Bertrand Russell - Reasons for Living

Big Frank is reading Bertrand Russell's autobiography. This is a great book in every sense of the word. A taste of the insight, compassion, and beauty of the writing is eminently clear in the prologue to the book. The prologue is entitled "What I Have Lived For". And here it is unabridged:

"Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and the unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last - I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hatred burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life would be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me."

WORDS - NEW ONES

Image taken from the New York Times article on which this post is based.

WORDS WORDS WORDS! What would we do without them? Well this blog certainly would be different - that's for sure. Our reservoir, our lexicon is constantly being emptied and refilled. Some words go unused (there are actually websites that allow people to adopt and promise to use words that are being neglected; Big Frank signed up on one, but forgot the word and so couldn't use it - for those or you interested in saving unused words - go here!) Well that the outflow of words; the inflow - the new ones, that is what this post is about. The image above, and the words, well most of them anyway, come from the New York Times article on the "Words of the Year". Go here for the full article.

Some of the famous new words are sweet: "retweet"; some are funny: "refudiate"; and some are befuddling: "quantitative easing". Some of Big Frank's favorites are: "porn scan" - the new air safety scanners, also called "strip-search scanners". Transportation was a rich area - how about "cuddle class" - we all know where on the airplane that is. And, of course, the "enhanced pat-down" - you know, when they slide their hands around on you looking for scary stuff. Then there is the "halfalogue" - that half of a conversation that you overhear when someone is on their cell phone. However, Big Frank's favorite is "mansplainer": "A man compelled to explain or give an opinion about everything — especially to a woman. He speaks, often condescendingly, even if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or even if it’s none of his business. Old term: a boor."

However, there is one word that was left off this list, and Big Frank is going to put it on: "waa waa waamulance". As in: "You get to go out skiing and I have to toil away at work; not fair!" "Uh Oh: sombody better call the Waa Waa Wambulance".

Feel free to comment with your favorite words of the year. Big Frank would like to hear from you.

IT

The Chinese zen master put IT like this: "nothing is left to you at this moment but to have a good laugh!"

James Broughton put IT this way:

This is It
and I am It
and You are It
and so is That
and He is It
and She is It
and It is It
and That is That.

Big Frank puts It this way: What It Is!

Christmas with the eagles

Wolf Lodge Bay on Lake Coeur d'Alene is the winter home for lots and lots of migrating bald eagles. When the lakes of northern Canada freeze up and their food supply dwindles they head south to Idaho. Their numbers vary, but generally run from 10 to over 150. They come to Wolf Lodge Bay to feast on the dying kokanee salmon that spawn and die during the winter - peaking around Christmas. Big Frank and Gina went eagle watching on Christmas. They saw about 20 eagles or so. It was a clear day with some lingering fog over the lake - beautiful backdrop for a Christmas day of eagle watching!

Peace on Earth Good Will Towards Men

Merry Christmas to everyone. Big Frank has been thinking about that well known Christmas phrase - you know: Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men. Big Frank is also aware of the bias in the phrase - but let's assume in those angels who first uttered those words meant it to encompass all humans - mankind, that kind of deal. So then what does the phrase mean? Well, Big Frank took to Wikianswers and it just got more confusing. Big Frank is going to post the whole discussion here because it seems to reveal the confusion of trying to nail anything down that is expressed in words. Perhaps that's the real answer - look to it in your heart not in a book, or a word, no matter what language. Good will to all of you!

Here's the extended discussion:
peace on earth= peace on earth,...as in, give peace a chance
good will to all men = be good to one another
The question is based on a secular miss-translation of the following bible scripture:
"Glory to God, and on earth peace, toward men of good will" (Luke 2:14). It could also be worded: "Glory to God, and on earth, peace among men who please God" or "among men with whom God is pleased"
Therefore the correct answer is:
Peace on earth = peace between men and God
Good will toward men = God's peace between himself and men who accept his Son

The above answer is based on this argument:

"Peace on earth, goodwill to men"? The Latin has it, `et in terra pax hominibus, bonae voluntatis". Note the Latin genitive case in the words `bonae voltuntatis'. The phrase properly rendered is, "PEACE ON EARTH TO MEN OF GOOD WILL". The angels' words are not universalist, if you get my drift. by elcid1970

Maybe not - Check this out - I am not literate in Greek or Latin but it's an interesting view:

But the text was not originally written in Latin, it was written in Greek. The Greek is 'Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας. Epi ges: on earth eirene: peace en anthropois: to people (in the dative, for the preposition) eudokias: good will (accusative) The translation that makes the most sense is, in fact, "good will to men". If you had wanted to say "peace to men of good will", then "good will" would modify "men", and thus it would be in the dative to agree with anthropois. But it's not in the dative. It's in the accusative.

by solargecko

I know a little Greek and Latin so would add this:

Solargecko is right to say that Greek was the original language. However the word 'eudokias' (satisfaction, approval) is genitive not accusative, so has much the same force as the Latin (men of good will) giving us literally 'men of approval.'
I have also seen it said that the Greek word eudoxia(s) is a possible variant here, from 'eu' meaning 'good' and 'doxa' meaning 'sentiment'. This would give 'men of good sentiment'.

I would add that whereas the Latin says 'peace TO men of good will', the Greek literally says, 'peace IN/ AMONGST/ ON men of good will.' That gives us another shade of meaning.

by adibden

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_'Peace_on_Earth_Goodwill_Toward_Men'_mean#ixzz198gz5Nct

"Agog Christmas Eve"

[Photo: Big Frank Dickinson]

Some Thoughts on Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve? No, you can't really say that; just like you can't say: "Happy New Year's Eve!" Why not? There are only two Eves that we celebrate and there is no agreed upon way to greet people on those days. Merry and Happy don't really work, so let's try out some new ones. How about "Felicitous Christmas Eve to You"? Big Frank likes the alliteration, but 'felicitous' is kind of a high falootin word that might could put some people off, and it starts with a dangerous letter: 'F'. That could lead into such abominations as "F-ing Christmas Eve to you". So, scratch that. If we look a little closer at what the notion of Eve is all about that might help. It's a kind of waiting deal, a day of expectation. The big days (Christmas and New Year's Day) are coming, and you're all excited. In fact, for many the Eves are actually bigger days than either Christmas itself, or New Year's Day. Christmas is really all about presents. Yeah, Big Frank is aware of the Christian deal (peace on earth and good will to men and all), and the whole notion that we were all potentially saved from everlasting damnation when Jesus was born, well actually it all came to fruition when he died, but his birth was kind of like a Salvation Eve, but that's getting way too relgious. So back to the gifts and all . . . many families actually open those gifts on Christmas Eve! So how about something like "Good Openings to You"? Too commercial, it should be a bit more veiled, and should entail some excitement - you know about opening the presents and all. Here's Big Frank's suggestion "Agog Christmas Eve". This is good, because it rhymes with egg nog, and agog is kind of an oldish word, not much used - like merry. Finally it has all the right connotations - impatient, eager, and curious. So to all you blog readers out there "Agog Christmas Eve."

Space

[Photograph: Big Frank Dickinson]

Space
By Big Frank Dickinson

"Space is the relationship between bodies." - - Alan Watts

I was talking to this guy at a Christmas party;
He was crowding me, getting inside the 3-foot mark,
And at that time, exactly, someone said about him:
“I had to tell him not to invade other’s space so much.”,
At which point I told him, “Yeah, you are kind of close.”
Then he went off on me, “I bare my soul and this is your response.”
Well, he was in my space to an unacceptable degree.
And even though he was telling me nice things about
My writing, and sharing vulnerabilities of his own . . .
Those are not justifications for invading social space!
He should know that mere acquaintances in a social
Setting stand 4-feet apart unless it's a crowded room which it wasn’t.
But he either did not know this or ignored it.
We all know the right amount of space to give others:
Four feet - that’s the American standard (not talking about toilets here either).
All things being equal, you stay four feet away from other Americans.
It’s different in India, Mexico, and Peru, but we were here so -
Twenty-five feet - that’s public space; socially - 4 feet,
Go inside that to less than 2 and you are getting very personal,
And when it’s less than 1 . . . you should be able to kiss.
Disregard these parameters and you are messing with people.
Lexical space? Same difference. The public lexicon will allow
Twenty-five emotional spaces: you can make an emotional comment,
But it had better be qualified times 25: for example, to a stranger -
“Would you mind if I told you that you seem to possibly be a very nice person?”
No offense taken . . . (a complement can be offensive and invasive!)
Socially: “You seem to me to be quite a nice person.”
Mark how inside four feet the language gets close: “You’re so nice!”
Closeness begets absoluteness - no qualification at all.
Then move closer - get absolutely intimate and here comes the
Directness that comes with contact: “I love you.” . . . Or (strangely)
The extremely personal diss works both publicly and intimately,
Whether to the irritating stranger who won’t leave you alone,
Or the lover who does - irritation . . . is spaceless.

[Photo: Big Frank Dickinson]

Thoughts on Reflexive Actions (Do It Yourself)
---- Big Frank Dickinson

You have but few things you can’t do;
Unto your precious self;
You can’t begin yourself
Nor with yourself fall in love. However,
You can love yourself; hate yourself;
Touch yourself, and taste yourself;
Be good to yourself and make yourself cry;
Talk to yourself; and listen to yourself;
Lie to yourself even when telling the "truth";
Be yourself; and disguise yourself;
Discover yourself; and lose yourself;
Take yourself seriously; and make yourself happy;
You can also hurt yourself; and heal yourself;
Introduce yourself; and ignore yourself;
Bore yourself; and entertain yourself;
You can take yourself apart;
Hide from yourself; and fool yourself;
In all these dances its always true that
The self same self that yourself serves
In turn serves you yourself.
You yourself deserve yourself.

He and Himself

s [Photo: Big Frank Dickinson, Berlin]

Reflex(ivity)
by Big Frank Dickinson

Talking to himself often seemed like talking to someone else, which prompted the thought that someone else was in fact himself. In that case, that other person should rephrase things and change the focus, which in this case would mean being talked to by someone else often did not seem like he was talking to himself. Then it dawned on him that his self could only follow him, himself, but never he. In fact there was no heself at all only himself.

The Snowman

[Photo: Big Frank Dickinson]

Here's one of Big Frank's favorite winter poems by Wallace Stevens - The Snow Man. Great artistic creation going from the reader/winter scene observer to the snowman and his imagined perception of winter to what that really would be . . . nothing.


The Snow Man
--- Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Reluctance

[Photo: Big Frank Dickinson]

Big Frank's thoughts at the end of this autumn, his favorite season, turn to Robert Frost's great poem.

Reluctance
---- Robert Frost

Out through the fields and the woods
And over the walls I have wended;
I have climbed the hills of view
And looked at the world, and descended;
I have come by the highway home,
And lo, it is ended.

The leaves are all dead on the ground,
Save those that the oak is keeping
To ravel them one by one
And let them go scraping and creeping
Out over the crusted snow,
When others are sleeping.

And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,
No longer blown hither and thither;
The last long aster is gone;
The flowers of the witch-hazel wither;
The heart is still aching to seek,
But the feet question 'Whither?'

Ah, when to the heart of man
Was it ever less than a treason
To go with the drift of things,
To yield with a grace to reason,
And bow and accept the end
Of a love or a season?

Those Elusive Passes

The Mountain Pass
by Big Frank Dickinson

Lewis and Clark made it over the pass.
They knew it existed but did not know where
It was; they needed help to find it
And this took them on a round-about journey
To a difficult passage

Over the mountains
To the Pacific
Ocean, a goal of some satisfaction,
Not because of where they ended up
But rather on having gotten there.

They quickly went back, and
The pass was easily found this time
As was the destination from which they had come.
However, it was never the same again

Thanksgiving

Give Thanks = Be Happy

The foundation of happiness is gratitude so does that mean that the Danes and the Finns are more thankful than we Americans? They are, stats tell, the happiest countries in the world. They are also among the most well-off, but it appears that only being better off than others without being grateful does not lead to increased levels of happiness. Emmons and McCullough did an interesting experiment in which three groups of people were asked to write lists and then had their relative levels of happiness compared. The lists were:

(1) What I’m thankful for (gratitude condition)
(2) What Is a Big Hassel (hassel condition)
(3) Anything I feel like writing down (control condition)

Group number one just by virtue of writing down a short list of what it is that they were thankful for at the end of each week for 10 weeks ended up 25% more happy than the other groups. Even when in a subsequent experiment with a new group added that wrote down how much better off they were than others (the comparison group) the gratitude group still came out significantly happier.

So, come on, what are you waiting for? Be thankful; write out your list today and continue to do so every week from now on. Be thankful for what you have and what you have will make you happy - much happier than what it is that you think you need but don’t have. It’s what’s in your hands that makes you happy; hold it, hug it, smile, and be thankful. Big Frank is - he’s smiling - Big Time!

The Origin of Lines

[Photo: Big Frank Dickinson: Osaka, Japn]

There are many ways of categorizing humans in which they are separated from other animals, mammals, and primates: the tool maker, the user of language, or the imaginative one looking into the future. However, here's a new one that definitely is unique to humans: standing in line. No animal will willingly stand in line for any reason whatsoever: food, shelter, entertainment, sex, . . . nothing! Human are the Queuing Animal. Look at all the times/places that humans will line up: to get on a train, plane, or taxi; to get a hamburger, a pizza, or a shot of vodka; to have someone look at their bunyans, moles or warts; to buy a TV, a hammer, or a quart of milk; to enter a theater, a restaurant, or a church; to register for class, withdraw from class, or enter class . . . and so on and on and on. Big Frank wonders when the first line was formed and for what reason. Surely it was not a group decision of perhaps a group of hunters descending on a carcass and standing in line to hack off a piece, nor the consensus of a tribe to queue up in order to drink one at a time from a narrow pool of water. We see lots of cartoons on the first users of wheels and this is typically put back into the fuzzy time when people lived in caves so perhaps that was when the first line was formed. Surely there must have been some kind of power structure to enforce it and some kind of order or enforcement. What did they first line up for: water, food, or perhaps something even more substantial and essential . . . but what?

Now

Big Frank knows the answer to this lovely poem full of questions and waiting!

This Couple
by C. D. Wright

Now is when we love to sit before mirrors
wth a dark beer or hand out leaflets
at chain-link gates or come together after work
listening to each other’s hard day. The engine dies;
no one hurries to go in. We might
walk around in the yard not making a plan.
The freeway is heard, but there’s no stopping
progress, and the week has barely begun. Then
we are dressed. It rains. Our heads rest
against the elevator wall inhaling a stranger;
we think of the cliffs we went off
with our laughing friends. The faces
we put our lips to. Our wonderful sex
under whatever we wear. And of the car
burning on the side of the highway. Of jukeboxes
we fed. Quarters circulating with our prints.
Things we sent away for. Long drives. The rain. Cafes
where we ate late, and once only. Eyes of an animal
in the headlamps. The guestbooks that verify
our whereabouts. Your apple core in the ashtray.
The pay toilets where we sat without paper. Rain.
Articles left with former lovers. The famous
ravine of childhood. Movie lines we’ve stood in
when it really came down. Moments
we have felt forsaken: waiting for the others
Tt step from the wrought-iron compartment,
or passing through some town with the dial
on a Mexican station, wondering for the life of us
where were we going and when would we meet.

"You will outlive yourself . . ."

Big Frank shares below a great poem by Timothy Donnelly from his latest collection of poems: "The Cloud Corporation". And no, it's not just because the title has "Cloud" in it that Big Frank recommends the book. The poems are sharp, they tread familiar territory but reveal it in startlingly pleasing ways. Here's one that Big Frank especially likes on the transitoriness of feeling, but unlike much lyric poetry this is presented as a good thing - not a loss. There are times when we feel we would bet large on the permanence of what we feel; as Donnelly puts it: "You wager too much, small self, on the way you feel." For, as the poem concludes: "you will outlive/ yourself again, and what you feel now, this adamantine/ sorrow, will scatter its dicethrow behind you into swans." Yes that wager that you were so sure of . . . the dicethrow turns into swans!

THROUGH THE WILDERNESS OF HIS FOREHEAD
By Timothy Donnelly

You wager too much, small self, on the way you feel. Nothing
you have thought should last forever can’t be lost.

Even the yellow wind that begins at once to strip the last of the
heart-shaped foliage from the tree across the way

knows that feeling is a spell from which the mind can
rouse itself awake if it would only let itself be taken

leaf by leaf apart. And you have felt this fear before, clung
as to a vapor misremembering what had stood to

live through memory alone. Or was it afterwards among
fog folded into blankets of some self-erasing sleep.

Or when, conversely, focused on the constancy of any given
thing without dispersing, undissolved – an icecap-

white moon or clock-face on a tower – the mind intent on far
too fine a point to take in any more. You will outlive

yourself again, and what you feel now, this adamantine
sorrow, will scatter its dicethrow behind you into swans.

The Magic Lantern's Costume?

Big Frank had to take out the Magic Lantern again. It does seem that there are certain important events that do require its magic. Certainly traveling can always use a little magic from the ol lantern to keep things exciting. Writing is something that Big Frank has not yet used the Magic Lantern for, but it could be useful. However, most immediately - Halloween is coming and with that weird holiday comes . . . Costume Parties! The Costume Party is a a favorite of Big Frank's.

Here's a little history on Costume Parties. In England they are typically called 'fancy dress parties' and date back to the 18th century - really coming into their own in Victorian times in terms of frequency. However, the costumes were pretty simple (basically masks) until after the second war when things started getting a bit more extravigant. Typically you will see current popular characters from the media as the most popular costumes: Lady Gaga, Kick-Ass, Avator, Ironman, Vampires, etc. However, Big Frank and his Magic Lantern go for the costume which is not tied to any one character at all. It will be vaguely familiar but will elude particular identification.

Those with no place to go for Halloween in Spokane are all invited to Bluz at the Bend on Saturday night for the costume party of the year. Costumes are required and Big Frank (incognito) will be there along with the Social Adventurers (all in costume, of course).

NAMBA

Whenever Big Frank is in Osaka he heads to Namba. This is a district in Osaka that is thought of as the core of the south area of Osaka. It is known best for the giant neon signs, the canal, many popular bars, nighclubs, and arcades for shopping. It supposedly was the inspiration for the cityscapes of that great science fiction film "Blade Runner" with its hightech, crowded streets, food vendors, and exotic ambiance. It is all of that. You see some tourists, but even more youth hanging around - making the scene.

The biggest neon sign is GLICO MAN. This has been here since 1919 and is an icon of the Glico Co which makes candy; maybe the most commony know is Pocky - the bisquit stick covered with chocolate.

May I please have this thing I want so much . . .

There is a belief, evidently, in Japan also that there is only one fish in the sea. Big Frank learned this at the Meiji Shrine from the notes/wishes that the visitors left hanging on around the "tree of desire" (well, that's what Big Frank calls it - not sure what the real name is, or if there is a real name). Here's the deal: visitors can take a small piece of wood, write their wish/desire on it and then hand it in a stand around the tree. Then . . . . ?? Unfortunately, there is no empirical evidence about the outcomes of this system. Big Frank circled the tree and read many of the wishes/desires . . . many were generic wishes that everyone in their family be happy and healthy. However, there were also very many lost loves, unrequited loves wishing for the return of their lover, or the acknowledgement of their love. Big Frank has posted photos of these. Yes, Big Frank posted his own note; however, the photo of it didn't turn out:)

Meiji Shrine

Big Frank had some time this evening to visit the Meiji Shrine (明治神宮, Meiji Jingū),located in Shibuya, Tokyo. This shrine is dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. It was originally built in the 1920s, then destroyed by American bombing during WWII, and rebuilt in the 1950s. It is a Shinto Shrine and is surrounded by a beautiful forest of over 170 acres - right in the middle of Tokyo.

Wheels up to . . . the Land of the SLIDING DOORS

Wheels up tomorrow morning for JAPAN (a magic carpet ride!).

And YES, the magic lantern is back.

Texas Celebrations

Big Frank is back from Tyler, Texas. He was down helping to celebrate his nephew Kyle's wedding on Saturday to Gennie. There was lots of family, lots of fun, and the opportunity to spend some quality time with the Tyler Pattersons - first time that Big Frank has been down there in many years.

Then after all the dancing was over and the bride and groom were on there way, Big Frank and his roomy, his brother Dan, returned to their hotel room which could not be opened, not be Big Frank or his brother, or even the hotel staff. Here they are waiting for some guy with a special key to let them in.

Lemmings and Boxes

Stomack and Borgan return. The epigraphs are in keeping with the now fashionable trend in poetry to epigram (can that be used as a verb?) all poetry. Lemmings and boxes is what it’s all about.
---------------------------

“The metal boxes will have keys and be located on side streets.”--- Deborah Miller

“Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes”--- The Police

Lemmings and Boxes
---- Big Frank Dickinson

Stomack: Borgan, boxes are no having the keys, is true?
Borgan: What boxes; why you talk of boxes?
Stomack: So, you like all lemmings just rush, rush and not be looking around?
Borgan: Look around plenty; you know me, Borgan - always look both ways.
Stomack: Then surely you see postal boxes on the street sides - very absent now - mostly.
Borgan: Never understand those boxes - why a box to put in what came from other box.
Stomack: Postal service has method; what you say now - Borgan is expert on mail too?
Borgan: Mail too?
Stomack: First expert on absences now mail too; please to answer.
Borgan: OK, not postal expert, but have good idea.
Stomack: Yes . . .?
Borgan: No need to take mail from letter box and congregate in congregation box - just take away for good. Saving boxes, and saving time too.
Stomack: Maybe is reason for congregation boxes.
Borgan: Ever look in box of congregated letters, Stomack?
Stomack: Cannot - box on side street always locked, not?
Borgan: Can lock box, but cannot hide bad idea!
Stomack: Borgan, such good quotation - is your words?
Borgan: Like lemmings we rush past bad idea too much. Please look and say out loud.
Stomack: OK: I change mind - you make me, Borgan. No more rush - now look both ways.
Borgan: So good: bad idea always will out!

Oscar Wilde Said

Big Frank thinks today that these Oscar Wilde quotations can be strung together and turned into a Oscar Wilde poem the title of which is:

Oscar Wilde Said
by Oscar Wilde via Big Frank

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation
Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
Only the shallow know themselves.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
The world is a stage but the play is badly cast.
There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

If you are not too long I will wait here for you all of my life.

Rhino KO'd

.

Big Frank 1, Rhinovirus 0!

Rhinovirus & NY

While Big Frank recovers from a bout with a rhinovirus, he heard this poem recited by David Rakoff and was transported by it. Read it and go where it takes you - beautiful.

Letter To N.Y.

by Elizabeth Bishop
(for Cd)

In your next letter I wish you'd say
where you are going and what you are doing;
how are the plays and after the plays
what other pleasures you're pursuing:

taking cabs in the middle of the night,
driving as if to save your soul
where the road goes round and round the park
and the meter glares like a moral owl,

and the trees look so queer and green
standing alone in big black caves
and suddenly you're in a different place
where everything seems to happen in waves,

and most of the jokes you just can't catch,
like dirty words rubbed off a slate,
and the songs are loud but somehow dim
and it gets so terribly late,

and coming out of the brownstone house
to the gray sidewalk, the watered street,
one side of the buildings rises with the sun
like a glistening field of wheat.

--Wheat, not oats, dear. I'm afraid
if it's wheat it's none of your sowing,
nevertheless I'd like to know
what you are doing and where you are going.

Memories of Paris

Big Frank said au revoir to Konrad at Charles De Gaul Airport. Konrad headed back to Warsaw and Big Frank to the States. Sitting in the Salt Lake City Airport, Big Frank has vivid memories of some great times in Paris. Konrad and his dad saw a lot of the typical sites that one sees in Paris: Notre Dame, the Arc de Triumphe, Galleries de Layfayette, museums, and lots of great restaurants. Perhaps those evenings sitting in the small restaurants with street views and over dinner and wine talking the night away - that's what Big Frank liked best.

Diner Merveilleux

Big Frank is enjoying his time in Paris, his son's company, and the great food that is available everywhere in this fine city. This evening, Konrad and his dad ate at Le Petit Sommelier de Paris. The waiter was polite, the food (moules et pomme frites) was excellent, the wine - superb, and the armagnac with espresso a heavenly end to a great meal.

Wheels Up for Paris

[Photo: Big Frank Dickinson]
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It's wheels up for Paris tomorrow! Big Frank will be joined by his son, Konrad in a Parisian adventure: museums, fashion, food, fun . . . and . . . yes, . . . work, but work in Paris - is that work? Big Frank thinks not.

Colorado Highs

Big Frank and his brother, Dan, had some very enjoyable Colorado Highs this past week. They spent a few days at Rainbow Lake kicking back, enjoying the isolation, the altitude, the hiking, the brilliant night skies, and each other's company. The cabin was right off the Colorado trail, so they had easy access to some great hiking, and to the west, a mere 10 miles, was Cottonwood pass - at a little over 12,000 feet - terrific vistas. What a great time!