Vermont Liberal, Aspiring Minimalist Philosophy, Applied Mathematics Antifa Maximus Vegetarian since 1978, ~99% Vegan šŗš¦ šµšø šØš¦š©šŖšØš Currently having a loverās quarrel with the world
1,101 followers 640 following 1,483 posts
view profile on Bluesky
Leaders of the Free Worldā¦at least whatās left of it. Vermont loves our Canadian cousins!
Legal specialists? How quaint. Trump is not constrained by lawsā¦or, I should say, he is the law. L'Ćtat, c'est moi!
āBreakfast of Championsā at PB Boulangerie in Wellfleet š
Victoria and her āpretty pebbles.ā Newcomb Hollow beach, if Iām not mistaken.
Beach-hopping the length of Cape Cod on our bicycles this week in sparkling weather. Despite our world falling apart, I donāt think Iāve ever been happier than I am right now. Please disregard the audioā¦itās just a radio station playing on my phone.
Caroline Kennedy (Sweet Caroline) would be the one to ask. She desperately tried to warn us (as if anyone with half a brain would need it) and yet here we are.
Wonderfulā¦thank you!
"It is better to try something and fail than to try nothing and succeed. The result may be the same, but you won't be. We always grow more through defeats than victories." ~ SĆøren Kierkegaard. #art
My wife and I took the old Queen Elizabeth II from NYC to Southampton and back some years ago. I grew so tired of eating fancy food that I asked for just a plate of French fries (chips) for dinner one evening. Our Austrian waiter took my order and muttered something about āyou Americans.ā š
My Man Bernie!
Vermont receives more than half of our electricity from Hydro Quebec. It would be disastrous for us if it were to be switched off. But I am willing to read by candlelight if thatās what it takes to thwart the š idiot. Be strong Canadaā¦ we love you!
My wifeās wellworn nightshirt. If onlyā¦
Bitte, Deutschlandā¦donāt become the USA!
If it's not worth fighting for now then it never meant that much to us. Painting by Gerard DuBois
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and Iā¦I took the one less traveled by š
Lovely as always, John!
Beelzebub Incarnate?
Way to go Portland! My little brother had planned to attend last I spoke with him. Sending my love and best wishes from Vermont!
Who of us hasnāt missed a loved one so much that it became nearly unbearable?
Iām a democratic socialist, not a Democrat. Nevertheless, Iāve had no choice but to hold my nose and vote for Dems - as the lesser of perceived evils - for all of my adult life. Their stench has increasingly become intolerable. We desperately need a viable alternative.
Music ... that lordly power, 1993 - by Gordon Parks (1912 - 2006), American
I was raised in STL and went to Mizzou. Moved to the bluest of blue states in ā84 and never looked back. Happy travels!
NH: the Mississippi of New England
Ack-ack
If and when we emerge from this criminal madness, a necessary component of our recovery will be āNurembergā trials beginning with the leadership and reaching down to the level of these street thugs.
A little something that my wife made and pinned to her capā¦ and I agree with all my ā¤ļø
I spent the day shoveling a trench. Time now to relax.
I jumped on to post this very photo. You beat me to it šš»
America today. As in right now. At this moment. As I write. Oh, for fuckās sakeā¦never mind. Itāll all be fine. Tom Chambers, photography
I similarly remember being charmed, reading as a child, a (likely apocryphal) description of Antonio Stradivari hiking the mountains with a little wooden mallet in order to listen to the resonance of spruce trees before selecting them for use in his stringed instruments.
ā¦who likely as not were functionally illiterate, and yet the depth of the knowledge, judgement and skill required to build even a horsedrawn dung cart almost entirely of wood was considerable. Oddly enough, I found this book hard to put down.
I came across an unusual old book a while back on the topic of making traditional English farm carts and wagons. Of course Iāve no interest in making such things (even if I could) but I enjoyed reading the authorās careful description of the these enormously skilled craftsmenā¦
Thank you and yes. It was strangely therapeutic to take such care over the course of several days making such an otherwise insignificant object. It reminded me that even the ordinary can be a source of pleasure and joy. Herman Hesse wrote tangentially of this long ago.
Claude Monet paint his water lilies with the roar of WW1 artillery in the distance. Yuri peacefully crafts wooden objects in his small Ukrainian workshop with the occasional air raid siren and/or explosion as a backdrop.
Iāve taken up woodworking all-by-hand this summer. Starting small, I emulated Yuri-from-the-Ukraineās pencil box made from a cherry tree branch. My little bundle seasoned in only 6 weeks. My tools are mostly renovated vast-offs. Victoria stores her watercolor brushes in it. Super relaxing project.
Congratulations Johnā¦well done!
Pleasant old tune by a Spanish pop singer and a Portuguese fadista
Blueberry season is beginning to wind down here. So far weāve packed just over 50 Lb (23 kg) in the freezer so we shouldnāt lack for blueberries in our morning oatmeal this coming year! After all those hours of berry picking we celebrated with a nice blueberry crumble š
My wife at todayās, āFight the Trump Takeoverā gathering in Montpelier, Vermont.
ā¦worth a thousand words
Self-portrait, 2020 - by Luisa Del Valle, American
I don't normally do pictures of real people - but Jez who lives just down the road from me has an interesting face so I did his portrait.. @sligogirl.bsky.social #portrait #digital #watercolour #commissionsopen
Wonderful!
My nephew (French Canadian) sent me this. Itās from a book that I bought for him just after he was born. He found it in a box today whilst helping my brother move to a new house. He apologized for having taken 21 years to read the first page. C'est bonā¦better late than never!š
āThey interpret the vow ānever againā to mean that anything goes in the name of preventing renewed persecution, even the commission of mass atrocities.ā
My wife baked ten chocolate-cherry and ten hazelnut-chocolate brioches this morning. The one I had with my coffee was still warm from the oven š Recipe from Beth Henspergerās book, āBread.ā
In a better world this would be required reading, or at least listening, for every American.
Out of curiosity I just looked to see which violinistās recording of the Gavotte en Rondeau was carried aboard the Voyager. It was Grumiaux š
Oh yes, Heifetz was one of the greats. Arthur Grumiaux performed in my aforementioned (but long-lost) LP. I found several of Galbraithās recordings. Thanks for the suggestion! Here he performs what is perhaps the best known movement of the Partitasā¦which was carried aboard the Voyager spacecraft.
I purchased my first classical music LP at the age of thirteen. It was a collection of the Partitas and Sonatas for Solo Violin by J.S. Bach. It remains my all-time Lieblingsmusik to this day. Here the Canadian virtuoso, James Ehnes, performs the first of the three sonatas.
āFourthā
Strawberry shortcake from garden to table this Forth of July
New Englandās Mississippi
Iād never seen this. Wonderfulā¦thank you!
And now for something completely different.. "The Mountaineer," Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-1958). Denmark
I would only argue that racial pride is even lower. If thatās all youāve gotā¦ āNational pride is a lowest form of pride that a person can have. Who has nothing of their own to be proud of resorts to having pride in the nation they happen to belong to.ā
Herr Schmid beautifully plays the 1718 āex Viottiā Stradivarius, which was heroically saved from the Nazis by the famous Austrian violinist, Alma RosĆ©, before she perished at Auschwitz. This instrument is currently owned by the Austrian National Bank which sponsors the Alma RosĆ© Prize.
Untitled, 2023 - by Brooke DiDonato (1990), American
āMen do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable.ā ~ G. K. Chesterton
Wonderfulā¦Iām jealous! My best friend and his wife live perfectly well with only their bicycles and public transit in Krefeld, Germany. Itās presently impossible for me in rural Vermont but it remains my dream. I despise everything about automobiles & dearly love my bicycle. Somedayā¦hopefullyš¤
š
Iāve one bumper sticker on my only car. Itās the Canadian flag. Iāve spent quite a lot of time in Quebec and have Canadian family so Iām more than happy to express my support.
āA developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation.ā ~ Gustavo Petro
The Canadians arrived!
My Sweetie
Thanks Diana!
Montpelier, Vermont
Iāve been aimlessly touring Cape Codās National Seashore on my bicycle this week. I tend to ride with headphones on my head and a smile on my face. Despite it all, life is still unimaginably beautiful.
Good on you. We feel the same here.
I ground all of our grain with a massive, Danish-made, hand-cranked mill made of cast iron for over twenty years. What a workout! Itās no wonder wind or water-powered mills came about so early in human history. It felt like cheating after I sold the mill but I soon got over it š Sunday sourdough
Thank you for that. āLittle Sleepās Headā was love at first reading with meā¦one of those things that stays with you. Kinnell didnāt live all that far from me and I remember hearing his wife interviewed on NPR when he died. She spoke very lovingly of him.
With my beloved nephew at the University of Vermont. So often I had carried him in my arms, or pushed him in his stroller, past this very spot on the UVM campus where yesterday he received a BA in Economics. My wife, who knows me better than I know myself, had tissue at the ready.
āYou become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.ā Antoine de Saint-ExupĆ©ry, āThe Little Princeā
Iād feel sorry for her if not for the fact that she has helped to empower the very people that sheās now afraid of.
Listen to them all laugh. Such evil.
Given that Trump could have sitting judges killed and simply pardon their assassins, itās difficult to envision how holding his DOJ in contempt of court would deter him. Our nation is not presently ruled by established, conventional law. We are ruled by his decree, his fancy, and his whim.
š¤
'Stargazers cottage' by contemporary UK printmaker Sarah Morgan #WomenArt
Hereās a sweet & cheerful Ciaccona in C Major by Antonio Bertali.
