For the Holiday

Stars seen at a parade downtown.

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G: Finished another file, and enjoyed the heck out of the company BBQ. By the time he finished a veggie dinner here plus a scoop of ice cream, he felt as if he were full of cast iron. Much better this morning. G’ette: Feeling mucho better all but the sinuses. They seem to be developing a sinus infection. Today begin blowing, rinsing, steam, et al. Still nothing from Snapfish other than form letters. I’m bandaided and plugged up for the weekend. Weather: Very thick night and morning fogs. Will play havoc with fireworks. Warm day brewing. Fireworks: Wikipedia reminds us that fireworks were originally invented by the Chinese for entertainment purposes. They were a natural extension of the invention of gunpowder. Eventually special fireworks Masters created entertainments for the seasonal festivals and occasions. One wonders what catastrophe in the gunpowder industry led to this development in the first place.

I worked hard yesterday developing yesterday’s short entry into something I could read at my writing group. This led to a sedentary day, but it was a mentally stimulating day that found me still pounding keys past my usual quitting time.

Following link after link, crawling along trolling for images, and stretching my brain to learn new things are some of my favorite activities. I could easily find site after site to support the use of neo-classical architecture in the much admired Roman manner, but where did the homey county style stuff originate, and why does more of it seem to have survived. There are no pages to back my theories.

I did discover one article by Thomas Zeller about Alwin Seifert titled Molding the Landscape of Nazi Environmentalism, He stated that the arrogant, brusque Seifert made all of Germany his garden. Seifert believed that the connection between landscape and the human soul was uniquely German. He also believed that a particular type of human soul, Nordic, “embodied the values of a specific community. This ethnic view would capture the soul in landscapes and buildings that were designed to preserve the spirit of the essential of the essential link between nature and culture.” This was my only link to the neo-Austrian/Bavarian country style that blanked the countryside during the National Socialist years.

I had enough sense to realize that by nine at night, I was no longer making sense. Attempting to shut down my computer resulted in the usual refusal to shut off which has to be fixed, and finally I, with my full water glass in hand, was able to head to the bedroom and an hour or so of totally useless television. Heading in to the dark room, I tripped over the black exercise bike and fell head first into the bedroom bookcase spreading water over paintings, walls, books, and me. Tripping over the bike largely skinned one shin, and the wood bookcase took two hunks from an arm. Blood dripped everywhere.

I confess, I cried.