I visited my uncle in California last week. He encouraged me to read the short story To Build a Fire by Jack London as it was memorable to him and Jack London is a well known local for Oakland. We checked out a bookstore and they had a used compilation, so I picked it up as a souvenir.

Like most of the planet, I have heard of Moby Dick. I know of Captain Ahab, the great white whale, and even remember Starbucks is named after the first mate on the boat. I also know Moby Dick has a reputation of being a difficult book that people often quit. It was Benjamin McEvoy who convinced me this is a great work of literature and the type of book one should read for their own journey.

I was able to visit California with my son. One of the non-negotiable places to visit was Muir Woods. He had never seen the redwoods and I’d much rather see the towering trees than the towering buildings of the city.

I have really gotten into the album My Head Is an Animal this year. I was pleased to find The Cabin Sessions, recorded ten years after the album came out.

I found this small book staring at me when I was browsing the bookstore. I find Bernie to have a sensible perspective on things and without reading the jacket, picked it up. I agree that our modern USA has become an oligarchy skewed system with our current tech billionaire frenzy and their lopsided influence they have.

This past week, we lost Dr. Jane Goodall, primatologist. I enjoyed this funny tribute to her.

Truman was a book that had been recommended by many. It is a well regarded biography from David McCullough on our former president released in 1992 and won a Pulitzer Prize. I remember this book when I worked at the book store in the mid-nineties. Now thirty years later, I am quite pleased to have read it.

Waiting for an appointment just south of downtown Indianapolis, we wandered into a coffee shop. I was mesmorized by the wallpaper in their bathroom, so naturally had to record it.

From this Austin Kleon interview:

What isn’t about dogs?

I have learned more from my dogs, and from my horses to a lesser extent, than I’ve learned from almost anything else in my life, including from one of the most expensive educations that could be crammed down a gullet.