I'm a firmata. Hold me.

Swingin' in Sun City

Buzz:
We met Tammi and James, and their very alive 9-year old daughter at Paradise Bakery last night. They're in town from Grand Rapids and we had a great visit. Turns out Paradise closes at 9 p.m. At 8:59 one of the gals came over with a box of their most excellent cookies. "Would you like to take these home? We'll just throw them out, otherwise." It worked. We realized the time, figured out they were closing, and I scored a box of great cookies. Will they recognize me if I'm there at closing again tomorrow night?

Buzz Killer:
Today's mail brought the packet from the CPA who has done our taxes the last several years.

Today I went back and forth between the commentaries and the garage where I'm varnishing the trim for the trailer. What a pain. All six sides of all pieces need eight coats, and a couple of the pieces are big and cumbersome. Definitely the unpleasant part of this project that, with 2 hours between each coat, feels like it will go on forever.

I don't like the way the media uses the term evangelical. They seem to think we're monolithic, in agreement on political issues. We're certainly not. The word evangelical describes certain common theological commitments and allows for a wide variety of political positions. It may be fair to generalize that evangelicals are conservative re. moral issues, though even that may be a stretch. We can and do hold very divergent views on economic and foreign affairs matters. Accordingly, no candidate appeals to evangelical voters anymore than a candidate appeals to tall voters.

McCain endorsed Romney today. He said Mitt will "lead from the front, not like this President who has led from behind." Uhm, isn't that an oxymoron?

Aretha Franklin is in the news because at the age of 69 she just got engaged. This will be her third marriage and she assured the press she is not pregnant.
But there's another Aretha Franklin story that's getting drowned out by the engagement news. She's hosting an audition for aspiring opera singers. She's solicited CD's or tapes from young singers focused on classical opera and will choose up to three of them who will get a contract to record on her own label and be promoted by her.

Aretha has a history with opera music. At the 1998 Grammy Awards Luciano Pavarotti was scheduled to sing what may be the most famous aria written for a male voice, Nessun Dorma. He got sick. Ten minutes before that slot in the show Aretha agreed to sing it. Her interpretation is all Aretha. Purists may disapprove but it brought down the house.