What Would Jimmy Do?

I had lunch with a couple of friends last week. As usual, there was about as much, or maybe more, talking than eating. We covered a lot of subjects, but the waiter mentioned something about “a baker’s dozen.” We all knew what that meant, but there was some disagreement as to how it came to be. 
So — here I am waiting for the washing machine to finish, and I figured it was time for some of my extensive research. I hadn’t done that in a long time and I didn’t want to lose my “skill” — or — as I like to call it, “my gift.”

The popular story as to the phrase’s origin is that a medieval law specified the weight of loaves of bread and any baker who shorted a customer was in for dire punishment. So, bakers would include a thirteenth loaf with each dozen just to be safe. The story is kind of true. There was such a law, but the practice of adding an extra loaf to the dozen had nothing to do with the fear of punishment.

The law the story is referring to was the Assize of Bread and Ale, first promulgated in England in 1266. There are various versions of the law, but they all related the weight and price of loaves of bread that were sold on the market. During years of good harvests, bakers could make more bread than they could sell locally, so they would sell the excess loaves to hucksters, or middlemen. But since the weight and price was strictly regulated, the only way for these distributors to make money would be to give them extra loaves. The baker would give the huckster a thirteenth, or vantage, loaf for each dozen. The extra loaf provided the profit for the middleman.
The practice of adding the thirteenth loaf is older than the phrase. The phrase apparently only dates to 1599.
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Those of you who periodically check this blog, have noticed that there have been no entries for the past 3 or 4 months. I’m not even sure I know why, but here’s kind of the way things have gone….
I always wrote the blog for me — actually I rarely even read it, I just wrote it. I usually updated it in the morning, normally with my second cup of coffee…. in recent years I’ve been a slow starter in the mornings. I rushed around every morning for more than 50 years, getting ready for work, the kids off to school, etc. After retirement I enjoyed the leisurely pace in the mornings. 

So, many/most mornings, I just sat down at the computer and wrote whatever happened to pop into my head at the time. Occasionally, I wrote about special events like birthdays or weddings, but usually it was just my train of thought at the time. I found it relaxing and a number of people commented on it and said they enjoyed reading it — they probably were just being nice but it made me feel good.

Then a couple of years ago, my entire life changed. Obviously losing Claire was devastating, and something I’ll never recover from, but it was more than that — it seemed like the whole world, not just my world changed. And when I sat down to write something, it came out kind of “dark,” and maybe a little bit depressing. I realized that maybe it wasn’t the world, but just me — I knew I’d changed but I didn’t realize how much. I didn’t enjoy jotting down my thoughts anymore — I didn’t even like my thoughts anymore.

So I figured I’d done the blog long enough and decided to just end it. I knew I should have a “final” entry and end it properly, but I never got around to it. My intention remains to end it, but recently a number of people have encouraged me to continue. 

I don’t know what I’ll do — I’m going to give it some serious thought before deciding “What Would Jimmy Do.” Therefore…… this may be the end — or — maybe not.
— 30 —

….. Two Years …..

Anyone that knows me very well, is aware that it’s pretty hard to get into a very serious or “deep” subject with me for any extended period of time. However, the other day a friend — I wouldn’t call him a close friend, but I’ve known him a while — was in a serious mood. We talked about several things and one of the subjects that came up was the soul. He made several statements about “saving your soul.” Not that it matters, but I should mention that he’s pretty religious and we’re not friends from church — we both attend different churches here in Shepherdstown. 

Well, of course all this “soul searching” got me to thinking…. back in 2007, I had written a blog about souls. I decided that instead of writing about souls today, I’d do something that I usually don’t. I thought I’d just reprint my blog from 2007. Here it is……

One thing that annoys me is when people use the term “I feel” incorrectly. 
People say I feel there is too much commercialization of Christmas….
I feel I should do more to help the poor….
The fact is that one may think those things or believe those things, but they don’t ”feel” them. 
In my working days, that was one of the few corrections I always made to any document that came across my desk for review. It just always bugged me, I’m not sure why.

Anyhow, I got to thinking about “feelings” — what makes humans able to perceive or “feel” things? What makes us sentient?
I think the answer might be the soul. I’m not sure I even know exactly what the soul really is, but it seems important and appears to be one of the things, at least, that separates us from animals.
You think with your mind and I guess you feel with your heart, so the soul must be something different — maybe it’s just an area like an a big data bank. That’s where you keep your moral values and the data that helps you make the choices between good and evil.
When you die, the soul is the only thing left of you — it’s the part that gets into Heaven — or — I suppose the part that goes to Hell.
I guess if you become a bad person, maybe your soul gets damaged — or maybe your brain just gets damaged and miss-reads or miss-uses the data in your soul.

I’ve heard a lot of comments about the soul, but never seen a concise definition — or at least not one that satisfied me. One comment goes something like, “Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” I guess if that’s the case, the soul may not only be a big data bank, but also a secure one, like a vault.

I think I’m not alone in being a little confused about the soul….
The soul was given to us by God and it appears to be the center of our being.
Apparently, confession is good for the soul, and these are times that try men’s souls….
There are soul brothers and soul mates and there’s a soul train.
And you have to feed the soul, too — there’s soul food and chicken soup for the soul.
We all have a soul, and it appears we should take good care of it.
So be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul.
— 30 —

Today is a special day — not only is it exactly six months until Christmas, it’s also two of my kids birthdays. Both David and Chassie were born on the same day (one year apart.)
Happy Birthday – hope you both have a great day and an even better year ahead.
Love you both!!!!!
— 30 —

My neighbor just became a new grandfather and we were talking about how much fun grandkids are — I’ve ofter heard it said, that if we’d known how much fun grandkids were, we would have had them first.

Anyhow, I’m to sure why, but an old joke came to mind — I always thought it was funny…. and still do.
A Sunday school teacher asked her class, “What was Jesus’ mother’s name?” A little boy answered “Mary.”
The teacher then asked, “Who knows what Jesus’ father’s name was?” A little girl said, “Verge.” Confused, the teacher asked, “Where did you get that?” The girl said,”Well, you know they’re always talking about Verge and Mary.”
— 30 —

Hey Menoi,
Here it is your birthday again — the second time I’ve had to celebrate it without you. Life hasn’t gotten any easier — I still miss you just as much every single day. I miss everything about you. As I was tossing around in bed last night, I got to thinking about all the things I miss about you and it occurred to me that one thing I miss is how others used to say your name. Most people don’t mention your name — I need to have you mentioned like you were before. I don’t know why that’s important to me, but it is — I wish people understood. 

But today’s your birthday and just know I’ll be celebrating — I have your favorite wine to share. I know what you think of my poetry, but I’ll try just one more time…. I know you’ll roll your eyes, but I know you’ll also smile — that’s enough for me. 
So here’s my feeble attempt….

Gee, I wish you were here today — for even just a little while
We could celebrate your birthday together and I could see your loving smile.
We shared a great life together — I thought it’d be forever, you see
I didn’t take it for granted and never thought I’d lose you and all you meant to me.

No gift for you, but great ones for me — memories of you left behind.
When I think of you, I remember the joy and happiness you left in my heart and mind.
I look at your pictures and think of you with love
And I know you’re doing fine in Heaven up above.

I’ll spend your birthday wishing that you were here
I wish you could join me in this toast to you and help me wipe away my every  tear.
I hope you’re having a party and the Angels are singing you a happy song
I’ll be thinking of you and sending my love — today, and all year long.

Happy Birthday — love you bunches forever.
— 30 —

A couple of years ago, a friend gave me a T-shirt from the Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing, China. I wore that shirt a few days ago and someone asked me if I’d been to China. If you know me, or follow this blog somewhat, you know that I did make what turned out to be a rather historic trip to China — more than 50 years ago. I’ve mention that trip several times over the years in this blog — if you’re interested, you can check the archives.

But, as often happens, I got off track. While discussing the shirt I mentioned that when I was in China, there not only was no Hard Rock Cafe, Beijing was called Peking. The person I was conversing with didn’t seem that young, but he claimed he never knew that the capital city of China was previously Peking. 

Well, that got me to thinking — and — my extensive research juices flowing. I think most of my life I had been taught, and believed, that the capital city of China was Peking. But Peking only became Beijing after 1979 when the Pinyin method of conveying Mandarin in the Roman alphabet was adopted.

There are (at least) three different methods used to romanize (translate into the Latin alphabet) Chinese words — especially Mandarin: Wade-Giles System, Chinese Postal Mat Romanization, and Pinyin.
Just so you know that I really did do a little research, here’s how the systems compare.
Wade-Giles System:
Developed by Thomas Wade in the mid-19th century and revised by Herbert Giles
It was widely used in the West until the late 20th century
It was primarily used in academic and scholarly work

Chinese Postal Map Romanization:
Developed by the Chinese Imperial Post Office in the early 20th century
It was used between 1906 and the 1950s
It was designed to standardize place names on postal maps, often combining dialects and regional pronunciations 
It was a mishmash of systems — sometimes reflecting “non-Mandarin dialects (e.g., Cantonese, Wu.)
It lacked uniform spelling rues and was more “practical” than “academic.”

Pinyin:
Developed by Zhou Youguang and a PRC government committee in the 1950s
It was official in China since 1958, but is now standard internationally
Its purpose was to teach pronunciation, simplify literacy, and standardize romanization
It’s now the official system in mainland China, the UN, and most international publications.

If you’ve got some spare time and are truly bored sometime, you might want to look up the inventor of the Wade-Giles System — Thomas Francis Wade. From what I can tell, he was one of those all-round British Empire good guys — or a “good egg” as they say. He lived for a while on the Lonian Islands, fought in the Opium Wars in china, and still found time to learn Mandarin. And then figured out how to write down these funny symbols in letters that people could understand — or as Thomas might have said, in “proper” letters.
Anyhow, I can tell people that I have T-shirt written in Pinyin…..
— 30 —

If you’ve read this blog over the years, you know that I’ve often written about the moon. There’s at least a couple of reasons for that — one of my brothers-in-law absolutely believes that the moon influences every aspect of one’s life. So I think that made me a little more aware of the moon, but I’ve always been somewhat fascinated by it.

Anyhow, in a couple of days this month’s full moon will appear. I’m sure you already know that each month’s full moon has a “name.” Most likely, more than one — depending on your ancestral roots or where you live, or what your parents told you, etc. 

The traditional name for the full moon in June is the Strawberry Moon. I know that lately, almost every full moon get some amount of press for being “special” for some reason or other. But the upcoming fully moon on June 11, 2025 really is kind of unique.
It’ll be the lowest full moon of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere.) The moon will rise, and stay, very low in the sky, making its lowest arc for the year. This happens because the full moon in June is opposite the sun, and the sun is at its highest point, so the moon, being opposite, is at its lowest point. The result will be that the moon will appear to hover low over the horizon all night and will create low moon shadows. It will also have a golden color. Because the moon stays low in the sky, it will appear larger than usual — that’s call a moon illusion.

As I said, the June moon is called the Strawberry Moon — the name comes from Native American tribes, particularly the Algonquin. They used it as a mark in time for harvesting strawberries.
In some places this month’s moon is called the Rose Moon and sometimes the Honey Moon — that name possibly comes from it being connected to June weddings. 

So the upcoming moon is special because it’s a low-hanging, golden colored Strawberry Moon. 
But I think the moon is always special…. even when it’s unseen, we trust it’s still there — just like hope in difficult times.
— 30 —

Seems like recent lunches with friends have become more serious lately. Maybe that’s because it’s getting harder to laugh at most of what goes on anymore. Generally speaking, the news is depressing — not only the US news, but the world news, too.

Yesterday, my friend, that I was having lunch with, said that he thought the US had become a rogue country, and maybe the entire world had become a rogue world. Even though that statement seemed a little harsh, I kind of tended to agree with him. 

Anyhow, last night over a a glass or two, or three, of wine I gave the subject some serious thought. It certainly seems like the world has become more unpredictable, lawless, and more defiant of norms or rules. I didn’t do much extensive research, but I’m pretty sure that many countries are more and more ignoring norms or conventions or institutions. If you think about it, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a clear break from post-World War II rules against aggressive war. Even though global sanctions are in place, North Korea continues missile tests and nuclear development. 

So it appears that there has been a noticeable decline in respect for international agreements and alliances. Trade wars and treaty withdrawals have certainly changed complexion of global cooperation.
Countries like Turkey, Hungary and some others have moved toward more authoritarian styles of government, and our leaders are consolidating power, stifling opposition, and ignoring democratic checks and balances.

On a social level, there’s a growing distrust of institutions, experts, and traditional authorities. Social medial has empowered individual voices — maybe sometimes for good, but often promoting extremism. 

I’m old enough to realize that history has always had its share of chaos — world wars, colonial exploitation, cold war brinkmanship, and so on. But the difference today might be the speed and visibility of these actions and events — probably thanks to digital media. There’s a sense that global order is unraveling faster than ever before.

So — I think my friend is right. The world does feel, and behave, more “rogue” in many ways. It seems more fractured, less rule-bound, and more unstable. But maybe our perception is just intensified by modern technology and global interconnectedness.
I think I may have to start doubling up on lunchtime wine……
— 30 —