Archive for the ‘Personal Notebook’ Category
We Plant a Tree
Two evenings ago we planted a tree, a Cedrus deodara 'Aurea', or golden Deodar cedar, also apparently known as a "Golden Himalayan Cedar". That's a picture of it at right that I took today. I don't intend to start doing Friday cedar blogging, but we might see another picture someday as it grows. This tree […]
A WWII Train Ride
[The following was a memoir that my father sent to me last year, just a couple of months before he died.] Following the end of the war with Germany in May, 1945 the Army Corps of Engineers unit of which I was a member was assigned to Army of Occupation duty. I was finally tagged […]
In: All, Personal Notebook, Reflections
Recent Days
There has been some disruption in routines around the house lately. On the internet front there was none–internet, that is–from sometime early Saturday until late Tuesday. Our router stopped working and nothing except waiting for a replacement to arrive would fix the situation. Over 80 hours total of deprivation! My goodness but it seemed an […]
"Peter Grimes"
I had seen a large opera performed live only once before; some years ago Isaac and I went to Baltimore for a dress rehearsal of Strauss' "Elektra". It was a good experience, but it seemed much smaller than when Bill and I went to see "Peter Grimes" at the Metropolitan Opera House on 11 March […]
In: All, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
I Dream of Bowling
Before I forget, I wanted to note down the unusual, slightly disquieting dream that I had early this morning. I was making a long-distance trip by car–from where or to where I don't know–when I decided to take a break. I decided to go bowling. [?] I paid my money, chose a bowling ball, and […]
Taking in Some Culture
Culture, culture, culture. I'm back from my whirlwind tour of Manhattan, New York. Parts of it, at least. Our friend Bill, a reader of this blog, some months ago had planned one of his opera trips to that city and he ended up with a bigger hotel room than he'd planned. Thus came the invitation […]
In: All, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
Beard of the Week Special: Valentine's Day 2008
The beards in this special edition BOW belong to yours truly, Jeff (on the right), and his beloved partner, Isaac (on the left). Bill will recognize this photograph, because he took it. The occasion was our first night in Rome on our trip in April 2007. To celebrate our arrival we had dinner al fresco […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Personal Notebook
Cinematic Penises
The last two films that we watched here at Björnslottet were Mrs. Henderson Presents (directed by Stephen Frears; official site; Wikipedia on) Black Book (directed by Paul Verhoeven; official site for "Zwartboek" {english option available}; Wikipedia on) One thing that that two films had in common, in addition to both being seen here recently, is […]
In: All, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
The Kinsey Report at 60
It was on this date, 5 January in 1948, that W.B. Saunders Co., a medical-textbook publisher in Philadelphia, published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, by Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, and Clyde E. Martin. The cover price was $6.50. Exceeding all expectations, The Kinsey Report was a sensation, going through at least 11 […]
In: All, Books, Personal Notebook, Writing
Some Architecture
Architecture was the field I had planned to enter for most of my life, until the end of high school. For some reason, as I was getting ready for college, I decided to follow the way of physics. Good decision or bad decision, it was, it is, but I still have a fascination for all […]
In: All, Music & Art, Personal Notebook
Sloppy Ur-Joes
You may recall that I have been thinking deeply since this summer about Sloppy Joes, first when I shared a recipe that I have been refining as one that seemed to my adult taste buds to recreate the experience of eating the product of a recipe I used when I was a little chef ("Jeff's […]
In: All, Food Stuff, Personal Notebook
The Sun Truck: First Appeal
It's that time of year again, so here I am with my second annual year-end appeal for Ars Hermeneutica, Limited. With this appeal I want to keep things brief and stick to one topic. Ars Hermeneutica started work in 2007 on its first informal science-education project. The project is The Sun Truck. You can find […]
In: All, It's Only Rocket Science, Personal Notebook
My Father
The following is an autobiographical sketch that my father wrote recently for his church newsletter. I do this in his honor, and to mark his death earlier this afternoon. That's Me! – Bob Shaumeyer I was born on June 18,1923 in Kansas City, Kansas. My parents were Albert and Rosina Shaumeyer. I was the youngest […]
A Brief Hiatus
For the next week I will be in Kansas City, visiting my father. Blogging may or may not be possible — depending on whether I have anything to say,* of course. In the meantime, do feel free to talk among yourselves, provided you can think up some nonsense on your own. I plan to be […]
Our Labor Day Daytrip
When the weather is nice and we have a Monday holiday available, we like to take an excursion, heading out in some direction to explore some unfamiliar territory. This past Labor Day happened to have beautiful weather in our part of the country, so we set out north. Part of the excuse for the trip […]
My Italian Underwear
Okay, while I'm thinking about it, here's the story on my Italian underwear. "Upim" is the name of a department store with quite a few locations around Italy — at least Rome and north. It's a pleasant, upbeat, mid-range department store; Isaac and I liken it to Target here in our part of the US. […]
Camping in the Woods
We got back late Sunday evening from our weekend camping trip with our friends Tom & James. They have a very nice camper that they keep at The Woods Campground.* The Woods is an all-gay, clothing-optional campground; it's very easy to become immersed in that environment and returning to straight-majority, clothing-required civilization is a bit […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Personal Notebook
Red Queen Syndrome
Gosh but we seem to have been awfully busy this week and I don't know what we were doing to keep so busy; bits of this and that but no big projects that I can summarize neatly. I thought I'd mention, though, that we're going to take a long weekend to visit our friends Tom […]
Mt. Olive Pickles
Oddly, this post's title is not meant to be ironic, metaphorical, or symbolic. We had some Mt. Olive sugar-free sweet pickles with our dinner tonight, and I felt like writing a few words of praise. Mt. Olive is a brand of pickles and condiments and such things that is common is our area; I don't […]
In: All, Food Stuff, Personal Notebook
A Day at the Arboretum
Last Monday, for our Memorial Day Observed observance, our friend Mike from Baltimore came to visit at lunch time (you know where) and we decided to do a little something. One of our favorite little somethings is to visit the US National Arboretum, which we did. It has several virtues, among them being very close […]