I went back home for Thanksgiving. And cried when I left, like I usually do. At the airport, my wife asked me what I’m usually feeling in those moments. I could barely get the words out. I’m lucky to have both of my parents still around. As the years pass I recognize more and more that I’ll only get so many of these visits.
I spent an hour mowing the lawn at my parents’ house. It used to be a weekly chore, done reluctantly. Returning to it a couple decades later, in colder weather, it was… kinda fun? Clear purpose, fully absorbing, plenty of time for wandering thoughts. I’m glad I don’t have a lawn, but it feels good to appreciate what I once dreaded.
Travel tip: keep a default packing list saved in a note somewhere. Each time you travel, make a copy of it and adjust it for the trip you’re taking.
One thing Southwest Airlines gets right is how they take drink orders. They come around with a notepad and write them down, then return with drinks on a tray. I think other airlines could take a cue from this. No need to clog up the aisles with big carts (and the constant noise and chatter). Southwest’s version is a more peaceful experience.
Art
An Elema standing male figure made of bark cloth, paint, and fiber.
A pair of vases by Keith Haring, ink marker on fiberglass.
Love on Front Street, mixed media paint and colleage by Adolphus Washington.
My Backyard by Torvalt Arnt Hoyer, oil on canvas.
Two men in costume and wearing masks from Huixquilucan at the fiesta of the Huehuenches, color lithograph by Carlos Mérida.
Runner at the Goal by Paul Klee, watercolor and graphite on paper.
Running
Today was my first run of the season in 20-something degree weather. Good prep for this weekend’s race. As always after five days off, I felt both fresh and out of shape.
Books
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. This one is off to a good start. I loved Oliver Burkeman’s previous The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, and enjoyed Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, too.
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America. I thought I DNF’ed, but I got into it again! This book has me brainstorming about a road trip to see Native American sites.
Nightwing: Leaping into the Light. Dipped into this on impulse. Comics are fun on iPad/iPhone!
Batman: Urban Legends, Vol. 1. Before reading this, I took a second to catch up on Batfamily lore and wow, I have missed a ton over the last 30 years.
Articles
See Newly Discovered Nazca Drawings That Depict Llamas, Human Sacrifices and More. “A new A.I.-assisted survey published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found 303 additional geoglyphs in just six months.” The illustrations are super cool – that hummingbird! (original paper here)
How NBA fines turn bad moments into good deeds.
Lauren Groff: “Having a really rigid artificial structure allows me freedom within that structure. Having an alarm go off and saying, “That’s the end of my creative day,” that allows you to relax into it. Having a door that closes implies that the door could be open if I chose to do that.”
Music
Nubya Garcia, Odyssey. I appreciate the range and variety on this album, with some intimate jazz, some harder funkier stuff, and some louder big band. “Clarity” is a favorite – bluesy strings and jazz combo, like a mid-’40s movie soundtrack.
Tonus Peregrinus, Leonin/Perotin: Sacred Music from Notre-Dame Cathedral. Old church monk chanting stuff. It’s nice!
Guillaume Dufay, Dufay: Chansons perf. Ensemble Unicorn. The music you see in movies when there are people in a castle dancing.
Chappell Roan, Good Luck, Babe!. This is the first of her songs I’ve heard (that I’m sure of, anyway). Good pop!
Duke Pearson, Merry Ole Soul. (via Matt Thomas, had to go and look it up!)
Mary Wells, The Definitive Collection. I like the hoarse blues in “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right” and the softer daydreamy “What Love Has Joined Together“.
TV
Three episodes of The X-Files as we sprint to the end of season three:
- s3e20 “Jose Chung’s from Outer Space“. A story-within-a-story approach, about how crazy people can sound when telling their tales. My least favorite episode? Odd parody, humor didn’t land for me. I wonder what people were thinking when they saw it and didn’t have Wikipedia to turn to to process it all?
- s3e21 “Avatar“. Skinner has a succubus! We see him wounded and vulnerable. We also see how despeate Mulder is for a buddy that will believe with him. I thought this episode looked great – rich shadowy ’90s legal thriller vibes.
- s3e22, “Quagmire“. A lake monster in Georgia. Scully says Mulder is like Ahab, and the desire to believe is a way of preserving hope.
Mark Larson 