The Sirens of Hough's Neck

Jen, dastardly shrew-beast that she is, has gone on the annual McMurrer Family Vaca. The nerve! The breathtaking temerity! Does she not understand how much I miss her? **sobs**

Last year they rented a house up on Plum Island. This year they’re down the Cape near Hyannis -- home to all things Kennedy and the new JFK Hyannis Museum.

So yeah, they’re right close by -- just one hour and some change south of the Neck. Bix and I could slip down there right easily.
But...BUT...my fabulous niece Helen and family are arriving today for a visit.
YEA!

Helen en famiglia now dwell in Hoosick Falls so the trip, by car, is now three and a half hours versus 30 hours from their previous home in Dallas, Texas.

YEA!

I’m off to grocery shop, clean and make a nice bed for Juda their ancient, gentle Wookiee dog (who, I’m hoping, won’t get picked on and harassed too much by our Coco).

I leave you with some Vonnegut (who’s been on my mind after some deep convos with my cousin Al) and some pics from yesterday’s trike ride.

[When Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope] 'Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet?' And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore.

Interview by David Brancaccio, NOW (PBS) (7 October 2005)

The name of the new religion, said Rumfoord, is The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. . . The two chief teachings of this religion are these: Puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God.

Kurt Vonnegut, from The Sirens of Titan

I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

"Knowing What's Nice", an essay from In These Times (2003)