Various & Sundry, Revisions and Remixes

Whew! I have a couple little things left to do for the (first round of) Confirm not Conform revisions, but the bulk of the work I needed to hand in is IN, the last will go in today. So I'm starting the day off right, with a Various & Sundry blog entry.

Because I was typing away like mad last week, I didn't get to services for Trinity Sunday. Twitter to the rescue! Jill Cox forwarded on the fabulous sermon from her church in Little Rock (her tweet: "Our priest talked about squirrels and/or zuchinnis falling out of trees...his best EVER!" You know that's going to be good). And Lent Madness Supreme Executive Committee member Tim Schenck provided the Definitive Trinity Sunday Sermon, ending with the immortal words,“Blah, blah, blah Unity, blah, blah, blah Godhead, blah, blah, blah Essence.” You're all set for next year.

I loved these postage stamps of British fashion, issued in honor of the Queen's Jubilee--but really, do you need an occasion?

In the world of tea, this week I learned that Dr. Horrible has a signature tea blend: Dr. Horrible's Tea of Evil Tea! I realize this won't be interesting to anyone who doesn't know about Dr. Horrible. Or likes tea. But too bad. I think it will be excellent for those days when you can't quite find your evil laugh. Or death whinny. Yeah, you need to check out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog for this to make any sense.

In all the obits that I read this week, the one that stood out for sheer loveliness of life was that of Andy Hamilton, a tenor saxophonist from Jamaica who was "a leading figure in Birmingham’s [UK] West Indian community for more than 60 years."

In 1949 Hamilton decided to try making it in the British jazz scene. While staying with friends in Birmingham, he met his future wife, married, took a job in a factory and settled down. He played for weddings and parties at weekends and, in 1953, formed a band, the Blue Notes, with the pianist and fellow Jamaican Sam Brown. He also went into promotion, putting on bands at ballrooms and clubs across the city. 

At the same time, he was informally teaching young would-be musicians who came to him for advice. He preferred to describe it not as “teaching” but as “helping”, and he had his own unique method, which began with getting the pupil to relax and listen.

He recorded his first album at the age of 73. It was one of the year's best sellers. Alongside Kathryn Joosten, it's been a week for recognizing people late in life.

On the other end of the life spectrum, the baby hawks that I've been watching through the HawkCam have up and flown away! Here's a great video of one of the young hawks fledging.



And finally, for your listening pleasure, the new hit from Mr. Rogers: The Garden of Your Mind. It's mighty catchy! (h/t Anibundel) Enjoy!