See you in the virtual world!

assorted beadwork - Blue Heron Gallery

I have just finished buttoning up my two virtual shows, the 35th San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show and the 37th American Indian Art Show / San Francisco, virtual editions. 

Early buy in starts tomorrow. I have a booth in each and I can not believe how long it took for me to set the things up. But I know it will be worth it. I think virtual is the way to go. Saves on hotels and food too. Feeling good about this one although you never can tell.

I am definitely totally bushed. I don't remember feeling this tired after fourteen hours of driving to Santa Fe, 'course I am older now. This thing took forever to shoot, catalogue and post.

I am very happy with my presentation and everybody else's looks fabulous too. Some of the best dealers on the planet, definitely needed to find my game to represent in this crowd.

If you are interested in seeing the show, spend the twenty five dollars and get in tomorrow morning while everything is fresh and available.

Visit this website for the Tribal show and this one for the American Indian.

Here are some screenshots from one of the promoter, Object of Arts, last promotional blasts. The greatest thing about the show is that a lot of the money is going to Toadlena Trading Post's Blessing Way Foundation and helps to feed and provide relief to poor native people, who have been disproportionately hit by the ravages of covid 19.

I will be out of reach to most of my peeps for the next five days, sitting rapt by the phone and keyboard, hopefully waiting for a sale or two. Will talk to you next week when I come up for air. Wishing everybody good luck and fortune. Stay safe and happy!

Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, Tim Reynolds

Fallbrook agit prop

This broadside was taped to the windows of all the downtown businesses yesterday. 

Well, all but mine anyway.

Not sure why I was skipped, perhaps they ran out of scotch tape.

My first thought when I read it was being reminded of John Lennon's Christmas 1971 release, Happy Xmas, the war is over. 

Unfortunately John was off by several years. And I think our scribe is calling the game and claiming victory a little prematurely too. 

Social distancing and masks are still necessary, although covid rates are dropping we are not yet out of the woods.

You may choose to live your life based on "your own decisions for your own health" but you still have a responsibility to be a responsible member of the hive and not get anyone else ill, Mr. or Mrs. Libertarian.

And I as a business owner have my rights too and I bristle when somebody tells me what to do in the best of times, and more so in dangerous times like these.

It sounds a bit authoritarian to declare that all businesses are to return to business as usual because you are telling me to. How about you piss off and stay out of my business. But thanks for letting me practice the guidelines as I see fit. Very big of you.

In a way this smacks of religion. There is a little of the "if enough people believe it at the same time we can make it happen" quality to the sign. I admire your faith but will stick with the medical authorities on this one, thank you.

Would be interesting to see who is responsible for this and how they figure to speak for the rest of We the citizens? Some idiot is going to read this false tract and actually believe it. I find it highly irresponsible and dangerous.

This Land is Your Land

Pearls from my friend Will

My doctor asked if anyone in my family suffered from mental illness.  I said, "No, we all seem to enjoy it." 

Telling a person to calm down is about the same as baptizing a cat.

I thought the dryer made my clothes shrink.  Turns out it was the refrigerator.

I thought growing old would take longer.

Went shopping while hungry – now I'm the proud owner of Aisle 6.  

Being an adult is the dumbest thing I have ever done.

I'm a multitasker.  I can listen, ignore and forget all at the same time!

Went to an antique show and people were bidding on me.

I won't say I'm worn out, but I don't get near the curb on trash day.

People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full miss the point.  The glass is refillable.

Retired:  under new management. See spouse for details.

When you can't find the sunshine  ...  be the sunshine.

I don't have grey hair.  I have wisdom-highlights.

I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream.

Sometimes it takes me all day to get nothing done.

My heart says chocolate and wine, but my jeans say, please, please, please, eat a salad!

Hold on while I overthink this.

My spouse says I have two faults.   I don't listen and...something else.

Never laugh at your spouse's choices.  You are one of them.

"dammit I'm mad" is "dammit I'm mad" spelled backward. (You will have to work a bit for this to make sense)

One minute you're young and fun.  The next, you're turning down the car stereo to see better.

I'd grow my own food if only I could find bacon seeds.

Losing weight doesn't seem to be working for me, so from now on I'm going to concentrate on getting taller.

Jameo breakfast

 

I couldn't wait to look at this year's red tailed hawk nest in daylight this morning. It was dark but I still managed to catch the beautiful light morphed mother to be consuming a small rodent. It is her first day in the newly reinforced nest.

I absolutely love watching these beautiful creatures! Can't wait for the new brood.

Really?

Newsmax host Greg Kelly and his guests go after Biden's dog, Champ. Says the 12 year old german shepherd is not presidential. What a bunch of assholes. You ask me, it is nice to see a non foofy dog in the White House.

Perfect timing

I can feel Spring approaching. 

I can see it starting to percolate. We are about to enter my favorite time of the year.

The critters are getting restless.

Leven had a large hawk land four feet from him in the brush yesterday and just sit there. 

I had a hawk at my feet in the bushes the other day. 

I saw the gigantic ringtail the other night and a surfeit of owls in the evening light on the way home. 

Stephanie got into a long stare down with a bobcat on her back deck. 

Hal has seen the first Swainsons hawk in Borrego.

We all watch the Santa Margarita River valley pretty closely. We know that the scrub will offer us a small white flower in a few weeks as a precursor before the ceanothus turns the canyon its beautiful shade of blue purple. Then the echium start their spires. Then poppies and lupines. Its all like seasonal clockwork.

As I drove by the hawk nest this morning on the way out I noticed that it had doubled in size. Wow, I thought, somebody has been busy. The nest was small by our normal standards last year, two years after the big nest blew down. Here is the picture of the diminutive red tailed nest.

But small or not it worked and we had three beautiful babies.

I thought about how cool it was to see the hawks work, how smart they were and how they got down to business.

What a joy it was to see them build these nests, twig by twig.

I noticed the most beautiful hawk I had ever seen on a dead tree near the sycamore last week, I think it was the male, very orange in color.

And lo and behold tonight, what do you know, we have a mother hawk sitting in the nest. I always thought that nature was so smart, having babies hatch just as the trees can sprout the leaves that can give them privacy and color. All works so well, like a well orchestrated symphony.

The sky is always falling.

Joe Biden had been our president exactly one day (and yes, he was actually elected) when I saw RNC chair Ronna McDaniel say that Americans were already showing buyer's remorse with his terrible decisions. 

The Liz Peeks and Michael Goodwins of this world were quick to pile on with a whole host of negative blather about his failure to unite the country and he hadn't even had time to shave yet.

Ted Cruz did something admittedly dumb in a political sense the other day, he took his wife and kids to the Ritz in Cancun to get out of the cold. 

Not exactly a cardinal sin but the left wing media pounced like he had beaten a kitten to death. It was cold and he saw a way to get warm with his family. I get it.

The problem we have today is that every political act in this country is instantly processed by two polarized and equally partisan news silos. It has become so freaking predictable. If MSNBC takes this road, Fox will be on that road. Very few news outlets even attempt to call them down the middle. Huntley Brinkley and Cronkite and those that did are a mere distant memory for a few of us old fogies. Now they are all playing to the home crowd.

As my conservative friend Jeff profoundly pointed out; the media makes a lot more money when we are at each other's throat. And the new installment where Trump and McConnell go at it like they are on Jerry Springer should be great for ratings.

The metaphor of a divided electorate being like a bad marriage is tired but unfortunately true. 

And I have been in a bad marriage and I know how shitty it can get, do you? 

Well when I was, this was the book that got me out of it and kept me whole. Rebuilding: When Your Relationship Ends. Bruce Fisher, Citadel Press (or it was when I bought it for a dollar thirty something years ago.)

This was the best book I have ever read about emotional healing. I have loaned it or recommended it to practically every person I know that has had a break up. God knows where my copy is now but you can buy it cheap. Common as the AA book or Gideon's bible at this point.

But it makes some great points. Like stay out of each other's way for six months and don't pull the emotional scabs off.

The country needs marriage counseling. The current atmosphere is so nasty and twisted and emotionally charged that we stay permanently triggered when we run to our respective corners and media silos to see what the hell is happening in the world. 

You can't help but get a twisted view when the people shoveling it down our gullets have such an obvious agenda. And I should add, when we are so easily manipulated.

So let's take a time out and try to stay away from killing each other for a round or two. Rope a dope, bob and weave and try to play nice. The conservatives didn't invent nastiness and neither did the liberals. But there are forces out there who figured out they could make a lot more money if we were constantly at each other's throats. 

You have to have noticed. We have an awfully lot invested in how rotten the other side is and it is honestly really tiring.

Hopefully one day we can find the more respectful middle again. The last eight years have been rather bruising. Let's try to heal, shall we? And for god's sake diversify your sources of information. Start listening to the other side. Maybe they have something legitimate to say?

John Prine

Anti-social distancing

Covid 19 has certainly taught humanity a whole new set of lessons in terms of how we relate to our fellow hominids. We are zooming, masking, bumping elbows and crosswalk buttons, forgoing smiles and all in bad need of a decent haircut. And we need to pat ourselves on the back, we are doing a pretty good job at dealing with all of that. Certainly better than those folks back in the black plague did anyway.

But I wonder what the long term implications of this pandemic will be, as it relates to our interpersonal behavior? Because honestly I don't ever see the genie fitting back in the bottle.

We have had two dear couples cancel planned rendezvous with us because they were worried about catching the deadly microbe. And these were events that they had set up, we weren't exactly pushing them. And I get it, we are not yet 65 so we are not in a tier that can get vaccinated yet. They had. I could push the cancer card and probably get one but where would that leave my wife? Anyway people are worried, rightfully so and covid is definitely crimping our interpersonal communications.

Anyway that is not the point of the ramble, the point is this. I think that people are enjoying their solitude and private space in a way that they may not have imagined.  And they won't necessarily feel comfortable after the threat has ended. I think that it will be difficult to revert back to the pre covid crowded human maelstrom when and if this whole microbe thing is finally over. Our social behavior has changed for ever, on a global level.

In my own case I believe that I have long suffered from some mild case of agoraphobia. I don't feel comfortable around crowds of people, especially when they are drinking. Concerts are excruciating. I like my humans fine one or two or five at a time but even then... There is no getting around it, I like my own space. And that is why I wander far into the fields to shoot big and little birds with my camera, because it keeps me as far away from humans as I can possibly be.

My shop has been appointment only for about fifteen or sixteen years. Lately even good customers have pointed out that I get antsy when customers stay too long in my private clubhouse/warehouse. I subtly or not so subtly find myself herding them to the door like a nipping Australian cattle dog at a certain point when I need my space. And it is pretty unconscious behavior.

So covid is maybe magnifying and accentuating my previous misanthropy and need for private space somewhat, giving it an excuse. I can only take my fellow hominds for so long, even the ones I really like.

I know that many people are fleeing compression right now. Redfin used to have about .05 of its queries looking for rural real estate, now it is 30%. I have had the trails in my valley to myself for thirty years, there is not a day that goes by that their are not ten to twenty cars of people roaming around.

It will be interesting to see if sports attendance post covid ever matches pre covid numbers again. Covid may hang around like influenza for perpetuity, will the mask become an essential item of the new paradigm for the next several decades, the twenty first century version of the necktie? Certainly makes more sense then the vestigial necktie but we still wear them. Will we ever be truly comfortable socializing again?

Won't draw this out, have a lot of work to do. But make no mistake, Covid has changed us forever. Ain't no going back.

Oceanside Pier, one second at ƒ25

 

Early Morning Rain - Foxes & Fossils

Darwin should be a household name.  What a talent. These guys sound so good together, don't step on each other vocally. Think about how many great talents out there go mostly unnoticed. Wrong place at the wrong time.

I have spoken

Sioux strike a light bag

I have been so busy cataloging and photographing new collections that I have purchased recently that I have really not had time to breathe. 

First a big basket and pottery collection, then a great beadwork and plains collection. Wonderful Napoleon III Louis XVI ebonized cabinet.

I have two virtual shows opening up next week. I would say that I am about sixty percent ready for them.

baskets anyone?

I have about sixty items finished for the Native American show, still have twenty seven more to photograph and post for the Tribal and Textile show. 

Both shows have great dealers but the latter has some of the biggest international dealers in the world. 

Definitely need to step up my game, not look foolish amongst these people. 

Can only do my best but this is new territory for me.

Anyway I am really lucky to have found some incredible material of late and it is moving, even in the pre show virtual setup. 

Everything now is gravy but I am a very competitive person and always want to do well. But I am absolutely exhausted.

*

Interesting week in the valley. Was driving home the other night and I saw a fat and incredible black and white tail disappear into the bushes.  Not familiar to me. I looked it up and it turned out to be a large ringtail, a rare nocturnal animal that I don't think I have ever seen.

A very nice guy named Todd helps me around the ranch. He is an arborist and a little whacky at times. 

We have a Mr. Douglas Eb sort of relationship if you know what I mean.

I was talking to him near my front flower garden the other day when he said that he didn't want to alarm me but that there was a hawk sitting between us, right by my old metal airplane. Said he had a small bird in his talons.

I walked around and sure enough he flew off. Could not have been more than a foot from me.

My variegated agave marginata now has not one flower spike but two. 

It is not supposed to even have one at this age. It doesn't care. It wants to bloom.

We had a nice light rain last night. I think I see a multitude of wildflower seeds I cast around popping up.

Shawn sent some pics from his garden in Thailand. Puts mine to shame. But I don't live in Thailand.

Not much else to report. Almost made a very expensive dumb buy today, turned out to be a fake. Was rescued at the eleventh hour. Need to get back to work but no gas in the tank, will try again tomorrow.

This is my neighbor of thirty years, Brian.

Definitely Fallbrook grown and one of a kind.

*

I have been seeking solace and wisdom and really didn't know what to do next. Sort of at the end of my rope.

So I went to Trader Joe's today and just stared at the clarifying butter. I didn't move for twenty minutes. People had to angle their carts to get by me.

But I would not be dissuaded in my search for satori.

Didn't really work. Nothing got any clearer to me. Will hang out longer next time. 

*

I know that I am late to the party but I love the Mandalorian. And I haven't liked the Star Wards franchise for a very long time. What amazing production value. If you haven't seen it on Disney, do so. And in the words of Nick Nolte's character, Kuiil, I have spoken.

Old Churchyard

Short supply

“Once Mitch McConnell made it clear he intended to acquit . . . what the House managers needed wasn’t more witnesses or more evidence. What we all needed was more Republican courage.” Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) 

For The Turnstiles

Friday's cold cuts

You can take my bologna when you can pry my cold dead fingers from around it.

Nearly 200 pounds of illegal Mexican bologna was confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the New Mexico/Mexico border, the agency confirmed in a release. | Fox News

"When knockwurst is outlawed, only outlaws will have knockwurst."

*

As Trump's businesses struggle, his single most profitable asset is at risk. Poor guy. Should be interesting when the creditors come calling. Three guesses which group the MAGA heads will blame?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-s-businesses-struggle-most-profitable-asset-his-real-estate-n1257456

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fecal cleaving

https://www.buzzfeed.com/terripous/poop-knife-reddit?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfshareemail

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Stingy GOP skinflints

The Lousy Tippers of the Trump Administration

"They were exhausting, impossible, stingy, and cruel, just like at their day jobs."

*

Mild symptoms my ass...

Ron Wright R.I.P.

*

In the best news this week, Leslie's criminal case was dismissed by the judge regarding the fake assault at her store on/by the Q spouting Trump supporter. Such a relief. Thankfully the eyewitness stepped up... Actually the assault was very real but my wife was the recipient of the attack and only defended herself. 

*

"Ecstasy without agony is baloney." Diane Jacobs

Hannah, Magdalena and David

Young Peregrine, Torrey Pines

 

Don't Worry Baby

Move along, nothing to see here

You think there would be any talk from the GOP about letting things blow over, granting a mulligan or two, time to forgive and forget and all that, if the roles were reversed?  

Imagine if a Democratic leader had presided over an insurrectionist attack by his minions on our nation's Capitol?  

Think the Republicans would turn the other cheek?

Now all of a sudden it should be a time for healing. Let's move forward. For the sake of the nation.

The hypocrisy is astounding.

It doesn't matter

Stills, Hillman and Rick Roberts all co wrote this song while in Manassas. They each in turn later did their own version of it. This is Rick and Firefall, an underrated band.

Ain't no mountain high enough

Squeeze Play

As an antique dealer I usually have a good amount of silver in my shop and I watch the markets rather closely. Rarely does the melt value match the price point of beautifully crafted silver but if the price goes up high enough, almost anything will burn.

I always find it curious that just when silver or other metals are about to take off, they get reigned back in so easily. Even when the supply of physical silver is practically nonexistent. Doesn't make sense, does it?

There is obvious manipulation going on and this man does a pretty good job explaining it. The government does not want the price of gold and silver to go up. And so people start playing and trading with invisible metals that do not exist, the big guys and hedge funds manipulate the market and the government looks the other way and pretends not to see because its purposes are being served.

J.P. Morgan was caught "spoofing" precious metals last year. Their fine was a mere slap on the wrist, the rather cheap cost of doing business. And then it was back to business as usual.

I saw an interesting comment on the subject this morning from a reader over at one of the financial columns, don't remember which:

How would people feel if horse racing allowed you to bet on which horse would finish in last place? That wager is not allowed because there's far too much much potential for abuse by the owner, the trainer and the jockey. Short selling is an anachronism that dates back centuries to an era when paper certificates were the legal proof of ownership of stock in a company. People were given a grace period after a stock sale to produce a valid certificate. Clever traders figured out that if a company was falling apart financially they could sell shares that they didn't have and buy them back later during the grace period when the share price had fallen. Short selling is an idea 20 years ahead of its time. Unfortunately, its time was 1850.

This is a good video. This man gets it. As he points out, the bullion banks are acting as a cartel, in league with the big banks. And in order to supposedly save the monetary system they are more than willing to hurt the chumps in the game who are dumb enough to think it is being played straight.

Stupid Cupid

Hammering Hank

You remember I mentioned that Aaron was a grump. He sure wasn't here. This is a first part of two good interviews. What a great bunch of pitchers he mentions. Weren't we lucky to have seen Seaver, Gibson, Koufax, Drysdale and Palmer in our lifetime?

Speaking of Aaron, I recently received a 1963 Milwaukee Braves team baseball signed by Aaron, Spahn, Torre, Eddie Matthews and Cloninger, among others. 

Could be yours. Five hundred simoleans.

Hank hit .319 that year, 41 home runs, 141 ribbies. Perhaps his second best year statistically, he was third in the MVP voting.

Mystery Train

Nothing shakin' on shakedown street

Sioux Buffalo Horn knife with beaded hide sheath and parfleche - Blue Heron Gallery

Ricardo sent me a note the other day and mentioned that there was not a lot of action on the blog, hardly any comments, hint, hint. Reality is I have been working for several months cataloging an extensive collection and I am about three quarters through. Honestly, I am completely exhausted and my back is out.

Yesterday I picked up another wonderful and large collection of early Plains and Plateau beadwork. Honestly, I have been on a tear.

I have a lot of work to do before I am finished photographing and listing the stuff both on my website and on the few remaining spaces for the Objects of Art virtual show on February 24th.

So work is going to take precedence. That is the way it is. I don't have much else to give right now. Business is good and I am not getting off the train while it's moving.

Last year was my most prolific year yet for writing. The last time I had a big year, 2013, the next year I went quiet for a long time. My worst year. Might happen again. 

But if you can hold out there might just be more music and photos. Only so much in the tank. My wife and my financial well being and stability has to take precedence.

Pima basketry horse and wagon with padre beads
- 28" long, Turn of the century - Blue Heron Gallery

Covid has been pretty good for me in a financial sense. Hate to say it, it sounds terrible and the human side of the tragedy is staggering and horrific. But it has put me to work. Odd that I don''t really miss the shows from a money standpoint but I do miss my friends and compatriots. Pushing my web presence has certainly not hurt in the pandemic interim. You do what you got to do.

*

Sioux scalp knife collected in Pine Ridge

It is getting harder to bare my breast and get personal on the blog. The election nonsense was so traumatizing and we all spent a lot of time trying not to step on each other's toes. Tempers were raised, friendships were splintered, feelings were hurt. There was a considerable amount of more nasty, anonymous trolling.

I'd rather not wade into all that, less tension over here in the shallow end of the pool. My readership has increased about 40% in the last year, almost approaching 2011-12 numbers before Google changed their algorithm. The bigger it gets the harder it is to really share for me, not sure why. Less familiar perhaps. More like talking to strangers. Don't want to expose.

If I had the money and druthers I would be writing more short fiction, which is a vehicle for speaking truths that are shielded and personal and which might otherwise offend or bother people. But I don't have the time, luxury or inclination to give that part of myself that really matters at the moment. Sorry.

Hope that I am feeling it again soon.

*

For the second time in a month I have lost a painting. Searched a day last time, finally found it in a place I had looked a hundred times. Today it was a painting I sold Michael. I have his money in my pocket and the painting is gone. What am I going to tell him? And I will have to pay Dixon for it and take a little bath.

Four hours tearing apart every cranny of my shop and no luck.

I went to the chiropractor on the coast and called Ken on the way back. He told me to sit down for a few minutes, take a breath and remember where I put it. I walked into the gallery and walked straight to it, in the very place I left it, can you imagine that?

Thank you Ken. Thank you everybody.

Alone Again Or

Utterly flawless version of the Bryan MacLean classic on a nylon string Spanish guitar. One of the joys of YouTube to discover relatively anonymous, unknown people with such talent. This is one of the great songs of Arthur Lee and Love.

Hope I don't fall in love with you

Gavilan morning

 

I love these chilly winter mornings when the fog hangs low in the river valley and the orange trees start to bloom their beautiful red flowers. Pardon the tumbleweed.

Great Rain

Paranoia strikes deep

Friend of mine had a planned power shutoff today. Lives near bye. 

When the power came back on he had to reconnect to his router. 

One of the available networks that popped up was FBI Surveillance Vehicle. Hmmm. Would you mind closing those blinds?

Please and thank you

I have been truckless for a long time, last one I had was the Ford 150 and that was decades ago. I need one, am tired of using my car and van for a truck.

I am looking for a used ranch truck, preferably a small Toyota or Ford size. Uglier the better but in good mechanical shape. Would like to spend less than 4k if possible. If you hear about a small pickup for sale would you please let me know?

Peregrine

 

While the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown...

 

Sixty two years ago today. The day the music died.

Tift Merritt - Traveling Alone

Townes

Calling all lurkers. Who the heck are you?

 

While I know many of you, many being long time friends, some of you I have met through the blog, there are many more that I do not know personally or anything about. If you are a regular reader of the blog who has never introduced yourself, please make my acquaintance with a comment.

You don't have to give me a last name, or even a real first name. Just a little about yourself and where you hail from and perhaps the principal reason you choose to visit this site. That is, if you don't mind. Thank you so much for coming around and paying a visit.

Twilight time

 

David Bromberg

Your pictures

 

Allan sends a shot from the Bat Caves somewhere in the Southern California desert.

Jeff's daughter Stephanie Fulk grabbed this shot of the northern lights up near Fairbanks.

Big Dave snapped this after the rain the other day in Pacific Heights.

Ray has a new creampuff 1963 Thunderbird.

Kick the football, Charlie Brown

The GOP is suddenly all about unity. I was reading a ridiculous opinion over at The Hill and came across this accurate comment from a letter writer named RGBRAY. 

His points are worth remembering. These folks are masters of the sleight of hand, three card monte, misdirection game.

Obama tried unity, but the Republicans sabotaged the bills.

the Recovery Act was made smaller at the GOP's insistence, but more than 99% of Republicans voted against it. On immigration, GOP lawmakers told then-President Barack Obama to focus on security and enforcement first. He met their demands, at which point Republicans killed a comprehensive reform bill anyway.

On health care, Republicans pushed for a market-based system, largely dependent on private insurers, and Democrats spent literally months trying to make GOP members happy. It didn't matter. In Obama's new book, he shares an anecdote in which Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was asked whether he'd support a health care reform bill that included all of the changes to the ACA the Iowan wanted to see. "I guess not, Mr. President," Grassley replied.

Another Senate Republican from 2009, Wyoming's Mike Enzi, later conceded that he negotiated with Democrats in bad faith, stringing Dems along for months and weakening the Affordable Care Act blueprint, though he didn't have any intention of voting for it.

The lesson is hardly subtle: Democrats investing months of effort, and watering down their own worthwhile proposals, is a pointless exercise. As the L.A. Times reported over the weekend, it's a lesson the party has become preoccupied with.

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Hunting Mad Honey

Bob Marley - Talkin Blues

Bobby Darin

Rock Soup

We were talking about going hungry and hard times this morning at coffee. I never went hungry more than a couple times in my life. 

We were poor and ate an overabundance of mush for a spell when I was a kid but always had at least something to eat as far as I can recall.

Later when I was hitchhiking around the country during my post summer of love drop out wanderlust phase I went hungry a couple times but they were few and not really worth mentioning. 

I was a little astounded when my friend Jay started telling us about being stone broke and eating rock soup in the late fifties or early sixties when he lived and breathed hot rods and every dollar he could find went into his dragster.

Rock soup?

I may have this a little bit wrong but he would put a big rock in a boiling pot of water and then work from there. Add spices and eat it for supper.

Tonight I looked up Rock soup and it appears to be a folk tale and morality play that wends its way through many European cultures including Russia, Germany and Hungary.

The Stone Soup is a European folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys, and exists as a moral regarding the value of sharing. In varying traditions, the stone has been replaced with other common inedible objects, and therefore the fable is also known as axe soup, button soup, nail soup, and wood soup.

The story proceeds like this:

Some travelers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty cooking pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the very hungry travelers. Then the travelers go to a stream and fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The travelers answer that they are making "stone soup", which tastes wonderful and which they would be delighted to share with the villager, although it still needs a little bit of garnish, which they are missing, to improve the flavor.

The villager, who anticipates enjoying a share of the soup, does not mind parting with a few carrots, so these are added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the travelers again mention their stone soup which has not yet reached its full potential. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, the stone (being inedible) is removed from the pot, and a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by travelers and villagers alike. Although the travelers have thus tricked the villagers into sharing their food with them, they have successfully transformed it into a tasty meal which they share with the donors.

The funny thing is, I believe that Jay was being straight up. I really think he did make a soup based around a rock, this was no morality play. Unless he had us going but I don't really think so.

* 

After we talked about his pebbly repast I asked the guys if they knew where the dish cioppino comes from?  Not Italy but San Francisco actually. The fishermen on the dock would chip in whatever was left over at the end of the work day so that their unfortunate comrades could eat if they had a bad day.

Cioppino was developed in the late 1800s by Italian immigrants who fished off Meiggs Wharf and lived in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, many from the port city of Genoa. When a fisherman came back empty handed, they would walk around with a pot to the other fishermen asking them to chip in whatever they could. What ever ended up in the pot became their Cioppino. The fishermen that chipped in expected the same treatment if they came back empty handed in the future. It later became a staple as Italian restaurants proliferated in San Francisco.

The earliest known recipe was published in 1901 in the San Francisco Call. The word itself is not a linguistic contraction/variation of "chip in" as I had been led to believe but is actually taken from a classic soup from Liguria, Cioppin.

It ain't fair

 

Al Franken, one of the smartest, funniest and most pro active Senators in our country, was forced to resign for allegedly trying to kiss a talk show host and once touch another woman's clothed buttocks.

He was summarily drummed out of the Senate by members of both parties including Schumer, McConnell and Gillibrand, before he could even plead his own case.

Now we have congress people like Marjorie Taylor Greene openly calling for the assassination of elected officials in the Democratic party and nobody says a peep, in fact she gets a plum committee assignment. 

We have over fifteen elected representatives breaching the capitol in a failed insurrection and few will say a peep.

Lauren Boebert can taunt a survivor of a school shooting and call him a pussy and that is evidently okay but Al Franken gets his walking papers for a little grabass, like he is the first Senator or politician to have ever gotten frisky.

I'm not excusing his behavior but I really liked the guy and think the country could use him right now. He never should have resigned.

Tarred and feathered, thistles and thorns...

Mother drone saves rare Griffon vulture