All Purls. No Swine.
Honestly, there are days when the tsunami of news is so overwhelming that I can’t but do other than reflect on the words of the late Mr. Right's Aunt Sophie, who served as a real-life Rosie the Riveter in one of Pittsburgh’s munitions factories during World War II, and who was well known in the… Continue reading On Cotton Bolls and Dancing Queens
Oh, not all that Wimbledon nonsense that's going on at the moment. Emma Raducanu in tears (again). Who's wearing "what" bling, and how much it cost. Arguments about the electronic line-calling system, and the sad exit from the courts of the old style, beautifully dressed, "line judges" in favor of an electronic eye that already… Continue reading July 5, 2025: This day in Tennis History
Today is the Super Bowl. I don't have a dog in this year's fight (at least not a two-legged one), as the Stillers--after a promising start to the season--folded, as they so often have in the past couple of decades, towards the end. Oh well. And without Tom Brady (Boo!) and the New England Patriots… Continue reading “I Will Play For Gumbo!” Notes on the Super Bowl, and a Recipe
Funny, sometimes, how the mind works. Today’s Telegraph has an obituary for figure skater Sjoukje Dijkstra, who has died at the age of 82. It’s a name that–today–will likely trip lightly off the tongues only of those native to Holland, but I’m a geezer, and I know that it’s pronounced something on the order of “SHOU-kee DIKE-stra.” Miss… Continue reading Sjoukje Dijkstra, RIP
On April 4, 1818, the Congress of the United States adopted a new national flag which consisted of thirteen alternating red and white stripes (one for each original colony), and--at the flag's upper left--a field of blue with a star representing each state. (There twenty of them at the time. Now there are fifty.) The… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Old Glory!
Dateline December 31, 2023: (I forgot to post this here at the time.) We’ve just returned from a viewing down the road, and very lovely it was. Currently enjoying what may be my new favorite cocktail, The Bee’s Knees, in an attempt to warm up from the foul weather outside. For best results, try it… Continue reading Movie Recommendation: The Boys in the Boat
Yesterday was Memorial Day in these United States of America. Somewhere along the way, I heard a small blurp on a news report that May 29, 2023 was also the seventieth anniversary of Edmund Hillary’s and Sherpa Tenzing’s successful ascent of Mt. Everest. It is a time so long ago (barely sixteen months before I… Continue reading “Because it is There”
No better example of what I dubbed, many years ago, "Leaving as Performance Art" in history. It checks all the boxes: Do well over the course of years with a particular set of groupies. Leave on poor terms, find another set of groupies, and do well again. Get fed up because, not enough appreciation, and… Continue reading Wut? Tom Brady is Back??!
Yeah. For a couple of seasons, he was glorious. The three “B’s:” Ben, Brown, Bell. For some reason, the MSN report on the guy’s ignominious exit from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (where’s he’s been much celebrated as a receiver for the GOAT), begins “Former Steelers WR Antonio Brown strips off uniform“….etc. etc. and so forth.… Continue reading Antonio Brown: Really?
It is 1927. Prohibition is on and the stock market crash is in the future. Joe Rath is a catcher for the National League Baltimore Beacons. Pickoff, a novel by GP Hutchinson, opens with Joe heading off for the ballpark to join the team for a road trip to Chicago. Joe is a family man,… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: Baseball and Bootleggers in the Roaring Twenties