A Jokey Intro Followed by a Boring Description of My Day and Ending With the Note of Reflection You've Come to Expect From Me
In response to my recent solicitation, Nell asked: "What question would you most liked to be asked, and how would you answer it?"
It would be: "Would you like help finishing up painting your condo?"
Here's how I would answer: "Oh, no, thank you. I'm fine. Really. No, really -- I wouldn't dream of it. That's nice of you to ask, but there's not that much left to do . . ."
***
Today I finally got back to painting. I did one coat on the front windows and trim and one coat on the washer/dryer closet door and trim. It pretty much took all day except for a visit to my parents. Still left (after the second coat on the aforementioned): kitchen, bathroom (including hallway-side trim), bedroom door and trim (both sides), bedroom clothes- and linen-closet doors and trim, patio door and two windows on either side of it (the door and the two windows have 15 panes of glass each).
While I was painting the front window, I listened to this and this and this. If only it had taken the length of just three CDs to finish! I listened to the radio too.
***
Tonight while I painted, I watched the National Memorial Day Concert at the Capitol. I don't think I'd ever seen it before. It was filled with the expected musical (and other) notes of patriotism (to which I can be surprisingly susceptible), some schlocky tunes sung by Natalie Cole, some high-minded sentimentality, a nice version of "You Were Always on My Mind" by deep-voiced country hunk Josh Turner, and a number of genuinely moving spoken passages, such as when Dianne Wiest read a long letter from a mother to her deceased son, killed in Iraq; the letter had been written while the mother sat at his grave site in Arlington National Cemetery.
What struck me most about the show was the deep loss, pain, and grief that infused it. It wasn't just a flag-waving concert. While the tone wasn't anti-Bush in any way, there was such unrelenting anguish in the personal stories of soldiers wounded in Iraq and surviving loved ones of those killed. My own overriding feeling when the show was over was anger. Not what I imagine the producers had intended to invoke. Then again, who knows?
It would be: "Would you like help finishing up painting your condo?"
Here's how I would answer: "Oh, no, thank you. I'm fine. Really. No, really -- I wouldn't dream of it. That's nice of you to ask, but there's not that much left to do . . ."
***
Today I finally got back to painting. I did one coat on the front windows and trim and one coat on the washer/dryer closet door and trim. It pretty much took all day except for a visit to my parents. Still left (after the second coat on the aforementioned): kitchen, bathroom (including hallway-side trim), bedroom door and trim (both sides), bedroom clothes- and linen-closet doors and trim, patio door and two windows on either side of it (the door and the two windows have 15 panes of glass each).
While I was painting the front window, I listened to this and this and this. If only it had taken the length of just three CDs to finish! I listened to the radio too.
***
Tonight while I painted, I watched the National Memorial Day Concert at the Capitol. I don't think I'd ever seen it before. It was filled with the expected musical (and other) notes of patriotism (to which I can be surprisingly susceptible), some schlocky tunes sung by Natalie Cole, some high-minded sentimentality, a nice version of "You Were Always on My Mind" by deep-voiced country hunk Josh Turner, and a number of genuinely moving spoken passages, such as when Dianne Wiest read a long letter from a mother to her deceased son, killed in Iraq; the letter had been written while the mother sat at his grave site in Arlington National Cemetery.
What struck me most about the show was the deep loss, pain, and grief that infused it. It wasn't just a flag-waving concert. While the tone wasn't anti-Bush in any way, there was such unrelenting anguish in the personal stories of soldiers wounded in Iraq and surviving loved ones of those killed. My own overriding feeling when the show was over was anger. Not what I imagine the producers had intended to invoke. Then again, who knows?
posted by Billy at 11:06 PM
3 Comments:
diane wiest and stockard channing are my two all-time favourite actresses.
eI watched this concert for the first time in years because my daughter, who is in one of the high school bands performing on M'Day, was there. I was overwhelmed with sadness. Although the concert made no political statements, the overwhelming reality of the images of wounded vets, gravesites, and the compelling words of the letters read by Dianne Wiest and Bonnie Hunt, perhaps have given us one of the most powerful portraits of the terrible cost of this war. The question: Is this war worth this kind of loss? is a hard one not to ask after watching this program. And it was a question that could emerge after this event without any distrespect to those beting honored. Curiously absent was anyone important from the current administration. Colin Powell has already distanced himself and been distanced from this administration.
Yes, I too thought it was interesting that Colin Powell was the only vaguely (former) administration type present -- other than the _vice_ chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff!
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