In a surreal bit of timing, I’ve spent the last few days in Napa Valley. While my present state of mindfulness is bliss - a serene inn with Bouchon Bakery croissants at the door each morning, good wine, perfect weather, time with Erin - I feel a lingering worry for the future. #rested&ready
It’s been a busy few days with family visiting from Austin, Wilmington (NC), and Rhode Island. Today we went to the food truck rodeo at Durham Central Park. Beautiful day, fun times, good food and drinks. Last night was dinner at Acme in Carrboro. Tonight a show at Cat’s Cradle.
Just registered for the Uwharrie Mountain Run (Feb. 1, 2025). I’ll run the 8-mile race this time around. Previously I did the 20 and 8, and both times it was cold!
Microcast from Carrboro Town Plaza just after I cast my ballot.
Josh Ritter is out with a surprise mini-album, ‘Heaven, or Someplace as Nice’ and he sent a special vinyl pressing to 21 record stores across the country. See list [here](mini-album ‘Heaven, or Someplace as Nice’). I’d love to visit these on my travels, but how to bring home records safely?
Today’s news cycle has included quite a few articles (like this from WaPo) about the Trump rally that was interrupted as a couple of attendees passed out. The reports focus on the seemingly bizarre behavior of the candidate, who played deejay and “swayed and bopped” on stage for nearly 45 minutes.
I’m quite against Trump and the Republican Party this election, but I didn’t immediately smirk at this. Something that happened near me recently made me pause and consider the room, so to speak.
The other night at the Cat’s Cradle Back Room, as the Wildmans played, I noticed I was smiling, feeling happy and relaxed and delighted by the beautiful song by this young sister and brother.
But then, a woman in the back of the room suddenly yelled out, three times, and dropped to the concrete floor. People around me looked around in confusion, a man knelt beside the woman, the bartender grabbed a phone to call 911.
“Is everyone ok?” asked Aila once her song was finished.
“No,” replied a few people.
But the woman was conscious and being attended to, and people in the front weren’t quite aware of what was going on. So Aila looked at her brother, Elisha, and together they said, OK, we’ll play a song to help the mood, and they launched into a jiggy Appalachian fiddle tune. I was struck by how well they handled the disruption and used their music to lift up the mood.
But I found myself rattled, so I walked to the corner of the room and leaned against the wall. A song or two later, I returned to my spot in the middle of the floor. The woman who’d fallen was gone—I don’t know what happened to her—Aila was singing a covers of These Days and Fade Into You, and the energy of the room was back in the happy frequency.
I guess I just wanted to share my awareness of the energies and emotions that can flow through a crowd. When this incident happened, I marveled at how social we humans are. How connected we are. How quick our concern for another spreads, how swift we are to help the individual and the community.
I know who I’m voting for this election (I hope to celebrate President Harris). The people at that Trump rally don’t share a lot of my views, but for a moment some of the surely felt what I felt. That’s a connection on which we can build.
Yesterday I finished reading If You Can’t Take the Heat by Michael Ruhlman. Today I wrote a blog post about how much I enjoyed this teen/YA novel and why I liked the Cleveland references. 📚
More enjoyable live music this weekend at Cat’s Cradle: First the energetic reggae-jam-rock collective The Hourglass Kids (with the frenetic Appalachian thrashers Bongfoot) Friday, then the young brother-sister group The Wildmans (with Appalachian Americana singer Dori Freeman Saturday.
Right about now, on the other side of the planet from where I’m sitting (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.A.), Mereva Timante is getting married in Port Vila, the capital of the Republic of Vanuatu.
Mereva was just a small child of 2 when Erin and I arrived on the island of Paama as U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers in 1997. Her father and mother, Noel and Leah, hosted us during the two-month training period and then, when we returned to Liro Village as our assignment, they became our constant friends and teachers. They were our family, and Mereva was with us every single day. Ennah and Terry, too. They filled our two years in Vanuatu with much joy, and we cried when it was time for us to go home to the States.
Two decades later, though, Erin and I took our own children to Paama In 2018. Leah and Mereva were there to welcome us, and we saw Terry and more of the clan in Vila. Our time in Vanuatu was much too short.
In the years since, we’ve tried to make up for the distance by sending money to support Mereva in her studies. When we learned last month that she was to be married in October, we even talked about me flying back there for the celebration. Alas, that wasn’t possible.
But if I couldn’t get to Vanuatu for the wedding, where I’d surely have been offered a ceremonial shell of kava, I knew that I could get to Da Kine’s Kava in Durham to have a cup of Vanuatu kava in honor of Mereva. “Tahosis vareis,” I said as I raised the cup to my ni-Vanuatu family. Well done, and I will see you soon.
That fun wine tasting the other night? Turns out to have been a Covid spreading session, too. At least 4 people, including my wife, got the virus. I’ve got the slightest of sore throats, so maybe I have it, too, though I did get the flu shot yesterday so my immune system might be a bit confused.
For dinner tonight, I made Peppers Stuffed with Feta (Piperies Gemistes me Feta), one of my favorite recipes from the once-great Saveur Magazine. I used poblano peppers from Carrboro Farmers Market.
Found what I wanted at the Carrboro Farmers Market this morning - roselle calyxes. Will make syrup today and family will enjoy it in seltzer throughout the winter.
Whoa, my new batch of hot sauce is good, sweet and quite hot. I just tasted it and developed hiccups.
Played soccer this morning. Now watching soccer as I make another batch of hot sauce - in the garage so house doesn’t fill with fumes. Later I will walk the annual Carrboro Music Festival.
There’s a member of Micro.blog community that I would like to contact for help on something sensitive regarding a family member in his city. I can’t find a direct way via the web (i.e., no email and I’m not on Facebook). I don’t think M.b has a ‘direct message’ feature. Do I have options?
Off soon to see Ed Sheeran and others at Duke’s centennial Founder’s Day Celebration and Concert. Erin and I loved Sheeran’s duet with Andrea Bocelli, which I blogged about here.
A morning microcast to explain my latest blog post on the Zuiker Chronicles (A list of profiles I’ve written) and the writing goals that are in my 5-year “vivid vision.”
h/t Cameron Herold for the Vivid Vision inspiration.
Solsbury o’clock! This Friday I’m listening to Peter Gabriel’s anthem on my headphones as I ride the elevator down from my office. Another good week of worn done.
Who in the Micro.blog community is using the Sidebar.js to include your microblog posts in the sidebar of your main web site (per Help Center here)? I’d like to do this and would appreciate examples.
Finished reading: Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon - quite the surprising and enjoyable read. 📚