Friday, August 17, 2012

Observations from the Window 8.17

This is going to be a pretty messy post because I'm going to throw together a few I have started in an effort to clean up a little before my trip which begins in about 24 hours.

I had some things I wanted to write about before my trip if I had time. As always my mind wanders constantly and has been totally into the Olympics of late. Politics seems to be on the back burner for now more because I'm so tired of the endless fighting that leads nowhere than any other reason. If the Democratic Party is smart it will call the GOP bluff and let them take the country over that proverbial cliff at the end of the year. But there is plenty of time to talk about that when the November election gets closer.

Before I get into anything else I have a major announcement to make. Truth be told I forget what the hell I wrote that for or what the announcement was so it couldn't have been all that major and was probably a wonderfully sarcastic remark. The only announcement I have tonight is that I still don't have my passport. I'm going to have to get up early and drive to my dad's than drive right back to the Village which makes my Saturday itinerary New York, Pennsylvania, New York, Paris. Sweet jesus.

It's a strange feeling when you have a dream and that dream is about to come true, even if it is only partly coming true. In my dream I only have a one way ticket to Paris. Still the first time I stand by I. M. Pei's
Pyramide du Louvre and look at the museum itself, well,
all bets are off.

To me Paris has always been as much about Hemingway as about art. You might wonder why I of all people  have an obsession with Hemingway, well it's time you knew. When I was little, yes I was little once, my parents read to me every night but I didn't get Dr. Seuss like most children. My mom would read everything from Shakespeare to Dumas but my dad would always pull out his favorite author, Hemingway. Like many things I blame on my dad Hemingway became my favorite author too but somehow I just seem to relate to Hemingway. I'll finish with one of my favorite stories because in the same situation I would probably think the same thing he did.

In 1846 a monster hurricane assaulted Key West and pushed so much sand ashore it seemed to move the Key West Lighthouse inland. Many years later Hemingway bought a house in the shadow of the lighthouse and direct sight of Sloppy Joe's which was his favorite drinking establishment. "As long as I can see that beacon," Hemingway once said, "I'll always be able to find my way home."

Like I said, I can relate.