The Missus and I are not alone in having a dog who barks rabidly during thunderstorms. But alone or not, we do. She may be little, and her bark may be a mere yip! compared to the more conventional woof! of full-size hounds, but she is determined to scare the storm away. (And you know [...]

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From whiskey river (last two stanzas): The American Sublime How does one stand To behold the sublime, To confront the mockers, The mickey mockers And plated pairs? When General Jackson Posed for his statue He knew how one feels. Shall a man go barefoot blinking and blank? But how does one feel? One grows used [...]

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[Image at the right depicts Swedes celebrating Midsummer's Day in a maypole dance. I found this at sweden.se, "The Official Gateway to Sweden."] By tradition, June 24th is Midsummer’s Day. (So you know what that makes the evening of June 23rd, right?) It’s a public holiday in Quebec and a handful of countries in Europe [...]

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Speak Coffee to Me‘s most recent “ad of the week” is this glittering little diamond, a brief film (directed by Azazel Jacobs) “about looking at art.” A nice little fable for those who just don’t get the point of so-called non-representational art, it’s from the Web site of New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

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(I love the word “gratuitous” — one of those ambiguous words, like “cleave,” which hold multiple contradictory meanings until you put them in context. In this post’s title, of course, gratuitous isn’t wearing its uncalled for or unjustified persona; it’s meant to connote something like unasked for or freely offered, since I seldom post on [...]

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One of my favorite Biblical stories seldom gets ranked among others’ top ten lists. Maybe only someone who aspires to use words professionally could so like Genesis 2, verses 19-20 (Revised Standard Version): So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought [...]

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My review at The Book Book is up (as promised, weeks ago). I think most of you are probably familiar with E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web and (with Will Strunk) The Elements of Style, maybe Stuart Little and so on. If you’ve read his book of essays, though — particularly the ones written once he left [...]

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From whiskey river: Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a [...]

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Strange days… The Employer announced last week that they’d be blocking access to Facebook and MySpace, due to some unspecified virus activity. That took effect immediately. Can’t speak for MySpace, but Facebook access seems to have been restored yesterday (haven’t checked yet today). This morning, a strange combination of “Personal and Social Networking Sites” are [...]

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As you know if you’ve been here for a while — even if you haven’t read the explanation of the blog’s title; just from reading the content — the mission of Running After My Hat might be summed up, sorta, like this: Despite the inherent ridiculousness of the act, to pursue in deadly earnest whatever [...]

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