There are days when you just have dance.

 

Today's Tids Issue 5,419 

Shapes in Clouds: 

 

 

Somehow, today feels like love 

Maybe it's because skies are grey.  

And we need sunshine 

To brighten our day. 

Maybe it's because of silence, 

That the music isn’t playing  

Yet two hearts are saying 

The melody we always hear, 

Is us, you and me, my dear. 

 

There are days when you just wake up like that. But when we get down to reality... It is NFL Draft Day. Millions of sports nuts like me will spend hours waiting for one name to be called and then sit back and wait hours more. What a waste. But I can’t wait, and, after all, it is some kind of insane love., 

 

I noticed that the National nightly news didn’t mention the Zelensky/Xi phone call and potential for some kind of peace emerging. I wonder why? Are they protecting the Admin again.  

 

The Question: 

While we may escape to something as comfortable as love, there is one of the Elgar Enigma Variations that will take you there as if on a lofty cloud. What is its name and number. 

 

The Headlines: 

--US GDP Growth Slows to 1.1%; Consumer Spending Down, Business Looking to Control Inventories; FED Tightening Slows Economy but Inflation Remains Higher; Stocks Rise as Meta Adds to Strong Tech Showing. 

--McCarthy Pand Will be tough to Pass; Repub Base in House May be Unwilling to Compromise. 

--US Border Officials Deeply Concerned as They See New Illegal Surge Coming and Are Faced with Declining Funding.. 

--Wild Crazy Talk Show Host and Former Mayor of Cincinnati, Jerry Springer, Dead at 79. 

 

I find myself now-a-days putting my glasses of Diet Coke/Pepsi way out of reach, so I don’t inadvertently knock them over. Age brings caution from experiences. But I still try to do stupid juvenile tricks. 

 

It isn’t just you and I who are aghast at the increase of fast-food lunches. (Yes, I do eat fast food) The CEO of MacDonald's told Wall Street yesterday that they should not expect a boom report a year from now as they are seeing lots of customer resistance to higher budget choking prices. And you never want to use the word Choking when writing about restaurants. 

 

Try to find at least one thing to laugh at each day, and you always have one happy moment. 

 

By the way. I forgot to mention yesterday in my little tale of Home Depot and the panic situation over buying spray paint. The clerk told us the lights and beeps also go crazy when somebody buys a “Sharpie”. But not when a disturbed looking 16 tries to check out a gun?  

 

The bank problem now may be bigger than it looked. First Republic which looked salvaged just a couple of weeks ago is under assault again. Debt pile-up is a huge problem in the US and the financial world beyond. The FR stock price dropped 36% this morning after plummeting 49% yesterday. The execs, advisors and lenders are scampering to find a way to save this lender without being seized by the US Regulators. It is an intense situation, and very fragile. Mounting debt is pervasive way beyond the apparent mainstream banking establishments' – that meaning the “Shadow Banking” community which is widespread and generally unregulated. And all I wanted today is to be happy and feel love., Why do I write so much about stuff that scares me? 

 

Why do men find it difficult to make eye contact? Breasts don’t have eyes. 

 

I think Asa Hutchinson is an interesting candidate. It could be fun watching him parry with Trump, a m an he truly dislikes, during debates. Hutchinson is an Old Fashioned Repub, remember them, who will remind people more of Ronald Reagan than the current crop of hardline Repubs. He will for sure be a noticeable contrast on the stage. And because he is so different, he may surprise some and gain a considerable constituency.  

 

The US airman, Pentagon leaker Teixeira may not be as naive as he first appeared in earlier reports. 

 

A good local real estate company recommends that sellers get presale inspections. It's not because they have cousins and uncles and aunts in the inspection Biz, it's because knowing what is wrong with the house before the fact can expedite a swift sale of your home. Makes sense to put up a home with no defects which might later squash a sale. 

  

I read that today marks the anniversary of the day in the past when Beethoven introduced his great Bagatelle in A minor. So? The celebration made more sense when I learned that it is also known as Fur Elise, and it is a classic.  

 

The Boston Red Sox, my beloveds, look like they may not rise above mediocrity, and it all comes down to pitching. 

 

The Answer: 

Elgars Enigma Variations are quite pleasing and l like his idea behind them. But the most well-known of them all is the beautiful of them all, and perhaps onbe of the most pleasing melodies ever written, is “Nimrod”, number 10. 

 

I opened today talking about love, and maybe this will allow you to lull into it: 

Elgar - Nimrod (from "Enigma Variations") 

 

And then, there is the Big Question: What surprise will Bill Belichick pull on us tonight.