An evening pause: “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”
Watch how a politician gets his underlings to do his dirty work, while keeping his own hands clean. From the 1964 film, Becket. Click through to part 15 to see that dirty work being done.
Barnes Wallis: the man behind World War II’s Dam Busters.
An evening pause: Some nice folk music, written by Eden MacAdam Somer and Larry Unger and performed by them live in 2010.
An evening pause:
How much does it cost, I’ll buy it.
The time is all we’ve lost, I’ll try it.
But he can’t even run his own life
I’ll be damned if he’ll run mine.
The irony of this song is that it was written during the Vietnam War as a protest against the war and the draft. Today, most of the same anti-war protesters that sung it then, now want that same government to run our lives, even though it can’t run its own.
R.I.P. Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013).
An evening pause:
Where there is desire there’s gonna be a flame.
Where there is a flame someone’s gonna get burned.
But just because you’re burned doesn’t mean you’re gonna die.
You just gotta get up and try, try, try.
An evening pause: Jacqueline Abbott and Iris Dement sing a song by Iris Dement, “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
An evening pause: The original song, by Blondie, had nothing to do with Shakespeare, but I like this celebration of Shakespeare based on the song, produced by Historyteachers. And it is his birthday today!
An evening pause: No visuals, just lyrics, but this song and performance remains one of the best ever. I just can’t find a good live performance to share.
An evening pause: I especially like the trick where you pick up a penny from the bottom of a dish filled with water, without getting wet.
An evening pause: An apropos song I think for April Fools. That’s Stephen Sondheim on the piano, accompanying Bernadette Peters.
An evening pause: On this the first anniversary of the day we moved into our dream home, on a western hill of Tucson overlooking the mountains and the city, let us revisit this magnificent song by Connie Dover, this time sung live.
An evening pause: I am usually not a big fan of the big production Irish shows like Riverdance or Celtic Woman, as often the heart of the music gets lost in the big production. Here, however, they keep it somewhat simple, and the result is we see some good fiddling.
An evening pause: The pace and speed of this music might make us feel breathless, but she’s having so much fun playing it!
An evening pause: A nice live performance of Steve Goodman’s classic song, with Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson providing backup and chorus for Willie Nelson.
The illegal view from the top of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.
Getting to the Window in the Santa Catalinas is a challenge, mostly because of the 4000 foot elevation gain. In the past two years Diane and I have made three previous attempts, all of which were aborted because we simply either ran out of time or energy.
Today, we left very early in the morning, and because we are right now in very good shape, made it with little trouble, completing the entire hike in just under eleven hours. Some pictures below the fold.
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An evening pause: My posting on Sunday will be light until the evening, as Diane and I will be doing a 13.2 mile hike up Ventana Canyon to a giant natural bridge called the Window. This canyon is in the Santa Catalina mountains that overlook Tucson. These mountains are quite rugged, with some intense elevation gain in a very short time, comparable to the Grand Canyon. For this hike we will gain 4,000 feet in 6.6 miles.
Below is a video of this hike but only going about halfway up the canyon.
An evening pause: The Marble Falls Bridge in Texas had been replaced and needed to be removed. This almost instantaneous demolition was accomplished on March 17, 2013.
