Monday Afternoon - Tuesday Morning

As I write this post, it is 10:06 AM, Tuesday, Mar. 30. The work on the covered area for the patio/driveway is very nearly finished. It is still early in the day, so in all likelihood, barring something unexpected coming up, the work should be completed this afternoon before the traditional quitting time of 4:30 PM.

The first two photos in this post were taken yesterday afternoon, after I had posted the update for yesterday. Of course, I will be taking photos later today as well which will either be posted this evening or tomorrow morning.

As one can see, the sheeting used near the house is different that the type of sheeting used near the outside edge. When the roof on the house was completed, we discovered that the man who estimated the sheeting we would need for the roof had over estimated by one sheet. This could not be returned.

When the time came to get sheeting for the current project, we wanted to use the one left over from the roof. It wasn't enough to cover everything. We had a choice of either ordering the same type of sheeting we used for the roof, or finishing it out with premium aluminum sheeting. The red sheeting was more expensive and would have to be shipped from Cebu - adding additional shipping costs as well. The different types of sheeting might not appeal to everyone, but we like it just fine.

 

Who Are You Calling a Librocubicularist?

In my blog piece on Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, I mentioned that I had begun reading (or re-reading?) For Whom the Bell Tolls. It was my intention, at the time, to go on to two other works by Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea and The Sun Also Rises. 

Upon finishing For Whom the Bell Tolls, I changed my mind. I had had enough Hemingway for the time being. The story was interesting enough, but there is something about his writing style that I just don't care for. I'd look for something else to read.

My first thought was to either re-read Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson or Stanislaw Lem's Memoirs Found in a Bathtub. However, I came upon a meme on Facebook that led me in a completely different direction.

This particular meme introduced me to the word librocubicularist, which I learned is the name for a person who reads books in bed. Merriam-Webster goes on to explain that the word is considered a creation of Christopher Morley in his 1919 novel The Haunted Bookshop.

Of course, now I had to look into that novel. I was interested enough to download a copy from Project Gutenberg. The novel was a delight to read. Although suspenseful in parts, the novel is light and airy and has absolutely nothing to do with the supernatural or things that go bump in the night.

The novel does have it's heavier moments when the bookstore owner, Roger Mifflin gives his thoughts on the recent "Great War" and his ideas as to how humanity should proceed in order to make certain this was really the war to end all wars. Woodrow Wilson and his upcoming trip to Europe to attend the Paris Peace Conference figures into the story.

The Haunted Bookshop is classified as the 2nd of Morley's "Parnassus series".....the first being Parnassus on Wheels. I've downloaded that novel and plan on starting it this evening.

Getting Closer

We were hoping the work would be nearly finished today, but an unexpected brownout hit the area this morning. Thru no fault of their own, the brownout set back the workers about two hours. Still, it looks as if they should be finished tomorrow. 

They've begun installation of the furring channels. I'm no expert, but I imagine this is the last step before the sheets are put on.

 

Saturday's Updates

Our latest project is coming along fine.

Rather than fill up this post with all the photos I took of the work done yesterday, I've decided to post only five. I'm not quite sure if the men will be working today - Sunday - but I've been told the work will be completed on Monday. This will be a covered area for a patio/driveway. I've plans to have the area paved, but it won't be these particular workers doing the job. I'm not quite sure if I have the budget right now for the area that I want finished.

 

A Few Photos From Friday

I'm posting seven additional photos of our latest project. We're having a patio/carport build on the western side of the house. This, of course, help shade the house during the afternoon.

We hope to have the area paved, but I'm not sure if we have the money to have that completed right away.

 

Scaffolding and Metal Posts

Our new project began in earnest yesterday, and I'm continuing to document the progress. Today, I've taken 18 photos of the work done so far. That's way too many photos for one blog post, so I'll be doing as I did with the installation of the new gate and the construction of the wall going around our property.

I'm going to divide these 18 photos and put them into a post on each of my three blogs simultaneously:
Scaffolding and Metal Posts
The Scaffolding and the Metal Posts
Metal Posts and Scaffolding

Anyone interested in seeing all the work done today can simply click on another link to be led to another blog post.

 

Continuing Along the Diversion Road.

 

I posted onto another of my blogs recently, that I've begun riding my new bicycle along the Diversion road in Sibulan. I've chosen this road because in the upper area of the road, there is no traffic to speak of. Secondly, the road is rather long, so it is perfect for the future, when I'm up to riding farther than I do now.

I can't go very far before I'm winded and unable to keep up the pace. In some ways, I feel a little discouraged that I can only manage a short distance. But, then I remember that I'm no longer a young buck and it has been several months since I've even gone walking.

On balance, I'm more optimistic than pessimistic. I'm certain I can continue on and improve in spite of the difficulties I'm having presently.

I'll do the same tomorrow. I'll ride my bicycle along the bumpy dirt road which leads from my house to the paved barangay road, and up to the Diversion road to ride as far as I'm able. I know it will take weeks to get to a point that I can be happy with.

It's only time.

Our New Project

Regular followers of my blogs will recall my posts on the wall we put up around the house and the installation of the new gate. This week, we will begin a new project.

We'll be working on a patio for the west side of the house. We'll be pouring concrete not only on the west side but in the back (south) and front sides (north) as well.

The material in the photographs include metal posts, angle iron and metal sheeting for the patio roof.

The workers will begin working Wednesday. There will be more photos to follow, of course.

 

Recycling Memories

 

I mentioned yesterday - on two different blogs [Old Man. New Bicycle. and New Bicycle for an Old Man ] that, thanks to money received from the recent stimulus package, I bought a new bicycle. As I said, I've been wanting buy one for several months.

Getting this new bicycle brings back memories of bicycles I've owned in the past. Actually, prior to this new purchase, I've only owned two other bicycles.

The first was given to me by my parents circa 1965/1966. It was a three speed bike, with what we called a banana seat. If I recall properly, this type of bike was called a "spider-bike".

My parents made the mistake of buying identical bikes for me and my younger brother. This was to prove unfortunate. For me, at least.

Not long after receiving the bikes, we rode them to school. At the lower end of the school, far away from our classrooms, there were proper bike racks, where sensible students left their bicycles while in school. Closer to our classrooms were some apartments where a few of us miscreants would park the bikes.

This particular morning, my brother and I parked our identical bikes beside the bikes belonging to one or two of our friends. After school, we returned to fetch our bikes to discover one had been stolen. As my brother and I had identical bikes, it was impossible to know whether it was my bike or my brother's that had been stolen. My brother claimed that it was mine that had been stolen - not his. Sadly, my parents went along with him. I was out a new bike.

Fast forward in time to the early 1980's. I bought myself a 10 speed Schwinn Varsity. It wasn't a bright idea on my part. I was still a heavy cigarette smoker in those days, and riding a bicycle was torture for me. My younger sister wanted to borrow my bike for a few days. My poor lungs told her it was fine. While she was in possession of my bike, my brother - the same one mentioned earlier - stole the bike and sold it for drinking money.

Two earlier bicycles.....both stolen.

I've learned my lesson. This one will be kept inside the house during the night. I've also a bicycle lock for those times when I'm out and about. It's not as if I don't trust my neighbors, it's just being safe rather than sorry.

One thing for certain; this brother is no longer amoung the living, so if it goes missing, he won't be to blame - this time.

Old Man. New Bicycle.

 

For several months, I've been wanting to buy a bicycle. I finally bought one this morning, just a few days after the Biden Bucks arrived in our bank account.

I'm less than a month away from my 69th birthday, and this is the first time I've ridden a bicycle in 40 years. I knew I'd have a rough time, but I'm not in as fine shape as I thought I was. It's about 1.5 miles from the bicycle shop where I purchased the bike to our place in Magatas. I honestly thought I'd be able to go the distance.....but no such luck. I didn't get far before I was completely winded and unable to go farther.

My wife and I put the bicycle in the car, and we drove home. I see now that it will take several days of riding before I'll be able to go any good distance to speak of.

Slowly but surely....a little more each morning.

 

A Farewell to Arms

Having finished reading a 4th novel by Grazia Deledda , I decided to choose a novel from Dr. Jordan Peterson's list of the Great Novels. On the list are three works by Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea. I have a memory of reading the first two - along with The Sun Also Rises - in the late 1970's. Although I can't recall much of those three novels - it has been more than forty years ago, after all - I didn't feel, at first, that those novels should be included in a "Greatest Novels of all times" list.

Still, Hemingway is on Dr. Peterson's list, so I'd pick up there. Just having finished four wonderful novels from an Italian/Sardinian writer, it seemed appropriate to reread Hemingway's World War I novel (which takes place in Italy) A Farewell to Arms.

I immediately concluded that my memory of having read this novel is, perhaps, a false memory. There is absolutely nothing in the novel that I remember. True, it has been more than 40 years ago, but I first read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment during the same time period, and most of that novel is recognizable when I reread it.

As for A Farewell to Arms, I can understand now why it is on Dr. Peterson's list. I did not, however, find anything about the relationship between Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley worthy of the rest of the novel. I especially did not care for the ending. According to the wikipedia article on the novel,"Hemingway struggled with the ending. By his count, he wrote 39 of them 'before I was satisfied.' However, a 2012 edition of the book included no less than 47 alternate endings".

Unfortunately, I do not have access to that 2012 edition, so I will remain ignorant of those alternate endings.

I've gone on now to read For Whom the Bell Tolls. It is slightly more memorable to me. From there, I will go on to the third Hemingway work on the list, and finally round it out with one that didn't make the cut - The Sun Also Rises - this will be a continuation of my new habit of reading writers in clusters of "fours" - as I have this year with Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Edith Wharton, and Grazia Deledda.

This could very well lead to my rereading Yukio Mishima's tetralogy of novels, The Sea of Fertility later this year.

Alice's Restaurant Today

 

In one of yesterday's posts, I mentioned that one of my "Daily Mixes" on Spotify was called "Classic Acoustic", which contains a variety of music from the late 60's/early 70's that, presumably would appeal to old farts like myself. As I mentioned, after hearing song # 3 (1952 Vincent Black Lightning by Richard Thompson) I left the Daily Mix and went off to learn more about Thompson and his music.

This morning, I went back to the mix to listen to #4 - Alice's Restaurant Massacree by Arlo Guthrie.

Alice's Restaurant Massacree was released in 1967. Things have certainly changed since then. Listening to the song as recorded then, I heard a number of ideas expressed which may have been considered "hip" or "progressive" at the time, but which would be frowned upon by the woke folk of today.

 

Afterward, I listened to Guthrie's 50th anniversary rendition to see what, if anything had been updated to pacify the woke.

Of course, there wasn't much one could change about the first part of the song where Guthrie tells of his throwing away "a half a ton" of garbage in a rural area. He couldn't leave out that section because part two would not be understandable without the first part. His description of the garbage incident was still mocking and sarcastic. This time around, however there was no knowing and agreeing laughter from the audience. The woke crowd seriously frowns upon disregard for the environment. Hell, now throwing the garbage away in the city dump is something the Left is against......his throwing away trash the way he did is even worse in today's world. I'm a little surprised that Guthrie hasn't been cancelled for the garbage incident.

When he gets to the second part of the song, which deals with the draft board, his trying to explain to people today what the draft board was seemed a little awkward. I wouldn't expect him to receive much push back from the Left on his anti-war/anti-authority views in the second portion, but I was curious to see what he would do with the reference to "faggots" that comes near the end of the song.

He sidestepped that hurdle. The word was not used in the newer version of the song; instead a mention of how some bigoted folks in Texas might object to a couple singing the Alice's Restaurant jingle, while they applied for a marriage license was substituted.

For many years, an FM radio station in Atlanta would broadcast the song on Thanksgiving Day. I don't know if that's still being done. I'm waiting to see if Guthrie will be eaten by the Left any time soon.

13 Rivers

Those who read my earlier post [ Richard Thompson (Musician) ] know that I only learned of veteran musician Richard Thompson this morning thru a serendipitous series of wanderings on Spotify. After looking at the Wikipedia page on Thompson, I discovered that he's been recording with a number of groups, as well as doing solo work, since the late 60's

Thompson's latest studio album was the 2018 CD 13 Rivers. Before going to his latest, I took a listen to his earlier work to get a better feel for his progression to 13 Rivers.

Three of the 10 singles on Spotify's playlist for Thompson were from his sixth solo album, released in 1991, Rumor and Sigh.The album earned Thompson a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992. This would be a good place to start.

I won't review Rumor and Sigh here, only say that I was impressed. From the earlier album, I went on to his latest. I really like this recording. 

Wikipedia describes it this way:

"13 Rivers was written after a period of difficulty for Thompson's family with songs that stick 'close to a vision of darkness, gloom, and noise'.Thompson explains that the songs were written in a 'fairly tight time period of about six months', giving them a sense of commonality. He states that 'many of these songs came to him as a pleasant surprise and that feeling of grabbing the creative urge and running with it is what comes across throughout the running time' "

In a review written when the CD was first released, the reviewer says that many of Thompson's diehard fans have said that Thompson needs to be heard live to be fully appreciated. Those folks have argued that it's difficult to feel the "strident energy of his stage performance onto a studio album". Well, as that reviewer went on to say, Thompson has managed to produce a high energy recording with this album.

The guitar playing is magnificent. Thompson was certainly not resting on his laurels (or his hardies) on this one. After my recent disappointment with Al Di Meola's latest, I feel like I deserve to be pleasant surprised. I was with 13 Rivers.

Richard Thompson (Musician)

Sitting at the PC, surfing Spotify. Spotify has recommendations...called Daily Mixes. One in particular, for me was a mixed called "Classic Acoustic"; not Classical music as one might think, but acoustic from my old fart era of the late 60's.

The first two songs were obvious for this genre - "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles and "America" by Simon and Garfunkel. The third song on the list was unknown to me. "1952 Vincent Black Lightening" by Richard Thompson. Not only was the song unknown to me, but so was the artist.

Looking at the Wikipedia page for Richard Thompson I was a little surprised that I knew nothing of him. He's definitely from my era. He's just three years older than I and reasonably well known - probably more in England than the U.S..

Rather than stay on the acoustic mix on Spotify, I went to the Spotify overview for Thompson. There, I found a mix of ten of his songs. It's quite entertaining. There are Folk and Rock elements to his music, although much of it sounds like it's crying out for bagpipe.

His vocals put me in mind of Gordon Lightfoot, but more authentic. Maybe a love-child of Lightfoot and David Byrne, if such a thing were possible.

One of his Spotify top ten songs is his cover of "Oops! I did it again." That was the biggest surprise of the day, and that's putting it mildly.

I'll be exploring Thompson's catalogue.