April, 2025

"This Just In..."

Having trouble viewing this email? click here to read online.

How badly do we need spring? For the whispering breezes that reminds us how truly alive we are. How much we rely on the first leaves on the trees, the explosion of color and life in the garden and the rare moments of clarity we have when we listen to the birds.

Here's one other thought for April - from James Baldwin:

"The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love - whethere we call it friendship or family or romance - is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other's light."

‘Sup, Bae?

Got some lit tea ‘cause you can’t afford to be Cheugy. That’s why we be flexing. Least you be ghosted, we wanna keep you high key and vibe. I think this is on fleek.

(I was going to keep going, but I got such a headache. Here’s what’s up with some slang)

Lit – drunken, overboard

Tea –gossip. Shred some girl.

Cheugy – uncool or untrendy. Think: UGG boots.

Flex – feeling good about yourself – then flex.

Ghosted – I bet a bunch of you know this one. Just became…invisible

High Key – oppo low key – so be up there!

Vibe – kick back and chill or hang out. Like you were 11, in your room!

On Fleek – perfectly executed.

See larger graphic here

The Hush of the Very Good - Todd Boss

You can tell by how he lists 

to let her

kiss him, that the getting, as he gets it,

is good. 

It’s good in the sweetly salty,

deeply thirsty way that a sea-fogged

rain is good after a summer-long bout

of inland drought. 

And you know it

when you see it, don’t you? How it

drenches what’s dry, how the having 

of it quenches. 

There is a grassy inlet 

where your ocean meets your land, a slip

that needs a certain kind of vessel,

and

when that shapely skiff skims in at last,

trimmed bright, mast lightly flagging 

left and right, 

then the long, lush reeds 

of your longing part, and soft against 

the hull of that bent wood almost im-

perceptibly brushes a luscious hush 

the heart heeds helplessly—

the hush 

of the very good.

Copyright Credit: Todd Boss, “The Hush of the Very Good,” from Poetry  

Above a man sits pondering fish outside his window. The artist is Gerhard Gluck. This illustration raises a question or two.

Is it a comment about global warming?

Is it comment on loneliness and the need to connect? 

Is it a statement about eating way down on the food chain (he has a plate of yellow squash)? 

This got us to thinking...what does art ask us to think about? Then we found this handy little short-cut guide to understand art through the ages. And we figured – why not share it with you.



While it might clarify some paintings you’ve seen – it doesn’t answer Mr. Gluck’s painting. At least, not for us. Still, we love it. So maybe that’s all it needs to do - ask…

What Does Art Ask

            Classical: If you were an Olympian god, what would you be known for?

            Byzantine: Do you prefer gold or silver accessories?

            Medieval: Are you religious?

            Gothic: What is your favorite historic building?

            Renaissance: Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt enlightened or changed?

            Baroque: Do you enjoy the finer things in life?

            Rococo: Is your bedroom full or trinkets and pictures? If so, which pictures adorn your walls?

            Neoclassicism: If something came back into fashion, what do you hope it would be?

            Romanticism: Do you often see things in a positive light?

            Pre-Raphaelite: Which book would you like to see turned into a film?

            Impressionism: Do you look for details or take everything in at once?

            Art Nouveau: When were you last at the theatre?

            Surrealism: Why does the porcupine think it's a duck?

            Pop Art: Do you enjoy pop culture?

          Contemporary: What did you do today?

See larger graphic here

A handbill requesting the delivery of 17 fool's coats and caps to Middletown, Connecticut on April 1 for a convention (presumably of fools) was printed up and distributed in various New England towns.

The handbill was signed "Sancho Panca," which is almost certainly a pseudonym. Its author may have been Moses H. Woodward, who was the only printer in Middletown in 1796.

Cool One Big Room or Two Small Rooms

Plus Get Special Low-interest Rate Financing

A Mitsubishi Electric Ductless Split can cool a large hot room ( or two small ones) and warm them next winter. It works smart all year long. Daniels Energy's experts can install units in two rooms, usually in one day.

So Let Daniels Do It!

Choose: $750 cash back or a new propane grill for the summer!

CALL TODAY

(860) 813-9122

Daniels Energy: CT License S1-385517 H0D#19 / Daniels Propane LLC #846 CT License S1-302857 *Daniels Energy will provide a cash back check for $750 after installation and payment for qualifying Mitsubishi Electric systems has been completed. Customer may select to have a Weber Genesis E-325 grill shipped directly to their homes in lieu of the cash back. Daniels reserves the right to substitute the Weber grill with a Napoleon Rogue 525 or Victory 3-Burner gas grill depending on product availability. Minimum size restriction and SEER ratings apply. Not available on previous sales. Variety of financing packages are available. See Daniels Energy representative for complete details. Effective March 1, 2025 through June 30, 2025

Wow! New A/C for one big room or two small rooms, plus a new Weber Genessis Grill. That’s cooking with…propane.

A “hobo nickel” is a coin that has been carved out, so that the fine looking president on this 1-cent coin,

ends up like this:

Strictly speaking, “hobo nickels” actually are nickels, particularly the Buffalo nickel of 1913–1938, which was 75% copper and 25% nickel, hence easy to carve. (The “buffalo” is actually an American bison, and the sculptor was James Earle Fraser.)

Transient workers (“hobos”) carved them while riding the rail-cars or between jobs, displaying their black humor,

and philosophical tendencies.

If you want to learn about the men who actually carved the nickels see, Veronique Helmridge-Marsillian's answer to What were the names of some hobos riding the rails during the Great Depression?

These women are fantastic. Name one – or both – but you have to add the show they were in together. Do so and you may win a $25 Amazon gift card. Hint: 1873.

Has arrived in the 99^th year of Daniels Energy.

Fourth generation Daniels family member, John Daniels today introduced the latest breakthrough in home heating delivery.

A radically new compression system, “IntensoFuel” delivers the full btu measure of ten gallons of clean burning bio-fuel into a single pellet-size product.

These “IntensoFuel” pellets will allow us to eliminate nearly 30 of our 2,500 gallon oil trucks which we have used to deliver to homes across Connecticut for nearly 100 years. 

“Now, we’ll be able to simply mail a homeowner an envelope of pellets, which can be dropped into any standard oil (or propane tank) on an as needed basis,” said John. 

“A traditional “liquid” delivery of 300 gallons will be replaced with just 30 “IntensoFuel” pellets. One delivery. No spills. No issues. And we anticipate the costs to be approximately 17% of what a similar gallon of fuels costs today.*”  

After releasing the news, John was escorted by officials to the Midvale School for the Gifted director, Gary Larson.

*No. Stop. 83% off your heating bill, c’mon. This is the first day of April.

Rodin’s, “The Cathedral”

Carved in stone and still covered in tool marks, The Cathedral is a combination of two right hands, belonging to two different figures. It was entitled The Ark of the Covenant, before being named, The Cathedral, very probably after the publication of Rodin’s Les Cathédrales de France, in 1914.

Parallels may be drawn between the mysterious inner space that seems to emanate from the composition and Gothic architecture. Emptiness was a factor that Rodin used to allow for, and, as Rilke pointed out, “the role of air had always been extremely important” for him (Rilke, 1902).

More here: https://robinmarkphillips.com/rodin-the-cathedral/

OK, if you get this, your name will go up in lights at Daniels Energy. Especially if you don’t cheat.

These are the punts of Trinity College, Cambridge, moored on the River Cam. What is the significance of their names?

One tiny hint: Each name evokes the “same something.”

Seriously. Go get it! Last month 141 of you plus - John Z, Jackie D and Robert R recognized the fabulous Rosie Perez while only 66 of you – and Dana C, Mary Jean B and Anne B - identified the rock band Phish correctly.

Very good luck to you on this one.

Might we plead our case for a positive review on our Daniels Propane website on Google. Most of the hundreds of positive reviews have gone on the Daniels Energy Google page.

So…we could use a few on Daniels Propane.

If you’d be so kind as to add a positive (you needn’t exaggerate) review we’d be quite happy to send you a thank you gift with our sincere thanks. Google – Daniels Propane on Google and then click the Write a Review. 

And, thank you.

Su Hui’s Epic Palindrome: Star Gauge

The Lady Su Hui married government official Dou Tao of Qinzhou at the age of 15 and they lived happily together. One day her husband took in a concubine (considered normal at the time) which enraged Su Hui.

When he was transferred to a distant post, she refused to go with him. Dou Tao took off with his new lover and left Su Hui behind. Brokenhearted, Su Hui composed “Star Gauge” – keep in mind she embroidered it - and had it sent to her husband to win him back.

According to legend, when he read the poem, Dou dropped his concubine like a sack of potatoes and immediately returned home to Su Hui.

This is a color coded guide to reading left to right, right to left, up, down and horizontally.

Here is a close-up of the top-right section of the poem, followed by two translations:

According to the first way of reading:

Alas! I sigh with languor

Over the one who wandered from the way.

Far-off the wilderness path

Wounded my innermost feelings.

The house no longer has a master

Transparent curtains in the alcove.

The face equally adorned

In the bright mirror shines forth.

Ornaments of the multiple reflections

The pearls gleam, brilliant.

So many thoughts assail me

Who is seen honored there?

Second way of reading, reverse of the one above:

To whom does the honor revert

For prompting so many thoughts?

Brilliant, the splendor of the pearls

Reflections of multiple ornaments.

Luminous the mirror shines

Elegant finery of the face.

Room with transparent curtains

You no longer have a home.

Feeling of a deep wound

The path disappears into the wilderness.

The way withdraws from here

Me languishing, I sigh, alas!

The two lines "The house no longer has a master" and "You no longer have a home" give some idea of the change in meaning introduced by the reverse reading.

There are many more ways to read just that one section of the larger work, but, it would take a much longer post than this just to scratch the surface.

Much more of the story – here:

https://cameronsbradley.substack.com/p/su-huis-epic-palindrome-star-gauge

Seriously – where else are you getting this kind of story?