Reading Log: January 2026

 The books that I finished reading in the month of January 2026

January 2026 Books: photo by Cliff Hutson

“Red Sky Mourning,” Jack Carr

“Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles,” Elizabeth Ward and Alain Silver

“Pork Pie Pandemonium,” Steve Higgs

“The Thin Man,” Dashiell Hammett

“Horology: An Illustrated Primer,” Barry B. Kaplan

“Licensed to Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror,” Robert Young Pelton 

“The Doomsters,” Ross Macdonald 

Out of Office

 I'll be back!

Will Return: photo by Cliff Hutson

Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day

 Back to the Future or Ahead to the Past?

World Time 1972 Reissue: photo by Cliff Hutson

Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day is observed each December 8, which entices people to act as if they are from another time period, either past or future.  The original blog post that got the day rolling can be found here.  Since this post has not been made in a timely manner, I have noticed that the comics Day by Dave and Frazz have also taken notice of the celebration of the day.

Even though I feel that much of my life is performative, I am much too inhibited to go out in public and act as if I am a time traveler. However, I do have some time related photographs of a few of the modest watches in my modest watch collection that tie into the subject.

The above image is of a type of watch known as a world time are designed to display the time in multiple time zones simultaneously, making them ideal for travelers of the terrestrial type. As illustrated, if you know the time in San Francisco you can determine what time it is in 22 other cities around the globe. 

GMT Watch: photo by Cliff Hutson

This next watch has a complication commonly called an Office GMT. Its purpose is to show the time  in your home country, e.g. your office, and  to display a time zone in a different area of the world. This function is also known as a Caller GMT as it is very useful if one is doing business, or has relatives, overseas so that you don't try to contact them at an inconvenient time.  While there are GMT watches decidedly designed for the purpose, this watch would also work while traveling.

Back to the Future: photo by Cliff Hutson

This last watch is directly connected to time travel. It is a Casio CA53W-1 which is the current iteration of the watch worn by Marty McFly in the last two of the three Back to the Future movies. Some sources say that he had a CA-50 in the first one.

So, I am running out of time to get posted on my every Monday schedule. If only I could go back and do it time for those of you who would have participated had had ample warning. Oh well, there is always next year.

Takes a licking . . .

 . . . and keeps on ticking

Timex Watch: photo by Cliff Hutson

I grew up the heyday of the commercials that John Cameron Swayze did for Timex watches. Therefore, when I saw the Urban Pop 40mm Eco-Friendly Strap Watch on sale I just had to but it for the nostalgia value alone. However, I ware it because it looks good ( to me anyway) and is comfortable on my wrist.

However, I have no plans to test it and see if it holds up as well as the watches of the past. While it has a water resistance rating of 50 meters, I do not have access to an outboard motor.

FWIW: Water resistance 

50 meters = 5 bars = 5 atmosphere = 165 feet = 73.5 PSI

• Worry-free accidental splashing 
• Can wear in rain and snow
• Can submerge in water
• Safe to swim in the pool and ocean

Time Flies

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana 

Bananas: photo by Cliff Hutson

I hope that everyone who observes Labor Day is having a good one.

Time and Tide

"Time and tide wait for no man."  

 GBX100S-1 Surf Watch: photo by Cliff Hutson

Geoffrey Chaucer said; "Time and tide wait for no man." This is as true now now as it was then. However, nowadays a person can track both if they have the proper timepiece. 

Frog Jumping Jubilee Day

 Frog Jumping Jubilee Day

Garden Frog: photo by Cliff Hutson

Frog Jumping Jubilee Day is a fun-filled event celebrated on May 19 each year. Maybe not in most communities, but it is a big deal in Angels Camp, California as it links back to Mark Twain’s famous short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, published in 1865.

I must admit that this post is a leap of faith, but I was running out of time again. Just remember that time spent doing something that you enjoy is not time wasted.

No Excuses

But, neither is there a post 

All writing and images ©Cliff Hutson unless expressly noted. Do not use without permission.

Time's Fun When You Are Having Flies

“The best time to go fishing is when you can get away.”

Box of Flies: photo by Cliff HutsonToday

Today, I exhibiting my weird sense of humor. But, it can also be true that time flies whether you are having fun or not; the older we get the faster it goes.

My Shinola

 Does anybody really need a Rolex?

Shinola Runwell: photo by Cliff Hutson

Once again I was hunched over my table struggling with the, admittedly, increasingly arbitrary deadline for this blog. [Really, who would notice if I missed publishing on a Monday: or even skipped a week altogether?] But, then I fortuitously ran across a photograph of former President Obama wearing the same watch that I had purchase back in 2017.  It is a Shinola 41 mm Runwell Sub Second. So, that makes two things that we have in common.

Clearly, he is a person that can afford, or has already been gifted, any watch that he wanted. Yet, he chose this “affordable” one. My grandson, who follows these things, says that Obama also has a Rolex. But, the GQ story got me to thinking, does anybody really need a Rolex? Apparently, I am not the only one who has had this thought.

Note:

Readers of my generation might recognize that the title of this post is a play on the title of a well known song.

I Grow Old

 Rolled trousers?

An Old Man: photo by Cliff Hutson

I Grow Old

I grow old ... I grow old ... 

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. 

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? 

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. 

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. 

I do not think that they will sing to me. 

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" 

by: T. S. Elliot 

Peaches: photo by Cliff Hutson

I am not sure that this is what the poet had in mind, but today is my birthday.  A good time to wonder how much time is left for me and what will I do with it?

Time, Part 2

National Napping Day

Napping Cats: photo by Cliff Hutson

"Happy Daylight Saving Time", said no one ever. So, today - March 14, 2022, is National Napping Day.

National Napping Day is observed annually the day following the return of daylight saving time (DST). It recognizes a need many of us have after losing an hour of sleep after springing our clocks ahead an hour.

By the way, less than 40% of the countries in the world pit their populace (about 25% of the world's people) through this torture. I am on the side of the abstainers.

Messing with Time

Watch: photo by Cliff Hutson

It seems that almost everybody complains about the time shift. I was going to write a screed about the evil of messing with time. But, with all the troubles in the world today that just seems so trivial. Suffice it to say that there are valid reasons not to have DST, some of them health related.

Time, Part 1

 Does anybody know what time is?

Alarm Clock: photo by Cliff Hutson

Time has resurfaced as a fascinating subject to me. Perhaps because I have so much of it on my hands.  Someone, not Stephen Hawking, once said that; "Time is what keeps one damn thing after another from being every damn thing all at once".  Physicists might define time as the progression of events from the past to the present into the future. Time, thus, gives us the feeling of progress. 

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Shinola Runwell Watch: photo by Cliff Hutson

Readers of a certain age will recognize that this heading is stolen from the song "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" by the band Chicago. (Which I am surprised does not rank at the top of everybody's list.)

The song, released in 1969, has the line - "A man came up to me and asked me what the time was that was on my watch".  These days it seems that the need for watches is very much on the decline. After all, most people have a mobile photo that will give the time simply by picking it up. But, some of us still turn to watches - more about that at a later date.  Tempus fugit and I will miss my deadline if I don't post this now.

Downtime

Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing: photo by Cliff Hutson

Sometimes a person just needs to take a break. 

“Insight comes, more often than not, from looking at what’s been on the table all along, in front of everybody, rather than from discovering something new.”—David McCullough