Morning Open Thread is a daily, copyrighted post, from a host of editors and guest writers. We support our community, invite and
share ideas, and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue in an open forum.
This series was conceived as a haven where folks can drop in to share conversation, ideas, weather reports, and music. Feel free to leave a note, comment, picture, or tune. As always the diarist gets to sleep in, and may show up long after the post is published. So you know, it's a feature, not a bug.
Pull up a chair, get your cup of tea, coffee, or other favorite morning beverage and join us for a neighborly start to the day ahead.
Ordinarily, I would be cracking jokes or mulling a prank this April 1. None of the pranks I remember seem amusing any more. Contemplating a best case scenario of 100,000 to 250,000 dead as a best case scenario sucks the humor from the day. None of us know when the “Golden BB” has our number on it.
The best we can do is make the best of the day, the month, and the year. We are all we have. Time is not our friend this spring of 2020, especially for those of us who have seen more than 60 or so winters. Our living rooms, our dens, kitchens, and bedrooms are our foxholes in the war against the novel coronavirus microbe called Covid-19.
There is no reason to be entirely gloomy. The enforced self-quarantine has resulted in quite a bit of inadvertent humor. This teleconferenced office meeting is an example of how things can go sideways for the un-selfaware.
If we are gonna have the blues, might as well do it right. Justin Johnson really does have a cool way of working from home. His newest is a tribute to Howlin’ Wolf. The Heavy Stomp Blues:
This was recorded three days ago, on a guitar made from a cigar box. Justin is on his back porch. Note the slack string tuning in Open D (D-A-D-F#-A-D).
This is an open thread. We have jokes, weather reports, lies stories, and gossip. Come in and have a chair with good company.
If you finished watching the video, then...and only then…get your favorite morning brew cup and sit a spell.