Waitin' for the Weekend

"Photos of Men I Love #4" by Clint Collide:

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Unlikely Couple, Lifelong Love

From the video description:

Lawrence Moore and Richard Hubbard, a biracial couple, reflect on 56 years together after meeting as military Russian linguists in Japan in the 1970s. An unexpected twist of fate brought them together just as Richard was about to begin a heterosexual life.

They share how friendship, mutual respect, and accepting each other’s differences helped them build a lasting love.

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Who Ordered the Bear Claws?

Everybody loves good pastry.

According to the video description, the police used non-lethal beanbag rounds to get the bear to leave the market. But my thought would be, if that's the baby, where's the mama?

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Sunday Drive: Some Sunday Morning

A vision of glimmering beauty that this ugly, vulgar, modern world cannot understand or create.  The lovely Alexis Smith performs this Oscar-nominated song in the film San Antonio (1945):

Studly Errol Flynn is the appreciative listener at the foot of the stairs.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

"Just Passing Through #1" by Clint Collide:

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Fat Bear Week 2026

Eliminated from competition:  too skinny.
Click to enlarge.

I never heard of this event before, but what a great idea!  It started in Katmai National Park in Alaska in 2014, and now attracts millions of spectators and voters.  I wanted to send in our names for the competition, but M.P. won't let me.  Spoilsport.

NBC's Today program reports:

Here's a link to the live bear cam (not embeddable) if you want to get a good look at all the naked competitors. Clothing is strictly prohibited, of course.

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Pete Does Dallas

Pete speaking in Dallas, 9/19/26.
Click to enlarge.

Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke at the Texas Democratic Party's annual Johnson-Jordan dinner on Saturday night.  What.A.Man.  Intelligent, eloquent, honest, modest, compassionate, courageous, and a true patriot.  I believe he will make a fine statesman in time to come.  May God bless, guide, and protect him.

But the sensational title of this video is quite misleading - some young staffer must have stuck that on there.  This is no mere "roast" - the mad bull in the White House is mentioned only once, I think - but a brilliant, upbeat review of the problems we face and the way out of them.  Well worth your time.

Bonus: Last week, Pete had a lively conversation about the future of the nation and the world with the Atlantic's editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg:

P.S. -- Whatever happens, I do hope Pete will always keep his very handsome beard.  It gives his youthful face gravitas.

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Sunday Drive: The Lord's My Shepherd

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Today's readings from the Episcopal Lectionary speak to me in a special way; but today I wish to focus on another reading.

Yesterday, September 19th, was the fourth anniversary of the funeral of H. M. Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, which was broadcast and streamed worldwide to billions of viewers.  It was deeply moving for me, and I particularly liked the rendition of the 23rd Psalm from the Scottish Metrical Psalter, set to the tune Crimond.  It was a favorite of the Queen's, who was raised by a Scottish nanny, who later served as her dresser (lady's maid) for many years.  

The Queen's Christian faith was the bedrock of her life and long reign, as she expressed many times in her annual Christmas broadcasts to her peoples around the world.  Here is the Psalm as performed at the funeral by the  Choir of Westminster Abbey:

The 23rd Psalm is, of course, deeply meaningful to all Christians, and is frequently used in funeral services.  It is dear to my heart because I learned it by heart in kindergarten at a Christian school, and it has comforted me through all the sad or lonely or grieving times of life.  And in my mind, it ties in with another comforting passage from the New Testament:

My grace is sufficient for thee: 

for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

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Waitin' for the Weekend

"Knowns + Unknowns #2" by Clint Collide:

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The Most Beautiful Train in the World

SP Daylight baggage sticker, 1937.

Postcard showing the SP Daylight on the Pacific Coast route, circa 1938.
Click to enlarge.

The California State Railroad Museum sponsored this 2005 documentary about the fabled Daylight streamliners of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which plied the rails between Los Angeles and San Francisco from 1937 until the formation of Amtrak in 1971. This video is a treat for the eyes and ears, and a must-see for all railfans.

You could eat plain or fancy fare, as you pleased, aboard the Daylight - from sardines to caviar.  Multiply the prices by a factor of 20 to get a rough approximation in today's dollars.  (Yes, it was and still is expensive to eat in the dining car - go look up Amtrak prices.)

SP Daylight lunch menu, 1937.
Click to enlarge.

The SP and its subsidiaries formed a gigantic enterprise with over 16,000 miles of track, stretching from Portland, Oregon, down through California and over to New Orleans, as well as eastward to Ogden, Utah, and Tucumcari, New Mexico.  There was also a Mexican subsidiary as well as a steamship line from New Orleans to New York.  

Southern Pacific system map at its greatest extent in 1929.
Thicker lines are SP routes; thinner lines are other railroads.
Click to enlarge.

SP's famous "Sunset Route" herald, used for decades
in publications and on billboards and railroad cars.

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Sunday Drive: Somewhere, The Texas Tenors

This widely acclaimed group got started on America's Got Talent in 2009 and went on to fame and fortune, winning three Emmy Awards, among other honors.  M.P. and I agree that "Somewhere" is a song gay men can easily relate to.  See what you think, fellas.

Encore:  I never heard this song before, but the boys sure do a beautiful job with it:

 

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