A cultured life

 

Today, as I was enjoying the sack lunch I usually bring with me to work, I pondered the expansion of one of my long time hobbies - puttering in the kitchen.  I have always enjoyed the whole process of preparing the food I eat, and for some of it, that involves the harnessing of beneficial microbes.  Most longstanding of these is the sourdough bread culture I have maintained for more than 20 years.  Most weekends, I bake two loaves of sourdough bread for use throughout the week in everything from sandwiches to croutons for soup and salads.  The venerable sourdough culture I have carried for decades contains a mix of bacteria and yeast whose metabolic activities produce the leavened bread that I have exclusively consumed for many years.  Home fermentation activities have not been restricted to bread: on a sporadic basis, I have fermented cabbage to make sauerkraut, and though I haven't brewed in some time, one of my earliest hobbies was making my own beer.  Beneficial microbes have always been welcomed in my kitchen!

More recently, I have expanded these cultural pursuits.  I revived a yogurt maker that I'd purchased several years ago, and I've turned out a few batches of very tasty homemade yogurt.  I've stepped up my sauerkraut production.  And just this week, I sampled my first batch of fermented dill pickles.  These are classic full-sour dill pickles in the best NYC deli tradition.  So with my home baked sourdough sandwich, I had a fermented pickle which was delicious.  I expect to expand fermentations even further after reading a book that I received yesterday, containing info and recipes to produce all manner of fermented produce and beverages.  About the only area of microbe-driven food production that I have not yet tried is making cheese.  Something to look forward to!

Ars longa, vita brevis

 As part of my daily doom scrolling, I recently happened to click on an ad link for an art supply store.  And naturally, my web pages were instantly full of all manner of similar vendors.  One product that caught my eye was for a tiny little portable watercolor painting kit.  This touched a poignant corner of my psyche:  I'm fascinated by the creative arts, yet long ago I accepted that I have absolutely no talent in that area.  In addition to so many other areas.  Nope, no athletic talent, no artistic talent- performing or creative arts, and no talent in business or any other human occupation.  And yet, I admire those who show ability in any of these endeavors.  My vacation earlier this summer took me to the Farnesworth Museum where I sat in awe of the works of the Wyeths - a whole family of gifted artists.  The cruel trick, of course, is that people with talent make it look so easy.  Shooting a fadeaway jump shot, painting a beautiful painting, acting in a play or playing a musical instrument- when done by experts, it looks so simple.  And in hawking watercolor paint kits, a multitude of online sellers play to my precise emotions and aspirations. 

So, with a firm self-knowledge developed over decades, I purchased one of these inexpensive kits.  Despite, I re-emphasize, having absolutely no artistic talent, I really would like to be able to create joyful little paintings.  So when the kit arrived, I daydreamed of the beauty I would create with it.  And a significant amount of joy was had via just the daydreams.  After several weeks of that, I decided I might actually try to use the kit.  A nice thing is that the particular vendor who provided mine, Tobios, does have some resources for abject beginners like me, to guide the first attempts.  Now, I don't know if it's possible to teach myself this craft, or if some more formal instruction would be necessary.  But today I made my first attempt, using the web page's step-by-step instruction.  The Wyeth family has nothing to fear from my artistic talents, but I did manage to produce a work that some astute observers might recognize as... a leaf.  From such humble beginnings, what will follow?  Stay tuned.

Coast Guard Day

 On this day in 1790, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton convinced congress to fund the construction of ten small sailing vessels, revenue cutters, to enforce tax and customs fees in the newly created USA.  This was the beginning of a maritime law enforcement service that would directly evolve into today's Coast Guard.  Since then, the duties of the Coast Guard have changed and grown, and today it is also responsible for fisheries management, aids to navigation, lifesaving and rescue, and in wartime, various combat roles.  After the American Revolution, the US Navy was disbanded only to be re-created in 1798, so the Coast Guard is America's oldest continual maritime service.

Also on this day, some 175 years later, I was created.  So it is a coincidence that I myself had a short-lived and not entirely successful service in the Coast Guard.  For me, last year was a landmark birthday, but this year, as with most of them, I indulge in a bit of retrospection.  My life can no longer be called a short one, though I hope it lasts for a while yet.  I was born in the midst of the early space race- in the middle of the Gemini program, when the USA finally surpassed the USSR in manned spaceflight achievements.  And four-year-old me was around to sleep through man's first steps on the moon.  (My talent for sleeping through major world events as they happened is considerable, with Princess Diana's death and OJ Simpson's slow speed car chase just to name a few.)  My life has encompassed the space race, the Cold War, the Chernobyl accident, the digital revolution and birth of the internet, a major worldwide pandemic, and the utterly disastrous Trump presidency.  So it's never been dull.  And for more than the past 12 years (longer than Samuel Pepys), I've kept a daily personal journal to record and comment on world events, both large and small.  I wonder if it will interest some historian in, say, a hundred years.

Anyway, Happy 236th birthday, US Coast Guard!

July stats

July was a quiet month for Postcrossing, with just 61 cards sent and 71 cards received.  This brings my all-times totals to 12,432 cards sent and 12,426 cards received.  I'm happy to see that cards are getting through to recipients in Russia- 3 cards sent there this month and 7 cards received- so the sanctions seem to be truly at an end.  Despite my lackluster activity, I did move up in rank and now am 25th of more than 83,000 USA members in terms of total sent cards. (Still #1 in Alabama, too.)  As always, I'd intended to be more active in sending cards, but life seems to persistently get in the way of plans.  Here's to more Postcrossing in August.  Write on!

Bah, humbug!

 As a longtime Dickens buff and connoisseur of cinematic remakes of A Christmas Carol, I was pleasantly surprised this morning to learn that yet another movie version of the classic story will be released later this year.  This newest one stars Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge, which at first struck me as unusual casting.  But after having viewed the trailer below, I am hopeful the talented actor can give a creditable account of literature's premier curmudgeon.  Coming in November- I look forward to it.

 

Turning 21

 In 2005, a couple of creative people had the bright idea to create a system that could connect people all around the world.  With some knowledge of computer databases they created Postcrossing, a project that facilitates the exchange of postcards between individuals who have never met.  Over the years, the system has grown to over 800,000 members in 207 countries.  Each month, this group sends nearly half a million postcards and have sent a total more than 87 million cards.  The distance they've travelled would cover 538,000 round trips between the earth and the moon.  I've been a proud member of Postcrossing for more than 13 years and have enjoyed every minute of it.  Happy birthday Postcrossing.  Write on!

June stats

 The Postcrossing stats for June are in, and during the month, I sent 85 postcards and received 79 postcards.  That brings my all-time total sent cards to 12,368, putting me in 27th place among the 83,000 Postcrossing members in the USA.  Still #1 in Alabama.  Good to see an active exchange of cards to and from Russia once again, after the recent resumption of USPS service to Russia.  Write on.

Semper paratus

 In a surprise announcement, the USPS will issue a new stamp to honor the 150th anniversary of the US Coast Guard Academy.  The new stamp will be issued at the academy in New London, CT on September 12.  This is of special interest to me because of my connection to the place: I was a Coast Guard cadet at the academy in the mid 1980s.  Yes, I had intended to embark on a career as a Coast Guard officer, doing noble work like stopping criminals and rescuing distressed boaters, though realistically it would have mostly been more mundane chores like painting navigational buoys and counting fish in fisherman's nets.  Not since the stamp issued in 2015 honoring the CG Cutter Eagle on August 4th, Coast Guard Day (and my birthday), have I been so eagerly anticipating a new stamp release.  My own Coast Guard career was cut short when I washed out of the academy after two years.  But in that time, I met many very fine people among my classmates and remain friends with a few of them.  Two members of my academy class of '87 went on to command the CGC Eagle.  One would eventually run the academy itself.  And the current top guy running the entire US Coast Guard is a former classmate of mine.  So with pride and nostalgia, I eagerly await this new stamp issue, and everything it represents.

Name calling

 On a web page posted by the Social Security Administration, it is possible to see data on the popularity of baby names throughout history.  So naturally I had to look into the numbers on my own name.  It turns out that when I was born in 1965, the name "Peter" for new babies was near its peak of popularity and was the 39th most popular name given to newborns.  This is only slightly less than its absolute peak ten years earlier in 1955, when it was the 35th most popular name.  In that year 11,003 new babies were named Peter, which was 0.526% of all newborn boys for the year.  Since then, however, the popularity of the named has waned, and in 2020 it reached its lowest point, when Peter was the 215th most popular name.  In the last two years for which data is available, the name has grown very slightly, and in 2025 it was ranked 187.  So perhaps the name of the apostle that was the favorite of Jesus, the rock upon which he built his church, will make a comeback.

The name Peter is at least more popular than one deeply unpopular name for newborns: "Donald". In 2025, the name Donald was the 690th most popular baby name, less popular than names like "Mohammad,” “Kash,” “Brandon,” “Maximus,”  and “Keanu”.

Back in the USSR

 It was about a month ago when I learned that the USPS had resumed service to Russia.  After years of sanctions and embargos, it was once again possible to send postcards from there from the USA.  Postcrossing first assigned me a Russian address on May 16, and several more in the days that followed.  Today I am pleased to learn the first of these cards has been received in Russia.  My card to Postcrossing member "Boring_Lydia" was registered a short time ago after travelling 5.077 miles in 32 days.  This opens up the 3rd most active country in Postcrossing to American members, and will provide more variety in the cards I send.  Write on!