1/1/23

Sunday, January 1, 2023

In bed by 9:30, awake  at 3:30, up at 3:45, unable to sleep, thoughts darting through my brain like minnows in a bait bucket, mostly of m time at the House of Peace, Hildred and Walter Goodwin, Shirley, anger management, Brother Bob, silent treatment, impolitic comments on abuse of minors scandal.  Small cognac around 9 on New Year's Eve.  34 drizzly degrees outside, high of 41 expected.  Sunrise at 7:23, sunset at 4:27, 9 hours, 4 minutes. . . .  Back in bed around 6:30, bad dreams about a case gone fallow at F&F, unhappy client, up again at 8:45.

The Banshees of Inisherin (again).  Watched it again with Geri last night.  She didn't get it, and I didn't get it - again.  I got Colm's walking away from what had become a tedious and trying friendship with Padraic.  Opposites that had once perhaps attracted then repelled.  I got Colm's focus on age and mortality and some legacy.  I got the setting during the Irish Civil War between the Free Stater sans Ulster and the IRA, the characters' uncertainty what the war was about, having no dog in the fight.  But why the self mutilation?  And why the body parts that were necessary to engage in his 'vital interest' - music, the playing of it if not necessarily the composing of it, though even there Colm appeared to play and compose by ear, not by notation.  It would be like Beethoven purposefully sticking a knitting needle through his eardrums and blinding himself so he could no longer play or notate music, because his neighbor wouldn't stop bothering him.  Just don't get it.  Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles: 'Hold it! the next man moves and the nigger's gonna get it.' Stupid racist townsman:"He's not bluffing.  Listen to him.'  Second stupid racist townsman: "He's just crazy enough to do it!"   The movie has received abundant raves, accolades and it is beautifully written, acted, and filmed, but I still don't get the self-mutiltion.  Denny Dimwit.  Obtuse.

Kieslowski's The Dekalog 4.  Watched yesterday, another one beyond my pay grade.  Electra Complex in the young woman?  Mutual incestuous attractions?  What led Anna to forge a letter from her mother while leaving the original letter unopened and in the same desk drawer where she had found it?  Did the father really want her to discover the letter and to open it?  Was she lying when she said she lied about forging the letter? Was the forgery in the original envelope?  Why did they agree to burn the letter?  What are we to think of their futures?  Beyond me.  4th Commandment re honor father and mother dishonored by violating father's instruction not to open until after his death, trying to seduce mother's husband.  8th re bearing false witness. 9th re coveting neighbor's spouse.  Incest.

Our Town. Whitefish Bay Police responded to calls of shots fired on at 2:47 a.m. Saturday in the 4800 block of N. Anita Ave. Officers found the victim on the sidewalk with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers immediately began life-saving measures until North Shore Fire Department arrived, but the victim died at the scene.  In Milwaukee, police are investigating the shooting death of a 51-year-old man at 11:50 p.m. Friday in the 7700 block of West Bender Avenue. Police said the man was pronounced dead at the scene.  About three hours later a 45-year-old man arrived at a hospital seeking treatment for non-fatal gunshot wounds from a separate incident at 3:04 a.m. Saturday in the 3700 block of West Melvina Street.  Another non-fatal shooting at 8:37 a.m. sent a 48-year-old man to a local hospital for treatment Saturday. The victim was shot in the 3800 Block of N. Sherman Blvd.  Milwaukee police have not identified suspects in any of the shootings.

Days of '10 Best This, 10 Best That' puts me in mind of a line in C. S. Lewis' autobiography/memoir [Surprised by Joy?  read so long ago] about "the pernicious tendency to compare and prefer."  He was referring as best I can recall to countryside/landscape in his home in Ulster vs. the countryside/landscape around a place in England where he attended school.  There is some wisdom packed into that short phrase.  How to answer a question 'what is your favorite movie?' or 'what is your favorite novel?'  The questions require us to prioritize beauties.  To what end?  For what purpose?  My friend Don Shane asked me about my favorite movie when we first made acquaintance.  I don't recall what I replied (probably Bicycle Thief(ves), but at some point I started listing favorite movies in the Notes App on my iPhone and the list soon became a very long one.  Same with novels.  How do I compare Crime and Punishment with, e.g., David Copperfield?  The Trial with Lucky Jim?  Futile business this comparing and preferring/

New Learning from this morning's readings.  The average lifespan is about 4,000 weeks. [I have lived about 4,230 weeks😳]  A group of squirrels is called a scurry.  A squirrel family and a squirrel home are each called a drey.  Only about 25% of squirrels survive their first year of life.  Eastern grey squirrels have 2 litters of 2 to 5 young per year, one in winter, one in summer.

Looking out my window I see that the squirrels, or one or more of them, have managed through strength, dexterity, and daring to evade the squirrel baffles by simply leaping over them.  Plus, one of them has managed to knock the suet feeder off the shepherd's crook and is struggling on the ground to open it up and scurry away with what remains of the suet cake, making me glad I picked up 2 replacement suet cakes at Walmart the other day. 

There are walkers out on this lovely sunny day, as usual, plus a bicycle rider, not so usual in wintertime.  I notice how many of the walkers, especially younger women, walk purposefully, with long intentional strides, knowing they have things to do, responsibilities awaiting them at home after their walk, holiday or no holiday.  Then there is the gait of my friend and neighbor John, carrying the effects of childhood polio in his carriage and his stride, out for his walks 3 times each day, as focused and purposeful as those young women with their brisker paces.  Some neighbors amble, some stroll, a few chug along like little steam engines, their arms pumping up and down, back and forth, probably increasing their heart rates and intake of air and desired aerobic effects.  All things bright and beautiful/ all creatures great and small/ all things wise and wonderful/ the Lord God made them all.  (Or not.😕)