News from the York

"Every human being is a poet, a masker, a warrior a dancer" 
Opening words from artists Levitt, Loeb and Agee in their movie on Spanish Harlem at Moma. 

Big apple greetings from suite 1606 The Carlyle hotel, New York, NY.  This is as far east we go this year, alas, having cancelled beloved Lech. As my bloggies are aware, this city is very dear to me - a celebration of so many things I love about the United States: the humor and optimism and bravery and neurosis and aspiration and absurdity and in your face capitalism. It is just so unapologetic, and as a person who apologies all the time; I rather like the vibe. Despite what the Fox News hosts say, nothing is more American than New York f ing city. (It should be noted that they themselves are headquartered here; because no one wants to be left out of the action). New York has and forever will march along, tearing down historical buildings to build another Starbucks, because that is what we do says New York: 
We make money. 

In fact I didn't realize just how Starbucks-y the place is. In my mind, it was more like Paris than that- but San Francisco has a much stronger funky cafe game. We rule in the number of hipster places with vinyl records and micro breweries. Sure, one could find those things in Brooklyn, but this entry is about the man with the hat with the tan (that is how I was taught how to spell Manhattan). 

 I had never ever taken a trip just to New York; being as I usually am en route to some place else. So we had two great weeks of just walking up and down every neighborhood, which was a delight, and rather eye opening. I was rendered speechless at the sight of one of the really long streets that head North/South: the endless, electrifying combination of giant buildings and human ants. What is new, at least to me, is how there seem to be no "bad" areas of town anymore. It has all been pretty much gentrified- we walked all the way north around the park with no fear of Harlem- a place that now has 20 million dollar penthouses; and then we walked around the Lower East Side which had a few pit bulls off leash, but also young blondes with yoga mats. 

New York was the offspring you will recall of the Dutch East India trading company - a corporation of investors and capitalists, and that is pretty much what it is today. Yes one hears about the artists and the opera, and it is still astonishing to turn a quiet corner at the Frick Madison and run smack dab into a Rembrandt. But in every museum is prominently placed the name of the rich person that made it possible. They make the money, then use it to lord over their fellow citizens. I am not saying we don't do this in California, but New York invented it...or at least was the first to borrow the whole patron of the arts as power play, from the Europeans. (One phrase you don't see much in New York City is: "gift from anonymous.") 

Our schedule was the same every day: walk 15 miles or so and see a museum. We managed the Whitney twice, the Met twice, the Neue Gallerie, the Frick, and MOMA, as well as a walk from Brooklyn all the way home to the Carlyle (walking across the Brooklyn Bridge was a highlight).  In the evenings we were shut out of any really trendy restaurants because we had not planned 6 months in advance- when we asked our concierge he either offered us 9:45 p.m.on Monday night, or told us the requirements meant going on line at 3 a.m. and swearing allegiance to Zoroastrianism. So we ate at a lot of small, charming Italian places- because New York is just simply very Italian. The majority of hip places to eat are not in the Upper East Side of course, but it is daunting to be tucked in to your little place after 15 miles of walking, only to fight traffic in an uber- all for the thrill of a samosa. So the size of New York is kind of misleading: people tend to stay in their little hood, because it is a pain in the ass to move yourself through space. I have friends on the Upper East Side who have almost never been to the Upper West. 

Oh speaking of samosas- I resolved to go down the list of one magazine's "25 essential New York restaurants, and Number 13 was a dosa stand in Washington square park. A man from Sri Lanka has been serving up vegan dosas and samosas for 15 years and has a cult following, so I dragged Thomas. Long story short we waited an hour in quite chilly weather for a tasty (but whatever) little lunch. On a warm day with no line, it would have been grand, but here is the thing about New York these days: it is safer and cleaner than at most times in its history, but that impression changes rather dramatically when you stop  for an hour. Once you stop moving, you see the grime and human misery that is a any large city (except Tokyo)- the addicts with a jar of peanut butter in their hand; the hustler trying to shame you out of your lunch or place in line. When we were walking, Thomas said I was practically singing "Start Spreading the Neeewwws!!!, but once we stopped, we had to beat back the masses like the pros we now were. 

But that is New York isn't it?  It giveth and it then it taketh away your lunch money-
and how we love it all. 

This Cannot be Broken

Note from parents weekend before I forget all in the tropics. 

 I really do love Chicago. Yes, it has a certain grimness to it- the weather, the gang infested areas, the deep dish pizza; but where New York makes you feel like you are bothering it, Chicago is glad to see you. We had all kinds of weather: from quite warm to cold and torrential rain. We ate a lot of red meat and truffle fries, and we saw as much Chico as we could. I can report that the U Chicago parent body has an above average aggregate IQ. This was evident when we went to a class on exoplanets put on for the parents. The professor seemed young and slightly nervous, probably because of the large crowd. The room was full 20 minutes before the official start time, and such was the enthusiasm for the topic, people were turned away. Because she was so nice she said people could just jump in any time with questions. Hands shot up. Yes? A man in a turban wanted the exact dimensions of the Bary center of the star known as X#$DF&# in the Orneo galaxy. Then another one from France spoke in a language only the two of them could understand; this was followed by the class brown noser who asked a question every third minute. I mumbled to Thomas I just wanted to know if 9 planets was a lot or a little (I am very competitive about my solar system) and that of course was my super sly way of getting her take on the Pluto question without actually asking her. By the end she looked frazzled and happy to be rid of us; my mother was euphoric announcing  she not understand one word. Anyway, U Chicago is a fun place to spend the day; it exudes a certain calm - a walled city offering a respite from the winds of stupid blowing around the country. Chicago police for example, who lost more officers to Covid than any other manner of death, are threatening to walk off the job if they have to get vaccinated. But at the University, one can rest one's weary head listening to the soothing words of foreign astronomy buffs. 

 F saw a list of FUN THINGS TO DO IN CHICAGO (or it might have been fun things to do in the midwest) and one was a behind an old abandoned lot on the campus were gamma ray detectors built by the University of Chicago and sent to space by Nasa in 1985. But apparently they didn't know what to do with them after, so they are just sitting there in the empty parking lot. I am sure you know where this is heading: Thomas wants them for the office (insert weird face emoji). 

F is now called on to entertain us with dollops of his knowledge like a sort of bespectacled court jester. He was telling us about an exam question for which he received only partial credit, a ruling he felt was a bit nitpicky. It has something to do with a given subgroup of matrices of the Hilbert space…I think Frederick did not identify the subbest of groups. Or maybe he did. Who knows. Anyway Thomas dives in like an old timer with a few tricks still up his sleeve and ties this it all up somehow by droning a bit and then says "and of course this cannot be broken" which are the only words I understand, because they are my mantra. 

Next post will include palm trees I promise!

Gamma Ray detector fun

Tell the Cows you are Vegan

Lech am Arlberg is a mountain village and an exclusive ski resort in the Bludenz district in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg, on the banks of the river Lech. Lech was settled and founded in the first half of the 14th century by Walser migrants from the canton of Wallis in Switzerland. Until the nineteenth century, it was known as "Tannberg". Subsequently, the full name "Tannberg am Lech" gave rise to the present name "Lech".The church of St Nicholas, which is thought to have been built around 1390, was the parish church of the Tannberg administrative district, and there was also a Tannberg district court in Lech until the dissolution of the Tannberg district in 1806.In recent decades, the once small town has developed into a flourishing community, thanks to the influence of winter tourism and, increasingly, by summer tourism. 

I was walking along the other day when I ran into some cows. They are enormous and docile, with a reputation for being dim witted. Occasionally they can be protective of their babies when dogs are on the trail, and once on the Kriegrhorn one of them took a shine to Rainer and almost knocked him over trying to cuddle; but they are harmless. On this last walk I stopped to talk to one and was telling her how sorry I was about all the burgers and how she was such a good girl, when my SIRI went on and said "Thank you!". 

The whole code red for the planet is making me nervous and sad as I wander the hills. When I was young, I would not have appreciated the appeal of a rushing river, but now I stop and gaze almost every time. If I am hot, I wash my face and cool my feet in it; if I am tired, I sit and watch. I always wish I could show you guys how lovely it is, but nothing really photographs as well as it should. I will post a video and photos tomorrow.

There is a waiter here who is so good Luis noticed him at an event, and we all think he should switch teams and play for the Almhof . That is how in deep we are ...we are now recruiting for the Schneiders. He knows every thing you want your waiter to know about you; and is discreet about the rest. If you and your husband share one raw egg with four spoons at breakfast after praying to the sunflower God, he has no opinions. 

But if, like us, you want tabs on your elderly parents' caloric intake, he is your man. When we came looking for them on the lunch terrace he came up to us and simply said: "Toasted ham and cheese for both." Best of all, he makes funny comments on our orders sort of like Pop used to when he called us "short hitters". I asked for the salad and then the main course only (the daily menu has five courses on offer- you can have all or none). And he responded: "So you will have a salad and then a long, slow, expanse of nothingness until the veal, yes?  He is going in my pocket when we leave. (If only I could fit a cow in too).

I have learned at this advanced age that my steps when hiking are too big, and this makes me unnecessarily tired. Thomas explained this (a little late in the game in my opinion) on a really steep part and had me follow him for a while in these little Minnie Mouse steps. I wonder if this is the way one climbs Everest. 

The word for ice cream and the word for ice are the same in German. This shows how little regard the German people have for either. 

This year the town is filled with beautiful dogs that lie under the table at restaurants. We can't get over how well behaved they are and how our own dog would not, shall we say, fit in. We haven't even heard one bark. (Thomas says he thinks he heard one barking at the Berghof, but it was shot.) 

Our two Hs (Henry and Hanna) have made a big splash on the local scene. Daily they can be found at the golf course or tennis courts or on a scenic hike, or a local party, or most exclusive of all- with Luis S inside the Almhof which is of course not open. (Luis is tucked away for the summer in a comfy three bedroom suite). It's like night at the museum where one can stroll the halls at leisure when all the guests are gone, but this museum has an indoor pool and a two story wine cellar. 

I asked Thomas when during this summer was he happiest, and he said running downhill after a long slog up the other day. It doesn't sound like much, but it is empty brain, full heart, laughing legs; pure joy in the palm of your hand. 

Nothing Bad Ever Happens in Confoederatio Helvetica

 

We are now fully tucked into the Gasthof Post here in Lechy Lech- rain is falling after a sunny day, so all is good. One H. Tan is visiting us here and seems to have taken to the Austrian lifestyle quite quickly- a super star guest in all ways.

Had a few days in Switzerland a country whose cleanliness, order, and beauty never fail to amaze me. In the “Nothing bad ever happens in Switzerland” column, we were walking down the famed Bahnhofstrasse - a street that looks like it could be actually paved in gold, when we saw a woman fly off her bicycle into the street (it was rainy and the tram lines are really slippery). I kid you not, before we could even cross over to get to her, there appeared two police vans as if they follow people on rainy days who look iffy on bikes. The whole Covid scare seems to be, for now, in the Swiss re view mirror : we ate at one of our favorite restaurants in town and it was absolutely full. One had to wear a mask at the buffet but that was the only nod to the virus.

We snuck out most mornings to get strong coffee and this mango birchemuesli I become attached to. The Wehlie parent body do not, no way, no how understand the concept of going out for breakfast (one eats in high heels and pearls at home). We had to explain to them every morning what exactly we did. “But where did you do this? Who brought it to you?’ The interesting part was in front of the cafe was an area that was meant for buses, pedestrians, trucks, cars, children on scooters- anything. Apparently research has shown that fewer pedestrians die when motorists share the space with them without any lines telling anyone where to go. It assumes that people in cars don’t want to run over the kid holding a lollipop, and it of course works. Because nothing bad ever happens in Switzerland. 

Took a long walk as usual and saw all kinds of things one does not normally see from the car, but are so exquisitely Swiss in their diversity. For no discernible reason,  there was a mini park for goats where they had their own little house with shelving on the side so the goats could feel they were high up on a Swiss mountain; a state of the art military trying facility where men were fully decked out with M -4 rifles and hand grenades (against runaway goats perhaps); fields of tall corn; large expensive property for horse riding and boarding; and a public shooting range to train the public against invading Germans. My point is, it is this strange combination of great wealth and farming; neutrality during war time, but heavily militarized. 

So here we are in Lech sleeping behind enemy lines as I call it (the Post is the main competitor to the Almhof) . We are trying to get as much of Austria into Henry’s stomach as we can in 10 short days. So far he has had his first Weiner schnitzel, and Kaiserschmarrn as well as my favorite- Tafelspitz (boiled beef) with spinach purée and apple horseradish. F seems to have discovered the joy of an open bar and how beers magically appear before them whenever they look parched. I keep mumbling about losing brain cells but they seem to think a year of Exeter health class has them up to speed. 

We have dined with the Schneidies and scion Luis took the boys around; he is now away for a few days then back here with the brothers from a German/American family who come at Christmas. Best of all we get Hanna! She comes tomorrow for 10 days…we are sure to be more popular with her around. 

The vibe at this hotel is really so different: they embrace the whole antlers on every wall and angels frescoed on bed frame look. My beloved black turtlenecks across the road have gone in a different alpine direction shall we say. 

Our first night we met a couple speaking American English who are originally from Albany New York; they now live in a pretty town on a lake not far from here. “Oh why did you decided to move to Austria?” I ask. The man who is in late 70s looks at me for a long menacing moment and says “Because we just couldn’t live in America any more”. I say oh….what year did you move? 

“2010”. 

So we figure 89% chance they left because Obama was smelly and when we told them we lived in San Francisco, they stopped speaking to us. It’s like being in high school with 80 year olds who snub you in the lunch room, if at this high school the  cool crowd wore dirndls and boiled wool jackets  (right wing chic). I feel like yelling across the dining room: : "So you left because of Obama care only to move to a country where you enjoy FREE UNIVERSAL COVERAGE???? "

FOR YOUR INFORMATION I AM A VERY POPULAR PERSON-I HAVE A COLD PLUNGE NAMED AFTER ME ACROSS THE STREET! !!

You see why we need Hanna to come. At this rate I will have no one to talk to besides the antlers. 

Spoiled Swiss Goats

Dueling Birchermuesli

Tafelspitz at the Burg Hotel 

Käsespätzle at the Krigeralpe

Few Photos

 

Flamingos near our beach

Beach at Lagos, a town an hour from us. Super crowded and tiny

The three of us on our next album cover

The scene at 5 pm chez Wehlen

Uncertain Bananas

Phone accidentally took a photo of knee exposed to chaos. I am calling this shot "Wrinkly knee upon Portuguese stone"

My notes for the blog this week included the following: (My physicist editor's comments are in red.)

Dark Matter vs Dark energy

How I love the water

Prison Portuguese

Be grateful for eclipses 

Tanks tops not for everyone

San Lorenzo barbecue

Why the moon looks half full

The only moon that can be seen in daylight

*The full moon is the only moon phase technically that cannot be seen in daylight, although if you live at extreme latitudes you can see the full moon during the day too...I'm not sure what my mother's not is referring to, and upon asking, I found out neither is she

Dinner Pecundo Mundo 

Rally Driving 

Entropy

Don’t be tired.  

So there you go. 

Entering the last week here before we head to the hills. We will mooch/fly with the Wehlies on a private flight to Switzerland; then after a few days, drive to Lech. 

F and Thomas were explaining to me how after the singularity- the one thing that started everything - the thing before the big bang, the one thing-  after that, things have been moving toward entropy. I thought entropy was decay, but it is chaos, disorder, uncertainty. So a rotting banana is more uncertain than a green one. Poor little uncertain banana- I feel its pain. I do not appreciate the entropy either. 

*Not sure that you can define entropy as uncertainty....also not sure that a rotten banana is uncertain (death seems pretty certain to me).

Entropy was going on before the pandemic, but I just see it now-all the confused fruit and disorganized wrinkly knees. My California style self help meditations give emergency instructions: stay small. See the ants do their work. Listen to the owl hoot. Watch Simone Biles if I can ever figure out what time it is there. 

Also very helpful is to stare down the cold North Atlantic and jump in. Thomas cannot figure out why here and only here I am the first one in such cold water and the last one out. I don’t know either, but it is like a person slapping you in the face when you need it. A wave is coming; stop thinking and dive under 

The other day I was marveling at how after 25 years, I cannot say a damn thing beside cake and thank you in Portuguese. It must be some kind of warp in the space time continuum that a person can stay unscathed by language for this long. Then it occurred to me that all we needed to do was go to a Portuguese jail for 6 months and we would be perfect. Thomas said fine but my crime would have to be worse than his because blondes always get off easy. 

We live near the church of San Lorenzo as well as the San Lorenzo golf club. Fun fact- San Lorenzo was barbecued for tax evasion …so pictures of him are always of him dragging a barbecue around. Of course this is sort of funny- and that is a reminder that we can really laugh about anything if enough time goes by. (they barbecued him!! Hahahaha!) 

I must remember to tell this to my poor green bananas-decay will seem hilarious in a few hundred years.

The thing about entropy is that we would be nothing without it. Without chaos, nothing would ever have changed from the singularity. And while change is not really my jam, without it, there would be no us: no Bode Miller, no cold beers, no kittens, no snowflakes, no south Atlantic Ocean. The same thing that gives us wrinkly knees gives us Mahlers Symphony no 5 in C sharp minor. 

*In physical terms the universe would not be able to convert thermodynamic energy into work without an increase in entropy and we'd live in a sad, static, albeit orderly, universe.

 A lot of people in Europe wear tank tops when they shouldn’t. That was a note in my “blog notes” and so I am putting it in. 

We had a substitute tennis teacher the other day- a 20 year old who really wants us to be all that we can be. I always find enthusiasm like this funny. He even gives instructions to us when we are not playing with him. When he yelled across his court to mine to move my feet more I said: “This is my ME time!! “ Anyway like all people who don’t speak perfect English, he has some expressions that are strangely zen. He likes to yell “Don’t be tired!” Which I just love- not dont be lazy, or don’t be hesitant; Don’t Be Tired. I yell it between shots now because it is so hot and I am in fact tired. And you know what? It works; because here is the other thing about entropy: we can create less disorder right in front of us through energy- we can clean up our rooms or build a house. It sort of means pushing the chaos onto someone else’s door step but that is for another lecture. 

For now, that banana needs to do knee bends and so do I. 

*I don't think bananas can do knee bends but am happy to be fact checked on that

Lastly a word on eclipses. F reminded me that if the moon were a different size or a different distance from us we wouldn’t get such cool eclipses. Everything sort of banged into the right size. 

*The moon and sun just happen to take up the same solid angle (3D angle look it up if you want an image) in the sky, so we get eclipses where the moon just barely covers the sun. As the moon is slowly spiraling outward, this will no longer be the case in a few hundred million years and we will get less interesting, less frequent eclipses. Similarly, a few hundred million years ago the moon had a larger angular size than the sun, so eclipses were more frequent.

So there you have it-the update from the speck of the universe called Portugal. I promise to fill everyone in on dark matter vs dark energy on the next one. In the meantime: spread some chaos around; or don't. But whatever you do: 

don't be tired.

Chico weighing in for later official comparison

One of several death marches through the desert

New fav cafe next to new fav sushi

F on his evening stroll through the hood

Força Portugal!

An alert blog reader has informed me that there has not been a blog since January. Since it is now July, I will try finally to write something down. First stop after crazy town Miami was Comporta- a chic bohemian beach town about an hour south of Lisbon with very attractive architecture: contemporary takes on straw huts, and houses filled with African art. It has none of the Mc Mansion vibe of Quinta do Lago where I am now. 

In Comporta there are lovely dunes with beach restaurants, and fewer golf courses or tennis centers. Last time we were there (see previous blog with green pool), I remarked that the visitors were chic French people or middle aged Lisboners who seemed to be in love after many years of marriage. 

We rented a nice house last year with the idea of quarantining here before seeing the Wehlens; they did not take a refund, so we went this year (ACB had business in Geneva so the whole gang came along). The house overlooks these large rice fields- a 10 minute bike ride to the beach. Our basic routine was no routine, eight people all of whom woke at different times, ate different breakfasts, exercised at different hours, and had widely different opinions on drip vs espresso. F and Hanna seemed partial to a quiet relaxing breakfast a deux in town charged on my card, while Kate and Charlie played things more by ear. I don't have much to say on Comporta other than it is stylish and wonderful and you should all visit. 

Everything was made more poignant of course by this horrible pandemic, and we all noticed little things more acutely: Margaret said after she heard us laughing as we played Around The World ping pong, that she thought every mile of the 6,000 miles traveled was worth it. I began noticing how little birds hop instead of walk, and that seemed to me as good a reason as any to get up in the morning. 

 I had plans to really hit the vacation ground running post vaccine; but the truth is it really won't be a hot vaxed summer for any of us. There are too many people dead to forget, and so many who can't get the shots, or worse, think it will interfere with the reception on their tin foil hats. In addition, it seems that staying inside for 18 months has aged most of us quite a bit and I am not sure the strength is coming back. So here chez Wehlen we are moving very slowly- as we hope liberal applications of sun and movement will coax us back to the way we were. 

 Thomas and I have a tendency to try to get people back up on their horses, to "force people to their happiness" as the Germans say. Many of our people do not appreciate this; but we are not deterred. Four out of five of us now go to the physical therapist twice a week. (C is the only abstainer); Thomas makes protein smoothies for his mother and makes her do her homework from the physio. In the evening we have "concerts" in the car to keep the synapses firing-last night was Paul Simon (whom they loved), followed by Eminem. They say they don't understand what Eminem is saying, but "he seems serious about it". Every evening we say to each other that we should leave them alone and let them live their day without our coaching; and every day we forget. 

 As usual we play tennis and go to the gym (hence the need for physical therapy) and I have added lap swims in an attempt to get better at swimming. Thomas agreed to look at my stroke and just couldn't resist walking back and forth along the pool like the coach he is. As happens every year, I worry that we are supposed to be in Portugal but see mostly tennis courts. All this constant activity is very un-Comporta where the ethos is more geared toward long lunches and fewer knee bends. 

 The two big changes we see around here are there are noticeably more rolls royces and padel tennis is now the thing the hip elderly are playing. The cars are difficult to explain- there was always the occasional Lamborghini driven by a soccer player, but now there is one after the other of these ridiculous Rolls Royces- they seem so out of place by the beach. I guess enough people came down here during Covid and the cars (and dogs!) came too. The padel tennis is not the same sport that one plays on the roof of the QM2; that is paddle, and this is padel. This kind is played in mostly Latin countries and the ball can be played off of the glass wall. It looks ridiculous, but the players are mucho serous about it- and have headbands and fancy rackets cases like a professional tennis player lugs around Wimbledon only these are tiny. We are both very tempted to try it and happy scoffing at them from the sidelines. 

We are hoping to put a few pounds on F after his last hellish semester in which he took four classes (the average number people take is three) while doing his research project. Margaret was quite astonished at the sight and set about getting calories into him even if it meant taking food out of her own children's mouths. Below is what we will refer to as the "before" photo. I shall post an after if any progress is made. 

Is any one else suffering from existential dread this summer? (Asking for a friend). Uncle T seemed sure this would be like the summer of 67 in the Haight Ashbury- all joy and babes from out of town. 

I feel more like the ground hog who is not sure he wants to come out. Outside is so bright- the earth is either burning or flooding, and everyone seems so fragile. Were human bones always this breakable? 

I want to be like those suburbanites in the 50s who were happy mowing their lawns; not a thought given to heat waves or cancer. But because this blog aims above all else to raise the level of its readers sleep quality; it will henceforth add a section: "Tidbits of Astrophysics that are so mind bending, one cannot help but think it is all going to be ok." (TFATASMOCHBTIIAGTBO; aka: TFATOK). 

Stay tuned loyalists...In the meantime. just concentrate on the very smallest things- not the backhand but the angle of the wrist while hitting it; not the flower, but the cute bug walking on it; not the bird, but its song.  

TFATOK!

emotional landing in Lisbon - first time in Europe in so long

Living room I could move in right now

This is sort of a spring time in Dachau look for Chico...."astrophysicist chic" 

Cuzzys

Path along rice fields 

This is your average middle aged man's attire at the beach in Comporta. Scarf is mandatroy

Our new fav lunch place in Quinta- in a huge outdoor nursery

Getting ready to face Miami international

Kids bar by the pool

Hip Comporta beach restaurant

Haven't Sunk Just Yet

I am not going to post much on the (sweet Jesus, make it come faster) Inauguration day because the Sellies are determined to get the Wehlies to day drink. I told Chuck that drinking at 9 am, (noon eastern) was not the poetic way to celebrate; instead a full baptism was needed. We needed to get into the Bay and frolic with the seals and wash the orange away. 

Unfortunately, my talent for planning parties gets away from me sometimes, and now I am seriously re considering, (remember the time Thomas wanted take out sushi on his birthday and he ended up with paramedics by his bed after a 6 piece jazz band with trumpet, and two sushi chefs and a sake tasting bar were set up?) 

But who knows- come down to Chrissy Field at 7 am and watch us try. Whiskey and sea shanties will be provided.

As for January 6th, I cannot add to what Paul Simon said below.  Keep singing my people. 

No, I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away