January 30: Classic Avocado

My bedroom project is nearly completed (just need to do a bit of touchup painting on the trim) so I have begun a new project- painting the room in our house we call the "band room" (since it's where our bands have practiced and we store all of our musical equipment- tubas [yes we have multiple tubas, and multiple sousaphones], saxophones, trombones, guitars, music stands, drumset, sound system, music library, etc etc etc) but is now more appropriately called "the office" (because it's where my husband has worked since March 2020, and will continue to work until at least August 2021, but likely even most days after that.) 

About 6 years ago when we bought the house, we inherited a bunch of boring colored walls.... mostly with tan/beige. But my husband and I LOVE color. Since then, I've painted the kitchen a blue gray, the living room a magenta pink, the hallway a bright blue, the stairway became a piece of art (our first pandemic project) with brown ("havana coffee") treads, and balusters and risers in alternating colors of blue ("new age blue"), teal ("belle vista"), and purple ("romantic moment") and the bedroom, now, a deep purple. Since we spend so much more time in the band room, it was time to spruce it up. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, we are about to receive a new piano from my in-laws, so it seemed like the perfect time to move some furniture around, clean, and paint. 

I personally think we picked the most beautiful color, a fun olive-y green called "classic avocado." I went to Home Depot to get the paint, and the paint mixer guy also loved the color, commenting several times about how gorgeous this color was, and instead of applying a single dot of sample paint to the lid, he made a smiley face! About a week ago, I started painting the edging, and was immediately disappointed. Something about the color, or the paint viscosity, or the walls themselves made the color appear thin and ugly. All I could do was hope that after several coats, the color would be beautiful. Yesterday, I applied a third coat to the edging, and painted a whole wall with a roller brush, and finally, the beauty of color started to come through and it was delightful. It's going to be a lot of work, and several coats of paint, but I am hopeful that the end result will be gorgeous, and that the process will continue to delight me as the walls are transformed from boring to ugly to beautiful. 

On a side note, I am also delighted by the names of colors. (for jeo-party, I delight in naming the teams different variations of blue and red. Cerulean and Scarlet. Blueberry Ale and Irish Red. Most recently, Baby Bah-lue-gah and Lava Lamp. Next week might be Sunrise Red and Midnight Blue). Naming colors reminds me of this scene in my favorite movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 

CLEMENTINE: Might be the hair.

JOEL: What might?

CLEMENTINE: Changes a lot. That's why you might not recognize me. What color am I today? It's called Blue Ruin. The color. Snappy name, huh? This company makes a whole line of colors with equally snappy names. Red Menace, Yellow Fever, Green Revolution. That'd be a job, coming up with those names. How do you get a job like that? 

JOEL: I don't really know how --

CLEMENTINE: Purple Haze, Pink Eraser.

JOEL: You think that could possibly be a full-time job? How many hair colors could there be? Fifty, tops?

CLEMENTINE: Somebody's got that job. Agent Orange! I came up with that one. Anyway, there are endless color possibilities and I'd be great at it.

JOEL: I'm sure you would.

CLEMENTINE: I've tried all their colors. I apply my personality in a paste. 

JOEL: Oh, I doubt that's the case.

CLEMENTINE: Well, you don't know me, so... you don't know, do you?

JOEL: Sorry. I was just trying to be nice.

CLEMENTINE: Yeah, I got it. 

I love that line "somebody's got that job" and I use it often when I think of cool things that must be jobs out there in the world. Naming paint colors, for one. Somebody's also got the job of adding the slang definitions meaning things like "the penis" or "to have sex with" to words in the OED. Somebody's got that job, but I'd be great at it. 😀

{spoiler alert}

I've also always loved that scene in general and have had to replay it several times after watching the end of the movie. When you first watch the movie, you are led to believe that this conversation is the first one these characters have ever had, because you are led to believe that they have just met. But by the middle/end of the movie, you learn that they have had their memories erased, and this scene, while taking place at the beginning of the movie, actually takes place way later in the sequence of events, after they've had an intense relationship, a terrible breakup, and their memories erased, so this is actually the second time they have "met". I've always been struck by how meaningful and powerful it was to see them drawn back together, "meeting" again, knowing what they no longer know (the history they have together), but seeing them bicker and banter and begin to fall in love all over again. Time Out magazine summarizes that the movie excels in "expressing the bewildering beauty and existential horror of being trapped inside one's own addled mind, and in allegorising the self-preserving amnesia of a broken but hopeful heart." Watching the movie a second, third, tenth time, you can also start to piece together the actual order of events by following things like Clementine's changing hair color. It was a sneaky clue given to you at the very beginning of the movie in this very scene. So delightful. 

Ok, back to painting "Classic Avocado"!

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 29: Twiddle

Spotify has introduced me to some of my favorite songs by auto-playing tracks it thinks I might like after my chosen playlist is complete, most recently from a band named "Twiddle". I had never heard of them, so of course I had to do some research. Twiddle was formed at Castleton State College in Vermont in 2004. The members of the band are Mihali Savoulidis (guitar, vocals), Ryan Dempsey (keyboards, vocals), Zdenek Gubb (bass, vocals), and Brook Jordan (drums, percussion, vocals). Based on my listening, I would call them a reggae band, but wikipedia adds "jam band, funk, rock, blues, and rock" to their genre. A quick glance through their social media accounts shows they do a lot of charity work, support local musicians, and played at a Bernie Sanders rally. I also read a few interviews, and found this delightful quote by Mihali: "I love the power a single song can harness. One tune can turn someone’s day around or remind you of something super special."

During the brewery debacle in 2019, I started seeing a therapist who used music and art as forms of therapy. Often in our sessions, she would ask me to think of a song that represented how I felt. She (like Mihali) maintained that songs can be super powerful and helpful especially in the midst of depression, confusion, chaos, etc. One time I chose "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus because I was angry with life and imagined my dreams being destroyed with a wrecking ball. Another time I chose "Keep Breathing" by Ingrid Michaelson, which contains my absolute favorite line in a song "I want to change the world; instead I sleep" which speaks so much to me, my confusion with wtf I am doing with my life, and my perennial struggle between wanting to change the world and wanting to do nothing at all. I also like the meditative repetition of the lyric "all I can do is keep breathing", a reminder for times when I feel hopeless and powerless, at least I can breathe, and keep breathing. Another time I chose "Endless Night" from the Lion King Musical Soundtrack with these powerful lyrics "I know that the night must end, and that the sun will rise" that remind me to have hope in the midst of the darkness of my depression. 

My therapist also recommended that I create a playlist of songs that tap into my feelings, my life's passion, my life's truth, and to listen to them when I started questioning my purpose in life.  I created the playlist, but only ever added a few songs (one of them is a Five Iron Frenzy song, my favorite, called "Every New Day.") But after listening to Twiddle's album "Plump", I added two of theirs. One, a delightful song called "Every Soul". The song even uses words like truth and passion, and contains that "Endless Night" theme of just needing a little bit of light in the darkness. Here are some of my favorite lyrics:

Life's too short burning down by mediocrity

When life feels like it's too slow

And your daily dues are getting old

'Cause all we're taught's to fit the mold

There's so much more to every soul

Take a chance do a dance put your soul at ease

Look around hear the sounds of tranquility

Laugh out loud, smile proud and enjoy the scene

This is you, this is me, we must relax and dream

Just a little bit of light when the darkness sings

Just a little bit of joy when it's hard to think

When life feels like a dead end street

It's up to you to push on through on to better things

Find your place, find your faith in humanity

Being kind to your mind's the most important thing

Do your best, stop and test out your will to be

In a moments time you'll draw the line and embrace change

Love and action is the greatest truth

Light the passion, make your dreams come true

The other song that fits into my "Life's Passion and Truth" playlist is "Lost in the Cold" , speaking to me about my current feeling of being lost, not being able to see the future, losing all my energy, struggling and needing a change. The solution includes a line I find myself singing now when I wake in the morning: "I'm gonna dance in the rain, and lay out in the sunshine."

I'm lost

And I can't seem to find my way home

I've been burning up time

Burning out my mind

On an endless winding road

It's hard to see the future

When the present doesn't suit you

Every day feels like a blinding cold

There's a hole in my energy

It's blurring out my sanity

Eroding the thrill of getting old

I don't fit in with society

It's blinding my integrity

While undermining my goals

I've been struggling for way way too long

It's time for a change I'm ready to move on

And, yes, I'm scared to right all my wrongs

But I'll be okay, I'm stronger than I thought

I'm not gonna waste one minute of this life

I got a second chance to do what is right

I'm gonna dance in the rain, and lay out in the sunshine

Take all my pain, and turn it in into moonlight

Take all my pain, and melt it with the sunshine

Take all my pain, and turn it into white light

Take all my pain, and give myself a good life

Another song with powerful lyrics, "Polluted Beauty", is tragic with a tinge of hopefulness. It starts with this beautifully crafted picture of nature (which is so perfect since it just snowed here and there is literally a wondrous white glittering blanket on the ground right now), that unfortunately most of humanity is blinded to. 

The leaves are bursting brightly slowly turning into flame

Soon they'll lose their strength shrivel up and turn to gray

The cold takes over little crystals from the sky

A wondrous white blanket covers all throughout the night

In the morning it's the sun sprinklin' glitter all around

The wind blows softly like a lullabye through town

And all this has happened while your mind's preoccupied

It's the ugly way of man that keeps us down and makes us blind

Then the song creates this beautiful narrative of the creation story, created by love and magic and tears.

One great tear splashes down upon the ground

Love paints the magic, created life to swim around

The sun burned hotter as the earth grew taller

It was beauty overwhelming all that life had to offer

They soared above the sky and they crawled upon the earth

Life was blooming sweetly as the world was giving birth

The necessities of life were pure and simple in their ways

To sustain and exist, things would love to live each day

And then comes the reality of how humanity is destroying it all, but also the solution to go back to the earth, to live in and love and appreciate nature. 

We've been polluting all the beauty that surrounds our daily lives

Technology is killing me, it's bleeding me dry

Communication has no patience radiating inside

Our prophecy's no longer free one great eye in the sky

You wake up to the screams of the angry cars outside

Everybody's way too busy living in this modern life

Always texting driving tweeting into cyber overdrive

It's a hi-def fog blurrin' out the earth's pride

We're the lazy generation our question's answered with a click

Leave your house to seek out knowledge when it's all at your fingertips

If we just got back to basics put one seed into the earth

We could heal this epidemic save the world before it's cursed

Stop staring at the screens stop countin' on machines

Start livin' in the world that your eyes were meant to see

We've been polluting our own beauty forgettin' what was truly meant to

keep our bodies happy keep our souls from feelin' empty

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west

The stars are out at night and the moon it lies to the rest

All this is common knowledge which soon will be forgotten

Unless we take a second to let the beauty blossom

I love how these lyrics tell a story, paint a picture, name a truth, advocate for change. So deep and meaningful. They could sing about drugs or sex or abusing women or nonsense, but instead they sing about making a difference. It is quite delightful, and I highly recommend a listen.

Also, totally forgot to mention, these songs have HORNS! Any band that includes horn players automatically wins in my book. 🎷🎺🎵

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 28: Bo Carter

In another one of my Jeo-party Prep Session Rabbit Holes, I found myself watching a delightful youtube video of a song called "Please Warm My Weiner" by Bo Carter. Yes, that's a real song, and yes, he referring to his penis. How did I get here? More research about words that also mean "the penis", of course! I looked up "weiner" in the OED, and found three definitions. 

1. A small, thin sausage.
2. The penis.
3. One ridiculed as weak, socially inept, or unfashionable.

And the first citation in the OED of "weiner" being used in print to mean "the penis": 1935 B. Carter Please Warm my Weiner (song). So of course the next thing I do is google the song. And it is for real an actual song, and I am so thankful I found it because it is just delightful. I also was delighted to share the song with my Jeo-Party crew last night. 

Bo Carter was an early American blues musician, born in Mississippi on June 30, 1893, died in Tennessee on September 21, 1964. He was known for his bawdy songs, and "had an unequaled capacity for creating sexual metaphors in his songs, specializing in such ribald imagery" as "Let Me Roll Your Lemon", "Banana in Your Fruit Basket", "Pin in Your Cushion", "Your Biscuits Are Big Enough for Me", "Please Warm My Wiener" and "My Pencil Won't Write No More".

Side note: just got myself down another rabbit hole of cool, new words via the OED from that description of Bo Carter. 

Ribald: "referring to sexual matters in an amusingly rude or irreverent way" or "one who uses offensive, irreverent, or scurrilous language" which took me to 

Scurrilous: "characterized by coarseness or indecency of language, coarsely opprobrious or jocular" which took me to 

Opprobrious: "expressing scorn; vituperative; reproachful; shameful" which took me to 

Vituperative: "containing, conveying, or expressing strong depreciation; violently abusive or fault-finding; contumelious" which took me to 

Contumelious: "tending to convey disgrace and humiliation; despiteful," finally a definition full of words I have actually heard of. Words are so delightful.

Anyways, enough of this high brow word talk. Back to the ribaldry of  Bo Carter. Here are some of his most delightful and scurrilous lyrics:

"Please Warm My Wiener"

I got somethin' to tell ya baby, don't get mad this time,
if you warm my weiner1, you give me ease all up in my mind
Baby, please warm my wiener, oh, warm my wiener,
won't you just warm my wiener, 'cause he really don't feel right cold
...if you warm my wiener one time, you gonna want him again
...I don't want you to warm half of my wiener, I want you to warm him all

"Banana in Your Fruit Basket"

Now, I got the washboard, my baby got the tub,
we gonna put 'em together, gonna rub, rub, rub
Now I got the dasher, my baby got the churn,
we gonna churn, churn, churn until the butter come
Now my baby's got the cloth, and I got the needle,
we gonna stitch, stitch, stitch, 'til we both will feel it

And I'm tellin' you baby, I sure ain't gonna deny,
let me put my banana in your fruit basket, then I'll be satisfied

"My Pencil Won´t Write No More"

Now listen here folks, there's one thing sure,

My old pencil won't write no more

Because the lead's all gone, oh the lead's all gone,

I lay down at my bed, just to write a line,

I could feel my old pencil droppin' forward all the time

I met a hot mama, I wanted to love her so bad,

I lost all the lead in my pencil I had

I hugged and kissed her, all last night,

It wasn't nothin' doin', my old pencil wouldn't write

You sure can tell when a man's pencil is wrong,

His mama's always shiftin' from home

Now listen here man, you ought to know,

Can't write for that woman you have to let her go

"Pin In Your Cushion"

Oh, let me stick my pin

Oh, in your cushion baby

'Cause your cushion's so low and warm

My pin wants your cushion for it's home

I wanna stick my pin in your cushion every night

My pin is so nice and long

My pin fills your cushion, it the best it ever see

My pin wants your cushion for it's home

As a general rule, I avoid reading any comments sections online, because they too often get nasty quick. But the comments on these youtube videos are PRICELESS.

"Please Warm My Wiener"

• I fell down the Rabbit Hole... and here I am...
• ...and people think hip-hop lyrics are dirty.
• Can't believe Oscar Mayer doesn't use this.
• So this why my grand parents had so many siblings
• C'mon he said "please"
• But please hold the sourkraut.
• This shit is hilarious - and good blues, too

"My Pencil Won´t Write No More"

• this guy doesn't quit, does he?
• I have "plenty" of lead in my "pencil" but no one to write to!
• That's what mechanical pencils are for, Bo.

This was fun. Thanks for joining me :)

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 27: Moon Dance

As I have previously mentioned, I am watching Frasier on Hulu from start to finish. It's a great background activity while I complete a paint-by-number I have also just started. The goal is to eventually get through all 11 seasons AND eventually finish the paint-by-number. We'll see if either or both of those things ever happen.  I am currently in season three and yesterday, I watched an absolutely delightful episode that thus far is hands down my favorite. In fact, I watched it twice, once on my own, and once later with my husband because I just had to make him experience it. 

First, here are some fun facts I just learned about this particular episode, which I find all very interesting considering I immediately felt this was a stand-out episode. Apparently, there are some good reasons for it being so good and so different than the other episodes I had already seen. 

The episode is called "Moon Dance"; it's the 61st episode of the series and the 13th of Season 3 and originally aired on February 6, 1996 (hmmm...I was in sixth grade in Beloit, WI). It was the first episode to be directed by Kelsey Grammer, who also stars as Frasier, so he spent very little time in front of the camera (only in one other episode did Grammer spend less time on camera). The episode had 8 writers, more than any other episode (most have one or two writers). The episode was nominated for several Emmy awards and won in the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series category. 

{Spoiler alert... I now go into great detail about the episode...}

The episode really focuses on the relationship between Niles and Daphne, which is by far my favorite character dynamic in the whole show (no offense to the title character, but I definitely like Niles and Daphne better, so it makes sense that I like this episode best with Frasier conveniently MIA). Niles is Frasier's brother and Daphne is Frasier's live-in maid/cook/physical therapist for his dad, Martin. Niles has had an arguably innocent crush on Daphne since the moment they met, but because Niles was married, nothing but "harmless" flirting ever occurred. But we now find Niles to be just recently separated from his kooky wife (whom we never actually see on screen), is jealous of her recent romantic escapades, and decides to ask the "Fruit-on-the-Bottom" Yogurt Heiress to a fancy charity event, the Snow Ball. One of my favorite exchanges:

Niles: Oh, I just stopped by to ask you a question.  Are you free Saturday night? 

Martin: Sure! 

Niles: [gleefully] Well, I'm not!  I have a date! 

When Niles realizes that it may be a problem that he cannot dance (Niles: "My first date's a miserable failure before it even begins"), Daphne offers to teach him. The lessons are adorable and really showcase their chemistry. But his date ends up cancelling, prompting Daphne to suggest that she go with him to the ball. When Niles arrives to get Daphne, Niles see her gorgeous red dress and is captivated. 

Niles: "Wow!" {ahhhh the way he looks at her is just DELIGHTFUL! *swoon*}

Daphne: "Ohhh, [giggles] you!"

At the ball, Niles discovers that his entire social scenes pities him. 

Niles: "Well, everyone seems to have this idea that while Maris is out living the high life, I'm sitting at home, crushed and lonely."

Daphne: "Yeah, well, never mind those gossipy twits.  Tonight, you're all mine."

And so they dance. And the chemistry between them is palpable. I got chills so many times. It was so romantic, especially the way Niles looks at Daphne. {*sigh*}

Daphne: [laughing] I can't remember when I've had a better time. I'm on Cloud Nine! 

Niles: I'd have to look down to see Cloud Nine! Daphne, I must tell you again, that is an exquisite gown. 

Daphne: Oh, thanks! It was way out of my price range, but did you  ever see something and say, "I just have to have it?"

Niles: [speechless, and cannot help but gaze longingly at her.] {ahhhh, again, the way he looks at her is just DELIGHTFUL!}

Then later...

Daphne: There's only one rule in the tango: our bodies must be in continuous contact, with not a sliver of daylight between us. [she presses her body close to his]

Niles: [overwhelmed] I can do that

And then they dance the tango. I feel like this moment is simultaneously the most exciting, exhilarating, romantic and amazing, while also the super saddest and most heartbreaking. 

Daphne: That's it!  You're dazzling!  You're brilliant!  

Niles: [passionately] Oh Daphne, I adore you! 

Daphne: [eyes closed in rapture] I adore you too! 

Niles: What?!?!? 

Daphne: I adore you too. 

Niles: [thrilled] Oh, how I've longed to hear those words! 

Daphne: Oh, how I've longed to say them! 

Niles: You're beautiful!  You're a goddess! {omg to have Niles call ME a goddess!!}

Daphne: I don't ever want this moment to end! 

Niles: This is the most glorious night of my life.

Daphne: Oh, mine too... 

[They kiss, tenderly and strongly.] {fun fact: Niles and Daphne will not kiss again for another four years, at the end of Season Seven.}

[They sit, and Niles caresses her hand.] {ooooh it's so romantic. He is SO in love! *I'm* so in love! I'm also thinking, wait a minute, is this a dream sequence? This cannot be happening!!}

Niles: Oh, Daphne!  I'm a new man!  Do you have any idea what I'm feeling?

Daphne: Of course I do! Your friends look positively dumbstruck. From now on there'll be no more of that "oh poor Niles" attitude... 

Niles: Far from it! 

[He kisses her hand reverently; she looks over her shoulder then turns back to him.]

Daphne: I knew you were a good dancer, but I had no idea you were such a good actor! 

Niles: [shocked] Actor? {oh no, I feel deflated! NOOOOO!}

Daphne: Yeah!  "Daphne, you're a goddess, Daphne, I adore you..." We fooled everyone, didn't we? 

Niles: [heartbroken] Oh...oh.  We certainly did, didn't we? {MY HEART IS BROKEN TOO!}

      

Daphne orchestrated the whole thing as an act to impress everyone in the room. She wanted to prove to everyone there that Niles was not mourning his separation and was most certainly not pitiful. Daphne not only gorgeously shines with her stunning dress and sexy dance moves, she is also an incredible friend to Niles, essentially giving him his life back. If only she realized that Niles' feelings were real. Maybe she did? Maybe she felt them too? Maybe she was just in denial with reality, thinking it would be wrong for the two of them to get together? As heartbreaking as it was to see the chemistry and love fizzle as reality set in, just feeling it for a moment was superb. 

On a delightful side note, since I am a grammar nerd, here are two fun homophone jokes from the episode {and yes I see the irony of grammar vs grammer, as in Kelsey Grammer. hahaha}

 

1. After discussing Niles' lack of significant girlfriends, Daphne asks: "Wine, Dr. Crane?"  

Niles replies, thinking she said 'whine',: "Well, wouldn't you?"

2. Martin is telling a story to Niles about a pretty coroner he had a crush on. "So one night, I invited her down to the corner bar."

Niles: "Coroners have their own bars? "

Martin: [exasperated] "No, corner, Niles, the corner bar!"

On another delightful side note, I googled the actor who plays Niles (David Hyde Pierce) who is now 61. As a child, he frequently played organ at the local Bethesda Episcopal Church. In 1981, Pierce graduated from Yale University with a bachelor of arts degree. (he went to Yale with Jodie Foster, and super fun fact: one of the callers of Frasier's radio show at the beginning of the episode was none other than Jodie Foster!).

IMDB lists two of Pierce's trademarks as having a "Distinctive, mellow voice" and "Deadpan comic delivery." Pierce once said, "I can vividly recall telling a joke in, like, second grade and realizing it was funnier if I didn't laugh. I've been deadpan ever since." {hahahahahahaha}

I also learned that Pierce revealed that he is gay in 2007. {of course, I am in love with a gay man. Typical}. In 2007 when accepting his Tony Award for Curtains, Pierce thanked "my partner, Brian, because it's 24 years of listening to your damn notes—that's why I'm up here tonight." Awwwww! They married in California on October 24, 2008, just days before Proposition 8 was adopted as law, banning same-sex marriages in the state, which greatly angered him. He said, "We got married very quietly last October and thought that was fine, and then suddenly the state of California said, 'No, it's not.'"

Another super fun fact, Pierce's husband, Brian Hargrove, was the producer and writer for The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994), one my favorite TV shows as a kid, and one my husband and I often talk about. 

Oh how I love learning. I learned so much by doing some simple googling of my favorite (so far} Frasier episode. Isn't learning delightful? Almost as delightful as that undeniable chemistry between Niles and Daphne. 💕

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 26: The Kildare Poems circa 1335

Sometimes I am amazed at what I find myself delving into on the internet. How did my most online journey end up in a delightfully dirty Anglo-Irish Middle English Poem from 1335? Let's see.... so as I mentioned in a previous post, I've been writing clues for a round of homonyms for my weekly Jeo-Party. I had been using the many, many words that mean "to have sex with" that also have a ton of other definitions, making them homonyms (bone, pound, hump, nail, score, and mate were last week's words) but this week I started doing some searching about words that mean "the penis", inspired by the "Dick" episode of Netflix's History of Swear Words Documentary. I am fascinated by the etymologies of words, and this most recent rabbit hole of word histories was a delightful gold mine. 

I always start my word history searches in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). I bought myself a yearly subscription for my birthday, and I am in LOVE with it. In addition to defining the word, the OED lists the first time the word was seen in print, and several additional examples of it in print, for each and every different definition of the word. Then I usually google the sources of those print examples to read the original source material myself. If I find anything interesting, I make a note and then often use it in a Jeo-party clue. 

So yesterday, I searched the OED for words that can also mean "the penis." I was mostly interested in learning the other definitions of the word (and if I found at least 4 good ones, then I could use it for a homonym round) but I was also interested in learning about the history of the first time these often very common words started being used to mean "the penis" instead of its traditional definition.

The word that led me to Kildare was "cock." Originally, it simply meant a male domestic chicken. The word probably originated as an imitation of the sound the rooster makes ("cock-a-doodle-doo"), a nice bit of onomatopoeia, and as evidence, the OED points to several examples of a similar sounding word in many different languages meaning male chicken: Dutch - kocke, German - kock, Old Icelandic - kokkr, Swedish - kock, Old Danish - kok, French - coq, Slavonic -kokotŭ, Finnish - kukko, and even Sanskrit - kukkuṭa.

As is typical, it is very easy to see the jump from the traditional definition to its new slang meaning, in this instance from male domestic chicken to the penis. Male domestic chickens, aka roosters (aka cocks 😁) are brutally feisty with their female partners. I know this because we raise chickens, very specifically we raise female chickens (hens) and NOT cocks because cocks are little penises (hahahaha the word play there is SO delightful. My husband and I use the term "little penis" to mean "little jerk", often to talk about our cats when they are being little jerks aka little penises). Anyways, roosters are jerks. And if they are not given enough females to have sex with, they will oversex the females they do have, which often results in injury or death. Roosters are also super mean (mostly because they are ironically so overprotective of their sexual partners), and they are super loud with all their cock-a-doodle-dooing at literally all times of day and night, so we have actively avoided having roosters (as I mentioned in a previous post, one of our baby chicks did end up being a rooster- we are only given a 90% guarantee of getting a female-- and we promptly put him up for adoption. The best part was that we had named the chick Venus, which so perfectly rhymed with penis, thus his delightful new name, Venus the Penis). So cock 🠊 penis is a super easy lexicographic jump to make. The OED explains it much more eloquently than I: "The association of the cockerel with sexual voracity, and hence with the male genitals, dates back to antiquity; further reinforced by a perceived similarity with the erectile properties of a cock's comb when the bird is sexually aroused." 

The OED lists The Kildare Poems circa 1335 as the first time "cock" was used to mean "penis" in print. The verse quoted in the OED is: "Y ne mai no more of loue done, Mi pilkoc pisseþ on mi schone." I immediately had to google that line to figure out the modern English translation because Middle English (especially of the Irish English variety) always looks like gibberish to me. What I discovered made me literally laugh out loud. The most common English translation is: "I am no longer able to make love, my cock pisses on my shoe." OMG! hahahahaha. (Apparently the OED counts the compound word "pilkoc" or "pillcock" as the earliest recorded usage of "cock" meaning penis.)

This delighted me so much that I had to find the rest of the poem and read it. And boy I was NOT disappointed. There are 16 poems in the collection called "The Kildare Poems" or "The Kildare Lyrics." Kildare refers to the town of Kildare in Ireland where the poems were probably written, and also to the name of the author of at least one of the poems, who calls himself "Michael of Kildare." The original manuscript was a small parchment book, measuring only about 6 inches by 4 inches, and may have been produced as "a travelling preacher’s 'pocket-book'" by a group of Franciscan friars. The subjects of the poems range from religious symbolism to hilarious satire. According to Wikipedia, these poems "constitute the first and most important linguistic document of the early development of Irish English in the centuries after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland." That sounds like a pretty big deal. I am delighted I discovered them!

The line above, featuring "cock", comes from the 14th poem in the series, called "Elde", a poem about the problems of "old age". Here is a link to the original text in Anglo-Irish Middle English, and here is the source (and another) I used for translation. Some of my favorites lines from "Elde":

Old age makes me impotent and grow completely grey. 

When old age intends to cut me down, there is no denying it.

Old age will not bear news of the joys of May. 

When old age wishes to conquer me, my well-being is gone.

Old age will grow cold and dry up like the clod of clay, 

with old age I must submit and hasten to my appointed day.

I am greatly annoyed that my saliva dries up and my nose drips. 

Old age twists my shape so that my shoulders grow sharp, and youth has forsaken me.

I cannot grope beneath a woman's skirts any more, although would still desire to do so. 

Old age has destroyed me. I believe that he who trusts in youth is deceived.

In this entire fashion old age renders me useless. Thus he pulls out my teeth and draws them in misery.

I am no longer able to make love, my cock pisses on my shoes, every rascal invokes a curse upon me.

My head is grey and completely disfigured, coloured like a grey mare, my body grows short; when I look upon my shins, entirely wasted away, my eyes grow dim. My friends grow few in number.

Now I babble, I pant, I pout, I become shrivelled. 

I become wrinkled, I become feeble, my mind wanders, I wander, I waste away, I crouch in two, I become crippled, I cough. In this way he wishes to subdue me.

I complain, I groan, I snarl, I grumble, I sneeze, I nod off, I snivel, I tremble. Old age desires all this [for me].

I go blind, I have bleary eyes, I snore in bed - such utterance is sent to me!

I am definitely beginning to empathize with the author of this poem. Granted I am only 37, I am constantly reminded that I am not in my 20s anymore; I already feel the effects of old age upon me (grey hairs, nose dripping, worsening eye sight, body creaking, snoring, etc). Thankfully I do not possess a cock that will eventually piss on my shoe. But I'll make sure to warn my husband about that. 😂

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 25: High Score

Recommended by a friend, my husband and I started watched a Netflix Documentary called "High Score" about the history of video games. I am learning all kinds of delightful fun facts: the shape of Pac-Man was inspired by a pizza missing one slice and Kirby was created as a tribute to lawyer John Kirby who helped Nintendo win a huge trademark infringement case against them by Universal Studios over King Kong vs Donkey Kong. I was also delightfully reminded of some of the better times in my childhood, playing video games with my brother and reading the coveted Nintendo Power magazine to learn all the secret locations, tips, and tricks of our favorite games. 

There is also this delightful moment in the first episode where they interview the winner of the 1980 Atari National Video Game Championship. Born Bill Heineman, she is now Rebecca Heineman. She said that playing video games as a kid "allowed me to be myself. It allowed me to play as a female. I've always identified as a woman. Unfortunately my anatomy didn't agree. So when I played video games, [I could] ignore the world around me. It was the only place that I was able to find solace and peace." It was a fascinating human interest story, and it was delightful to see Rebecca's transition via video games. I have always enjoyed all kinds of games, and I also find that it is one of the only times I get to comfortably be my nerdy self. 

We've only watched the first two episodes, but I am hooked, and look forward to watching the whole series. After watching, we were itching to play some video games, so we played a few rounds of Mario Kart 8 on the Nintendo Switch. I grew up playing the Super Nintendo and then the N64 versions of Mario Kart, and the Mario Kart 8 is such a marvelous tribute to those games (featuring several of my favorite tracks from both). My husband is very good and wins practically every race, every time. I often come in second right behind him, because I'm not so shabby myself. This version of Mario Kart records your achievements for each set of tracks you play. If you win all 4 tracks in a set, you get three stars, and one of our goals has been to get three stars in all of the sets-- it's the equivalent of getting the high score. I chose to play a set where we only had two stars so we could try to get 3 stars. My husband wins the first race, so in my mind, we need him to win the other three races and I will support him in this victory by distracting the enemies (i.e. shooting them with red shells). In the second race, I am killing it and easily in first place most of the game, with my husband right behind me. But since I was trying to get us three stars, I slow down to a stop as I approach the finish line and say, "ok hun, go ahead and take the win". But he also slows down to a stop and says, "no, you win". We fight over this for a few seconds (that's how far ahead we are of the other racers) when we are both get hit by a lightning bolt which jolts me across the finish line and I win. And we begin delightfully dying of laughter. This was hilarious. So hilarious that we replayed the highlight reel and saved it to our file so we can rewatch it any time we want. He was laughing so much he was crying. I love how much fun we have together, especially in these seemingly so simple moments in life. (By the way, he went on to win the other two races, so I still maintain he should have won that race so we could have gotten three stars.)

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 24: Who's Yellen Now?

I love everything about this story. Here goes:

When Joe Biden nominated Janet Yellen for secretary of the treasury, he joked that Lin-Manuel Miranda should write a musical about her. "We might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical about the first secretary of the treasury, ‘Hamilton,’ to write another musical for the first woman secretary of the treasury — Yellen,” he said. I still can't believe Biden said this and I love it so much. 

Inspired by (or maybe challenged by) Biden, Kai Ryssdal of NPR's “Marketplace” asked Dessa (one of the artists who contributed to “The Hamilton Mixtape”) to write a song about Janet Yellen. I already love Kai Ryssdal and almost religiously listen to Marketplace every weekday at 6pm where he explains the economy in easy-to-understand, down-to-earth ways (Kai himself describes the Marketplace persona as "irreverence, wit, accessibility, humor, and when needed, a bit of edginess that makes these stories we do listenable."

But I love him even more now for not only picking up on that "request" by Biden but also by following through by asking Dessa to deliver.  And she did. And it is absolutely delightful. I love when rap and hip hop is smart and clever and this song does not disappoint. Dessa has a great command of language and uses her words wonderfully. She says she did a bunch of research about Janet Yellen to prepare for writing the song and enjoyed getting to know more about her. She said, "It was really exciting to become a fan of Janet Yellen." I love that, too. 

The title of the song (and the chorus hook) is "Who's Yellen Now?", which is itself super clever. 

Here are some of my favorite lines:

"...But here comes Yellen with that inside voice
Never mind the mild manner, policies make noise
She's five foot nothing, but hand to god
She can pop a collar, she can rock a power bob."

"Damn, Janet, go and get it
Fifth in line for president!"

"It only took a couple centuries
The first female secretary of the treasury."

It's just as clever, spunky, and rhythmic as songs in Hamilton. I. Love. It. 💕

One my favorites parts of writing these blogs is going on crazy google searches and wikipedia spirals to learn random facts. Some delightful things I learned while googling things for this entry:

In 1997, Ryssdal  (who also served in the navy for 8 years) and his wife left their postings with US Foreign Services in Beijing so she could attend business school at Stanford. He took a job at Borders making $7 a hour. And while he was shelving books one evening — and "wondering what he was going to do with his life" — that he came across a book listing radio internships. And the rest, as they say, is history. When Ryssal was asked what advice he would give to anyone wanted to follow in his footsteps, he said "You have to do whatever makes you happy. You can’t replicate what I did because I got unbelievably lucky. I was in the right place at the right time and willing to make a change and take some risks." It was actually fairly comforting (and delightful) to hear that someone like Kai also spent a time in his life wondering what he was going to do with life. And look where he is now!

With delight,

♥Jamie

PS: I also want to make a brief comment about Dessa. I had only ever heard her one song on the Hamilton Mixtape before hearing her new Yellen song. Based on her voice, I assumed she was a Black woman. But upon googling her, I discovered she is white. I was taken aback, and upset with myself that I had made this incorrect assumption. Just because she was rapping doesn't mean she had to be a Black woman. I am sorry I made this assumption, and pledge to be better about things like this. 

January 23: First Try!

I am replaying the video game, "Breath of the Wild", the newest addition to the Legends of Zelda video game series (on the Nintendo Switch). Technically, I never actually finished the game during my first playthrough, because I watched my husband go through the final battle sequence just before I got there in my own file, so I felt a little disillusioned about going through it myself (with a complete lack of confidence that I could actually do it), so I never did. I am excited about giving it another chance, and actually finishing this time around. 

One of things I like most about the Zelda series is its emphasis on puzzles. Yes there are the obligatory boss battles and physical fights with enemies (which I totally suck at and usually fall back on my "wail on them without strategy" method), but the puzzles are what appeal to me. They require cleverly thinking outside of the box, not physical strength, the best weapon, or the most leveling up. In Breath of the Wild you are confronted with a different puzzle in each of its 120 shrines that are scattered about world. There is usually a designated way to solve each puzzle, but I very often break all the rules and find a very clever (often easier) way to solve it, which delights me so. 

Yesterday in particular, I had two delightful experiences while playing the game. I entered a shrine where I needed to get a ball in a hole at the exact right time in order for a platform to lift me to the exit. At first it looked super hard and convoluted, with lots of possible steps that all had to timed exactly right. But I decided to try something first- I put the ball in front on a wind tunnel for it to blow into the hole and ran as fast as I could to the platform. I made it there just in time and the platform delightfully lifted me to the exit. It was perfect. My husband was shocked, saying something like, "that's not the way you're supposed to solve that." I totally cheated the system. Or did I? I think part of the beauty of the game is myriad of the endless possibilities, encouraging you to try a multitude of options and see what works. 

Later, I found myself in one of the four "divine beasts"- mechanical machines with a series of puzzles and a boss at the end. I delightfully solved all the puzzles fairly easily, but entered the boss battle with no hope. I hate boss battles. The last divine beast boss battle took me like 30 tries to win. I often get frustrated and upset and give up. I also hate it when my husband watches me, I always get nervous and think he is judging me on my lack of skill, which makes me perform even worse, a vicious cycle. But I decide to take this boss battle slowly and steadily, using almost ALL of my arrows, food, potions, and energy, and somehow, miraculously won on my first try. Even though the battle took an incredibly long time and seemed like I had taken many more tries to win, it was, in actuality, my very first try. So I announced to my husband in a victorious voice "FIRST TRY!" That's a joke we have together from a scene in the Lego Movie where Batman throws SEVERAL bat boomerangs trying to hit a button; when he FINALLY hits the button after many, many tries, he smugly states: "First try!" It's the best delightfully funny little moment, and my husband and I have co-opted it for all kinds of things. But this time, I actually did accomplish the feat on the first try (which NEVER happens for me during boss battles), and felt very proud of myself. 

Lots of life lessons to learn from these experiences: self-confidence, slow and steady wins the race, think outside the box. I'm actually looking forward to beating this game. 

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 22: Tea - Earl Grey, Hot

In case you don't recognize the reference, the title of this blog entry is a quote from Jean-Luc Picard (played by the illustrious Patrick Stewart) aboard the starship Enterprise on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard is one of my favorite Star Trek characters, and my absolute favorite Captain. He is kind, considerate, empathetic, wise, conscientious, evolved, tactful, diplomatic, and has a strong sense of both duty and morality, everything I desire in a good leader (everything I desire in humanity!). And when he orders a beverage from the food replicators on the ship, it is almost always "Tea - Earl Grey, Hot".

Yesterday, I got to enjoy a cup of my very own "Tea - Earl Grey, Hot" which was delightful for so many reasons. It was delightful to have a warm cup in my cold hands on a blustery winter evening. It was delightful to taste the deliciously citrus undertones and to smell the rich aromatics of the tea (I am so thankful that I have not had Covid, and have not lost my sense of taste or smell-- I never could have imagined being thankful for my senses, but here we are!). Most importantly, it was delightful that I did not get sick afterwards, a concern I never used to have before this past November. I was diagnosed with gastritis (stomach inflammation), which is an awful ailment that caused me extreme pain after eating or drinking almost anything. For many weeks, I had to restrict my diet to a few different varieties of soup and could drink only water. Any solid foods made me feel just awful. Carbonation and acidity would literally make me feel like death, so no coffee, tea, or seltzer for me (which were basically the only three things I drank). Thankfully, I was already not often drinking alcohol, so it was easy to restrict alcohol. But I loved coffee and tea, and it was so sad that I could not take even a sip. A trip to the ER with some gloriously pain relieving IVs made me feel so much better, but the medicine I was prescribed made me so much worse. During the many hours I spent curled up in pain in bed, I landed on one of the causes of this new diagnosis - my incredibly stressful and unfulfilling job. Gastritis is not only triggered by certain foods, but also by stress (and it's just like my body to internalize stress and turn it into an ailment... that's what happened last year when stress from the brewery turned into TMJ- inflammation of the jaw). Since Western medicine was not helping me, I created my own remedies. For both my mental and now physical well-being, I quit my job, and on some recommendations of friends, I started some homeopathic supplements- probiotics, marshmallow root, and slippery elm. Slowly but surely I have been able to re-introduce foods and drinks back into my life. I still can't do carbonation, and instead of the multiple cups of coffee I used to drink every day, I have restricted myself to about half a cup a day. I limit my dairy intake, and I still stick to keto (so no carbs, sugars, etc). 

It's been over two months since my first symptoms appeared, and yesterday I was finally able to enjoy a delightful cup of "Tea- Earl Grey, Hot" without any abdominal pain or discomfort. Such a simple victory to be thankful for, but here we are! My glorious cup of tea not only offers me hope that my body can heal, but (because it reminds me so much of Picard) it also gives me hope for the moral and ethical evolution of our world. I long for the almost utopian society on Earth in the Star Trek universe. 

An article in the New Yorker described Star Trek as "a thought experiment on how humans would behave under terminally improved material circumstances." Specifically, the article argues that the evolved society found in Star Trek is due to the invention of the replicator! (Super cool how this blog has gone in a complete 360!) Here's a quote from the article:

"It is nothing more than a background prop, the unassuming gadget that dispenses the captain’s favorite drink (“Tea, Earl Grey, hot”). ..the replicator has fundamentally changed the moral calculus of being human. ...You simply ask for something... and it automatically produces it. With such a tool, what is the benefit of owning objects or accumulating wealth? ...Humans, once unburdened from material need, would be truly free to devote themselves to higher pursuits, like knowledge, justice, and mutual understanding."

This analysis is directly supported by Jean-Luc Picard. In TNG Season 1, Episode 25 (1988), Picard says, “People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We’ve eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We’ve grown out of our infancy.”

In the movie Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Picard says even more eloquently, "The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity."

I have hope that one day we too can figure out a way to provide for people's basic needs: food, water, healthcare, medicine, and housing, so we can evolve as a society. Psychologist Abraham Maslow described this idea in his "hierarchy of needs". We have to meet basic needs (physiological and safety) before psychological needs (belonging, love, esteem) before becoming self-actualized. I like the idea of discerning my calling within these bounds. Can I help society meet some of these needs in order to aid in our evolution? I will continue to sip my delightful tea - Earl Grey, hot, and contemplate these delightful possibilities.

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 21: Five Iron Frenzy

Even though I grew up in Wisconsin and my husband grew up in Massachusetts (and we are 4 years apart in age), our childhoods share quite a few similar features. My brother is about his age and his brother is about my age, and those relationships informed a lot of who we are. We played a lot of video games as kids and watched a lot of the same TV shows and movies. We were both the smart kids, we both had high school soulmates/sweethearts, we were both in the school band (I with woodwinds, he with brass). We were both Christians (though I protestant and he Catholic). And we both listened to Five Iron Frenzy [FIF] (me for the Christianity, he for the ska). In fact, during our very first conversation when we met, he showed me a picture from his trip to Denver to see FIF (though to be fair, it had nothing to do with FIF; it was a picture of a flight of beer, because I had just taken a picture of *my* flight of beer and that was his "in" to speaking to me 💕). 

So when FIF announced another Kickstarter last year to fund their new album, we knew we had to contribute. A few days ago, I finally received the coveted link to download the new album that we helped fund, and yesterday I finally had a chance to listen to it. And it was pure delight! I love their style of music, often bright, energetic, and playful with absolutely delightful horn lines (thanks to some amazing horn players like my idol and fellow saxophone player Leanor Ortega Till.) While listening through the album, I made a mental note of songs I liked most (One Heart Hypnosis, So We Sing) and those I didn't like so much (Lonesome for Her Heroes, While Supplies Last), based purely on the music/sound. Especially with While Supplies Last, I thought it sounded too harsh and angry and not something I would love listening to on repeat. 

In preparation for this blog today, I googled the lyrics and listened along again, and I was delightfully surprised that the lyrics completely changed my opinion of several songs, most especially While Supplies Last. I now understand that it sounds so harsh and angry because it IS an angry song, a song expressing anger with how so much of the world is operating nowadays and rebuke of those who claim to be a Christian but certainly don't act like a Christian. In fact, after reading the lyrics, I uttered a "Wow" out loud (that's how you know it's meaningful, I just can't keep it inside!). Now when I listen to the song, I love it, because I understand the anger, and totally agree with it. What a GREAT outlet for the anger I feel with the world. Thanks Reese!

Here are some of the most meaningful snippets of lyrics from "While Supplies Last" by Five Iron Frenzy:

You’re offended at the wrong thing, brother-
And you’re burning all your bridges with hate
You fell asleep while Jesus stayed up weeping
While the Pharisees were plotting our fate
..
When you’re out of food
You’ll just eat the poor
..
Did you waste your prayers protecting snipers
While you hoarded all the Lysol and diapers?
Save some profits for your cadre of vipers
Because your God only favors survivors
If you vote to stop abortions
Damn the pregnant girls and orphans
Blame your decline on the LGBTQ
Offer platitudes not portions
Then your rancor is your fortune
And your poison is what’s poisoning you
..
You said “we all deserve this”
For not forcing kids to pray-
While your party loots the earth
And you tell us “Jesus saves”
You’re ignoring half the gospel
Wearing clothing made by slaves
..
You voted for the devil
Let that narcissist embezzle
Put the hen-house in the mouth of the FOX

The song I loved immediately upon listening was "One Heart Hypnosis." And the lyrics were NOTHING like I had imagined the song being about, which is a rebuke of social media and constant connectivity with the internet, which neglects connectivity amongst people in real life. Again, very powerful and meaning words. 

We're busy people we can't look up

We have our devices and that is enough

With scoliosis we're going blind

The images burned in the back of our minds

..

One heart--analytics will apply

Two hearts--We have been notified

Three hearts--The days are passing by

Four hearts--And we've all been hypnotized

..

Through the filters the colors are bright

Everyone's thin and their teeth are so white

Not much to say when we're home at night

Left to our devices when we turn out the light

..

Let the patient fix his affections on a subject far from home

Fill him with distrust and suspicion 'til in fact he's all alone

An inversion, a quiet diversion from the love he might have known

In several songs, they mention tragedies like Columbine and Sandy Hook, and this one lyric really got to me, from the song "Renegades": "You want your ledgers black, We want our children back."

Another repeated theme is welcoming and loving the misfit, those who are bullied, neglected, and left out, which most definitely speaks to me and people like me. I especially love these lyrics from "Huerfano":

They pushed you down on the frozen ground
The bullies gathered all around
They had no right to steal your song (you belong)
But you are here and they are gone
So sing on
...
Now fly you orphans
Here you belong
Welcome you wayward souls
Now lift your song

Music has also been a saving grace for me, and it has been delightful to be able to support one of my favorite bands and to enjoy the experience of listening to their newest album. 

With delight, 

♥Jamie

January 20: Civility, Pomp, and Circumstance

I have been waiting with bated breath for this moment, January 20, the inauguration of our new president and the peaceful transfer of power. Since the election, I had this sinking feeling that it wasn't going to happen, especially after the capitol riot and insurgency. I was so afraid that something would prevent Biden from taking over the Presidency and keep Trump in office defiantly against the will of the people, effectively turning our country into a dictatorship. So it absolutely delights me to see (finally) Republicans and Democrats acting with civility and decorum, allowing for the peaceful transfer of power, and swearing in Biden as President (and Harris as VP). 

I watched a live stream of the inauguration via the New York Times online. It was a pure live stream, which I MOST appreciated-- no commentary, no interruptions, no political pundits, no commercials. I wanted to see and to experience everything that was actually happening with my own eyes. I didn't need someone to be talking over all of it with their opinions. They had some text commentary in a chat box next to the live stream, which I did read from time to time, but only when I chose to, so it was not distracting from my pure experience of the event. Most importantly, I was able to hear the beautiful music of the United States Marine Band. Instead of footage being cut to a pundit during the music, which so often happens, I could listen to the trombones and trumpets and clarinets (and I even spotted a bass clarinet!)

The whole ceremony felt lighter without Trump, and of higher class (ironic because Trump is so desirous of things that are "high class". But for him I think that just means money. When I say high class, I mean civility, decorum, morality, ethics, and intelligence.) It was DELIGHTFUL not to hear Trump's name during the entire ceremony. Not ONCE! Because he wasn't in attendance, he was not honored, greeted, or even thanked. WOOT! 

Here are some specifically delightful moments:

I started watching as the special guests made their way down the quite precarious staircase (Kamala tripped on the last step!) and into their special seating. Most couples were holding hands or linking arms (Barack and Michelle Obama, George and Laura Bush, Joe and Jill Biden, etc) with the delightfully glaring exception of Bill and Hillary Clinton (it is obvious to me that they don't really like each other very much, at least not nearly as much as Barack and Michelle obviously love (and actually like!) each other. 

Each new entrance was accompanied by applause, and I think Kamala got more applause and "whoops" than anyone else, including Biden! I got chills after she made her entrance. She is the first woman, first Black person, and first Asian person to be elected Vice President. It was definitely a momentous occasion. 

There was a light sprinkling of snow during the beginning of the ceremony, which was quite beautiful, and allowed for a delightful joke by Senator Roy Blunt about Senator Amy Klobuchar being from cold and snowy Minnesota. 

In Amy Klobuchar's introduction, she said "Madam" Vice President Elect-- emphasis on MADAM! and “Have we become too jaded, too accustomed to the ritual of the passing of the torch of democracy to truly appreciate what a blessing and a privilege it is to witness this moment? I think not.”

Rev. Father Leo O'Donovan, during the opening prayer, called God the "Holy mystery of love" which is exactly the kind of verbiage I try to employ while leading prayers. I actively avoid using words like Father or Lord, and instead use more universal language to define and to name God.

In the chat box commentary after Kamala was sworn in:

• Helene Cooper (Pentagon Correspondent) wrote: "So, we have a woman vice president." 
• Jim Tankersley (Economics and Tax Reporter) wrote: "A Black woman VP. 232 years after our first vice president."
• Jonathan Martin (National Political Correspondent) wrote, "And 101 years after women won the franchise."
• Carl Hulse (Chief Washington correspondent) wrote: "Well, that’s big!"

Jennifer Lopez sang a beautiful rendition of This Land is Your Land, which according to Reid J. Epstein (National Politics Reporter) in the chat box is a Woody Guthrie tune written as a socialist anthem that was a staple of Bernie Sanders rallies. I don't think I knew that it was intended to be socialist, but I like now knowing that fact. Also, J Lo spoke in Spanish in the middle of the song (she said a line from the Pledge of Allegiance: "Una nacion, bajo Dios, indivisible, con libertad y justicia para todos" which translates to "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" which prompted Helene Cooper (Pentagon Correspondent) to comment in the chat: "Yesterday Mike Pompeo said that multiculturalism 'is not who we are.' This ceremony would suggest otherwise."

A bunch of delightful moments in Biden's speech:

• He spoke of the many challenges we now face, including the pandemic, joblessness, and a cry for racial justice. It turns out he went off script to add this little snippet that I wrote down after he said it: "a cry for survival comes from the planet itself", which was very moving. 
• Then back on script: "a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear, and now arise political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat." Immediately I thought...oooh strong words. At the same time, Reid J. Epstein (National Politics Reporter) commented: "Not sure that any president has called for defeating white supremacism in an inaugural address before."
• Biden: “The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.” 
• Biden spoke a lot about "unity". My husband and I (as well as many journalists) have commented that his constant professing of unity seems empty and unrealistic. But what delighted me in this speech is that he admitted, honestly, "I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy." 
• He admits that the forces that divide us are deep and real, but they are not new. "Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear and demonization have long torn us apart." The solution? "We can see each other not as adversaries but as neighbors. We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature. Without unity, there is no peace. Only bitterness and fury." That bit about stopping the shouting and lowering the temperature really spoke to me as one of the main differences already apparent between Trump's Presidency and Biden's. It was so delightful not to be SHOUTED at! He goes on: "Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war." Amen!
• Commentators agreed with me about how powerful and meaningful these statements are. Sheryl Gay Stolberg (Congressional Correspondent) wrote: "I am reminded of Obama’s 2009 speech when he quoted Scripture saying, 'It is time to set aside childish things.'" Reid J. Epstein (National Politics Reporter): "Joe Biden isn’t saying Donald Trump’s name but this speech is very much about rejecting and overturning the politics that Trump espoused." and delightfully, Annie Karni (White House Correspondent) commented, "Pence is probably happy to hide behind a face mask while he watches a speech that is a repudiation of what he stood for, for the past four years." YES!!!
• Ok, back to Biden's speech, he then quoted St Augustine (whom he calls "a saint of my church"): "A people is defined by the common object of their love." And what does Biden name as the common objects of our love as Americans? "Opportunity, security, liberty, dignity, respect, honor, and yes, the truth." After which I said, out loud, OOOH! What an amazing repudiation of the lies that bolstered Trump's ridiculous 4 years in office. And then he goes on: “Recent weeks and months have taught us a painful lesson. There is truth and there are lies. Lies told for power and for profit-- and we have a duty and responsibility as leaders to defend the truth and defeat the lies." YES!!
• Biden tried to offer a vision of hope to the many Americans he recognizes who face the "future with fear and trepidation." As Jim Tankersley (Economics and Tax Reporter) commented, "Biden returns to kitchen table policy: 'Can I keep my health care? Can I pay my mortgage?'"
• Biden: "The answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do. We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts. If we show a little tolerance and humility."
• Biden says that "sometimes we need a hand and sometimes we need to lend a hand." 
• And near the end he says, "I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities. Not of personal interest, but of the public good." Again, a repudiation of all that Trump stood for. 

The DELIGHTFUL moments did not end there. A poem read by the poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, was just fabulous. Please watch her performance or at least read her poem. Absolutely beautiful. And I love the allusions she makes to history, literature, the Bible, Hamilton the musical, and current events. 

Apparently as everyone was exiting the inauguration, Sheryl Gay Stolberg (Congressional Correspondent) overheard Biden saying to the crowd around him, "Thank you all, we have a lot of work to do.”

I also very much appreciated watching Harris and Pence sharing in a moment of laughter and pleasantries as Harris accompanied him to his car to leave. 

And my final moment of delight, Reid J. Epstein (National Politics Reporter) commented in the chat afterwards: "My six year old’s thoughts on the Biden inaugural: 'It was like the end of Charlie Brown Christmas where he says everyone should be nice to each other.'" 

It's like I always used to teach my kids at church: the Bible's lesson seems super simple: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love each other. Be nice. Six-year-olds get this message. Why can't fully grown adults? 

With delight (and hope for the future!),

♥Jamie

January 19: Zentangle

During our weekly Magic Pizza Tuesday last night, I started Zentangling on a box of a new Magic deck I have built. Almost all of my Magic decks are in boxes adorned with my Zentangling, and I absolutely delight in the process, the feel of the fine tip of color as it twists and turns on the white cardboard, the curves of the lines, the transformation of the box into art. It is incredibly soothing and gives me something to do and to focus on when I feel anxious and or anti-social. I hadn't built a new deck or decorated a new deck box in over a year, so it was a delight to return to this creative outlet. 

I discovered the art of Zentangle a few years ago when I was looking for adult coloring books. I had one book of tessellations, which are intricate geometric and mathematical patterns that are super fun to color, so I searched for another one of similar intricacy. That is when I discovered Zentangle, which is a meditative (aka Zen) form of free drawing (aka tangling or doodling) that consists of shapes with recurring patterns from a combination of points, lines, simple curves, and circles. (Zentangle was invented in the USA by the former monk Rick Roberts and the artist Maria Thomas, who used it to create a combination of meditation and art. I have mixed feelings about the co-opting of the concept of Zen (from Zen Buddhism), the copyrighting of the word "Zentangle", and the monetization of meditation, but I still love the concept and continue to practice it, without spending any money on it!). 

I have always been a "doodler", while in lectures and meetings, at school, work, and church, while listening or waiting, I doodle on any scrap paper available. Sometimes when I look back on my doodles on church bulletins, the margins of a class notebook, or meeting notes, I can vividly remember my feelings in the moment by looking at the type of designs I drew- the thickness of the lines, the boldness of the patterns, the repetitiveness of the designs representing anger, frustration, enlightenment, or ennui. 

After discovering Zentangle, I've tried to make my doodling more meditative. While Zentangling, I try to experience an intentional soothing-ness from the repetitive creative work. I also find some life lessons buried in the idea of Zentangling, for example it can teach you how to own your mistakes. I often use a fine tip sharpie marker for Zentangling, so mistakes cannot be erased. Instead, you learn to incorporate what seem like “mistakes” into the overall pattern of the design. It’s a great metaphor for everyday life—nothing is ever perfect, but how you adjust to imperfections (mistakes or the unexpected) in life is what really matters -- which is what I often struggle most with because of my perfectionist tendencies. 

I also love how Zentangling reinforces "creative aimlessness." Thich Nhat Hanh (a Zen Buddhist) emphasized the importance of  cultivating aimlessness in order to live more fully in the moment. Zentangle is doodling for the sake of doodling, not for any particular end result or finished product. We learn to find joy in the moment of the doodling and not just joy in the future finished product. Thich Nhat Hanh said if we stay too focused on the future, we lose the joy of our steps in the here and now. When we practice aimlessness, Thich Nhat Hanh says, “we see that we do not lack anything, that we already are what we want to become, and our striving just comes to a halt.” And of course that reminds me of that quote from Moana I wrote about previously: "The call isn't out there at all, It's inside me."

I think the world is trying to tell me something about my calling in life... 😀 ...it's within me somewhere, and maybe I need to stop striving so hard to "find" it. Live in the moment and discover the call that's been in me the whole time. Sounds simple, right? We'll see!

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 18: Swampwalk

I made plans to go for a walk with a friend yesterday, as I figured it was a safe COVID-friendly method of socializing, and I have been craving both exercise and catching up with her. Thankfully, it was an absolutely beautiful day for a walk. I had suggested we try the Danvers Rail Trail, which I drive by often but have never tried. I looked up a map online to plan parking and get an idea of the route options, and noticed an area called the "Swamp Walk" (interestingly there is also a mechanic in Magic the Gathering called "Swampwalk" 😀). I assumed that a "Swamp Walk" would entail getting messy and muddy and walking through a swamp, so I made a mental note to make sure not to take that direction. After we parked and walked to the rail trail entrance, she let me choose which direction to take, Left or Right. I knew that the path to the left would lead to the Swamp Walk, so I decided we NOT take that route, and instead take the route to the right towards downtown Danvers. 

After an absolutely delightful 2 hours of walking and talking (some highlights: 2 backyard chickens on the trail, very friendly passersby (mostly masked and responsible), some amazing mushrooms growing out of the remains of birch trees, gorgeous elephant tree growths, a peace pole, an old bell from the 1800s, and enlightening conversation about our "zones of genius"), we made it back to the path that would take us back to our cars (where I had originally decided to take a right). But we both wanted to keep going, so we did, and went in the direction where left would have led us, which I knew meant right into the swamp walk. But I thought, what the hell, if we get to an area of murkiness where I didn't feel comfortable, it would be super easy to bail and turn back since we had been out so long already! 

As we walked in the new direction, the scenery became just absolutely gorgeous. I was delighted by the colors of the sky, this deep dark gray highlighted by super bright cerulean blue. We were definitely entering a marshy area, lots of dead trees that are evidence of beaver activity (and those trees looked the prettiest against the potentially threatening colors of the sky.) Then we arrived at the "Swamp Walk." I was shocked and amazed and delighted-- the "Swamp Walk" is an immaculately kept boardwalk atop of a beautiful swamp. It was the exact opposite of what I had assumed and expected. And it was my absolute favorite part of the whole walk. There are decks and overlooks with benches that would be just delightful to spend a warmer afternoon reading. The energy and vibe of the place was so different than the rest of the walk. I really felt immersed in nature and enamored by its beauty. And just as we were leaving, the ominous looking sky released a bit of frozen rain (teeny tiny little hail balls). It was the perfect ending to a delightful walk. We hope to make a point of taking walks together every other week, which will be so good for my body, mind, and soul. 

It is just so interesting for me to look back on my totally incorrect assumptions of what the "Swamp Walk" would be like. I almost missed out of what turned out to be the most delightful part of the Rail Trail, because of my fear, hesitation, and misconceptions. I'm so glad we went in the direction that I actively avoided, and it turned out infinitely better than expected. And if that isn't a life lesson, I don't know what is! 

With delight,

♥Jamie

January 17: An Old Piano

When my husband and I moved into our house back in 2014, we inherited an old upright piano. Throughout the years, my husband has done a lot of work on it, but it was still an old crappy piano that would not stay in tune. My favorite part of it was the fact that he took off and kept off the front cover the piano so you could the inner workings of the instrument as you played (albeit out of tune). I really enjoyed being able to see the mechanism of the little hammers hit the strings in response to the keys being pressed. But we are now going to be inheriting another old piano that belongs to my husband's family, and that he grew up playing as a kid (and it actually works and is tunable, unlike the one we have). In preparation of receiving this new-to-us piano, we had to say goodbye to the old one. Because of the horrible condition it was in, it was definitely not worth even giving away (because pianos are SO expensive to move), so my husband decided to take it apart to have more manageable pieces to dispose of. I think this process completely delighted him, and it delighted me to experience his delight 😀, especially as he walked me through some of the more intricate and complex pieces of the internal works of a piano. He showed me things like how the pedals work to do things like sustain the sound and how sound board vibrates to create sound. 

Whenever I learn about how things work, I always ask myself, "How did someone come up with this?" Thanks to internet, I am often able to answer this question, at least partially. A quick Wikipedia search taught me that the piano was invented in the 1700s, but was based on other instruments like the hammered dulcimer, which uses hammers or mallets to strike strings, instead of plucking them (apparently that's the difference between a "stringed" instrument and a "percussion" instrument. For example, a harp is a stringed instrument because you pluck the strings but the piano is a percussion instrument because the strings are struck by hammers). The hammered dulcimer probably originated in the Middle East about the year 900, but required a human to physically hold the mallets to strike the strings, while the piano used a keyboard to control the hammers. Another big difference between the piano and similar instruments of its day that did use keyboards (like the harpsichord which could play loudly and the clavichord which could only play softly) was that the piano could play at a variety of volumes, from loud to soft. Bartolomeo Cristofori originally named his invention "un cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte" (Italian for "a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud"), which was eventually shortened to pianoforte or fortepiano, and later, simply, piano. Fascinating!

I unfortunately never really learned to play the piano. I didn't have one growing up, but I did have a dinky little keyboard that I taught myself how to play on. I learned to play some Hanson songs by ear, and I practiced a few songs I had sheet music for like Canon in D, Trois Gymnopedies, Fur Elise, etc. I would play around with the piano at church, and my best friend had a piano that he would always play for me. In college, when I lived at my music sorority, I practiced piano occasionally, and even performed a song from the movie Amelie for a recital. I always wished that I had had the opportunity to take piano lessons as a kid, but maybe this new piano will inspire me to buy a book for beginners and start over with my piano learning. I really do love the instrument, and maybe I will delight in re-learning how to play it as much as I have been delighted learning about how it physically works!

With delight,

♥Jamie 

January 16: The Pomegranate

Yesterday I cut and peeled a pomegranate to harvest its seeds for my daily lunch salad. I used to be incredibly intimated by this fruit. Even after watching a ton of YouTube videos about how to open one up, I never felt like I could do it quite right and would always made a mess. I also never used to enjoy its bitter/tart flavor, so I rarely bought a whole pomegranate from the grocery store (one time I bought a pomegranate to brew beer with, and another time I remember needing pomegranate for a recipe I tried, but that was pretty much the entirety of my experience with this fruit.)

Three years ago, I changed my diet to Keto, limiting my daily intake of net carbs to 20-40g ---which means no sugar and no flour--- so I haven't eaten noodles or a bagel since February 2018. Because of the drastic reduction in my sugar intact, my taste buds have completely changed. I no longer crave super sweet foods (in fact, even when I am tempted by a delicious looking cookie or piece of chocolate cake and take a bite, I am usually immediately repulsed by how sweet it is!). I find myself enjoying a whole new palette of flavors, including things I once thought of as unappealing, such as the pomegranate, which I now find delicious and satisfying. And especially after finding that salad recipe I mentioned in a previous post, I now am eating (and thus cutting and peeling) one pomegranate a week, so I have to come embrace the mess (and reduce its effect by doing the dirty work in the sink for easy clean up). 

As I was completing this task yesterday, I was delighted with the beauty of the plethora of tiny scarlet seeds I discovered beneath the smooth, red skin of the pomegranate. It really is an amazingly delightful, and quizzically bizarre fruit with an incredibly interesting history.

As you may or may not know, I was a Religion Major and Jewish Studies Minor at Northwestern University and have always been interested in the academic study of religion, as well as its practical applications to real-life community building. Learning the science and history behind the mythological stories in the Bible and other religious texts fascinates me, and leads me to a greater appreciation of the story. Here are two examples of the difference between believing in the miracle of a biblical story as something that defies science versus the miracle being a change in perspective, a new understanding, or just plain ol' perfect timing:

1) from the Hebrew Bible- Moses Parting the Red Sea. Some call it a miracle because Moses defied science, literally parting the Red Sea to lead his followers across the sea to the other side, and then returning the sea to its natural state once the enemy approached, drowning them. But I learned to call it a miracle because perhaps it was the tide of the sea that was timed just perfectly to allow the Israelites to pass through during low tide but drowning the Egyptians during high tide. (and now living in Gloucester where tides are a real thing, I too have been amazed by this seeming miracle of the tides-- I went kayaking once in these marshes near the ocean and almost couldn't return to the dock because the tide was so low there was no water to kayak on! So I can imagine living thousands of years ago, not understanding the tides and the science behind the gravitational pull of the moon, and thinking how miraculous the changing of the tides would appear to be, ESPECIALLY if the tide change just so happened to be perfectly timed to save my people). 

2) from the Christian New Testament- The Loaves and Fishes. Some call it a miracle that Jesus was able to feed a crowd of 5000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish that a young boy donated to the crowd, the miracle being the literal multiplication of this food, defying science and reality. But I learned that the miracle was the miracle of sharing. People were inspired by the kindness and generosity of this young boy who donated his lunch. As the baskets of food were being passed around to the crowds, other people shared *their* food, so instead taking food, they gave of their own food (and those who didn't bring a lunch only took what they needed). By the time every one was fed, there were loads of leftover loaves and fishes, not multiplied magically by Jesus' superpowers, but multiplied by the generosity of the crowd. People stopped hoarding what they had and shared. And *that* was the miracle. 

In both of these examples, I find the lessons of the story more meaningful when the miracle is no longer a magical, unexplainable, impossibility, but something humanity can actually do and participate in! We can use and understand the science of nature to help us, and we can share what we have when others are in need. 

So what does all this have to do with the pomegranate? You may have heard the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible. Adam and Eve were the first humans created by God to live in the Garden of Eden. They were allowed to eat anything in the garden except for fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A snake convinces Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree, and she gives some of the fruit to Adam, so God banishes them from the Garden of Eden. For what it's worth, I do not believe this story to be literally true. It is a creation myth developed by our ancestors thousands of years ago told to explain things about life that puzzled them: why people wear clothing (shame of nakedness came from knowledge discovered after eating the forbidden fruit), why snakes slither on the ground without legs (the snake's punishment for manipulating Eve), why women suffer in childbirth (Eve's punishment for manipulating Adam), why we don't live in a world of paradise (humanity's punishment for the "original sin").

Traditionally, you'll see paintings and drawings of the fruit being an apple, but apples didn't flourish in Israel, pomegranates did. And since "people use whatever is at hand to express their religious beliefs," (Frank A. Salamone, Iona College), it is unlikely the apple was used for this story since apples were rarely at hand. Some additional evidence-- when the Ancient Hebrews were searching for their very own Promised Land, they specifically looked for a land that echoed the original Garden of Eden- "a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey" (Deuteronomy 8). Moses did not literally part the Red Sea, Jesus didn't magically multiply food, and Adam and Eve did not eat an apple. Correctly biblical misconceptions is one of my favorite things to do; it delights me. 

I find it interesting how much religious symbolism exists about the pomegranate, but I'm not surprised. It's a beautiful and delicious fruit, full of fertility! 

"The pomegranate is red, and so is blood. It has a lot of seeds and is an obvious symbol of fertility. It's beautiful, strong and delicate, and its juice has healing properties. It says a lot of different things all at once. People bring meaning to it." (Frank A. Salamone, Iona College)

Consuming pomegranates on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, became a tradition because, with its numerous seeds, it symbolizes fruitfulness for the new year. The pomegranate even appeared on the ancient coins of Judea.  (Also, the pomegranate was said to have 613 seeds, which corresponds with the 613 commandments of the Torah, but that is a misconception 😀.) 

It's not just Judeo-Christian religious tradition that reveres the pomegranate. Buddhism considers the pomegranate to be one of the three blessed fruits. A poor old woman's gift of a small pomegranate to the Buddha is the gift that delighted him most. 

Muslim tradition states that one must eat every single seed of a pomegranate, a fruit they believe came from the Garden of Paradise itself, because you can't be sure if maybe one its arils originated from actual paradise. 

I delight in the pomegranate almost as much as I delight in writing about its religious symbolism. I used to write a sermon every week, and it is nice to return to writing about religious themes that I enjoy so much. 

With delight (and a mouthful of pomegranate seeds),

♥Jamie