I USUALLY remember to post something here on the day the light turns, but when the equinox went by we were in Maine enjoying the launch of Summer 2023, the very thing the turn was all about.
Pam and I got home Thursday after five days with the family in Kennebunkport. Ten of us rented a house near the beach. It was our three girls, their significant others, the offspring, and a surprise visit from Pam’s cousin, Jody. She was in New England visiting family. Her flight home to the Pacific Northwest out of Portland had been canceled so we all invited her to stay with us instead of waiting around at a hotel.
What a great time! So much fun to see Jody again.
D1D1 and D1D2 had fun romping in the surf. I doubt they’d begin to tire of it in a month at the beach.
Here at home, the wildflower gardens are in bloom.
Bees and butterflies are everywhere in the milkweed.
Rabbits are busy keeping the clover mowed, if not the lawn.
We’ve always had northern flickers but never in such numbers as we’ve seen this year.
When rooting for bugs they stick their beaks in the ground and work them like jackhammers.
Our tulip poplars were in bloom until just recently.
I’ve got the 650 piglet bike all but ready to run. There’s the little slip of a thing trying to be a big girl like iron piggy.
Two weeks ago we had another construction weekend in Vermont. I rode up Thursday morning, Jonny drove up in the travel van after work Friday.
It was a glorious ride up. I rode with the windshield stowed behind the seat. Put it back up front for the rainy ride home Sunday. A cold ride home for June.
Jonny dragged the rain up with him that evening…
Late-night reading in my tent…
I must have been reading too much easy material, found I was craving something a bit more al dente. So in recent weeks I re-read Isaiah Berlin’s The Crooked Timber of Humanity and A.O. Lovejoy’s The Great Chain of Being. They chart the history of ideas that have shaped western thought; ideas manifesting across disciplines, in philosophy, literature, astronomy, biology, religion, politics, concepts of nationhood.
Not exactly the kind of books that fly off the shelves. A reader who doesn’t already think in a particular way won’t be interested enough to work through them. If you’re feeling masochistic, read Lovejoy first. He’s writing in the 1930s, Berlin follows in the 50s. The intervening world war was a major driver of Berlin’s critique. He’s most interested in how authoritarian regimes underpin their ideologies. Timely reading in our own day.
Berlin’s chapter on the authoritarian Savoyard thinker Joseph de Maistre is the best of the crooked timber volume. He’s the better writer. Lovejoy’s more academic, sounds like a late-19th-century man, but he’s especially good on the roots of ideas seen as axiomatic, those deemed too commonsense to be questioned even if they do happen to be upside down; ideas unquestioned not by dummies (or not only by dummies) but by thought-leaders in major historical movements.
Eh… wandered off on a tangent… completely neglected the breaking news on laundry day in the lean-to…
I hauled a bucket of culvert water up from the road and did the wash. Not sure why, the air was too wet to do laundry. Two days later everything went into my backpack wet for the ride home.
Got a little mechanical work done yesterday on the ’49 truck. Two of the exhaust gaskets had blown out of the header on the driver’s side. The truck was obnoxiously loud without them.
While losing track of the weeks, the months, the equinox & all that, I’ve also missed a few opportunities to say something about Jeff Weigel’s Sunday Phantom story. It’s been in serial publication for over a year now and is just about to wrap up. I’ll aim to write something about it here tomorrow.
Jeff’s art has been astonishingly good since day one. Just remarkable.
On the daily side, Mike Manley’s story, the Dungeons Undone chapter of the Wrack and Ruin series, is on the cusp of events not to be missed.
I’m eager to see what Mike does with the next eight to ten weeks that cross his drawing board. We’ve spent not one but two years leading up to this narrative turn in the road.
I’ll likely edit the final chapter in the series and file it with King Features Syndicate around the middle of next month.
Tony DePaul, July 1, 2023, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
I love both the pictures, and hearing about you and your family’s travels, as well as your taste in literature. I don’t know if I said so earlier, but I’ve really enjoyed the Sunday Phantom story … very much the kind of story Lee Falk would have written. Somewhere, up in front of his heavenly Underwood (or Royal, or Smith-Corona), I’m sure he’s very proud!
Hey, funny you should say that, Stephen. Just a moment ago I pushed the button on a post about the Sunday Phantom. Let me know what you think.
Thanks for the kind words about the family. I don’t know how this life happened to me! 🙂 All her doing. She’s made of love.
Nice to hear from you, Tony. I tried to read over your shoulder, but the density quickly got to me.
Something strange has happened to me. For most of my life, I read nightly and a book would last two weeks(-ish). After having cataract surgery six years ago, I have stopped reading books and struggle to suss the reason.
Haven’t thought about that for a while, so there you go.
Enough about me, so glad to hear about your family get-togethers. Enjoy that while it is available. Life is a gift on loan.
Man, is it ever.
Welcome back, Tony, glad you and the whole family had a great time up there in Maine. I am guessing the ocean temps were a little chilly up there in Maine? Kids never seem to mind though, do they?
Your choice of reading materials astonishes me; an intellectual and a gear head make for a strange mix, lol! Send me some more pics of the exhaust manifold on the old Ford; I am curious to see what that looks like. I am in the process of swapping out the rear tire on my 650 Versys ( a knobby) for some highway rubber, got a trip to make to Michigan to visit with my cousins next week.
I’m curious to know your route strategy for a dog-days ride from eastern PA to MI, Will. Interstates? Back roads? A mix? I’ve tried them all. Wish I knew a good one I could recommend. Stay hydrated, buddy!
I’ll send you some manifold pics, both the cast-iron stock setup and the mild steel aftermarket headers I’m running.
Weirdest thing about the exhaust system on the Ford flathead V8 is that there aren’t eight exhaust ports, only six.
Glad you are getting out and about more. Travel is good for the soul. After 2 months on the road we ran into fierce smoke and aborted our original route toward Newfoundland. The smoke chased us west to Missouri before we got ahead of it. We are now in Nebraska, hoping to get to Alberta and then to Victoria, BC. Sorry we did not make it to Rhode Island but there are other years. Still planning Alaska in September if you want to fire up the piglet.
Whoa… Nebraska in July. I tried to make it to Kansas in July once, got turned back by the heat and humidity around Huntington, WV. I was following the Ohio River west. It was brutal.
Happy Solstice, Tony! I always love reading about your wanderings, both intellectual and geographical. I especially enjoy following your progress on the Vermont house. (My oldest son lives in East Montpeculiar.) Keep on trucking!
Montpeculiar… haha…
Thanks for the good word on the construction adventure, Tim. Man, building a building on weekends is slow going. We’re in the home stretch, though. We need to side the building and install the pine flooring in the apartment.
All the materials are on site, in the garage. On that recent weekend we invested a few hours in sorting materials into separate bays. We’re going to need access to the siding first, so of course the lift of flooring was on top of the siding 🙂
Ooooof! That’s some heavy reading right there. I don’t think I could do that even in my prime, if in fact I ever _had_ a prime.
An Augustinian monk recommended the Lovejoy book to me. Monks get lots of quiet time 🙂
That was so long ago the book cost me the kingly sum of $3.95
Fantastic time with Pam, Tony and their family! Made the flight cancelation a non event! Beautiful family!
It was a treat to see you, Jody. So glad to hear you made it home without finding still other planes and crews stricken from the big board without notice.
Such a fun surprise for us! We love our family vacations and you got to see why first hand. Glad you knew we were in Kennebunkport and reached out to us! Also glad Alaska Airlines came through!
Just got a notice from Facebook about a post I made showing Piggy in our garage 10 years ago. Man, it’s been too long, more than the Equinox has slipped by.
Very strange, isn’t it. It was a moment ago & forever ago. All perfectly normal for the heptapods of Arrival but our kind can only wonder.
Your adventures still amaze me. Thanks for sharing! In the meantime, I’ve moved back to my old place behind Jon & Kathy’s house. It feels right, except I miss hearing/seeing Jon over the fence in his garden. He’s still very much alive in this neck of the woods.
Be well and be you😁
I know exactly what you mean, Denise. I think about my old pal Johnny Danger all the time.
Thanks so much for reading.