Juste Vengeance is the title in French of my movie, Revenge In Kind. The film is subtitled in French (in addition to Spanish and Japanese), but there've been no ads or publicity in Francophone countries to get folks to view it. So it is always a pleasant surprise when I log into my accounts to see the stats on Amazon, Apple, and GooglePlay and I see that someone has viewed it with French subtitles. Well, that happened today! I sure hope they liked it and tell someone else to watch it.

While there are regional variations, chile usually refers to the fruit and chilli refers to the prepared dish. Notwithstanding that distinction, I have discovered a great website (and I have nothing to do with it, so this is entirely objective) at https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/. Today I am making their recipe for fermented sriracha using jalapeños and serranos from my garden. After fermenting a couple of weeks, it should be ready to taste. Looking forward to that! 

I'm trying to build more anticipation in my life. Being 75, I've no idea how much longer I'll be spry, so I try to fill my calendar with a few things I want to see or do soon, just so that I can look forward to the treat. Planning for special food or dining out with a friend is one of my favorites. It's hard to beat satisfying hunger with some tasty food with good company.

Fermenting lid allows gas buildup to escape without my having to keep track of the process and burp the jar as necessary.

I don't participate in art shows much anymore because they are a huge effort and the profit is insufficient, but I will admit that many of them were fun. And it is pleasant to recall the better ones when I look at photos of the patrons and see my art on the walls. One such memory is a shot of a showing of my photography held in Fort Worth in 2021. 

I love pithy quotations that distill a thought about life, how we should do or perceive things, or inject humor into our perspectives. Here is one I plucked from a book I started (but never actually read more than half of) entitled Invitation to a Banquet by Fuchsia Dunlop. She wrote the quote when characterizing herself, but I think it can be applied to anyone when phrased the following way:

There was a thunderstorm with some very gusty winds that blew down a dead branch of a large tree. It was blocking my alley, so I tried to move it. When I turned part of it over, I saw this wonderland of mushrooms. It was a lovely garden unto itself.

Something nice happened. A golf buddy of mine read my book Filming an Indie: A Diary of Making Revenge in Kind. Then she watched the movie, first by herself, and then again with her husband. She sent me this photo of the movie onscreen as a little present to me. It makes me feel so good when someone watches RIK, especially after reading the book and thus knowing what it took to make it.

An artwork that I have loved for most of my life is the 14th century masterpiece tapestry of a Unicorn in a corral. It is so intricate and colorful. And the Unicorn himself is sad, powerful, and elegant. 

I have been blessed to have viewed this tapestry in the MOMA annex called the Cloisters in New York City—once in the early 1980s and then again in 2024. Both times I was lucky to be almost alone and was completely undisturbed during my meditation and appreciation. I feel that I not only absorbed it, I imprinted it in my memory to recall whenever I liked. I could not possibly count the number of times in my life that I have contemplated the Unicorn's  expression and his plight.

This week the New York Times surprised me with a challenge to spend 10 minutes viewing the tapestry online. So I was fortunate to have time to magnify and scroll, which is something impossible with the real artwork. Thanks to NYT, I present the screenshot below.

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Yes, I love words! Sometimes it is hard for me to learn a new one because there are not enough occasions to use it in everyday contexts. But I am going to look for ways to use tyro, which means "novice; one who's not attained proficiency or expertise".

I have fallen in love several times in my 75 years, but I am a tyro every time someone new captures my heart. Unsure of my emotional footing, afraid to assume my ardor is requited, and teetering on giddiness, I tiptoe into the relationship.

With regard to cooking, there is almost nothing new. Recipes build on one another and people pretend that switching an ingredient or two makes a dish novel. So I don't claim that I have invented anything, but let me tell you of my latest kitchen adventure.

A few things in my fridge had been there for a while—namely shitakis, yuzu juice, and ume vinegar I'd bought for a Japanese dinner—and I was trying to think of a way to use them. And I needed to include tarragon, which was overtaking my herb garden. So here is what I came up with. Now, as always, you can vary anything you wish, but I do hope you will try this. I think it turned out to be superb.