I have an open mind, after all

It was my dad who taught me to like avocados. We had a small tree in our backyard. I suppose those are the avocados we ate.

Daddy put slices of avocado on toast and mashed them, then added pepper (more than I do), and that is how I preferred to eat them, just like Daddy. But then I watched my sister-in-law, Lynne (now deceased; Daddy always called her Lynnie) put mayonnaise on her avocado, so I tried that. I don't use as much mayo as she did, but a little is good.

I make the bread, and that is good, too. Homemade whole wheat bread, toasted, fresh avocado with a little pepper and mayonnaise--pretty darn tasty.

And now let's talk about bacon.
After I wrote a post complaining about how thin bacon is sliced these days, my friend Joan called to save me. Really. She said I should use precooked bacon, available at Costco.

I silently turned up my nose at the idea. But then I thought, "Why not?" And I have been using it and happily. It's good, easy, and quick. What's not to like?

Now. If I could only buy a decent tomato.

Some various

Amazon local has an offer today for house cleaning.

$39 for two or three hours of house cleaning.

I do not understand the offer.

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They're working on the streets near my house. Long waits and tie-ups. Funny how we feel about such things. Clearly, the streets needed repair and repaving, but do they have to do it right now?

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Just home from my good friend's funeral. All her children there, of course, and all looking happy. I don't mean happy today in particular. Just happy with life. Glad their mom was "not perfect, but the perfect mom for them." I know she's proud of them.

Andrew and Lola went, too. Andrew on his own, Lola with me. They had good reunions with their Lynn friends. I liked to see it.

Those were the good old machines.

I want my old washer back, except that it was leaking ugly thick grease.

But my new washer is designed to keep me out of it. Keep me from lifting the lid and repositioning the load when it gets off balance and won't spin right.

It's out there now making a lot of noise as the tub bangs against the drum. (Are those the correct terms?) And it won't complete the spin cycle.

Please don't tell me things to try. I've tried them.

Well, yesterday

I bought a new TV so I'll have one downstairs and can watch conference without having to be in my bedroom.

The new TV is in the kitchen on that little movable shelf/cart by the window. But it doesn't move anymore because I took off the wheels.

Samsung, 32" and just about the right size for that spot. I also bought an indoor antenna, because I don't have cable or anything like it. I know. That's weird these days--no cable or dish or direct tv. Kind of like me refusing to be on Facebook.

So there. That's done.

Apparently some April Fool's jokes aren't funny

One April Fool's Day I played a joke on Joyce, my good friend. We lived in Caldwell, on Canyon Hill, a respectable neighborhood, kept our freezer in the garage and kept lots of Joyce's family's food there along with ours. Like our beef, freezer jams; their pork or lamb. And so on. We almost always left the garage door open.

That particular April 1st I called Joyce and told her someone had come in and stolen everything from the freezer. Everything. Joyce was doubtful. She knew what day it was. But I said, "No. Really," Then I said I guessed it was only the food they were after because they left the tricycle belonging to my daughter. A convincing detail and a nice touch, I thought. 

Joyce was shaken. It was a lot of food, really a lot (big freezer) and represented money and work she and her husband had expended. I told her I was so sorry and every bit as shaken. Our slaughtered steer. And so on. We both had big families.

I have no recollection of how long I carried on the "joke."  Not too long. I'm not mean, you know. So eventually, and we're talking minutes here, I said, "April Fool." She was relieved but not terribly happy with me.

Several months later, someone did break in and steal our food. By then Joyce and Ferris had bought their own freezer and kept their food on their own property. When I told her about the real theft, she said it served me right.

A little bit about music, revised

When Soviet Russia invaded Afghanistan (1979) they brought with them their views of music and its purpose. Because Ahmad Toryalai Zahir, a very popular singer in Kabul, refused to make music that glorified the soviets, he was shot and killed. His death happened to be on June 14, 1979, his 33rd birthday, and on that same day his baby boy was born.

I said he was popular. His popularity was huge. He was idolized. After his death he was almost a god. The soviets tried to say that he had been in an automobile accident, but when his wife uncovered his face, she saw the bullet hole in his head. 

When The Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist political movement with extreme views and violent tactics, came to power there in 1996 (and how these things actually happen, I do not know), they banned all music. I do not know if Afghan families secretly hummed in their own homes, but I doubt it. And music in the sense that we know it and are free to listen to here in America--and that is any kind we choose--was forbidden.  In public and in private.

These are stunning facts. But clearly it is recognized by those who want power that music has power to influence people.

I also know that the soviets, Stalin in particular, attacked and censored the music of Dmitri Shostakovich, and he was repeatedly criticized in Pravda, the official soviet newspaper. As long as they were in power, he suffered, and that includes financially.

Dmitry Kabalevsky, on the other hand, enjoyed Stalin's favor and flourished under that otherwise culturally stifling regime.

The difference? Kabalevsky had joined the Communist Party during WWII and later helped set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow and remained one of its leading figures.

I am not sure why Shostakovich's music was considered subversive, except that he was considered subversive. I happen to like the music of both of them but think Shostakovich's is greater.

Happy Birthday Bach

Yesterday was Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday--21 March 1685. I was busy and gone all the day long, so today I am listening to some of the best music in the world, Bach's.

I know of people, and know people personally, who do not like Bach, his music, that is. They think it's boring. And I have heard people play it ploddingly, some who seem not to have the slightest idea of its greatness, its beauty and grace and imagination. Serious and deep where required. Light and fun in other pieces. But the truth is he is the greatest. Shall we hear his music in the next life? I hope.

I grew up hearing Bach--two and three part inventions, partitas, minuets--even played a few of the simplest ones myself. I sang in the University Chorale at BYU when we performed the gorgeous, moving chorus, "Here, Yet A While," from Bach's St Matthew Passion.

I have spent much of 2012, 2013, and some of this year listening to Bach's concerti, some for violin, harpsichord, most for piano or transcribed for piano.

He had many children. Three of them, his oldest sons, also known for their musical contributions to the world. Carl Philip Emmanuel, Wilhelm Friedemann, and Johann Christian. I like their music as well, although we do not hear it as much.

I love Bach. Give him a listen.