Twee

On our Amazon Fire Stick we have been exceedingly delighted to watch a variety of art programs.  We have been slowly working through various seasons of Sky Arts "Portrait Artist of the Year" and Sky Arts "Landscape Artist of the Year".  Both programs are from Great Britain.  

Both programs are exceptionally inspiring and enjoyable in every regard.  We have a habit/pattern of watching an episode of one of the above programs each week as we eat a "special" Sunday Breakfast together.  

Three judges..... all three are wonderful, but I especially enjoy Tai-Shan Schierenberg, who is also a well renowned painter/artist (a painting of him is shown at the top of this post).  I like listening and learning from him about art and art theory.  He has a very "teacher-like" quality in his manner of speaking that I like a great deal because he helps me to learn.

Well... the subject of this post is a word that I had not heard before watching this program....... "Twee".  This new-to-me word was one that was fairly easy to discern from the context cues of how each of the three judges would often use the term.  However, its formal definition is:

Twee - adjective (British English)

• excessively or affectedly quaint, pretty, or sentimental   

In looking at Google's Ngram Viewer (a web tool that attempts to show the relative usage of a given word over time), for Twee, it can be seen that it has been around for a long time (at least ~1800) but that its rate of usage (probably as a colloquial expression) took off ~2002 :

I am not sure if that will be readable or not, but the red line indicates how "twee" has taken off in usage since 2002.  

Language is fun and interesting to learn about.  I wonder if "Twee" is something more folks in Canada may be familiar with.  I do not think many in the US have heard the word often if at all.  

PipeTobacco

Lost and Not Yet Found

I have misplaced the file where I have written responses to comments.  I think perhaps I left it on my computer at home instead of transferring it to the flash drive that I normally do.  I tend to do this with all my files.... I may work on one computer or another, but I try to faithfully transfer things I do on one machine to the other via a flash drive.  When I find where the file is sitting, I will get up the "comments" post I had been promising.  

Thinking about the upcoming Lent, I really need to give thought to what my plan will be during this season.  I feel I need to try to find ways to accomplish a few different things:

1.  I want to evaluate AT LEAST ONE area in my life that I feel I need to fix or improve in myself.  And, when I figure out which one or more are most meaningful to try to fix or improve..... to develop a plan of attack towards fixing them.  

2.  I want to determine AT LEAST ONE new way I can work to serve others, and I want to find and actively and consistently become involved in that sort of service in a long-term, permanent way.  

3.  I want to find a way (perhaps scheduled) to spend some time in quiet and peacefulness to try to wrestle through some worries, fears, and some potentially excessive expectations about what retirement may be like.

The above seem to be the items I want to figure out in the next several days.  I suspect I may end up writing about the above here as well, as Lent progresses..... but first I have to figure out my parameters.  

• I had thought about potentially giving up my once a week cigar with the fellows for Lent.  But, ultimately, I have decided to not do this as I feel psychologically the friendship I have there is too important to my well being.  
• There are so many failings and weaknesses I have that I am not sure how to narrow the focus to one or a couple that I feel I could potentially make some true, tangible progress on.  I think the key is I have to find the one-or-more items that I have at least some sense within myself that I CAN muster up the energy to work to fix in myself.  
• I want to find some form of service that I can manage within my rather hectic schedule, but I would be especially pleased if I could figure out a way to find a form of service that different or outside the realm of what I try to do now.  

Hmm.  And, there are so many things to think about and consider as I approach eventually retiring.  It boggles the mind in many ways.  I have to try to put those issues down here on paper to make them more tangible for me.

• And, as I am now approaching what I believe is EIGHT full years fasting away from my pipes and pipe tobaccos (sans the single bowlful on my Dad's 100th, 101st, and 102nd birthdays).... I am wondering and beginning to think that maybe I need to "re-evaluate" this fast.  I am not feeling particularly sure about it anymore.

So many things to think about.  Such a brief time before Lent starts.  Even though the start date is intermediate  within the dates it has fallen (it is not overly early).... for some reason, its impending start has caught me off guard a bit.  I do not feel ready.

PipeTobacco
 

Salt & Light

 

It is not meant to  be an "Earth-shatteringly" new concept..... in fact it is a very traditional concept.... but one that is sometimes hard to keep in the forefront of the mind.  

At Mass today, our priest's homily... in helping us to think about and plan for lent.... rather eloquently reminded me of how my life is meant to be a life of service to others.  Believe me that I do TRY to keep that focus, but I am not particularly successful in maintaining this focus in my mind.  I can and often am far too selfish, far too unfocused, far too often failing to do this.

The analogy that our priest focused on related to the ideas of:

Being the salt of the Earth.

and

Being a light for the World.

Being "salt" is akin to being a flavoring to help make the world better.  That is an obvious way to be of service.  But the idea of being "salt" also had me thinking ABOUT salt and how it is a critical mineral that is important in enzyme function in the cells of our body.  Salts, and most any mineral you can find listed on a mineral supplement you may take..... are part of what are called "cofactors".  Cofactors help to adjust the three dimensional shape of enzymes so that they can accomplish or better perform  the role of facilitating chemical reactions in our cells.  So, from a chemical standpoint, salt can serve an enzyme to allow it to function as it should and the enzyme serves the cell by allowing needed chemical reactions to occur more easily with less energy costs.  

Being "light" is akin to allowing folks to see.  To be light would mean to be able to illuminate ideas/thoughts that would build others up, to help others.... to SERVE.  And, as I thought about it more, I was thinking of how the photons of light energy are what stimulate the disks in the rods of our eye to elicit the firing of neurons in our retina to allow us to see.  And, I was also imagining how these same photons of light stimulate the chlorophyll in a plant cell to generate energy.  The neuronal firing is a message or signal, and the energy produced by the plant serves as food.  

I just thought I would jot down the rather random thoughts as associations I felt while I was contemplating how I could become a better servant..... how I could more successfully serve.... how I could better become who and how I should be.  

PipeTobacco  

Azoturia

 

I am tying up a lot of loose ends today, with the hope/plan/belief that I will after today.... be back on track for a "normal" week next week.  

• All the letters of recommendation I needed to complete at the moment ARE finished. 
• 90% of the big rodent uses in the classrooms are finished (I have one more bout on Monday, but then will be completely done helping in that regard for quite a while).  
• I also have all of my LMSes (the gizmo-ey electronic classrooms that I use for storage) all set up so students can access things for next week, 
• And I have all the NEXT SET OF EXAMS written and sent to the secretary for printing and sorting.... even though NEXT WEEK is the timing where I have the FIRST EXAMS in most of my classes.  
• Additionally, I have stayed on top of the needed research work with my rodents, my flies, and my worms.

Yesterday's Retiree's Cigar Group.... was not all I had hoped for.  Surprisingly most of the fellows HAD stayed far later than usual.... which WAS wonderful.... but, for some reason I am still not sure about, there were a significant BUNCH of additional folks (that are not regulars) who were there too.  That is of course, ok too.  But, there were so many that they had out many folding chairs too to accommodate folks, as all the comfy chairs were all taken.  It was jam-packed at the place.  So, as is typical when the group size gets larger, I tend to get far quieter.  But also, one of the never before seen before fellows who showed up was a rather "extremely boisterous" fellow who did most if not all the "talking" and most of the talking he did was in the form of a continual stream of very overly bawdy jokes.  This fellow occupied so  much of the air space, that pretty much he was the only one talking 90+%  of the time.  Still, even though the jokes were not really of a type I prefer to listen to..... it was still nice being able to enjoy a cigar and to see (but not hear much from) my friends.  

"Azoturia" is an "old-timey" phrase that was, I believe mostly used in the 1800s to describe a condition of horses that causes stiffness and pain in the muscles of all four legs simultaneously but the pain is more noticable and focused in the hindquarters and back.  Way back in the day when I was an undergraduate contemplating attempting to pursue Veterinary Medicine as a possible career, I remember hearing an older gentlemen use this term.  This fellow was a person I was working with while volunteering at a horse stable to obtain some large animal experiences.  I had also seen/read this term somewhere before that in some cowboy-based Western novel I had read in junior high or high school.  Words tend to stick with me, and this is especially so for interesting sounding words, so I always remembered the word after seeing it in that novel.  When I heard the older gentleman say the word while at the stable, I surprised the heck out of him by defining the word.  He laughed and then said that most folks just say the horse is "tying up" instead of the old, formal word.  

In some ways, I have felt I have been "tying up" or having Azoturia during the last several weeks dealing with my own leg pain while running.  I have ran each day this week, however, so I am pleased that I am progressing back to a more normal state.  I still do not fully understand why this happened.  I do think that the damn plantar wart played a significant role in it, though.  As I mentioned several days ago, I developed a plantar wart well over a year ago dead center on the heel of my right foot.  What I did not tell you, was that:

• Unlike the one I had back in graduate school for a brief time, this one.... because of its location, was painful as hell and annoying because I would put pressure on it with every step.
• When it first developed, I dutifully went to a podiatrist, hoping he would freeze the damn thing and it would fall off.  BUT NO, he did not "believe" in that sort of thing, and instead decided to use some "mystical fluid" of his that he very genially and lightly dipped the end of a Q-Tip (cotton swab) into, and then ever so lightly touched the tip of the damn plantar wart with a miniscule amount of that fluid.  He then put a bandaid on my foot and sent me on my way with a follow-up appointment in what amounted to three weeks.  
• In my graduate school version of this many decades ago, the medical support at student services instructed me to use salicyclic acid on the thing.... and it fell out after a few weeks of daily application (it fell out while I was in Nova Scotia, but that is a different story for another time).
• I was skeptical of the treatment I received for my heal, but I tried to reason through in my mind that this fellow was a "medical professional" and knew what he was doing.
• But.... seriously.... not a damn thing changed.  In the subsequent appointment, he did the same damn thing with his little Q-Tip, and then at a third appointment he did the same damn thing again..... and NOTHING had changed.  I questioned him about this, and again asked if he would freeze it (common practice) and he said no, and then mentioned this could take "several months or more" to treat.  
• I grew extremely tired of his antics, which I now believe were simply to string me along so he could repeatedly charge my insurance for a visit.  I did not go back to him after the no progress third visit.  
• So, I decided to take measures into my own hands at this point.  
• BUT, in these many weeks, running was a bit "uncomfortable" but WALKING was actually rather painful almost every step because of the location of this damn wart.  
• So.... I believe that while I treated myself with salicyclic acid patches (in much the same way I did in graduate school) and eventually got rid of the damn plantar wart.... during the many weeks of it being painful..... I think I started to adopt a change in gait for my affected leg while running and while walking that had me walking more with pressure on the paddle of my foot (effectively decreasing the pressure on my heel) which then resulted in my shortening of various tendons of the foot and ankle region.... causing the development of the plantar fasciitis I have now been dealing with using the foot gizmo you saw in an earlier post.   

Overall, my legs are improving and I hope to be trotting, if not galloping soon as I hoof around the track.... in a manner like I had normally been before the plantar fasciitis flared up..... very soon.  The damn wart has been gone for ~3 months, but the after effects on how I subconsciously adjusted my gait to make walking less painful now are what I am battling to bring back to homeostasis.  

I DID run today, and I CAN say it is getting better.  I just want it to be like it was before.  

Yesterday, I also found a long missing pipe that I had lost track of as well.  I must not have worn the particular sport coat I wore yesterday in quite a lot of time, for inside the left hip pocket, I found a beautiful pipe I had been missing.  Now, it really isn't a particularly "special" pipe as it was a basket pipe I picked up long ago... but to my own eye, I thought it was/is rather beautiful.  the color of the briar is distinctly brown.... but there is some aspect of it that has a bit of an olive green cast to it which I always liked and felt was rather unique.  And, it is a full-bent billiard shape, which I always have liked.  It was always a very COMFORTABLE to grip between my chompers as I smoked it, but also the pipe was beautiful to my eye.  I was happy I found it again.  

PipeTobacco 

Just Old

Feeling blue this morning.  

Not motivated.  But, trying to do what I need to do to get through the workday.

February, to me, is the harshest month of the year.  

January has the residual remembrances of the holidays, and the start of a new semester.  

But, February has no hope of any warmth or Spring weather.... it is still too far down the road.  It is Winter at its most bleak.  

March is not really any better weather-wise.... but there is at least a start of HOPE that Spring MAY happen in early April and not late April..... and April will then only be several weeks away.

A friend who retired back in ~2007 from the Department.... a blustery fellow.... we received notice that he had passed away out West where he had moved to be closer to family.  He was only 77 years old.  But, diabetes ravaged him, especially in his later years.   No disease is good.... but damn, diabetes is so harsh.  He, like my SIL had amputations as a result. 

I fear for my wife.

We went to a "Wine & Cheese" discussion group at our Parrish last night.  As an academician, I think I always end up having too high of expectations for these sorts of things.  I am used to things to be presented or discussed to be focused, linear, and structured.  As is typical at these things at our Parrish, it very rapidly devolved into simple chatting of whatever popped into people's heads.  

I ate some grapes that were provided and had two glasses of wine.  

I rarely drink wine, and really know nothing about "it".  A few of the ladies at the counter were asking me all sorts of questions about what I like in wine, so they could steer me to a particular set of bottles.  Basically, I explained to them that I am a neophyte and a wine "rube".  To me, the choices are Red, White, and the chimera called "Rose'".  I then mentioned that I am not fond of white wine (to me, unflavorful..... and for the most part, rather "sour" if there is any flavor), nor am I fond of Rose' (to me, also unflavorful, and in my imagination I think of it as white wine where someone added a very small droplet of red food coloring).  I told them that when I have wine, I inevitably have red as it has (to me) a recognizable flavor that is pleasant. 

They then tried to help me further by asking if I preferred this or that type of red wine (words like Chardonnay, and other "varieties" were bantered about.... none of which I knew or understood.... only really remembering "Chardonnay" not because of what "type" of wine it is.... but because one of my nieces had named her cat "Chardonnay" and I thought it was a cute name).  

Do not get me wrong.... I do recognize the various terms of all of these varieties.... as being descriptors of some form of red wine.  But to me, they are truthfully meaningless as I do not know anything about any of them.  Red = red.    So, after they described the name for each bottle of red that was before me, I simply grabbed the first open one that looked like it had enough for me to pour a full glass, and then went back to my seat.  

When I later in the evening, eventually went back to acquire a second glass, I saw several bottles of red wine with only a 1/2 centimeter or so of wine in each.  I briefly considered seeing if I could flabbergast the the wine ladies by pouring the dregs of several different bottles of these varieties of red wine into my glass to fill it.  I chuckled as I imagined in my mind the look of shock this might have produced from them for such an "unrefined" maneuver.  But, instead, I just grabbed some other bottle that looked like it had enough for a full glass, and proceeded back to my seat.  I have no idea if it was the same red wine I had initially or a different one.  

But.... it did taste like red wine to me. :)

I hope I get to go to the Retiree's Cigar Group.  And, I hope it is jovial and helps pull me out of my mood.

PipeTobacco

Mini- Post

 

I apologize..... the week is turning out far busier than I had anticipated....with many more letters of recommendation due, a few unexpected "emergency" glitches arose that I am trying to fix within a science organization in which I am on the Executive Board, and two collaborations I am involved in with colleagues have needed an extra burst of attention as well.  

So, I have only "mini" posts for the next little while.  I will get back to my  more normal posts as soon as this tidal wave of "business" passes... and will get to my comments on comments too.... I promise. 

• Ran every day so far!  And, I feel pretty damn close to normal..... other than by the end of the teaching day, I do FEEL a slight tenderness in my one foot.... but that is after hoofing around a track in the early morning and stomping around lecturing for most of the day.  I consider this progress!
• I am trying my damndest to STILL be able to go to the Retiree's Cigar Group tomorrow too.  If I have to.... I may work deep into the wee early morning hours overnight tonight, to at least allow me to eek out the ~3 hours for the Retiree's Cigar Group (this includes travel time).  
• Another confound for this week is that in SEVERAL classes (mine, and ones I am also "coordinating" as well)..... this is a really big rodent week in teaching.  And as I am the "rodent guy" I am responsible for those needs as well.  This is a wholly different "add-in" and not at all associated with  my rodent research.
• Pipes and memories of their beauty and the various beautiful pipe tobaccos lull me to sleep every night, and help quiet my overly active mind during these busy days.  

PipeTobacco

•  

Plans vs Realities

I had planned on answering comments here today.... but I am at a time in the semester where there is a large crunch of pressure from a cadre of students who are needing a letter of recommendation from me for their applications to medical school, veterinary school, ophthalmology or dental school, or some such similar venue.   I want to get the whole array of these many letters done today, so.... only a brief post.  

My current plan is to try to answer comments on TUESDAY this week.  

•  Running was actually PLEASANT this morning.  That damn foot contraption is (I am growing more convinced) actually helping me!  I am going to try to again run each day this week, since it felt so normal!  I hope it stays so.  
• My Mom's birthday is coming up pretty soon.  If she were still alive, she would be 98 years old in just a few days.  I have been thinking of her a lot lately.
• My wife and I were able to see a play together yesterday and we ate dinner afterward at a fancier multi-Asian cuisine restaurant.  I had a wonderful, pleasantly spicy Korean style Curry Noodle dish (sort of a soup).  My wife had a similar (although less spicy) Japanese Curry Udon Noodle dish.  Each curry was distinctly different from each other and both were wonderful (although I liked mine the best).  
• Even though I do VERY MUCH look forward to going to the Retiree's Cigar Group each Thursday, I do not imagine nor dream about indulging in a cigar (I do enjoy doing so at the Group, however, do not get me wrong.).  But, when my mind wanders into its imagination, or when I have a dream related to smoking... it is always pipes or pipe tobacco or both. I suspect that may be forever so.

Well, off to writing letters to hopefully help these kids capture their dreams!

PipeTobacco