The spring season of 2020

Spring 2020 Its all about me

It has been a spring I've never encountered before. Neither have you. Neither have any of the other 7 or so billion of people. The entire earth is in a quarantine. So I have been posting a sporadic blog of how this virus affects me. I won't repeat those ideas here.

I have been doing some day trips which are less entertaining than before the quarantine because one of the enjoyments of these trips is eating at little restaurants in out of the way towns. However I have been going to where there are waterfalls. I did make it out birding but not as much as normal. It has been a cool and rainy spring for about half of the days. Not today though. It is about 80 degrees and sunny so I went down to the Columbia River for about an hour reading and basking. However, I wrote about the seasons birding in another post.

The first trip was to Silver Creek Falls in Oregon a bit east of Salem and about an hour and a half from home. To get there I went about 30 miles on the tedious #205 which wends through suburban and industrial Portland and on to #214, an Oregon state road and from there it was a pleasant rural drive through the Willamette Valley wine district. Since it was a valley mountains could be seen in most directions but the land in the valley is very flat. I got to Silverton, a small town about 15 miles from my destination. It would have been the place to get that repast described above were it any other time.

Actually it was early into a relaxation of the quarantine imposed on us all and so bistros and diners were open to small numbers and the local used book store open to one customer at a time. This is not a pleasant experience for me so I simply ambled about town for 15 or so minutes and then headed for the falls.

The short few miles from Silverton on #213 took us up into the foot hills of part of the Cascade range and so was filled with sharp turns and winding roads which were beautiful. Then it was to the falls and a walk of nearly 2 hours.

Canyon

The State park is Oregon's largest so my walk only attended to a small part of it. While I was near the top of the upper falls, I saw the enormous chasm that you see above.

The only falls that I reached were cascading into the gorge from around 100 feet above.

One of Silverton Creek Falls

A few days prior to my venture south to Silver Creek Falls I went to Lucia Falls where I have been to on several occasions. I actually went there by accident. I was looking for a new way to get to Salmon Creek and apparently got my directions disoriented and headed the wrong direction about 15 miles north of here. So I went to Plan B instead.

Plan B-Lucia Falls

This week I went to Siouxon Falls in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was an incredible trip to take on a reasonably beautiful day. It is a little less than 50 miles away and into the mountainous region that includes Mt. St. Helens. Once I got out of the suburban area I drove past these small county towns that I never had a reason to go to. Once past Clark County it was pretty much farmland for a few miles until I reached the foothills. The road narrowed which was not an issue since there was no traffic. When I was about 5 miles from the park, the road narrowed to one lane and drivers who met oncoming traffic would have a very tiny margin of error to let each car pass. A mistake of about 6 inches would be enough to send one or both cars off the road and into the deep gully on each side of the street.

Anyway the park is beautiful with the Douglas Fir trees looming a hundred and a half feet high, creating a canopy that rendered the trails dark, wet and lovely. I did not get to any of the falls up there as the driving to get there and to get back home was far more than I had allotted for this trip.

One branch of the Lewis River (I think)

Some of the view a few miles outside of the park.

In between Chelalis and the park is a large area of land that has been de-forested with unwanted lumber and scrap wood scattered about for acres. It would seem that part of any arrangement that the lumber industry had for cutting these areas would include a clean up but apparently it doesn't. All of that scrap wood could easily be re-cycled in many ways but rather, it just lays there.

That is pretty much the extent of my travels.

I have become “zoomed out” by the new way of communicating on line. I have watched discussion panels (mostly concerning the Black Lives Matter movement). The next one on deck right now is one on Conspiracies and Cranks put on by the Center for Inquiry. These have taken the place of any courses at the community college which of course is currently closed.

Hopefully the summer will be a season that reasonably allows for groups dining together but maybe it won't.

Otherwise I have spent much of this season reading books and catching up on the vast number of articles amassed in order to read later. Without the quarantine they would amass even more. I have cut them all down.

I wonder how much life will be permanently changed as a result of this quarantine. The entire earth has already made Jeff Bezos a far richer man than he already was. Will technology like Zoom further erode our being face to face with people? At the rate we are going it seems that even more will be available to those with a laptop and a bed. As more people have begun to tel-work will we see office complexes closing for the lack of rentals?

I never take my musings about the future very seriously but I still like to do that. I also hope I can travel again during this next season.

As usual I am cooking quite a bit. Actually in unusual amounts. I had last eaten restaurant food on March 6^th. I had my last beer at a pub on March 10^th. So I am cooking at home. I bought a smoker and have used that either to slow smoke meats or vegetables. It functions like a stove in that I can set it 350 degrees for an hour. That will take care of a whole chicken and with a residual flavoring of oak chips. I mad a shepherds pie on one occasion.

On another I made a pomegranate and tahini sauce and topped over acorn squash and roasted with pistachios.

Today I broke my dining out streak and bought a shrimp salad and fish stew from a local seafood place.

Lastly I read an interesting interview in Prospect magazine where Emma Smith talks about the influence of 16^th centuries plagues had on Shakespeare's plays. She suggests that one to read is Venusand Aphrodite which explores lewd behavior during those times. I have not read that play but intend to and you can too.

Tomorrow marks the third anniversary of the last time I saw Baltimore as I headed west that day.

Corona Virus Diary #8

Corona Virus Diary #8

Since there are so few places to go it is more of a task to come up with new things to say about the pandemic. I am glad that cooler heads prevail here in our state capitals. South of me in Oregon where I do not vote, the state republicans have proven to be more vainglorious than they are leaders. It does seem obvious that they want to please POTUS so rather than work cooperatively and maybe do some compromising they ensure that votes cannot occur by boycotting the senate sessions. They are the minority so they win less votes and therefore take their marbles home. The governor however is strong and rational as is ours here in Washington. Our state legislative bodies are also less rancorous. That does not mean that we don't have extremists prodded by their party. Apparently they are less numerous than in Oregon or maybe our water is healthier.

The state that I grew up in-Michigan, certainly has its share of whack jobs-this is not new to that state. They show up armed and screaming along with confederate flags and other right wing symbols in order to intimidate the governor. That does not appear to be working as she has been resolute in maintaining social controls that hopefully will end the chaos of national quarantine.

Likewise in the state I adopted for 36 years-Maryland, the governor is not seeking to do any boneheaded lifting of the regulations with more evidence of that being safe. What makes him unique is that he is a rare republican who does not march to the song of the emperor and his new clothes.

So as dreary as it is, I am not going to be attending places and events simply because the lack of leadership at the federal level desires us to do so.

I miss a couple of things pretty dearly as a result of this quarantine. The first is that libraries are closed. These are a source mostly of periodicals for me. My own local library is a fairly new structure and so does not have much historical character. It does have the New York Review of Books, The Scientist, The New Yorker Magazine and other magazines that I am not going to subscribe to. I typically spend several hours over the course of a few days, reading such at the library.

The Portland 9^th Avenue Library has about 3 times as many periodicals as the one near me. It is also located in a beautiful, historical structure in the near downtown area near Portland State University. I can sit there for hours catching up on news. When I am done there are a slew of restaurants to check out and that is my routine when I am there.

I am not the baseball fan that I was in the 1970s but have annually got much succor that accompanies the end of winter by the box scores to read everyday and the chance to watch games. It is noticeably absent just like much of the joys of the new spring.

I did start my porch garden though more subdued than the previous two seasons. I'd rather do a better job with a few select plants than hope for success with abundance. Lets see how that works out.

I have been doing way more cooking than my waistline prefers. Apparently so are many others. I have seen articles about food shortages and have witnessed them myself as our stores which for the most part have robust supplies, also are curiously short on things I would not have guessed they would be. My local store was all out of corn starch the other day. Really? Corn starch? Maybe I'll organize a public protest.

Corona Virus Diary #7

Corona Virus Diary #7

Things remain about the same this week. The sick head count and its fatal landing point continues to grow though apparently the pace is slowing. Entertainment venues remain closed where I live and where they are not I sincerely hope the governments there are right. I don't have any reason to think that they are but hopefully I am wrong. If I am, then venues will open in more places and less people will be getting sick and dying.

Across the nation there are small bands of white men and their significant others decrying governments who remain obdurate in protecting citizens and keeping entertainment and dining businesses closed. Reading the posters, seeing interviews with participants these people have no understanding of the current conditions. They do however, demand the right to do anything they want to do. Theoretically that is, so long as they are not harming society. If I am wrong in my estimation of what is currently wrong, then I can agree with the protesters. Since the messages they provide do not show evidence that they have a clue I suspect their demands are personal and inspired by politics.
I won't bore anyone with links regarding these protests since they are so prevalent in the media already.

In other straw dog news, the commander in chief remains resolute in his non-thinking and generally incoherent daily news briefs. There was never, long before the outbreak of corona virus, that he would do otherwise.

The weather is improving into a genuine spring so while it is easier to get outside, there are still few places to go. Sometimes I walk rudderless, ambling about in order to enjoy some sun and warmth. I often visit some co-residents of this apartment complex for short visits in the garden area. A couple of them are succumbing to right wing fantastical conspiracy theories all designed to assist the presumptive Republican nominee for this coming November election in winning re-election. He has done nothing that would make anyone with an ounce of analysis change their mind. His adherents of course are fueled by high octane emotionalism which may indeed get him re-elected. Americans across the board are actually that silly.

The Vancouver City Farmer's Market re-opened with very limited offering. There was no hot foods available and no fringe market booths like massages or aromatherapy which I thought would be a good thing. However I think and how little I go to these booths, I recognize that they lent much flavor to the Market. A barren market is a boring one and I realize that now that those peripheral booths are not there.

It was a reasonable attempt but being this early in the season, fresh produce is still at a premium. Opening day also was cool and raining two conditions that also do not enhance a market.

First Vancouver Farmer's Market of 2020

There are a number of articles about books and diaries of famous people who have either endured a pandemic or have written books about fictionalized pandemics. The best books that I have read include Camus' The Plague and Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith. I read each of these novels a long time ago but remember each fondly. Isaac Newton also survived a plague by retreating to the country side, the same method the wealthy can quarantine themselves. Samuel Pepys in 17^th Century England wrote his own diary of living through a pandemic.

Corona Virus Diary #6

Corona Virus Diary # 6

It gets more difficult every week, to find enough corona related events to make mention of. My peers and I typically cite our exhaustion with the news. The media likewise has abated with news, at least so far as it is relevant. Those outlets are reliant on informing people that some celebrity's cousin has died as a result of the virus and to point out the recklessness of POTUS. The latter has become tedious long before this virus made news and then pandemic. We know that the Commander in Chief will lie, exaggerate and change his story routinely. This personal failure has not been news for many years and plugging it into stories of Covid 19 does not change that. Likewise the outraged and indignant presentation by all the talking head at Fox News is now just a trope. People who want misinformation and propaganda rather than informed information that is data driven will continue to use Fox as their source. People who eschew such nonsense will get news from genuine sources. The latter should have stopped slapping their foreheads every time some Hannity or Limbaugh says something absurd.

I have been watching more television during this lull in the action and have noticed the style of television advertisement. Apparently every company that can afford a commercial wants us to know that they are available for services because they are concerned with our health and they admire first responders and medical professionals.

Then they intend to sell us high fat foods, plenty of sugar and provide us with cures and relief from things that we did not know were ever an issue. The examples are legion but I'll just provide onethat I saw the other day.

On a daily basis there are several mentions in the news, of how the environment is faring during this pandemic. It is essentially good news and often presented asif ironic. Simply taking a few moments to reflect on events, it is obvious that with less traffic, many businesses shuttered at least temporarily and people home schooling, less impact on the environment is being made. It is not ironic and is temporary.

We know that it is short lived since we can look at the organized MAGA hat wearers including politicians, who are demanding a lifting of quarantines and suggested safety measures imposed by local governments that are taking their cues from scientific data rather than misrepresentations suggested from the White House and its favorite news sources.

Locally one of our representatives, Eileen Quiring (elected on the curious motto “a republican you can trust”) joined protesters in Olympia and tells the media “the natives are getting restless”. Her electors and the POTUS undoubtedly love this nonsense.

Once released (or releasing themselves) from the prescriptions of this virus, it seems certain that all measurable environmental improvements will return to as they were around March 10^th of this year. No one is going to learn a lesson from any of this.

I am running out of things to say so now I present some historic context.

I and everyone I have contact with are still healthy.

Corona Virus #5

Corona Virus Diary #5

Not much is new enough to mention here. I see that CIC supporters are pretending to protest the health and safety related quarantines. From what I read, these are more Trump Rallies than a legitimate posing of potential legal or social issues that may require changes. Everybody wants the economy to get back to full swing. Most of us do not want that at the expense of innumerable deaths and the costs of medical treatment.

At least on the surface, one could argue that the POTUS and his minions do not care much about the health of the society. Since it is the weakest (physically as well as economically) that are more apt to die from this that maybe stripping all quarantine will rid society of those less worthy. I have not yet read an argument against that notion. Where is Jonathon Swift when we need him?

One particular issue that is in high gear is that of wearing masks. Since the common surgical or industrial masks are a rare commodity we all have seen instructions of how to make our own mask. Here are my instructions for making a mask:

1.      Purchase a strip of velcro many years ago

2.      Try to remember why you bought it and why you have saved a 6 inch remnant of that original role

3.      Go to the towel drawer in the kitchen that includes a large handkerchief type of cloth (plaid preferred)

4.      Wonder how you came to possess this cloth-from whence did it find its way into the drawer

5.      Fold the cloth in half

6.      Fold it again in half but rather than have the two ends meet in the middle, leave about an inch between the two ends

7.      Cut the strip of Velcro roughly in half

8.      Lay one part of the Velcro at the end of one of the ends of the folded cloth

9.      Since you have no thread or a needle to sew the strip of Velcro onto get your stapler out and staple the strip to the end of the cloth with at least two staples

10.  Take the second strip of Velcro-the opposite knap of the first and adhere it to the first strip

11.  Stretch it over the one inch gap and across to the other end of the folded cloth

12.  Staple it to the cloth so that you end up with a connecting tie between the two ends of folded cloth

13.  Peel the two pieces of Velcro from each other and wrap the cloth across your face including your nose and re-adhere the two pieces of Velcro

14.  When you where it the first time, cloth fibers perhaps, induce you to a sneezing fit among other costumers at the local grocery store

When you are complete of this project, you will look as I did below  

I probably should have worn a hat

Corona virus #4

Corona virus #4

It’s been over a month since I last ate or drink any provisions from a food establishment. I wonder when the last time that happened. Probably before I was in high school. But that is not tragic.

What is tragic is how republicans and their minions are making this whole mess and the government’s response to it, a political game. The POTUS has tossed sops to all of us and boons to businesses-and he wants no restrictions or over sight. History does not suggest that tycoons find largesse during times like this. It does suggest that the degree of profiteering will go up.

Potus is intent on making board members and stockholders get their due quickly and among his dubious exhortations, is an optimism that is unwarranted. He also originally appointed Mike Pence to head up the government response and Pence becomes mute. The legitimate epidemiologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks after the commander in chief has bumbled and lied his way through another of his daily updates. When leadership is required this is what we get. In the Portland newspaper I saw today, an editorial by Steve Duin that makes this obvious.

When you mix science with politics you get politics and nobody but the Executive Branch, the Senate and all of their minions will throw a screen up to blur their own duplicity in this. Hopefully if the POTUS lifts quarantine bans, governors and the common man will ignore that and stay sequestered until the disease is genuinely contained.

There is also the issue of miracle cures touted by many and accelerated by many in the media and on the World Wide Web that are either not tested or inefficiently done so. I see them everywhere these days and hear people extol their virtues with only the information provided by a media talking head. You cannot make people think for themselves. They would have to break the barriers presented by authority figures like Sean Hannity. Rudy Giuliani, himself just a self-promoting huckster also sings the praises saying of the charlatan doctor Zelinko, which he is “thinking of solutions, just like the president.”

In other news there is no other news from me. Everything in my personal life is a clone of the one that occurred a week ago. That is a good thing too because in my case no news is good news. I am reading considerably and was allured by Montaigne’s essay On Experience which is much about self-quarantine during the time of one of Europe’s plagues. Here is a reference to that from TheParis Review. Lastly for today is some further details about Montaigne and this essay.

Corona Virus Diary #3

Corona Virus #3

Since I have never watched any of those zombie apocalypse movies (or pick your most favored and feared metaphysical ogre) I cannot say much about their content. However there are plenty of trailers showing scenes like hordes of invaders and entrenched yet intrepid heroes ready to fight them. Those enemies now are out to steal your toilet paper. POTUS has ensured that we can hunker down and protect our loved ones as we can equally protect our possessions and thus gun shops are deemed essential. News of valiant attempts to protect ourselves are a new well spring of newsitems in a world where everything is virus related.  

There are naysayers too. Some who preach that this is overplayed, even a hoax. This is a well-played ruse I guess. There are millions who pretend to have gotten the illness and many who have succumbed to it all for the practical joke of a hoax.

The erstwhile “think tank” called the Hoover Institute hosts RichardEpstein among other propagandists who feel that this all a big hype. He only can convince his own choir and it is easy to do amongst those minions. You can do it too and here are a few ways to do that. You use scornful similes and metaphors and direct them to the “left” (which means all who do not agree with you or the Hoover Institute. You also use verbiage that suggests that those people are lying. You hint that the Chinese have set this virus purposefully in motion and that Italy and Spain are deceptive about their own tactics to tame this disease. You also ignore the fact that America is the world leader in the number of corona virus cases. I guess if this is a hoax those numbers mean nothing. When you don’t have the virus as a foe you can also bring up a true straw dog like socialism.

In other news it seems that every day there is a report about environmental changes that are the result of severely limited automobile driving and factory output. I have to imagine that many flights have been cancelled though I have not investigated. While most all of us are self-quarantining, the earth and atmosphere are breathing a little easier. The web site Space.com printed one such article about the increase in the ozone layer due to reduction of emissions. The science magazine Nautilus has an article about how nature acts when human involvement in it are reduced.  

Anyway the knowledge that this illness is at best a hoax and at worst simply overstated, be sure to attend (along with as many others as possible) your big fundamentalist church so that you can spiritually and more importantly, emotionally reinvigorate as well as to tithe that preacher. Since the NRA doesn’t care about you and POTUS doesn’t either, they only have eyes for each other, buy your new gun. I think that a well-placed silver bullet to the heart of Dracula will keep your family safe.

Some personal news about myself is that nothing has changed. I don’t get out much but we have also had about 10 days of horrid weather. This next week is supposed to be pretty nice so I’ll do more hiking than the last several days. At the same time many (but not all) local parks are closed. I’ll have to make do with what I can.

My friends Arja and Rande came to Portland to visit their daughter in early (pre shut down) and had March 31 as their return flight to New Hampshire. I was not sure that flight would continue but it did and they sent photos of their cabin as they flew home (successfully).

Grocery stores are still open and they have not run out of beer-that is good. They do not have the masks that we are all urged by scientists and medical researchers to wear. Paper products despite being limited to the numbers one can purchase, are still gone almost immediately. There are cars other than mine on the roads on those purchase days (for me that is Sunday and Wednesday) but not many.

Several days ago I woke up with a mild sore throat which for me has usually been the harbinger of a common cold but I jotted down the occurrence. I did not have that symptom the next day but did have a mild headache. This was a tad alarming since I cannot recall the last time I had a headache. It has been several years now since the last one. So I jotted that down. I also have had a bit of vertigo the other day but dizziness is something I have lived with. You may have noticed it yourself if you have been in my presence.

Anyway the headache which was mild enough to only notice if I actually thought about it disappeared after a few hours or maybe even less. I took note of my overall physical wellbeing for a few days but since with the exception of a little light-headedness I have symptoms of nothing.

Every spring I am a little happier and part of that because along with returning swallows is the opening of the baseball season. Should there be a 2020 baseball season it will be particularly joyful as it will mark the end of this year’s pandemic.

Corona Virus Diary #2

Corona Virus Diary #2

All across the world the virus is raging. It is still in the exponential stage so at least for a few weeks it will continue growing. Here in Vancouver (and all of Washington and Oregon) we only supposed to leave our homes for necessaries like food at grocery stores. Restaurants often are doing take out or delivery only. Most parks are closed but those that are open can only be reached by car which technically would be illegal.

I’m taking long walks from my apartment to nowhere just to get out and a modicum of exercise. There is not much to see on these walks but they are much quieter. There are less cars on the road and construction is considered non-essential. That is a relief. There is much to noise wherever I am so any diminishing of it is welcome by me.

The republican president and his well-stocked senate are sending all Americans $1,200.00 as well as many benefits for the unemployed. They also are earmarking the larger portion of the two trillion dollar bailout for business. All of this money is coming from government coffers since the business community will not be providing assistance. Commerce and industry will be receiving it. Adam Smith would be rolling in his grave as would all of those gainsayers of programs like the New Deal.

The POTUS has been giving daily updates on television regarding the virus. He is doing what is his trademark and that is to obfuscate with absurdities and falsehoods. The medical coordinator for the country Dr. Anthony Fauci has to walk back idiotic things our commander in chief spouts and yet be loyal to him simultaneously. I think it is safe to say that Dr. Fauci will be heard from less and less in coming days. It is just like Mike Pence who as always, stands mute and loyal gaze upon the president, his master while the president does all the talking.

Perhaps the worst lie of all goes something like this, “We were blindsided, and this came out of nowhere”. Despite the fact that the entire genome for the disease was shared in February, China provided regional updates at least as far back as January. Meanwhile after significant budget cuts for NIH and CDC that have come during the tenure of this POTUS, rendered those health organizations behind the 8 Ball of what they knew would be coming. Much has been written about potential pandemics over the last 10 years. David Quammen’s Spillover outlined the details of how the pandemic would work and was recently interviewed in Orion magazine to re-affirm that we cannot say we were caught unawares.

All of this should surprise none of us. We have known who won the electoral vote in 2016 for nearly 4 years. We know that telling the truth is meaningless. We also have known that the Senate republicans were going to jump off a bridge in order to show their loyalty to both POTUS and their party at the cost of patriotism or love of country.

At any rate I am inconvenienced at worst and healthy. As I write this I can say the same for friends and families. I am also feeling optimistic that with the restrictions we are living with, that somewhere around May first our lives will return to normal. We will have received our $1,200.00 and will spend much less as entertainment venues have already been shut down for nearly 2 weeks.

Not that many people are in better condition than I am right now.

These things occurred to me during the winter of 2020

This winter has easily been the mildest that I have ever experienced. The coldest day was January 15 when the day time high was about 33 degrees. We had far more 50 degree days than ones in the 40s and we topped 60 degrees on several occasions. We had our many rainy days but there have been enough sunny ones to offset the dreariness that I felt the first two winters out here. One day in early January I was in the midst of some mild flurries but since the ground was too warm, they disappeared upon landing. One other morning I saw that the cars had a dusting of snow so light that simply moving the vehicle blew that residue off. On January 5^th at 2:48 am we were at our perihelion for all of you record keepers reading this.

Well I wrote that on March 13^th imagining that the temperatures predicted for the next 5 days would bear out in be in the upper 40s and low 50s. It did not and when I woke up on Saturday, the 14^th I saw about two inches of snow covering while it continued to fall until about 11:00 am. Mainly the ground was too warm and the snow melted immediately. It looked like a blizzard most of the morning and since the snow couldn’t melt fast enough we did end up with several inches. Yet it continues to melt and so we wade through slush to get to our cars. It is also staying in the low 40s and overcast so what snow we have is deign to leave as early as I wish it would.

First snow at our community garden

With the exception of a very early winter trip (see below), I stayed pretty close to home. I did go up to Seattle. Hannah’s son Ali, grows exponentially to those of us who do not see him every day. When I go up again in early April he’ll probably be shooting baskets with his dad.

Ali at 6 weeks

Ali a few weeks later

As with everyone on earth we are affected by the coronavirus. Its effects on daily life rapidly have become bothersome. Not only are restrictions severe but they provide an ominous foreboding. It reminds of the few days post 9/11 where much of America wondered what would happen next.

So as of March 15^th the local schools are closed for 6 weeks which probably thrills local parents. Several major employers are granting leaves to employees or allowing them to work from home if that option works for all. To a large extent that leaves many with no income. I wonder if they can get unemployment benefits. I suspect not. 

The museums and libraries are all closed until further notice. No public place can have over 250 people there at any one time. I wonder how that will work at big box stores such as Target. My plans to fly to Baltimore in late April now pend.

So it not only is a discomfort it also may be the onset of a pandemic killing millions worldwide like the 1918 flu.

The baseball season openers set for March 26 are postponed maybe for the entire season. While I enjoy the library and museums my needs are pretty unaffected by the current restrictions. I don’t like them but I am not really suffering. My income will continue despite the corona virus.

It is likely to worsen before it subsides as viruses do. Listen and read science based information rather than POTUS who is more concerned with the stock market or Fox News which will only feed the viewer propaganda.

This winter I took a couple of courses at the community college. The first in late January was a one evening cooking course. I often take these. This one was focused on Ethiopian cuisine. Though in my lifetime I have probably not eaten ten times at Ethiopian, I have always enjoyed them a lot. Not only is it an exotic food but in all cases the atmosphere was similar. They were small places in which all elegance was in the multiples spices whose aroma confused the air. The rooms always dimly lit and the food served in small crocks of savory meats, lentils and/or vegetables stewed in the mixtures of spices that constitute the air that I just mentioned. All is eaten with the injera that is the bread permanently associated with this food. Everything is gracious and nothing is ostentatious.

But the class was not performed in a restaurant but in the “cooking class” room at Clark College. It is a good instructional setting but that means lots of light and stainless steel. The instructor was an Ethiopian woman probably in her 40s though I am not good at judging ages. She was diminutive and soft spoken which is not good for this old man whose hearing is ebbing away.

There were about 20 students of various ages and ethnicities. Only a few were male. So we learned how to prepare and cook a variety of vegetarian dishes and actually cook the injera. Since that bread takes more than a day to prepare, the instructor brought with her a large batch of the prepared ingredients and each student actually fried two or three large pancake sized pieces. 

My experiences in restaurants has been that the final product of whatever meal is being eaten are quite stew like in that it is actually a soup like concoction. In the class however, our lentil concoctions were pasty and dry. This was regardless of whether it was the split peas in turmeric sauce called Atir Kik Alicha, the green beans and carrots called Fossolia or the Miser Wot (Red lentil stew). The spice blends were quite aromatic but required locating a store that sells them and mixing a blend together.

Finally the injera which cooks in about one minute, takes a lengthy process that includes fermenting. It is saner to make a large base and keep it available for use while adding ingredients while the process continues. The instructor used a variety of flours that she undoubtedly keeps on hand but most students will have to find the stores that sell them. The flours used in the class made the color sort of like toasted white bread. The same spongy and porous texture I expect from restaurants was maintained but nowhere near as pretty as what is served in other settings than this class room.

It is not likely that I will ever buy the special ingredients required for these recipes since Ethiopian cooking is never going to be a standard for me. More likely I will explore one of several restaurants clustered on Killingworth and Martin Luther King Drive.

The other class was a two month long, one day per week and the subject was Memoir Writing. I had been thinking about writing something like that and it reached a higher pitch when my daughter recently gave birth. I want to leave a legacy since it is not likely that I will be around by his adulthood or that of any other grandchildren that may be born later. I did not have a method for organizing this endeavor. I also am not sure that my writing is as clear to others as it is to me. I had hoped to get some expository criticism. I really did not get what I sought except in very small and scattered doses. However, I really enjoyed it and am able to organize a process for rendering 75 pages or so to a readable rendition of how I see myself. The instructor used what he called “prompts” which give the writer a nudge to remember aspects of their life that they would like to describe or elaborate on.

This is a subjective undertaking which is not my strong suit. It clearly was what my classroom peers thrived on. I know this because each week we prepared about a 3 page story to share with the class and get feedback from them as well as the instructor. That feedback was rarely constructive regarding anything specific. The most common line was “I want to know more”. It was so oft stated that it became one of a few tropes used in formulaic suggestions. I could almost predict the words of many of those offering criticism.

I like to think all of my stories were interesting though it is not for me to judges things like that. I do know that a lot of the stories were damned interesting and on the last day of class, one was so funny that everyone had tears of laughter streaming including the narrator. Some of them were clever takes on experiences. A few of them were simply awful and would be awarded the grade of C in an 8^th grade English course. Some were poorly written and sophomoric, some poorly written and intriguing.

I selected one of those that I prepared for class and posted it on line.

It was a very good way to spend 2 ½ hours every Tuesday for two months. I think I will be looking for other classes to help bolster what I hope will be my product in the fairly near future. I did enjoy the company of most of my peers and the instructor as well but in order to fine tuning of this venture will require some examination of style for instance, rather than my emotional input. I already understand the latter.

Lucie came down from Seattle for a visit with friends in Portland and she and I spent several hours together on January 18^th. We went out to Multnomah Falls which was only about 30 miles to the east.

I had planned on going to see the falls shortly after moving here but only about 6 weeks after my arrival forest fires raced through the Columbia Gorge and access denied to the public for quite a while. When Lucie suggested that we go out there I agreed. It was a quick trip and when we arrived we found weather conditions significantly different.

It was overcast and in the mid-40s in Portland. It always is this time of year. It was not much different at the falls but there was significant snow. The above freezing temperature created significant fog and since the area froze at night, there was significant ice one the walkways which made much hiking not to our liking. It was especially difficult to go down since we inadvertently skated on several occasions as did many of the other visitors to this very popular place.

Anyways, Multnomah Falls is pretty majestic and on a less icy surface taking the path to its top would be doable though perhaps arduous as it winds to well over 100 feet. Above it is a bridge and you can see walkers more intrepid than I.

Multnomah Falls

We did not stay more than half an hour or so and then went to another visitor’s sight nearby. I cannot think of what it is called but it was high enough and closed enough that we only stayed a few minutes. The visibility nearly nothing due to thick fog but also a pretty swift wind made it not so comfortable. With no respite via an open building we gave this venture about 5 minutes of our time.

We finished up our visit over some Mexican food almost next door to where she was staying.

I did several days over the Holidays along the Oregon Coast which brought me as far south as Coos Bay during this trip. It is already online for all to see (if they choose to).

In the days preceding this blog, the entire world has become gripped with the effects of the pandemic labeled Corona Virus 19. Those infected are dying like the oldest and slowest zebra on a savanna. The compromised old and babies who have not yet developed immune defenses. Since it is such a rapid spreading virus the whole earth has suffered some consequences of it. Trump's stock holding share owners are worried about their Wall Street dividends but most of the rest of the world is first concerned with the survival of themselves and their loved ones.

Last Friday a friend and I had lunch in Portland and had a beer at another establishment without hardly a thought of the virus. By Monday all bars and restaurants in this region are closed. The service industry workers which include my daughter, are at best temporarily out of work.

Most stores and entertainment venues are closed. Non-emergency or critical health services are on hold. Traffic and undoubtedly air quality are improving. Whether we like it or not we are saving money.

I am going to post blogs regarding my experiences in this quagmire every week or so and sooner should some crashing new item merit comment.

https://respectfulempiricist.blogspot.com/2020/03/memoir-1.html

https://respectfulempiricist.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-yuletide-coastal-trip.html

Memoir # 1

Since I recently took a memoir writing course at the community college I decided to occasionally add a snippet of my life, as only I can see it, to these pages. Here is the first installment.

Despite a non-stellar academic life in high school, I was an avid reader. I read biographies and learned that describing the life of most noteworthy people was rarely any better than hagiography. Otherwise I read novels, mostly old ones. I did have a really ardor for Jack Kerouac who died only months after my graduation, at age 46. I also read much Phillip Roth who lived longer.

I loved the beat generation aura, initially provided to me in Kerouac’s novels of the mid-50s. I read about jazz bars in Greenwich Village amongst many other things, about Village life and that in San Francisco as well. There were road trips described while careening to one side of the country to the other. I read about forbidden fruits like marijuana or dilaudid and it was the former that reached my neighborhood by 1967.

But it was the musicians that the beat writers told us of that intrigued me most. Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and John Coltrane all were invisible characters that were brought to life. Yet we did not hear them on the radio or see them on Ed Sullivan on any Sunday night.

Our top 40 radio station did play occasional jazz pieces and I loved them. Astrud Gilberto embodying the Girl from Ipanema to Stan Getz’ alto sax; Take Five by Dave Brubeck. Cannonball Adderley belting out Have Mercy on Me on the tenor; Lee Morgan’s Side Winder were about the only jazz records anyone could hear on the AM radio which was the main option for radio listeners in those days. It was typically the only band we could get on a car radio.

I came home from college during the winter break of my freshman year. I was depressed and doing poorly in my first swing at higher education. I didn’t do badly because of academic rigor but for the excessive partying that was such an attraction of my peers and myself.

I sat alone in the basement on a winter Sunday, watching the small black and white television my eight living siblings eschewed, leaving me to brood in solidarity. On the news I saw a military plane at Wilmington with caskets of soldiers whose lights went out in Viet Nam were removed. I thought, I’m heading there next at the rate I am living.

After the news I turned to the public television station and watched an interview program called Soul and saw that Pharaoh Sanders was the guest. He talked much of his tutelage under John Coltrane and I felt inspired. The next morning I drove into the heart of Detroit to a record store and purchased Sanders’ latest album as well as a Thelonious Monk recording. I was now not only enamored by these faceless artists I knew from novels, but began to learn their music as well. For the next many years I bought about 2 albums per month and amassed a vast collection.

It was about 1969 that I first got a radio that played the FM signal and could hear WJZZ a commercial station, and listened mostly to new recordings by the likes of Herbie Hancock whose song Tell me a Bedtime Story played at exactly 7:00 am every morning and functioned as my alarm. Then I discovered WDET the public radio station that focused on jazz both historic and current. I could also get that station in Ann Arbor where I lived, and went to school. In the evening the disc jockey held a jazz history class which I listened to at every chance. It was a great day for me. Not only did I find a new joy but also rebounded as a student and academics became a genuine love for me as well.

It was sort of a great era for jazz too. In Ann Arbor the bars that did not specialize in jazz music like Del Rios, would have special jazz periods like Sunday evening at Mr. Flood’s Party for example. New specialty bars like the Blind Pig with its selection of about 4 beers and hundreds of wines played only jazz. The performers were all local musicians and unknown outside of their own gigs. It was a hot time. Then King Pleasure opened up in the basement of the Beefeater’s Restaurant. The place had a large statue of a steer on its roof. King Pleasure drew nationally known musicians such as Charles Lloyd and Sonny Stitt who I got to see the first of many times at this local establishment.

Despite the big names and a reasonable cover charge, this venue only existed for about six months and one complaint that I heard from fellow jazz enthusiasts was that they could not find the place. I knew from the flyers that while they gave the address, it was the same as Beefeaters, there was no street level signage for King Pleasure and no mention of a giant cow on the roof. I never knew for certain what caused the business to fail but I blamed the poorly planned advertising flyers.

From the radio I would hear about jazz venues in Detroit and occasionally in a suburb and frequented them when my schedule allowed. They were forty miles plus from Ann Arbor so it was not until I graduated and moved back to “The City” did I attend them regularly. The best one for national names was Baker’s Keyboard Lounge which I went to about twice a month and saw players such as Mose Allison, and Detroit’s Kenny Burrell to name two of about a hundred. That lounge still exists today and apparently is a hangout for Detroit’s politically elite. It only provides music from local players today.

I only lived in Detroit for about 18 months at that juncture, and left it for the last time to take on a job in Grand Rapids about a hundred and fifty miles to the northwest. This town and the surrounding suburbs were founded by Dutch Reformed ex-patriots from the Netherlands. They came to the new world to escape what they perceived as the religious persecution from the Catholic majority and to set up a local theocracy of their own. I arrived there about a hundred and seventy years later, but the descendants maintain the faith and jazz remained in the mid-1970s, largely an industry of sin and was sequestered into only a few venues downtown. I haunted all of them and despite the cultural restrictions there were many good local musicians. There was another bar about 15 miles out of town that played my music. It was also not so easy to continue my habit of purchasing about two albums per month…but I did.

Two years in Grand Rapids was enough for me and so I moved back to Ann Arbor for a year, got married and planned for grad school where I went a year later. It was 1979 and I was in Bowling Green, Ohio which as you may suspect, was not known for its jazz music scene. Toledo about 30 miles north did have a station that played my kind of music for a few hours a week and some downtown bars there would feature a big name a few times a year. We discovered a jazz forum in the town of Maumee that a group of us stumbled on after a Toledo Mud Hens baseball game. I still had my albums now well over a thousand but I was too busy with academics and projects to devote a lot of time to my love. I did make some semi-converts among some of my class mates and the woman I was married to but the ardor waned some for the time spent on other things.

Once degreed at Bowling Green we headed for Baltimore for a new life. Baltimore has a rich jazz tradition but by 1981 when I got there, the local scene was pretty tamed compared to Detroit. Only one station played jazz but this was about the same time this tepid and banal genre of “smooth jazz” was nascent and has largely taken over what many term as jazz. A few times a year one of my favorites would come to town. Freddie Hubbard played at ArtScape, and annual outdoor event in Baltimore. I saw Pharaoh Sanders playing at a local mall where he walked amongst shoppers in a very peculiar presentation. It was not the same.

Jazz was the prominent but not the only sound that was played in our home. Two daughters were born a year and a half apart in the late 1980s. When the younger one, Lucie who was five, came home and put the CD of John Coltrane’s version of My Favorite Things on the moment she walked in the door from a rough day of kindergarten. She said that she had to hear it right then. Her sister Hannah when she was eighteen, took a road trip to Chattanooga and south from there to the Mississippi Delta in order to see live performances of Delta Blues and jazz at various juke joints. She also went to historic music venues like Sun Records.

Neither of them lists jazz as their favorite form today though each listens with some regularity. Both have bragged to me that when asked, they tell their friends that jazz is what they grew up with. Lucie currently plays bass with a local metal band in Seattle. I’ve heard that term –metal band, and guess that it means that is loud but I really don’t know.

In the late 1990s I digitized all of my records-over 2400 albums. It took a couple of years but I shrunk the physical size of my collection to a slightly more portable CD Rom size and could sometimes get more than one record on one CD. Then a few years prior to my planned move to the Northwest, I copied about a thousand of those recordings onto thumb drives shrinking the burden of transport even more significantly.

That is the story of a nearly lifelong obsession with jazz music. My interests in other genres has grown. About the time my kids were born attending live music performances abated dramatically and today I still listen to music quite a bit and listen to classical and Gaelic folk as well, but my first love in terms of music has always been jazz.