Worried sick blues

Caring for sick spouse bad for one's heart health [Reuters Health eLine]

Producer Phil Spector Arrested In Connection With Slaying

It was bound to go down...

'A Box of Matches': A Miniaturist's Novel of Details

This novel has gotten under my skin.  It isn't easy going but not because of complex plot twists or language.  It's tough to stay with the same way a lengthy period of meditation is tough to stay with.

Because I am unable to do very little anymore without assistance, unable to turn over in bed, unable to make coffee, unable to turn on a lamp -- I spend an awful lot of time waiting and observing. It can be horrible, but it can also be richly rewarding. This book speaks to me.  From the review:

To behold the world and the human mind up close is also, somehow, to mourn for them a little. Seen keenly enough, every object, no matter how trivial, is a piercing memento mori.

Ah, how I miss being able to build a fire. I would give the world to be able to get up at 4 AM.  From the opening of the book:

ood morning, it's January and it's 4:17 a.m., and I'm going to sit here in the dark. I'm in the living room in my blue bathrobe, with an armchair pulled up to the fireplace. There isn't much in the way of open flame at the moment because the underlayer of balled-up newspaper and paper-towel tubes has burned down and the wood hasn't fully caught yet. So what I'm looking at is an orangey ember-cavern that resembles a monster's sloppy mouth, filled with half-chewed, glowing bits of fire-meat. When it's very dark like this you lose your sense of scale. Sometimes I think I'm steering a space-plane into a gigantic fissure in a dark and remote planet. The planet's crust is beginning to break up, allowing an underground sea of lava to ooze out. Continents are tipping and foundering like melting icebergs, and I must fly in on my highly maneuverable rocket and save the colonists who are trapped there.

The Jewish Samurai

The Japanese Samurai opened a match box,
and out flew a bumblebee. Whoosh!  went his
razor sharp sword, and the bumblebee dropped
dead on the ground  ....in 2 pieces.

The emperor exclaimed: "This is impressive!"

The emperor then issued the same challenge to
the Chinese Samurai; for him to come in and
demonstrate why he should be chosen.

The Chinese Samurai also opened a match box,
and out buzzed a fly. Whoosh, Whoosh! Went his
great flashing sword, and the fly dropped dead on
the  ground .....in four small pieces.

The emperor exclaimed in awe:  "That is really
VERY impressive!"

Now the emperor turned to the Jewish Samurai,
and asked him also to step forward and demonstrate
why he should be the head Samurai.

The Jewish Samurai also opened a match box, and
out flew a small gnat. His lightning quick sword went
Whooooosh! Whooooosh! Whoooosh! .But the
tiny gnat was still alive and flying around.

The emperor, obviously very disappointed in this
display, asked:  "After all of that, why is the gnat not
dead?"

The Jewish Samurai just smiled and said:
"....Circumcision is not meant to kill."

Mongo Santamaria, 85, Influential Jazz Percussionist, Dies

Most know Mr. Santamaria for two things: his version of Herbie Hancock's song "Watermelon Man," which became a top-10 hit in 1963, and his authorship of "Afro Blue," a song John Coltrane made famous. But those more familiar with Afro-Cuban music know that Mr. Santamaria was at the middle of the shift from the Afro-Cuban jazz of the 1950's to the salsa sound of the 1970's.