The Song of MidWinter

The good times are coming

It is a time to rejoice.

It is January 16.

Midwinter has arrived.

It is all downhill from here.

Somewhere along the line a number of years ago, I began to think of November 1 as the first day of "FramWinter" and March 31 as the final day. Around here, way up North, those dates coincide with actual winter weather much closer than do the dates on the calendar.

While it is true that I have witnessed snow on Labor Day and blizzards in October, by-in-large November 1 is around the time of the year cold and snow begin to set in for keeps. The same is true in the springtime. I have experienced horrendous blizzards in April and measurable snowfall even during the last week of May, but warm air and green fields are on the way by the time March draws to its conclusion.

Therefore, while it is not mathematically precise in terms of days, hours and minutes, January 16 is two and one-half months into Winter and two and one-half months remain for it to exist.

So, be of good cheer, Spring is near and this "FramWinter" soon will be history and we can all go outside again and play.

Speaking of playing & incidental notes

Item 1: Remember my December 31 post? These were among the words in context of three things that were possibilities for my future: "Move to Florida, buy a boat and hang out for a year or two diving and diving."

I spent a few hours on Saturday at the 41st Annual Sportsmen's Boat, Camping and Vacation Show in St. Paul. I was not looking at sleeping bags, either. Next weekend is the Minneapolis Boat Show, which I also plan to attend. There also is a smaller, local boat show going on almost next door to me. That is on my mid-week agenda.

I probably will be elaborating on this in the weeks ahead.

Incidental to the point, I have an old friend who is diving beneath the ice on Lake Superior this weekend. I taught him how to dive, but now he surpasses anything I have done. Now, he could be the teacher and I the student. This makes me smile.

As if fate were keeping one eye on me at all times, I also have made a new acquaintance who was with the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) in the U.S. Navy. In other words, he was a professional diver, both hard-helmet and scuba. Constant readers here might recall that I went through the three-week Navy scuba school myself at approximately the dawn of time. He and I are talking about trying some dives next Summer if things would work out.

Item 2: I began reading Raymond Khoury's 2005 best-selling novel, "The Last Templar." I like it -- so far -- and might mention it in the future -- another book review that is not a book review, or whatever.

I am curious. Has anyone read it?

Another cowboy song breaks free

It must the desolation of the landscape, covered with snow blown by a bitterly cold wind, but I am in the mood for cowboy music and cowboy films.

Mama Cass Elliot sang, "The Good Times are Coming," the theme song from the original motion picture version of "Monte Walsh." The cast was led Lee Marvin and Jack Palance -- two men born to portray cowboys on the silver screen -- and Jeanne Moreau -- beauty incarnate. The story centers about the end of the Western Frontier and the demise of open range cowboys whose lives flourished in a mixture of reality and myth.

Many, including myself, consider this movie to be a Western Classic and as tragic a tale as any written by William Shakespeare. What happens to the cowboy when the Old West vanishes into the mists of time?

A television remake of the 1970 film was done in 2003 with Tom Selleck and Isabella Rossellini playing the lead roles. While the original version is archetypal, the television version is sort of routine, bland entertainment. And, while Selleck manages to handle parts as a private detective or a police officer relatively well, in my opinion he comes off as a cartoon caricature when he dons the duds of a cowboy.

Anyway, the song was absolutely perfect for the original film and was sung absolutely beautifully by Mama Cass -- and, that is why it is here tonight.