Category Archives: Of This and That

Another Music Legend Passes……

Posted on by
Reply

I am a Country and Western fan and while I appreciate many of the really old pieces and musicians, I generally prefer the changes that came about around the 1980s. I do also appreciate the pioneers of the genre and there is no denying Loretta Lynn was of a special stature. And like so many of the few that actually made it to super stardom, she came from impoverished beginnings and a hard early life. “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” released her first song in 1960 and when I checked on a couple of the sites announcing her death they summed up her major awards. “Lynn was the first woman ever named entertainer of the year at the genre’s two major awards shows, first by the Country Music Association in 1972 and then by the Academy of Country Music three years later.”

“Throughout her career, Loretta won three Grammy Awards of 18 nominations, scored 24 number-one hit single and 11 number-one albums, and was named the Academy of Country Music’s Artist of the Decade. Four years before her death, Loretta was presented with the Artist of a Lifetime award at CMT Artists of the Year ceremony in 2018.”

She did have a stroke a few years ago and passed at home in Tennessee peacefully this week at age 90. She influenced stars like Dolly Parton, Reba McIntire, and the newer generation of Carrie Underwood. Aside from her musical talent, she was known for the lovely dresses she always wore, good works she did within different communities, and bringing her life into focus with the autobiography of, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, later made into an Oscar-winning movie. We lifted a toast to her at a luncheon yesterday and I’m sure that has already been repeated millions of times around the world.

Things That Pass….

Posted on by
Reply

Musings ahead alert. An incident recently occurred which brought to mind how no matter what one wishes or how one tries, there are times when certain things are no longer sustainable. This is hardly a new thought and has been rendered in story, song, and other arts for probably as long mankind has been able to acknowledge and express the sentiment. After all, most know Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “There is a time for everything”, if not through church lessons then the Byrds song of “Turn, Turn, Turn.”

Back a few years ago, a longstanding non-profit closed out as a combination of aging participants to where membership dwindled and a few other factors. I’ve posted before about family businesses that often don’t make it past the third generation. The house and property that was in my first husband’s family for I think seven generations was another example. We were supposed to eventually move there and carry on the tradition which we would then have passed to our son. In the “life happens”, it simply didn’t work out that way. The small law office my maternal grandfather established might not go into the fourth generation either; only time will tell. History comes in all forms with certain ancient places enduring to at least be remembered if no longer used. In far more modern applications, there are frequent struggles between “progress” or “economic benefit” that override a sense of history. There are multiple cable TV series of individuals and organizations that seek to preserve or restore places, buildings, or items that have been neglected or abandoned. In other cases, there is merely documentation of something that will be allowed to deteriorate to the point of no longer being recognizable.

There can be a sadness in losing what once was, yet sustaining something of historical value/legacy requires resources of usually funding and effort that aren’t always available.

 

 

Murder Mystery Events….

Posted on by
Reply

We’ve been to several of these over the years and last night was a fundraiser one so they did things a little differently. It was a Kentucky Derby one and they had like 24 or 25 characters. Instead of handing out descriptions of them, they had one set posted on the wall. Some folks did take photos on their phone. There really were too many to mess with and the building where it was held is incredibly noisy. I decided early on not to bother with trying to figure this one out and just socialize. Tickets of course were not inexpensive since it was a fundraiser and the two things they did differently for extra funds was “sell” 2 and 3 of clues. By sell, that ,means each set was $250 so the lady taking the cash walked around and collected whatever people contributed until the total reached at least $250. The other thing was to have a paper bag marked with each character name and you could buy tickets to then place into the bag of the character you thought was the murderer. Oh yes, then they bid off the opportunity for you to be the first person to say who you thought the murderer was with a prize to be had if you were right. As it turns out, one of the guys at our table had the highest bid, but didn’t get the correct character. He “won” the basket anyway for some reason I don’t exactly recall.

The dinner would have been good as the food – choice of prime rib or chicken was tasty. Unfortunately, most of the meals were not hot and some were said to be cold. The salad was excellent and they did have key lime pie. Although large crowds are always tricky, I’m really not sure why this seemed to be a problem across the board.

Anyway, we have a completely different event tonight and dinner after at a nearby restaurant. That should work better.

 

Another Week Slipped By Again….

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been extra hectic, although that shouldn’t come as a big surprise.

Anyway, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II does bring an era to a close.May she rest in peace.  Aside from the fact my middle name is Elizabeth, her coronation took place in Jun 1953, only a couple of months before my birthday. I am not what one can call an Anglophile, however, the constitutional monarchy has served the UK well and she has reigned through many changes. It is a different time now and I have no idea how King Charles III will be. At the risk of incurring shocked comments, I was never a big fan of Princess Diana’s handling of their divorce and haven’t paid much attention to Camilla although I think she has probably been long preparing for this day. There will no doubt be a great deal of pageantry over the coming days and while I won’t watch any of that either, I do appreciate the traditions that will be followed. And unlike some of what has happened recently in this country,I doubt they will permit politics to enter into the multiple events.

My husband of course thinks the entire monarchy is long past when it should go away. I don’t have any firm feelings other than I see the functionality of it until such time as the culture might change and there be a referendum. For those who have read or might read, “To Play on Grass Fields”, I chose the intent for the King of Malathos to transition to a constitutional monarchy because it does have a workable structure as seen in a number of countries.

 

 

Winning at the Top……

Posted on by
Reply

HBO is running the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer”, multiple times; a movie I love on multiple levels. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend it. Aside from a great cast, it’s beautifully written and well-acted. It’s based on the book of the same name which is based on the true story of Josh Waitzkin who came to chess acclaim at age seven. Unlike many child prodigies, he came to the game inadvertently as no one in his family nor anyone he knew at the time played chess. I don’t want to get into details in case someone does decide to watch, but this post deals with different aspects of becoming top in a field and how to view winning.

Josh’s father is a sports writer and his mother a stay-at-home mom (if the movie is accurate). Joseph Montagena plays the father and Joan Allen the mother. Juxtaposed with Josh is the street-wise guy who initially teaches him (played by Lawrence Fishburn) and the highly rated man who takes over as the professional instructor (played by Ben Kingsley). As Josh progresses, does the ability to win become so important that “winning is the only thing”? Does everything else have to take a lesser priority? Does the competition have to “be the enemy”?  The mother grows increasingly worried that Josh will change too much in pursuit of what is clearly within his capability. The movie is interspersed with clips of Bobby Fischer and the impact winning had on him.

In one memorable scene between the mother and father, she questions the intensity of expectations. The father and Josh are huge baseball fans and in trying to get her point across, she asks the question, “How many players are afraid of losing their father’s love when they get up to bat?” “Everyone of them,” he counters before leaving the room.

I worked with a great guy who was cut from the Dallas Cowboys on the last day they could cut potential rookies. It was long enough ago for the Coach to have been Tom Landry and he provided a nice letter praising my friend’s spirit and talent. My friend said it was tough to get to that stage and not make it, but he also recognized how few players who have dreamed of the pros as children make it even that far.

Georgia Trip, Day 2…….

Posted on by
Reply

The Hampton Inn had biscuits and sausage gravy as part of the breakfast so Hubby was happy. Lunch later at his sister’s was perfect with a taco salad that included wonderfully fresh tomatoes from a local market. They did a great job remodeling the house and it fits nicely into the old, established neighborhood. The incorporated some of the original features like leaving one of the corner cabinets in the dining room, The other one went as that wall came down allow for a much-needed expansion of the kitchen. The old den is now a designated playroom for the stair-stepped three grandchildren as the oldest is now a young man. While there are a few things she said they would have done differently, it is a warm, welcoming place complete with a front porch and adult and two child-size rocking chairs.

We got caught up on everyone and they are going to the reunion tonight so will pick us up which makes it nice. I spent part of the afternoon working on an article for the paper as Hubby listened to a photography podcast (or something like that). We went into the town square for dinner which has indeed become incredibly crowded. There are multiple tours as “The Vampire Diaries” continues to be popular and there are also ghost tours. We were glad to see the former Irish pub was replaced by a Gastropub, The Social Goat. Apparently it recently changed hands and our waitress didn’t know where the name came from. I thought there might be an explanation on the menu, but no. It was a fairly short menu with a focus on gourmet burgers, a long list of taco options, a few entrees and nine rotating beers on tap in addition to the bottled beers, plus some intriguing sounding cocktails. We did the burgers; Hubby with The Social Goat version which included pimento cheese and bacon jam. I went traditional.

Goats Added To The Mix…..

Posted on by
Reply

Another couple of days slipped by as multiple extra tasks were added in. As I mentioned when writing about the May trip, we went through Abita Springs on the way back to have a short visit with my brother and sister-in-law. We did not have time to go to their new place and will schedule that for perhaps next year. They are almost completely transitioned from the house in Mandeville to what is sort of a “family complex”. My sister-in-law’s mother made it to her 100th birthday and passed away several months ago. There had been the agreement she would stay in her home and while both sons were able to help and there were visiting nurses involved, a large part of the assistance came from my sister-in-law and brother. She left the house to them and there are some number of acres where the two brothers live nearby. (I;m not entirely clear on the proximity). Anyway, my brother and sister-in-law have always taken in strays of everything – and I mean lots over the years. If I recall correctly, at their peak there were like 6 or 7 cats, two dogs, and a neighbor’s pot-bellied pig that seemed to constantly come over. At some point I think there were guinea pigs, too. In all fairness, my sister-in-law did have a business for a while before they married doing children’s parties with a pony and maybe a few other animals. That was in addition to her extraordinary creativity as a fabric artist and a horticulturist.

Anyway, they have space at the new place to where a friend was going to give them a goat as a housewarming present and according to my sister-in-law, goats are social animals. They now have two goats and while they can be great fro helping keep brambles, weeds, etc, under control apparently there are other issues to be worked out with eating the wrong shrubbery and flowers. Ah well, I’m sure they will all come to agreement.

Days Slipped By Again…..

Posted on by
Reply

I would ask how almost a week passed since my last post, but barring computer or internet issues, it’s the usual answer of extra tasks thrown in to get me off-schedule. Nothing bad although a couple of genuinely annoying things to deal with. They aren’t worth getting into. I had vague hopes of being able to dive this week and that isn’t happening.

Speaking of diving, a friend who has found and/or identified numerous shipwrecks has done it again. Michael Barnette (met him while working on Mystery of the Last Olympian) has done exploration in many places and apparently, a famous yacht sunk in 1931 is his most recent success. Here’s part of a Facebook post from earlier today. “The wreck of INGOMAR has eluded divers until just recently. A survey conducted by William Hoffman, Joseph Hoyt, and William Sassorossi documented the unidentified yacht in 2017. Imagery collected by John McCord revealed the graceful lines of an elegant yacht. Using their baseline data and looking through archival information, I suspected the wreck was INGOMAR. The dimensions, machinery, and position largely match the attributes of INGOMAR. The wreck rests on her starboard side in deep sand. While not a conclusive identification, the available evidence coupled with the lack of other suspect sites strongly suggest this shipwreck site is indeed the historic yacht INGOMAR.”

The process for officially identifying a wreck after it’s located can easily take years and when I wrote Idyllic Islands, I did a few chapters about how it works. (https://charliehudson.net/books/idyllic-islands.html) That part of the book served two purposes. I needed to introduce a character who would become important much later and the reason I chose that way to do so is because it is such an intricate process. In this case, I made it fairly easy to better match the rhythm of the story.

Lessons From “The Gambler”…..

Posted on by
Reply

We support and attend an annual fundraiser each year for the Military Affairs Council that does different things for the military community. It’s a Casino Nite and I think I have explained before that neither Hubby nor I gamble. As I explained, I have nothing against it as it’s been going on for thousands of years and it’s as good a source for entertainment as any. While it can also bring tragedy through addiction, that’s a different issue. The corruption and crime are also other issues.

Anyway, the singer for the evening of course had to do “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers, another of his great songs. In the repeated words of, “know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em; know when to walk away and know when to run” and “never count your money while sitting at the table; there’ll be time enough for counting when the dealings done.”, there are good points for life. However, it’s important to add in the other phrases such as, “The House always wins”, or in the best case, “The odds favor the House.” Whatever the gambling establishment, a certain number of people have to win; otherwise, only the addicts will come. Although there is definite skill involved with some games and even “techniques” for playing something as random as slot machines, chance is ever a factor. A friend from a long time ago said in his one time in Vegas, he was on a streak. He was up by $10,000 and in classic fashion, instead of walking away, he kept betting and lost most of it.  I don’t gamble because I’m no good at it and in Hubby’s case, he doesn’t want to devote the time it takes to become skilled.

A dear friend of mine loves going to Biloxi to whichever of the resorts it is she favors and she frequently takes a group. Her husband and mine grew up together and like my husband, he graduated from Georgia Tech. He, too, understands the math behind gambling and he’s fine with this as a source of entertainment for his wife. He indulgently shakes his head when she “wins” – which she absolutely does at times – because he knows when you add up the losses, the House will indeed come out ahead.

 

Chocolate Musings….

Posted on by
Reply

Watching part of “Brunch with Bobby Flay” the other morning started a discussion about chocolate as he was featuring it in multiple forms for this particular brunch. I do know people who don’t care for chocolate and there are those unfortunates who are allergic to it. My brother is one which is how we discovered white chocolate. Bobby was using it on his show and explained how it doesn’t contain cocoa powder, yet has the taste because it is derived from cocoa butter. I don’t recall who told us about white chocolate all those years ago; perhaps another individual who was allergic and was happy to pass on the information.

There is also the debate about dark versus milk chocolate and while I prefer milk chocolate, dark chocolate with different combinations is delicious – I mean there is a reason Girl Scout Thin Mints has been a best seller for decades. Where I differentiate is if I am going to eat a plain piece, I’ll always choose milk.chocolate. The restaurants’ infamous desserts of Death by Chocolate – and there are multiple variations – probably does it best with between four to seven types depending on the restaurant.

Going back to Bobby’s show, he was also using chocolate in the Mexican/Southwestern style of it as an ingredient for a savory dish. I have found that to be tricky and always follow a recipe the few times I’ve done it. The proportions have to be correct or it tends to end up with a bitter taste.

In an aside, toward the latter part of Desert Storm, we were getting Hershey’s Desert Bars, one they created to not melt until around 140 degrees. It was actually pretty good, but they didn’t produce a great many before the War ended and I’m not sure why it didn’t seem to catch on with the general public. (The M&Ms motto of, “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand”, is correct unless you are in a desert-type climate)