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Quote of the Day
“The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter.”
— Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
Howard Daniel, Pen-for-Rent Principal
Update on the Wildfire Near Our Home
/1 Comment/in California, North Bay, Places I've lived, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County /by Howard DanielDry lightning over the Golden Gate Over the past several days, Sandra and I have been hearing from friends and extended family asking if we’re OK amid the wildfires currently burning all over California, and especially up here in Sonoma County Wine Country. YES. So far we’re OK. Thank you all very much for your […]
It’s a Miracle She’s Stuck With Me
/2 Comments/in Family, Hawaii, Humor, Recollections /by Howard DanielOur wedding, Santa Barbara, California, August 8, 1987 This coming Saturday, Sandra and I will be celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary. It’s hard to fathom that by December, just four months from now, we’ll have completed a full 33 and a third passages around the sun together — married for a third of a century, […]
Dad Stories
/4 Comments/in Brazil, Danelectro, Family, Holidays, Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielDad with me, probably 1945, Long Branch, N.J. On Father’s Day I’m recalling a few more stories about my dad, Nathan Daniel. They’re mostly “short takes,” so I’m presenting them in bullet form. One day, when I was about eight, Dad brought home a chunk of dry ice, something I’d never seen or heard of […]
Rioting: The Light Side
/0 Comments/in Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard DanielBladderball In this time of rioting and broad-brush condemnation of America’s police, both of which I find deeply troubling, I’d like to lighten the mood with a recollection of rioting as I witnessed it in “olden times.” When I was a student at Yale (1962–66), riots were a joyful tradition. Entirely apolitical, they were simply […]
Racism — A Few Things to Think About
/4 Comments/in Current Events, Hawaii, India, Places I've lived, Recollections, Thoughts /by Howard DanielI’m 75 years old. As readers of this blog know, I’ve been around the block a time or two, and I’ve seen, read and learned a lot. What I’m seeing right now — America’s racial “conversation” (for some, our national yelling match) becoming ever more shrill and violent — deeply troubles me. I’m also deeply […]
Our Deepening Crisis
/0 Comments/in Coronavirus, Current Events, Thoughts /by Howard DanielOur country is in crisis. We must keep ourselves from tumbling into the abyss. The crisis is like a boiling cauldron whose four toxic ingredients — racism, a killer plague, a crippled economy and deep-seated political antagonism — are threatening to bubble over and spill us into the flames below. Racism: Nine minutes (!!) of […]
More Than One Way to Skin a Cat or …
/0 Comments/in Family, Humor, Places I've lived, Recollections /by Howard Daniel… carve a turkey … or slice a banana. Yes. And I’ve witnessed it. As regular readers of this blog will recall, last week I wrote about my grandson’s bar mitzvah. That got me thinking about my own bar mitzvah, back in 1957. That was a significant year. It was when the USSR put the […]
Our Grandson’s ZOOM Bar Mitzvah
/0 Comments/in Coronavirus, Family, Recollections, Thoughts /by Howard DanielAdam and Jodi blessing Jonah Yesterday we had a wonderful family celebration. Our oldest grandchild, Jonah, celebrated his bar mitzvah, the initiation as a Jewish adult (with all religious rights and responsibilities), which traditionally takes place at age 13. In ordinary times, a bar mitzvah is celebrated in a synagogue or temple in the presence […]
Brownies
/0 Comments/in Family, Holidays, Humor /by Howard DanielBrown E’s for dessert! April Fools’ Day — yes, that’s the correct way to write it — is now a little over a month in the rear-view mirror, and as followers of this blog will be aware, I’ve had other things on my mind since then. Nevertheless, my daughter Naomi found a great way to […]