In “Rear Window,” Jimmy Stewart plays a photographer who broke his leg and is condemned to heal in a wheelchair at home. Hitchcock made the movie in 1954, when exactly 1% of Americans had color TVs and Touch-Tone phones were a decade away. If the film were made today, Jimmy Stewart would never look out the window and suspect the man across the courtyard of murdering his wife — he’d be glued to a screen.

On January 7, on my last night in Jamaica, I slipped on wet tile and came home with a 2” hairline fracture of the ankle as a souvenir. I was fitted with a boot that keeps pressure on the fracture. First weird truth: You quickly get used to a clunky black column that reaches your knee. Another truth: You learn not to feel like you’re the senior dude with an apparatus and walking stick who has been chosen to be Death’s advance man. Not in this ‘hood, anyway. Best encounter so far: A guy who spends his days hanging out on the corner told me, “I know where I can get a leg for you.”

I had a second X-Ray the other day. The fracture is healing. Slowly. I thought I’d weep when the doctor delivered the news that the boot will be my 24/7 companion for another month. But I’ve discovered that my ankle isn’t the problem. My head is.

If I’m not busy — like, busy every waking minute — my head can spin and swirl. Before this injury, I dealt with early morning sadness by lacing up my running shoes and getting to the track as quickly as possible. Now my destination is the desk. I break for lunch and a nap, and I check the news, a handful of blogs, and, yes, Twitter, but I’m clocking 12-to-14-hour days. And not hating it. I’m writing. I’m reading books. And if I need a kick in the ass, I go to Zoom memorial services for dead friends.

My biggest discovery can be reduced to one sentence: I’m 100% committed to maximizing the life that remains for me. And so, it turns out, are my closest friends. None of us thinks of retirement. I’m sure we’re all, at some level, freaked out by our daily march toward eternity.  But most days, I agree with the Dalai Lama, who’s quoted, at the start of my new book: “Death? No big deal. Just a change of clothes.”

I wonder, when the boot comes off for good, will I miss it?

WHAT DOES KEITH RICHARDS DO BEFORE HE GOES ONSTAGE?

From the Harvard Business School News:

Pre-performance rituals are the stuff of legend for musicians and athletes—Keith Richards eats Shepherd’s pie before every Rolling Stones concert (and must be the one to break the crust); Beyoncé prays and stretches with her band members; Tiger Woods wears red on the course.

WHEN BOB DYLAN COLLABORATED WITH CAROLE BAYER SAGER

These lines are keepers:

I’d really like to help you but I’m in a bit of a jam

I’ll call you tomorrow if there’s phones where I am

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

From the Washington Post:

The headline says it all: “DeSantis threatens to rid Florida of Advanced Placement classes”

THE WEEKEND MOVIE: “SHE SAID”

The budget was $32 million. In theaters, it earned $13 million. One of the biggest flops of 2022.  And no wonder: 1) The villain is Harvey Weinstein, who’s in everyone’s rear view mirror. 2) The issue is #MeToo. Ditto. 3) The movie is “All the President’s Men,” just about female journalists. When it started streaming, it cost $19.95. A lame way to recover lost revenue. Now it’s $5.95. Money well spent, say I.

To watch the preview, click here.

To stream the film on Amazon Prime, click here. 

THE POPE DID WHAT?

From the Times:

In an article about the ever-increasing number of deaths in the earthquake in Turkey, there is this note about the quake of 1703:

A quake in 1703 killed more than 3,000, prompting Pope Clement XI to send priests and nuns freed of their celibacy to repopulate the city of Aquila.

Fact check here.

The most severe earthquake in the town’s history took place in 1703… estimated as 6.7 degrees on the Richter Scale and which caused devastation estimated at 10 degrees on the Mercalli Scale. Almost all churches and public buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged. It is estimated that over 6,000 people died. The survivors left the city as they deemed it too risky. Aquila, however, was repopulated by will of Pope Clement XI, who, believing that the city should be reborn at all costs, sent priests and nuns freed of their celibacy vows to gradually repopulate the city.

THE WEEKEND POEM

Marie Howe, “Part of Eve’s Discussion”

It was like the moment when a bird decides not to eat from your hand, and flies, just before it flies, the moment the rivers seem to still and stop because a storm is coming, but there is no storm, as when a hundred starlings lift and bank together before they wheel and drop, very much like the moment, driving on bad ice, when it occurs to you your car could spin, just before it slowly begins to spin, like the moment just before you forgot what it was you were about to say, it was like that, and after that, it was still like that, only all the time.

THE BEAUTY PART

Bon Iver’s  “Holocene,” filmed in Iceland, is the gold standard.  YouTube viewer comment: “This song exists in that sliver of space between beauty and pain, something temporary and transparent, a feeling you want to grab but can never quite name.” Yes. That, and more. [To watch, hear, and feel, click here.]

THE WEEKEND RECIPE

From At Home with May and Axel Vervoordt: Recipes for Every Season

BUTTERNUT SQUASH MARINATED IN TARRAGON

Serves 4

Preparation Time 20 minutes

1 butternut squash
sea salt, freshly ground pepper
leaves from one tarragon sprig
4-5 TBS extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS hazelnut oil
juice of one lemon
½ tsp wholegrain mustard
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
1 tsp sunflower seeds
1 tsp pumpkin seeds
1 tsp pine nuts
2 dried sage leaves

Peel the squash, cut it in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut the flesh into 1/8-inch-thick slices.

Blanch squash for 2 minutes in boiling salted water, then drain. Pat dry. Place in a serving dish, season with salt and pepper.

Chop tarragon. In a bowl, mix olive and hazelnut oils, lemon juice, mustard, shallot, garlic and the chopped tarragon leaves. Pour over the squash.

In a small skillet, dry-fry the sunflower and pumpkin seeds and pine nuts. Chop them finely with the sage. Sprinkle this mixture over the squash. Serve cold.