Now what?

Dog woke me up, and I seem to be awake. But it's too early. Back to bed anyway? Bake bread? Thanks, Sketch.

Everything ends (thank the gods)

How to Survive Trump: A 7-step Guide for Those Who Can't Move to Canada

Read the article.

Christmas at the Juniper Tavern on public TV

The entire play.

R.I.P. Philip Roth

Philip Roth, the American literary icon whose novel “American Pastoral” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1998, has died, at the age of eighty-five, according to friends close to him. His great subjects, as Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote in this magazine, in 2006, included “the Jewish family, sex, American ideals, the betrayal of American ideals, political zealotry, personal identity,” and “the human body (usually male) in its strength, its frailty, and its often ridiculous need.” More

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Family encore

Sheku!

And what a family!

Far ahead of the world

Beyond words.

Renewal

A week of listening to and staring at the ocean has charged my battery, renewed my energy, and returned me home eager to be productive, both on the novel and delayed home chores. Feeling great. We had a last minute car issue upon leaving, so I rented a car, and yesterday I took care of the issue with no expense at Les Schwab, the most friendly commercial store around. A relief.

So I'm set to go. Did some work on novel while waiting for car at LS and I like how it is going, another renewal of faith.

The ocean is a great therapist.

Vacation

Home  from a wonderful week in Manzanita.

Mellow

Good weather brings a great mellowness to this SoCal guy.

Printed first 40 pages of novel, prior to changing location in the story and getting into areas much harder to write.

A strange exercise

I just wrote a draft of my obituary. I wrote it because I know of no one else who knows enough to write it. Information for Harriet, or whomever, after I pass.

A German point of view

From a recent editorial in Der Spiegel:

Trump's renown is rooted in American hero myths. Trump says that women like Carla Bruni lust after him, something that women like Carla Bruni vehemently deny. Trump says he is exorbitantly rich, yet Trump ran himself into the ground with his casinos to the point that he was 295 million dollars in debt in 1990. He was bailed out by the banks and by his father. The greatest myth, though, has to do with Trump's alleged negotiating expertise. This too is nonsense. Trump was never proficient in the art of the deal. As a businessman, he paid far too much for substandard properties and has shown no patience as a politician. He isn't curious. His preparation is nonexistent. Strategy and tactics are both foreign to him. Trump is only proficient in destruction. And that's what he does.

....

The West as we once knew it no longer exists. Our relationship to the United States cannot currently be called a friendship and can hardly be referred to as a partnership. President Trump has adopted a tone that ignores 70 years of trust. He wants punitive tariffs and demands obedience. It is no longer a question as to whether Germany and Europe will take part in foreign military interventions in Afghanistan or Iraq. It is now about whether trans-Atlantic cooperation on economic, foreign and security policy even exists anymore. The answer: No. It is impossible to overstate what Trump has dismantled in the last 16 months. Europe has lost its protective power. It has lost its guarantor of joint values. And it has lost the global political influence that it was only able to exert because the U.S. stood by its side. And what will happen in the remaining two-and-a-half years (or six-and-a-half years) of Trump's leadership? There is plenty of time left for further escalation.

Read the article. 

Very upsetting stuff. Ostriches don't worry, though. And Nature wins anyway. Maybe I'll live long enough to see Trump Tower knee keep in water. I doubt it.

Wishful thinking?

Adam Davidson in the New Yorker says we are in the last stage of the Trump presidency. We'll see.

The new king

James Paxton of Mariners threw no hitter tonight, Last outing, 16 Ks. Not too shabby.

Baseball on radio

I love baseball on radio, though the experience depends on a good announcer, of course. But a good announcer can make the game more dramatic than it is if you are just watching on tv. The Mariners have such an announcer in Rick Rizzs and the great 9-8 comeback the other day was as dramatic on radio as any play or film. Really exciting. But the magic didn't last, the next day Felix gives up two homers early, and the Angels cream us. Ah, me.

Baseball

No sport is more exciting than baseball at its best. Tonight's 11 inning Mariners-Angels game, the Ms coming from behind late and then each inning as the visiting As tried to put it away, Ms finally winning in bottom of 11th, 9-8. The very slowness of the game enhances the drama in games like this. Very suspenseful and stressful! Love it.

And how sweet it is  ...

Mariners pull off a stunning 9-8 extra-inning victory over the Angels in 11 innings

Derby day

In 1959, after dropping out of school at UC Berkeley, to which I had transferred from Cal Tech, I stuck out my thumb in those days when this was romantic and Beatnik standard transportation, and I hitched all the way to Louisville so I could be there on Derby Day. Made it! But I had less than twenty dollars, had been sleeping outdoors, and having arrived I was ready to turn back and return west. Before I left, a kind man bought me a couple of burgers and didn't proposition me in the bargain.

 I kept a journal of this adventure on the road, which I still possess. Hard to figure out the young 20 year old in those pages. Some kind of youthful romantic.

I haven't followed any horses in the race today but will watch because I always do.

Busy, busy

Got rolling at 7 a.m., food shopping, food prep for week ahead, then bringing finances up to date, chores and more chores, and of course now I am exhausted. Such is retirement.

Still wrestling with the tone of the novel.

Weather

Sunny and 75 today, SoCal weather, where I grew up. Homesick. But how can I be homesick when I've lived here for 40 years? Strange. But I never reached the felling of Oregon being "home." Not even my favorite NW state, Idaho is. Here first for professional reasons, and the last 20 because my wife won't leave. So here I am. A sun-starved Pasadena kid in exile.

San Gabriel valley and mountains

Hero of the day

From the Independent:

A terminally ill man has begun an Appeal Court challenge against a ban on assisted dying, arguing he should not be forced to endure a “distressing and undignified” death.

Noel Conway, who says he feels “entombed” by his motor neurone disease, is fighting for the right to enlist medical professionals to end his life.

Read the article.