The last sunset of February 2022, at least from the vantage of my deck. Looking forward to the time when I can sit there comfortably and eat, read, gaze at the sunset or whatever else takes my fancy.
A few days ago, the dog was able to go out an collect snow on her snout.
Now most of the snow on the ground has melted. There will be more, of course, but March snow doesn’t usually have to staying power of January or February snows. Less so with each passing day, too.
A few years ago, I visited St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral (of the Kyiv Patriarchate in the USA and Canada) in Bloomingdale, a suburb not far from us. The church was closed, but I was able to look at a number of things on the grounds, including the Holodomor Memorial. Seems like a good time to post more of those images.
The church exterior.
The Holodomor Memorial.
It was dedicated in 1993, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Stalin’s famine. Nearby is a newer memorial.
“This monument is dedicated to ‘Heaven’s Brigade’ and all heroes of Ukraine who sacrificed their lives for a free and independent Ukraine,” explains a plaque on this memorial, which was dedicated in 2015, the year after the Revolution of Dignity.
Until the other day, I thought of Kyiv as merely an alternate transliteration of the capital of Ukraine, but I am willing to revise my opinion. Apparently the Ukrainians insist that it is the correct one, as opposed to the Russian-inspired Kiev, and as the bombs fall on that city, it only seems fair to write it Kyiv.
“This rush to Ukrainianize spellings is not only a response to Kyiv’s sudden newsworthiness,” says an article posted by the Atlantic Council in 2019. “It represents the latest chapter in a long-running campaign to secure recognition for the Ukrainian-language versions of Ukrainian place names, and is part of a much broader post-Soviet drive to assert an independent Ukrainian identity.”
As I recall, the Ukrainians also insisted that “the” be expunged from the nation’s name in English 30 years ago, as an affront to their nationhood. Most English-language publications went along with that. That’s OK, but it still rings a little funny without the “the.” That’s only because I grew up in the days of the Ukrainian SSR and old language habits die hard.
Further down the Atlantic Council article is this useful nugget about the political history of the region:
“For hundreds of years, successive Russian leaders sought to absorb Ukraine into their country’s national heartlands, exploiting the cultural closeness between the two nations to overwhelm and incorporate the historically Ukrainian lands to the south.”
Old Soviet apparatchik he may be, but clearly Mr. Putin’s a traditionalist when it comes to classic Russian expansionism.
This fascinating bit of ephemera came into the house not long ago. Fascinating to me, anyway: a list of holidays in various countries. The front.
The back.
It isn’t very large — about 5¼ x 4¼ inches — and is a page in a 2022 calendar produced by an international logistics firm. Holidays of 28 nations and the Hong Kong SAR. Why those? Maybe those are the countries in which the company does business.
Anyway, it’s good for browsing, a sort of mini version of endlessly interesting The American Book of Days or (more accurately) The International Book of Days.
So I browsed some February holidays. Shaheed Day, for example, two days past now for this year. I’d never heard of it. There’s quite a back story.
“This major public holiday in Bangladesh is always celebrated on February 21st,” notes Office Holidays.
“Known as Shaheed Day, ‘Ekushe’ (21st), Language Movement Day, Martyrs’ Day and ‘Shôhid Dibôs’ in Bengali, this day commemorates those who lost their lives in the struggle for the Bengali language in 1952.”
Eh? The holiday’s origin goes back to the old East Pakistan days, it seems. Soon after independence from the UK, the Urdu-speaking bosses in Karachi (Islamabad didn’t exist yet) went about trying to suppress the Bengali language in East Pakistan.
Naturally, the Bengalis resisted, and things came to a head on February 21, 1952, when police killed a number of students at a pro-Bengali language protest. That was like pouring gasoline on the situation, and eventually (a few stubborn years later), West Pakistan threw in the towel when it came to Bengali language suppression.
Also, much more recently, UNESCO made February 21 International Mother Language Day, for what that’s worth. A lot of mother languages are dying out. Recently, the last known native speaker of Yaghan, one of Chile’s indigenous languages, died at 93.
Rain from early to late morning today, on 2/22/22, leaving large spring-like puddles, plus much mud, on my land. But now much colder air has moved in, pushing temps below freezing. Those puddles will be solid in the morning, but at least so will the mud.
Another bottle of Ninben brand concentrated soup base (kombu tsuyu no moto) has been emptied in this house. The last of went into the bowls from which we ate the fish and noodles and tofu and vegetables boiled in our nabe (鍋) pot this evening.
If that sounds like a good wintertime dinner, it is.
As for the soup base, it is the product of the Ninben Co. of Tokyo, whose roots go back to a salted and dried fish merchant in Old Edo ca. 1700.
Unusually detailed — if a little repetitive — verbiage on the label (not visible in the picture) says:
This is a concentrated soup base made from Japanese Hokkaido kelp, dried shiitake mushroom and authentically brewed soy sauce.
You can taste the rich soy flavor and umami of kelp and dried shiitake mushroom.
We do not use any high fructose corn syrup, artificial colorings or preservatives.
We do not use ingredients derived from animals.
A serving size is two tablespoons (30mL), including very little except carbohydrates and salt. Indeed, one serving provides 1200 mg of sodium.
Almost forgot about “Presidents Day,” as AP recommends it be styled (no apostrophe). It’s fairly forgettable, especially when it’s an ordinary work day. As I’ve mentioned before, there isn’t any agreement among the several states about exactly what’s being celebrated, or what it should be called, though federal law specifies Washington’s Birthday.
Not such a bad thing, I believe. It’s Washington we’re honoring, not Kim Il-sung. Lockstep not required.
Those U.S. presidents born in February include not only Washington (22nd, N.S., 11th, O.S.) and Lincoln (12th) but also Ronald Reagan (6th) and famed short-timer William Henry Harrison (9th).
Of course, Washington and Lincoln get most of the attention. Often in the same image. This series dates from 1865. For obvious reasons.
Not an array that you see much any more in popular images of these presidents. The Victorians had different sensibilities, after all. The second one at least is an albumen print after a painting by Stephen James Ferris (1835-1915), a Philadelphia engraver, etcher, illustrator and portraitist.
Has it been five years since I visited Charleston? It has. Seems like an age ago, but so does everything before about two years ago. Still, it was a good trip, and it reminds me that I ought visit that part of the country again.
To facilitate my visit to Charleston, I flew in and out of Charlotte, driving from there. That was another place I’d never been but, interestingly, had been writing about as a real estate market for a few years at that point (I don’t any more).
I was able to spend a few hours looking around downtown Charlotte, which is actually known as Uptown Charlotte. It was a hopping real estate market at the time, with a lot of construction.
Along with fairly recent developments, such as this apartment tower (VUE, completed in 2010).
I also spotted some Uptown Charlotte artwork, such as “Grande Disco” (1974) by Arnaldo Pomodoro, a Milanese sculptor who’s still alive, at last report, at 95.
It’s in a plaza near the intersection of Tryon and Trade streets. At the four street corners of that intersection are four sculptures — allegories representing Commerce, Industry, Transportation, and The Future, by Raymond Kaskey.
I only have presentable pictures of two of them. Apparently this is Commerce, which was kicked off in the area in the 1830s when gold was discovered.
For Industry, a woman wearing textiles. Because that was an early industry in the region. More about the sculptures is at an article published by WCNC the same year I visited.
I can’t track down this memorable image, and I didn’t take notes, but it was on a brick wall not too far from Tryon St. Maybe it’s gone now.
Something that’s definitely not on Tryon St. any more, but it was when I wandered by in 2017: a memorial to Judah Benjamin.
“Though Benjamin had no connection to Charlotte — his only tie was a week he spent hiding there after the end of the Civil War — the United Daughters of the Confederacy presented the granite monument to the city [in 1948], choosing the spot of his supposed few days in hiding,” Smithsonian magazine says.
It was a dowdy thing, and I feel certain that the memorial was ignored by almost everyone until the summer of 2020. Then it got some attention.
“Steps away from the monument, a new Black Lives Matter street mural, commissioned by the city, burst into colorful view this summer [2020],” Smithsonian continues. “Around the same time, city workers finally extracted the Benjamin stone after a protestor spray-painted it with ‘BLM’ and took a sharp implement to it, though a spokesman says the city is ‘evaluating how best to preserve’ it.”
As expected, snow followed rain today. But at least yesterday’s rain didn’t leave an ice glaze everywhere. Especially underfoot. I salted a few patches of driveway this morning, but on the whole the surfaces were dry till the snow started around 1 p.m.
Views of the snowy scene this afternoon from the front door.
Wish I could say I wrote this, but no. By a random soul online: It’s only a comorbidity if it comes from the Comorbois region of France. Otherwise it’s just a sparkling pre-existing condition.
I heard a song by a band called Modest Mouse the other day on the radio in the car. Apparently they’ve been around for 30 years, but I miss a lot my not paying attention to much.
Interesting song, though I don’t remember what it was. Maybe that’s because I was busy imagining that Modest Mouse is Mighty Mouse’s lesser-known brother. He didn’t care for the spotlight, and never went into the Mouse family business of saving the day.
Text message from Ann not long ago (edited for caps and punctuation): Seeing Princess Bride at the Normal Theatre.
With this pic attached:
Message continued: The sword fight was really great on the big screen.
My answer: Oh yes.
“Rain in the evening will transition to a wintry mix overnight,” the weather savants say. It’s already pretty wet out there already, more of a late March rain than mid-February. But not to worry: it will devolve into snow and ice by tomorrow.
I’ve read a number of PJ O’Rourke books over the years, as well as other writings of his, such as the highly amusing (unless you’re a pearl-clutcher) “Foreigners Around the World.” I even remember recommending Parliament of Whores to an Australian friend of mine to help him understand American politics. RIP, Mr. O’Rourke. You were a humorist who was actually funny. No mean feat.
We had some Korean-style chicken not long ago, acquired in a bright yellow box that says it includes joy, too.
ToreOre is a brand of Korean fast-food chicken, available in metro Chicago at the small mall attached to Super H Mart in Niles, a suburb that functions as the region’s Koreatown these days.
“Thanks to patented mixed-grains crust and fryers bubbling with 100% vegetable oil, the finished product is trans fat–free and nearly greaseless, but far from tasteless,” Time Out Chicago notes about ToreOre.
I agree. We got one of the spiciest selections this time around, and may tone it down a notch next time. But it made for a satisfying meal all the same.
In South Korea, the brand is much bigger than a mere suburban outpost. Nonghyup Moguchon is the food-processing arm of South Korea’s state-run National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup), and oversaw the rapid growth of ToreOre beginning in the early 2000s.
“ToreOre, Nonghyup Moguchon’s main restaurant franchise business, opened the first outlet in 2003 and had grown exponentially with the number of outlets reaching 1,000 in just five years,” Korean outlet Pulse News reported in 2018. “But it was forced to reduce the number of its restaurants to 700 amid intensifying competition in the country’s fried chicken business and has remained at a standstill for several years.”
One reason I forgot the Super Bowl on Sunday was our excursion to St. Charles, Illinois. More specifically, we went to the Charlestowne Mall in the eastern part of that far suburb. I couldn’t remember how long it had been since we’d been there. A decade or more, probably.
So we were surprised to find the mall closed.
In the greater scheme of retail things, that’s not a surprise. A lot of malls have closed in recent years. I’ve written about that trend any number of times, but never had any reason to cover the Charlestowne Mall in particular, so I didn’t know its fate.
The mall opened in 1991, just ahead of the long slide for department stores, and when the notion of online commerce was still in the realm of speculative fiction. In other words, at an inauspicious moment for regional malls, but no one knew it at the time.
Most of the mall closed in 2017. Three of the four anchor department stores had gone dark by then, leaving only Von Maur open. As it still is.
The other open business at the mall is an 18-plex movie theater, which is where we were going. We had to circle around most of the mall to find it. The entrance was tucked away in a bleak alley-like passage, though marked by flags.
Word is that redevelopment of the site is in the works. The plan will retain the movie theater and Von Maur, but the rest of the site will be given over to residential properties and (possibly) a hotel, along with some green space. That too isn’t a surprise.