February 9, 2004

Another week (weak) begins. It is a gray Monday. Nothing like yesterday or the day before, which while briskly cold were also full of bright sunshine and radiant moonlight at night, and so somewhat uplifting even though we're talking February here. I listened to House of Sand and Fog on the drive in and am still wondering why Dubus chose to bring the pace to a halt so late in the book with his side-bar about deputy sheriff Lester Burdon ("Less burden"). I read an interview with Dubus where he quotes Hemingway as saying "The job of the writer is not to judge, but to seek to understand." Could that apply to life in general? In coffee round table with the usual suspects this morning, I raised Mark Kurlansky's observation from Books & Brunch yesterday that Trudeau was the first head of state to grasp the fact that issues don't matter but rather how one comes accross in the media, and that Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are just doing bad Trudeau impressions. Ron asked if Kennedy wasn't the first, but I don't think so. He was a media pretty boy, but I'm not sure he grasped the McLuhanesque take on media that Trudeau did. After that, back at my desk I find an email from Mark Picone:

Jim and family,
How great to hear from you! And all sounds well in the Gelcer household.
Work is very slow at this time of year - to be expected. I won't be saying
that come June though and that season is just around the corner.
Holidays were great with the majority of the family together. Much of them
love coming over to the farm and enjoying the surroundings.
The winter has been cold and I should expect some more winter kill. This
plays havoc with the crop yield.
I got your tele message and sorry I didn't reply in voice.
Keep well and continued blessings.
The children must be a real sense of joy!
Mark

In response to my message:

My dear Mark,

I wanted to tell you that my boss and his wife, Steve and Lynn Asbury, had
lunch at your fine establishment this past weekend and judging by the fact
that Steve came by my office first thing Monday morning to tell me what a
great experience it was, I would say they were suitably dazzled by the
culinary expertise and conviviality of your fine establishment -- not that I
would ever expect any less from you.

Life is moving along at a gallop over here in the big smoke. We just got
back from an out of town tournament in London with Jacob's hockey team which
was kind of nice. We stayed at the Radisson with all the other hockey
families and got our dose of hockey over the course of three days, watching
14-year-olds pummel each other repeatedly into the boards. It was good to
get away, albeit briefly and get "outside the box" of our daily lives for a
couple of days. Lori and her partner are in between contracts right now and
so are enjoying a bit of a hiatus. Kai is at the beginning stages of
reading and writing, and just a constant source of joy.

More and more each day I am finding myself full of joy and wonder at the
miracle of simply being alive in this incredible world, and taking pleasure
in the simple daily activities of life as well as giving thanks for the
beautiful people I call my friends.

How are things with you? Are you still playing squash regularly? How are
the plans for the vineyard going?

All the best,

Jim

Someone suggested you could make poetry out of SPAM by taking the subject lines and combining them. I went a step further and made a few haikus. Here they are:

Boost your energy
A referral from your friends
Butternut muggy

No classes, no books
Your prescription is ready
Hifalutin choice

New pill adds inches
Do you like to be the first?
Key to staying young