The way it feels sometimes

Gotta Love It!

In "How to read a book" the author thinks you should sometimes should struggle to read books that are above you.
The book I am currently reading, "Pausanias Guide to Greece(vol. 1) is surely one. Although its
basis is a descriptive narrative of places and structures in Central Greece, Pausanias includes historical figures,both actual and mythical.
It is difficult to sort what is real and mythical . I am also struggling with pronunciation on names and places.
Fortunately the book is well documented with excellent footnotes and the internet provides more information too.It may be more time consuming and challenging but is really wort the effort.

A litttle Basie/Williams interlude

Another Classic

Now that I have finished the Thelonious Monk biography ,I am returning to my Classics theme. I got on this kick years ago after seeing Michael Wood's" In search of the Trojan War" Television series on PBS . That series not only got me interested in this whole History thing but also in classic books. In High School I could not be bothered with any of it because I was too busy listening to Count Basie. Now ,I find them really rewarding. This book is a descriptive guide to Central Greece written in the 2nd century. I guess you could say Pausanias is the Rick Steves of his time!

another excellent photo from Classic Trains

still a genius at 96!

new beginning for our Impatients

Friday night at Merrie Monarch

Winners STILL!

Celebration Rally at Hinkle Fieldhouse - More The Indianapolis Star Galleries

View this gallery at The Indianapolis Star: Celebration Rally at Hinkle Fieldhouse

Tom Wright, a builder near San Diego has come up with a fun use for bumper cars. This former Long Beach Pike amusement park Bumper car (one of 7 ) were in a trash heap. He rescued them and created these little fantasy vehicles. They were originally powered by Harley motors but they rattled like heck and Tom replaced them with Honda or Kawasaki 750's and a couple have been measured as capable of 160 MPH, which is terrifyingly fast in machines with such a short wheelbase.

Funny!

Continuing with subject of the Monk book I am reading this video was recorded in 1957. Monk was part of a ten part TV series on CBS called The seven lively arts. This episode, The Sound of Jazz presented all of the top jazz artists at the time. As you can see ,Count Basie is sitting directly in front of the piano enthralled with Monks playing . Monk appears to be cool about the situation but in the book the author states that later he was furious, even saying the next time he saw Count Basie playing he would do the same to him! Funny how things are not always as they seem!

Connection

I have made a few posts about being really connected with something from the past . Most of the time it has occurred while reading a book . This time it is this posted sign. It is located in an area called Wa'a Wa'a. The first time I saw it (there are actually 2 signs) I was intrigued. The coast road ,a rough two lane road, comes to a point where it becomes unpaved . For various reasons it was never improved . It runs through an area that is off the grid and really not developed much. It is not difficult to imagine this junglish cool place is Hawaii as it was a few centuries ago . Then ,there were divisions of land called ahupua'a, usually extending from the uplands to the sea . These two signs then ,facing opposite directions about a quater mile apart,
have written on them an Hawaiian chant for safe passage through the ahupua'a .
Another solid connection to History

Beautiful

I lived in San Francisco for 26 years before moving to Hawaii. I have never seen this video before and the way it combines the two places now seems spooky to me !

tear jerker

Pineapples

Pineapple central (ours at least) Almost every plant in this photo has a young fruit growing on it.
They are all weeded and fertilized(thanks in part to our recent guest Eileen) With any luck we will have another good crop this summer.

Genius

Getting back to Thelonious Monk and the current book I am reading, The subject of humor in his music was introduced.
Monks music has always made me chuckle. I never understood why , but with just a couple of sentences the author brought me closer.

"His chords often elicited chuckles from the audience,but Monk didn't mind.He later remarked
" Anything that's very good will make
you laugh in admiration ,so it must be humor to make you laugh---or maybe it makes you laugh in surprise because it knocks you out." Humorous, but no less serious" .

This humor is evident in the video above. The tune is the standard Tea for Two. It certainly"knocks me out"
It is crazy when compared to a standard version and although I can barely figure out what he is doing, the harmonics and rhythmic aspects
of it make me laugh! Maybe I should not try to understand it but Just enjoy his Genius

Good Stuff

Sharon and I went to our semi annual community pot luck picnic today.
A turnout of about 90 produced some excellent dishes.
In addition, a small group of volunteers cooked turkey and pork in an Emu. This is a traditional Hawaiian method of cooking in a pit in the ground( the emu) . A wood fire is built which heats rocks . The firewood is removed leaving the rocks to cook food
that is usually wrapped in plant leaves .
This makes everything really moist. It must cook for hours and usually takes all night. Good food and time spent with neighbors. Good Stuff!

The excerpt is the beginning of Chapter 6. Mintons is the club where Monk began his accent to greatness. I am starting to see how some of the quirky aspects of Monk developed! More later.