall weather scheduled for the rest of the week, so there should be color for a little while yet.
Sanity break
Enough about the end of civilization. Here’s some nonsense I’ve accumulated from various sources, as politics-free as I could manage.
Not-so-ancient noises
I was in the mood for some loud music, so here’s a strathspey/reel combination, “The Fyket,” in a very non-traditional arrangement.
A couple of notes
Ancient noises
Here’s another hit tune, this time a gymel from the thirteenth century, “Edi Beo Thu, Hevene Quene,” in a thoroughly historically-uninformed arrangement. All the sounds are u-he’s Hive.
The original sounded something like this:
“Edi Beo Thu” was originally a vocal piece. It might be interesting to hear how a pair of Mikus handle Middle English, but I expect that the results would be unintelligible.
Dracula and friends
Update: Never mind. The show has been cancelled.
***
The local orchid organization is holding its annual show and sale this Saturday at Botanica in Wichita. There may well be some Dracula orchids for sale and possibly in bloom for the holiday. Here’s the flyer. (The orchid pictured is a Paphiopedilum.)
Here’s Don Ross with “Dracula and Friends, Part One.”
Ross, unfortunately, will not be at Botanica, though he turns up occasionally at Winfield.
The Great Heresies, musical edition
(Via Dale Price.)
Thought for the day
Lightly touch down
This was the first version of the song I heard, back a thousand years ago, and it’s still the best. David Bromberg was all the band Jerry Jeff Walker needed. Requiescat in pace.