Sat morning in Holland Michigan

 

I am writing on an early dark Friday morning. This sun is just beginning to dimly light things up a bit. I have already washed dishes, done Greek, then walked to Evergreen and treadmilled. By the end of the day yesterday I was unable to muster the will to go and treadmill in the last hour that Evergreen commons was open.  Earlier I met with my piano trio and we had a good rehearsal.

I have an appointment with Dr. Birky, my shrink, today. I have some stuff to talk about.  Yesterday I felt overwhelmed for most of the day. This is probably largely cyclical stuff. It is the silly season, as Rev Jen and I call it.

Yesterday Rhonda texted me and asked me if I was interested in composing a quartet for organ, bassoon, trombone and sax. She and her players need a piece for a February gig. I was glad to do it.

Yesterday as I was finishing up my morning organ practice, I was getting off the bench and my foot slipped and hit a note with a bit of force. It was not too much force. But enough that the note stuck. Also I noticed that the key on the keyboard corresponding to the pitch did not return easily. Oy. I messaged Martin Pasi and he responded promptly. He thinks it’s probably an easy fix. I have scheduled a meeting with Ron Brown today at 1:30. He’s the guy who helped before and probably knows more about how the organ works than anyone else around.

NYTimes: The Glory of Democracy

This David Brooks article is pretty good. He links into his main source for ideas, Thomas Mann’s The Coming Victory Of Democracy. I am a fan of Mann’s. I keep thinking I will reread him soon.

NYTimes: 10 New Books We Recommend This Week

I keep reading these lists for fun. I was pleased to see several on this list on my stack of books to read.

NYTimes: Trump’s Lies vs. Obama’s

I skimmed over the Trump stuff. I know enough of that. I wondered what Obama’s lies were. You have to scroll down quite a ways to see lists of specific untruths.

 Nate Silver, the author of this article and founder of FiveThirtyEight has taught me a lot about understanding polls and predictions.

 

 This is one of two recent reports giving some insider type portraits of how things are going haywire in the Oval Office. The other was by the NYT.

Neurotic Poets – Neurotic Poets – ‘Mad Girl’s Love Song’ by Sylvia Plath

I was looking at an article in the  NYT in which columnists and reporters recommended books to each other. It was all pretty lame, but one guy recommended this poem. I like it and did not know it.

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