Lives in a Shoe

Goodbye

 From Kurt:

Winter '97 tower records, lower Queen Anne. There's always that moment when someone is browsing the opposite direction. Inevitably someone will have to go around the other. I don't know why but I get anxiety about this. Anyway as I reach the guy moving my direction, I look up awkwardly to excuse myself around him, he looks at me with what I perceive as the same anxiety, we exchange a nod and move on, as I realize it's a very stoned Chris Cornell. I went outside with my girlfriend at the time for a cig.
Chris came out just after us. As he did, he stopped and turned to us as though he expected us to stop him. I just smiled and said hi, "oh hey" he said awkwardly, then slowly walked away. "Damn it I should have offered to smoke him out!" I said to Annie. He looked over his shoulder but kept going. We watched him start his big ram truck, then duck down, followed by the flicker of a bick. I half felt it was an invitation, but the moment had passed...and the moment has passed..

 

 

 

"The Pearls Are Absolutely Non-Negotiable."

The Baroness.  Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1975-1990 -- The Iron Lady, my hero.  I admire her more than any other public figure of my lifetime.  I named my formidable cow after her meaning no disrespect but the utmost appreciation of her strength and intelligence.  She is famously quoted, "Tbe problem with socialism is you eventually run out of other people's money."  She is in ill health now with Alzheimer's and it's sad, sad.

Some time in the early 90s she came to Seattle to give a speech.  Mom (who also loved her) and George and I went to hear her.  It was a big crowd but so respectful that you could hear every word.  She spoke of limited government and strong defense -- as I recall it was pretty much what you would expect.  It was a thrill to be in the same space with her.

A film is being made.  Meryl Streep seems like a good choice.  Hope they don't goober it up.  Here's the trailer:

 

 

Do Not Miss This

Awww...

 

How Wonderful is This Picture?

Coincidence abounding -- I had a really good long chat on the phone with Judi and we were talking about movies.  She and her sister Penny had just seen "Julia" and liked it.  Judi mentioned particularly how the real Julia Child was so life-loving she would have liked to have known her.  I had it in mind to say that it would be great if somebody would make a film about Harry and Bess Truman based on the wonderful book about Bess that was written by their daughter.  Judi and I both read that book and loved it.  But the conversation richocheted around, as our conversations do -- and somehow it never came around to that.

After we'd hung up I thought, "Dang. I forgot to mention the Harry and Bess Truman thing."  I went right to email intending to write to Judi -- and there was an email from Deborah with some nice Harry Truman stuff -- and this seriously wonderful picture which I cannot look at without a cheek-rounding grin. Channeling Nancy Drew I deduced that this is a reproduction of an actual book cover.

Sure enough, there the book is on Amazon.  And of course I ordered it, and if it's as good as I think it will be, I'll send it along to Judi and then to Deborah if she might want to read it also.  Free shipping with Amazon -- can't beat that.  You really can't.

Harry Truman is a hero to me and -- I say this with all sincerity -- I named one of my dogs Harry Truman in heartfelt tribute.  I have been thinking of renaming Belle, my gorgeous Aussie shepherd, and calling her Bess, since it gets tiresome being asked again and again and again if she is named after the Disney princess. 

I've been tempted to say she's named after Belle Cora, particularly after reading an essay by one Dr. Weirde titled "For Whom the Belle Toils"  detailing the history behind the graveyard at San Francisco's Mission Dolores.   Buried there are "the Gold Rush era's most notorious madam, Belle Cora, and her gambler lover, Charles Cora, whom she finally married two hours before his neck was stretched by the Vigilance Committee."  This has absolutely nothing to do with Bess or Harry Truman.

I wanted to know something about the author (of the book I was talking about before) and came across a nice op-ed he wrote for the New York Times about President and Mrs. Truman's trip.  The whole thing is below the break.