I am almost finished the Mumford book of over 400 pages. Lewis Mumford has a way-with-words to stoke my imagination. So I push ahead to read his account of the reciprocal influence of machines and society from the middle ages, about 1000 AD to the early 20th century. The quoted lines highlight the pivot…
Friday afternoon. I took the malaise of today to a meeting this morning. One does what one must, feelings aside. To this felt heaviness, as if gravity were double or tripled, even thinking moved as if in molasses, – perhaps you also find it impossible be certain of the cause(s) of such a funk?…
At sixteen I discovered drag racing. Performance engines built for extremes, they seemed magic to me. And that sound continues to have the effect for me. I remember the sound of those engines, – a Super Stock Plymouth, an A/FX Ford Mustang being tuned in the pits under the pine trees in North Carolina….
Wednesday is suffused with sunlight, and stands to be summertime hot, though meteorological fall has arrived. No matter! I welcome a day or two more of summer before the tilt of the earth’s axis brings shorter and cooler days. Yesterday was dedicated to keeping a long anticipated appointment with my cardiologist. A needed heart…
I am unable to compose the usual post due to an appointment for a heart procedure which will shortly come. There’s just not enough time to order my thoughts. So, I will leave these words by William Morris: We have seen that modern society is divided into two classes, one of which is privileged…
Saturday was spent at Cordova Dragway. I wonder that the race track may be more widely known than the tiny village of some 600 residents. On the other hand Cordova in Rock Island County is home to three nuclear power generating stations. The drag strip is twin lanes of asphalt 1,320 feet in length,…
Today is Sunday. I am writing in the afternoon because I “slept in” this morning rather than my 6AM customary hour. Yesterday was spent at Cordova Dragway, a “stone’s throw” from the Mississippi River. Most of the day was spent on my feet, but happy to be among racers, and fast cars. To be…
We often watch the late night news on channel 7, ABC television. This is our ritual, – the final shared experience of the evening before turning in. The broadcast meteorologist took note of the cloud cover that momentarily obscured last night’s eclipse from view. The eclipse of the moon is not something that happens…
The mornings are less warm, less humid now. I take that as a sign that Fall is at hand. Starbucks is more busy around 7AM since the beginning of the school term dictates a universal scheduling of the day, for everyone two years old (pre-shool) and upward. Some of us, even in retirement remain…
Late summer is construction season. Construction is in progress all of the time, somewhere. This is the nature of things since our ancestors learned that farming was better than hunting and gathering. We began living in villages. That was not so long ago if you use the time scale of the universe. The Neolithic…
