It’s cloudy again today, but I am totally digging the 65 degrees Fahrenheit! Everything is always easier when there’s a cool breeze.

I picked up another shift today with that really nice woman who lives out in Granville — who lives in that stunning home, surrounded by that incredible landscaping. (That house where I needed a map to find the bathroom last time I was there!) (Oh, and it actually turned out that I know the owners of the house — the woman’s daughter and son-in-law. Truly nice people. They take such good care of her.)

They live in the hills behind the Bryn du Mansion. If you’re ever in Granville, the mansion is easy to spot from the road…

It’s a long shift, but I don’t have to leave for a few more hours so I’ll actually have time to work on the novel today, too.

Yesterday was nice because it sort of began the “Happy 95th Birthday” wishes for my favorite nearly-95-year-old Japanese man. He got a beautiful birthday card in the mail from a son & daughter-in-law in South Carolina; one of his daughter’s called from Seattle; another son & daughter-in-law from Florida will be in town beginning today and will be stopping in to see him later; and then a nephew he hasn’t seen in years is coming to town from NY on Monday.

It made me feel really good to see him so happy. The son & daughter-in-law from Florida are taking him out to dinner on Saturday, so I decided that tomorrow, he and I will go out to lunch to celebrate — sashimi & sake — instead of on Saturday.

He doesn’t really remember that it’s his birthday, but as each little thing pops up, it makes him really happy. He loves hearing from people. Except for when a caregiver is there with him, he is completely alone in the house, as well as in the entire State of Ohio…

And this is cool!

This is an example of the wooden toy his father used to make — & sell — when he had a stall on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ, back in the early 1930s! A black & white bulldog. He made them by hand. We’re not positive, but this could be one of the actual ones his father made. (We found it online — listed as “Folk Art from the 1930s.”)

************

This is also a cool thing! I ordered one today.

From Ross K. Nichols:

“The Ten Words – Shapira Fragments Poster

“This elegant poster presents The Ten Words as they are preserved in the mysterious Shapira Fragments. Long dismissed, but in the post-Qumran era increasingly regarded by many as ancient and authentic…”

It comes in 3 sizes, plus shipping. You can read about it and order it HERE.

(FYI — The “Ten Words” are also known as the Ten Commandments, but the Shapira Fragments are considered the earliest known form of Moses’ words.)

**************

On a similar note — well, not really, however–

The other day, I began yet another new online course and I am just loving it:

“The History of Christianity in the Reformation Era”.

It focuses on the upheavals of Christianity in Europe in the late 15th to mid 16th Centuries. 36 lectures total, really in depth stuff. From Protestantism, to Radical Protestantism, to Anabaptism, and the transformation of Roman Catholicism.

(It’s on a phone app I use so there isn’t a link to it that I can post here.)

**************

Okay. Not on a similar note…

Phil is supposed to do another livestream tonight at 9PM eastern time, check here later to confirm.

****************

Nick Cave sent out another Red Hand File this morning, wherein he announced, a week early, that he and the Bad Seeds will be doing a Wild God tour of Australia and New Zealand in January!!

He also revealed that he is taking a brief vacation from the Red Hand Files, so I will attempt to not go through any sort of post-partem depression. We shall see how that goes!!

Meanwhile you can read today’s Red Hand File here.

And from last night in Bulgaria!! (And FYI — you can still get tickets here for the show in Macedonia tomorrow!! That is the final show of the tour that has tickets available.)

And in the event we DO get any sort of post-partem depression, here’s this:

Nick Cave, Berlin 1986 — and, appropriately, quite blue:

*************

And before I toddle off to get to work on The Curse of Our Profound Disorder!!

I rediscovered this gem on Amazon Prime:

My god, I used to love this show!! But I cannot believe it is over 30 years ago, already!! WTF??!! I must say it again: Where did the fucking time go??!!

This is from back in the days when I lived in NYC, on the Upper West Side with Wayne. And my best friend on Earth was still alive — Paul Martin, who died in 1999. We both used to just love this show. And watching these re-runs now, I can easily recall WHY. It is so fucking funny. (I watch it in bed now, after various phone calls, right before going to sleep — and I feel like Paul is right there with me.)

************

And that is it for today!! Time for more coffee and some writing, re-writing, and RE-re-writing!

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world!

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

**********

I leave you with this!

Yes, still on a Monkees kick around here! This one is usually going over and over in my head when I am waking up at 4AM.

It was one of those pop gems written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. (Some day, I will regale you with the Carole King story from my wee bonny girlhood!! It includes the first bar mitzvah I attended when I was 11, the first boy I ever slow danced with, and a phone call from Carole King herself!!)

Okay!!

“Take A Giant Step”, 1966. The Monkees. Enjoy, gang.

“Take A Giant Step”

Though you’ve played at love and lost
And sorrow’s turned your heart to frost
I will melt your heart again.
Remember the feeling as a child
When you woke up and morning smiled
It’s time you felt like you did then.
There’s just no percentage in remembering the past
It’s time you learned to live again at last.

Come with me, leave yesterday behind
And take a giant step outside your mind.

You stare at me in disbelief
You say for you there’s no relieve
But I swear I’ll prove you wrong.
Don’t stay in your lonely room
Just staring back in silent gloom.
That’s not where you belong
Come with me I’ll take you where the taste of life is green
And everyday holds wonders to be seen.

Come with me, leave yesterday behind
And take a giant step outside your mind.

c – 1966- Gerry Goffin, Carole King