Quote of the Day (Annie Dillard, on the ‘February Squawks’ of Birds in the Valley)

“The birds have started singing in the valley. Their February squawks and naked chirps are fully fledged now, and long lyrics fly in the air. Birdsong catches in the mountains’ rim and pools in the valley; it threads through forests, it slides down creeks. At the house a wonderful thing happens. The mockingbird that nests each year in the front-yard spruce strikes up his chant in high places, and one of those high places is my chimney. When he sings there, the hollow chimney act as a soundbox, like the careful emptiness inside a cello or violin, and the notes of the song gather fullness and reverberate through the house. He sings a phrase and repeats it exactly; then he sings another and repeats that, then another. The mockingbird’s invention is limitless; he strews newness about as casually as a god. He is tireless, too; toward June he will begin his daily marathon at two in the morning and scarcely pause for breath until eleven at night. I don’t know when he sleeps.” —American essayist Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (1974)

Photo of the Day: Times Square ‘Blizzard,’ January 2015

Last week’s blizzard, we were told, was the worst in five years. It got me wondering if I had any photos from around that time. The closest I came up with was the attached image, which I took in Times Square on January 26, 2015—a year away from the totals we were told about several days ago.

I have quotes in this headline for a reason: the “blizzard” didn’t turn out to be much of one at all. At the time, meteorologists issued dire warnings, but, after being downgraded to a “high impact winter storm,” all that fell in Central Park was 5.5 inches of snow. I took this photo in Times Square when it looked like it was going to be far worse.

This year, we have not had the same kind of drastic overestimates. In fact, in my area of northern New Jersey, it has been the exact opposite. I would say we ended up with 10 inches more than what the weather people were originally expecting 24 hours away. Similarly, for this past Sunday, instead of the three inches or so anticipated early on, we got more like seven inches.

In this winter of 2021, meteorologists have resembled dentists who assure you that a tooth of yours doesn’t look particularly good, but they think they can handle it. Then, as they get closer, their faces take on a doleful cast. It turns out to be worse than they expected or than you wanted. Sorry!

In a way, this photo makes me nostalgic. It has been 11 months since the pandemic induced my former company and other city employers into work-from-home mode. I have not ventured into midtown Manhattan—an area I had frequented for three decades—since then. The way things are going, I’m not sure at what point I will do so again. 

I can't say that I miss the possibility of slipping on the snow, but I feel a dull ache from no longer seeing the bright lights of Broadway.

TV Quote of the Day (‘Bewitched,’ As Samantha’s Uncle Arthur Pulls A Prank)

[Darrin Stephens, fearing the loss of his advertising job, feels depressed, even sick.]

Darrin Stephens [played by Dick York]: “I'm going up and get into bed.”

Samantha Stephens [played by Elizabeth Montgomery]: “Darrin, you haven't even had your supper. And I made your favorite dish. Beef stew. Look.” [Opens the pot, only to see the grinning head of her warlock Uncle Arthur. Samantha changes from smiling to scowling.] “Uncle Arthur! What are you doing in there?”

Uncle Arthur [played by Paul Lynde] [grinning mischievously]: “What do you think? I'm a stew-away.”

Darrin: “Oh, brother, just what I need!”

Samantha: “Uncle Arthur, will you please get out of there?”

[Uncle Arthur vanishes, only to materialize next to them, then looks down at the pot.]

Arthur: “That stew could use a pinch of time.” [He drops a watch in the pot.] “No danger of it boiling now. It's a watched pot. Oh, I'm too much!”— Bewitched, Season 4, Episode 31, “The No-Harm Charm,” original air date Apr. 25, 1968, teleplay by Ed Jurist, directed by Russ Mayberry

Spiritual Quote of the Day (William James, on Human Differences in God’s Eyes)

“In God's eyes the differences of social position, of intellect, of culture, of cleanliness, of dress, which different men exhibit, and all the other rarities and exceptions on which they so fantastically pin their pride, must be so small as practically quite to vanish; and all that should remain is the common fact that here we are, a countless multitude of vessels of life, each of us pent in to peculiar difficulties, with which we must severally struggle by using whatever of fortitude and goodness we can summon up. The exercise of the courage, patience, and kindness, must be the significant portion of the whole business; and the distinctions of position can only be a manner of diversifying the phenomenal surface upon which these underground virtues may manifest their effects. At this rate, the deepest human life is everywhere, is eternal. And, if any human attributes exist only in particular individuals, they must belong to the mere trapping and decoration of the surface-show.”—American philosopher and psychologist William James (1842-1910), “What Makes a Life Significant?", in Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals (1889)

Photo of the Day: Snowman in the Park

Even after three days of consistent melting, the remains of this week’s blizzard were everywhere when I walked around this afternoon in Overpeck County Park, not far from where I live in northern New Jersey. I only saw one snowman—the picture I took here—but many more could have been built amid this near-blinding expanse of white.

TV Quote of the Day (‘Sex and the City,’ on Falling Down)

Carrie Bradshaw [played by Sarah Jessica Parker]: “When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep on walking.”—Sex and the City, Season 4, Episode 2, “The Real Me,” original air date June 3, 2001, teleplay and direction by Michael Patrick King

From what I hear, the Sex and the City franchise “fell down” with the sequel to the first movie born from the series. Let’s see, with the new projected series reboot, if they “get right back up” following that disappointment.

BTW, some time ago, I hear of an amusing suggestion that the Sex and the City ladies were The Golden Girls quartet, but several decades younger. The new series is supposed to take the original characters (minus Kim Cattrall, who decided not to continue as Samantha) into their 50s. That is the age of at least a couple of the “Golden Girls” when that sitcom premiered.

So, wouldn’t it be better to call this The Golden Girls II? Or at least The Golden Girls and the City?

TV Quote of the Day (‘Monk,’ With the Detective at a Postseason Football Game)

Adrian Monk [played by Tony Shalhoub]: [after encountering drunk football fans at a pregame tailgating party] “Did you enjoy civilization, Leland? I sure did. It was a hell of a run. 8,000 years.”—Monk, Season 7, Episode 13, “Mr. Monk Makes the Playoffs,” original air date Jan. 30, 2009, teleplay by Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan, directed by Randy Zisk

Mr. Monk acts this way during the playoffs. Can you imagine how he would deal with the Super Bowl?

The sad fact is, 2021 is one year when sports fans could use a bit—just a bit, mind you!—of his germaphobia. Let’s hope the average Super Bowl Sunday party doesn’t turn into what has become one of the most awful word coinages of the 21^st century: “Superspreader Event.”