The Usho

  

In Gifu when the sun is low,
in evenings, spring to fall,
the Usho take their poles in hand
while lanterns light the way.

The Cormarant sit on the bow
strings tied around their necks.
They dive for little fish to eat
and Usho hold their sway.

From May through each October,
except on Harvest Moon,
the Usho and the Cormarants
work as one to seize their prey.

Down on the river Nagara
this is an ancient life,
to feed themselves and the birds,
though cruelly some might say.

Through the words of Haiku
Ukai tradition reigns.
2 millennium produced this course,
which still goes on today.

And with Ukai and the Usho
on Gifu Cormarant are chained,
for fishes in Nagara to be caught.
These ways are here to stay.


Oil painting "Fishing" by Nancy Bennett
Photo from Sue's trip to Greensville Artists Guild Gallery.

A Shared Bridge

This was "my" bridge for decades, 

a place where I would roam,

when things got too confusing, 

and I needed someplace to go. 

 Once a ship was tied up there, 

 (for many years it seems.) 

I used to sneak on her of night times 

and I'd sail her in all of my dreams. 

 This was the bridge that I rode across 

 on my bicycle built for one. 

On my way to the beach, or just fishing, 

this was my bridge alone! 

 Years had passed and I'd moved away

 yet still, this was the bridge that I'd see. 

Yes, this was the bridge that I'd lost until 

you came and gave it back to me!

 For Victoria Kanrek - long overdue. With affection and thanks! 

Photo by Victoria Kanrek

Aunt Gloria

This is not a picture of Aunt Gloria today. It was taken a few years ago, when she was younger. I’m 60, so she was 15 when I was newly minted and 18 when I first became fully aware of anything. So, my first recollection of her goes only as far back as this photo and the fishing trip to Sheepshead Bay. That was in 1957 when I was 3. I look different, but Gloria still looks and sounds the same to me.

In my mind we took a car; probably stolen; to the Bay. We parked and walked out on one of the piers to fish. My brother wouldn't; or perhaps couldn't; bait his hook. He was almost 2 years older than me and already setting a poor example of the role an older brother should play in the development of his younger sibling. No matter; Aunt Gloria was up to the task of assuming the role of big brother if necessary. She was different than my other Aunts. You always felt safe with Gloria, never threatened. She always had something funny to say; even at funerals. Wait; make that especially at funerals.

Anyway, on this day in Sheepshead Bay, she picked a nice long wiggling bloody worm from a Chinese food container; which is how bait was sold back then; and then swung it before my brother’s face, making him squirm like a worm, and making me laugh like a hyena. Then, after traumatizing him for life, she plunged the hook gleefully into the worm, hitting it mid-section and causing the little fellow to double over. Then she cast the line into the Bay and in short order we hooked a baby carriage, a boot, and finally a huge horse shoe crab. Eventually we did catch some fish; or maybe bought them; to take home.

This is one of my earliest memories of going anywhere without my parents. There would be other outings and adventures. There were Telephone Company ball games; both Gloria and my other Aunt Gladys both worked for Bell; there were days and nights in a bungalow at Breezy Point; movies and just a lot of fun whenever she was around. My Mom was always ill and for 2 summers in the mid 1960’s she and her husband Bobby were like a refuge for me.

So, all my memories of Gloria are all fun memories. And that’s why I don’t really see her as having gotten any older through the years. She’s like her own force of nature. Hell, she won’t even see this until she gets back from the cruise she’s on. She’s always on cruises and has probably logged more miles in the Caribbean than I have in all my travels around the world. She still swims every day, although hopefully that will not be necessary on this cruise.

So, this is my big Happy Birthday to Gloria, who is young at heart and still my favorite Aunt; in spite of the fact that her getting older has aged me…

For a link to the story of Bobby and Gloria's Halloween cruise in 2009 hit this link;

http://robertwilliamsofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2009/11/fork-and-spoon.html

"Neptune Nonsense" - Felix the Cat (1936)

We all tend to think of Felix the Cat in terms of the 1950’s cartoons we saw on television. But Felix had a long life before that incarnation. He actually dates back to the days of silent films. He is also the first cartoon character to ever have a fan base of his own, preceding even Mickey Mouse in that regard.

Felix’s real background is somewhat obscured, with ownership being claimed by  an Australian cartoonist named Pat Sullivan. He claims to be the original creator of Felix. An American animator named Otto Messmer, who worked for Mr. Sullivan, has also been created with Felix’s birth. But, since Sullivan did have the Felix character in a newspaper comic strip prior to the partnership with Messmer, so I suppose he is the original, although even in that endeavor he had a partner named Joe Oliolo.

Felix was so popular during the 1920’s that he spawned a whole line of products, ceramics, postcards and even stuffed toys. He was also the subject of several jazz songs of the time, the most notable being Paul Whiteman's "Felix Kept on Walking".

When sound arrived in the theater, Sullivan was at first against giving his character a voice, but within a year had caved into the change. For whatever reason, the cartoon failed against the newer characters coming from Disney and others. There was a short time in the 1930’s when Felix enjoyed a short resurgence, and this cartoon is from that period with the Van Beuren Studios.

The Felix cartoons on American TV in the 1950’s, with which most of us are familiar, were the product of Sullivan’s old partner Joe Oriolo. He reintroduced Felix in an altered form with new characters, and a "Magic Bag of Tricks".  And of course there was that theme song…

In this 1936 offering, Felix decides that his fish is lonely and goes in search of a companion for it. A delightfully silly plot and great animation make this one a keeper, as well as a doorway into Felix’s past.