National Avocado Day

Another Special Day

July 31 is the day to celebrate avocados! Not that I don't eat them year-round.

California Avocado: photo by Cliff Hutson

Growing up, I first knew the fruit as an "alligator pear".  Our next door neighbor had a tree and that was what she called. That name is no longer in fashion, but the popularity of the avocado has increased by leaps and bounds since then.

Guacamole: photo by Cliff Hutson

There are many ways to partake of this food.  Avocado Toast has, without saying, become ubiquitous in many circles.  Guacamole is another, and it actually has its own day, as well.

Tuna & Avocado Sandwich: photo by Cliff Hutson

Avocados make just about anything better, so I add them to sandwiches and salads. 

Fancy Salad: photo by Cliff Hutson

But, I have never tried them in a smoothie nor as a dessert.  You?

National Cheesecake Day

Time to Celebrate

Cheesecake: photo by Cliff Hutson

National Cheesecake Day is celebrated on July 30 in The United States of America; and, so it seems, some other countries as well.

Life in the Time of Corona: Sometimes, there's a man

Bad Moon Rising: photo by Cliff Hutson

"I see a bad moon a-rising

I see trouble on the way

I see earthquakes and lightnin'

I see bad times today"

- Creedence Clearwater Revival

Sometimes, there's a man for his times.

And, sometimes, there isn't

I have just a few words to illustrate my point:

• Person
• Man
• Woman
• Camera
• TV

A Man with a Camera: photo by Cliff Hutson

Bastille Day 2020 - le quatorze juillet

liberté, égalité, fraternité

Dame de Liberté: photo by Cliff Hutson

This day marks the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, a fortress in Paris that was infamous for holding political prisoners, at the start of the French Revolution in 1789.  

This year's observance in France will be very subdued, due to the pandemic. Things will be quiet as well in the USA. We have never made as big a deal out of Bastille Day as we do Cinco de Mayo - which interestingly enough is another date that commemorates a foreign event involving the French.  But, usually there is plenty of wine, and French food to found somewhere.

Brie et du pain Français: photo by Cliff Hutson

Brie en Croûte: photo by Cliff Hutson

Croissant: photo by Cliff Hutson

Things being what they are this year I will probably just go to a drive-thru and get some fries. I will watch Casablanca.  That is a personal tradition that I have long held.  The scene where "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem, is sung in a 'duel of anthems' with the Nazis is one of the most moving in any film that I have ever seen. I can not imagine ever growing tired of seeing it.

Joyeux quatorze juillet! 

A Random Photograph of a Salad

Cold Rice & Avocado Salad

Cold Rice & Avocado Salad: photo by Cliff Hutson

Time for something else besides sourdough starter or banana bread.  Don't you think? 

Life in the Time of Corona

Bad Moon Rising: photo by Cliff Hutson

Times are strange

Times are strange, and, I am locked in tight and I'm out of range.  When this "shelter-in-place", "safer-at-home", or "self-quarantine" thing started so many weeks (months?) ago I did not think that it would be much of a problem.  I am very used to living alone and am very much the introvert.  However, not being able to come and go as I please has proved to more than a bit taxing.

Some people seemed to have put this time to good use.  But, I like many others trapped indoors as a deadly pandemic rages, turned to watching films that confront the practicalities and horrors involved with some sort of now all-too-familiar apocalypse. Not just those that suddenly seem timely, like the viral thriller turned convincing docudrama Contagion, but also those that cover similar global panic and ultimately togetherness in the face of natural disasters, alien invasion and other earth-shaking events.

Then it came to mind that I might enjoy something about being alone and decided to watch Cast Away, the Tom Hanks film from 2000, for the second time, in nearly twenty years. I really enjoyed it.  

One of the things that I found most intriguing was that in the film Wilson, a volleyball, serves as Chuck Noland's friend and only companion during the four years that Noland spends alone on the deserted island.     This led me to ask two questions: 1) What became of Wilson? 2) What if I had a "Wilson" of my own?  

Wilson

Wilson the Volleyball: photo by Cliff Hutson

Some say that Wilson was irretrievably lost at sea, never to be seen again. Others say that, much like Chuck Noland, he was eventually picked up by a passing ship. But, the reality is that he was an actor playing a role.

One of the original volleyball props was sold at auction for $18,500 to the ex-CEO of FedEx Office, Ken May. However, it turned out that I could have one of my own, for a whole lot less, by buying it directly from Wilson Sporting Goods. I was very disappointed that he arrived via UPS instead of FedEx.

We will have to see how our friendship develops.

Reading Log: June 2020

The books that I finished reading in June 2020

June 2020 Reading: photo by Cliff Hutson

“L.A. Requiem,” Robert Crais

“Fair Warning,” Michael Connelly

“The Dreamt Land,” Mark Arax 

“On Tyranny,” Timothy Snyder

“Devolution,” Max Brooks

“The Driver,” Dustin Stevens

"On Tyranny"

"On Tyranny": photo by Cliff Hutson

I feel that "On Tyranny," by Timothy Snyder is such a worthwhile book for our times that I thought that I should highlight it.

Snyder states that, “Americans today are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism in the twentieth century. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.” 

It might well behoove us to pay attention to that.