Full and happy

Los Angeleno by birth, Northwesterner by choice, Second-hander by nature. Librarian, housebound chef, father, and lowly subject ruled over by the needs and whims of a very old house.
Partial to Mexican, Italian and Vietnamese cookery but will eat damn near anything. Collector of many strange things..the result is chaos and anarchy and a very pleasant place to live.
There is pleasure in accumulation, not just "collecting": music, books and film, in all their multi-formated glory. Outsider artists and those kinds of prints you would recognize if you took liberal studies classes in college. Cooking implements and gadgets for recipes still untried or those ventured. Glasses for most types of libations. Flowers in the garden, herbs in the pot.
It's a life of the senses and a good home life reflects that. Walking helps take in all the rest. Requires no special equipment, opens up the pores, brightens the taste buds, clears the decks for further adventures, puts on the miles, widens the eyes and helps fuel the imagination.

Live boldly, play graciously and love with all your heart knowing that true love comes only once or twice in this lifetime. Speaking of which..donde estas, Empress of my Heart?

Salud!

"Lack imagination and miss the better story" Yann Martel

"Life is a great adventure and I want to say to you, accept it in such spirit. I want to see you face it ready to do the best that lies in you to win out. To go down without complaining and abiding by the result....the worst of all fears is the fear of living." Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

"Not I - not anyone else, can travel that road for you
You must travel it for yourself" Walt Whitman


And above all, friends should possess the rare gift of sitting. They should be able, no, eager, to sit for hours-three, four, six-over a meal of soup and wine and cheese, as well as one of twenty fabulous courses.

Then, with good friends of such attributes, and good food on the board, and good wine in the pitcher, we may well ask,

When shall we live if not now?

-From Serve it Forth,
M.F.K. Fisher


Thursday, September 24, 2009

The big score


Anglo-Saxon treasure. Who would have thought?
Buried treasure. Show me a boy with a shovel and you know that pirate gold is there in the back of his mind. Dig deep enough, or just dig enough holes and something will turn up.

I think it's something we all dream of finding. Long lost valuables from some ancient civilization or some badman's loot secreted away that will somehow bring us instant fame and fortune. In Mr Herbert's case, found in the story pasted below, he was just wandering around a friend's farm with a metal detector when he stumbled upon on of the grandest finds of ancient loot found in modern times. How many times have you seen retirees and such wandering around beaches and parks with those detector things strapped around their necks and wondered if it was worth your time and effort to do the same? I know that they can't be making much. Pocket change, lost rings, old bullets, a piece of iron pipe and the occasional watch. It certainly can't be counted as exercise. I know that they can be breaking a sweat, unless the lugging of that device is a heavier and more perspiration inducing workout than I imagine to be.

But what has to be more thrilling than hearing the sound of the beep when it hits metal is the call of the imagination, the drive to find the first piece of the long trail of treasure left behind by some unheralded outlaw or unsung pirate or other misguided soul. For every boy out there with a pick and wheelbarrow, there's a man like Mr Herbert prowling fields and meadows in search of big treasure. In Herbert's case he just didn't find an old horseshoe or pike head, he stumbled upon a hoard of loot that has become England's largest Anglo-Saxon treasure find ever.

I wonder if they'll let him keep a piece or two for his troubles? I'm sure that something that big can't be owned, it must belong to the people of England now. Well, I suppose if they don't let him keep anything that proposed seven figure return on his time investment will somehow smooth things over. With those kinds of proceeds he can buy a whole box of the museum's upcoming coffee table book and share it with friends. All those new found friends, treasure hunters all.

Salud!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_anglo_saxon_gold

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