Ripe tomatoes on a breakfast bagel, fresh from the market. Peaches off our tree in the backyard. Blackberries picked from bushes that you see along the street, as you walk the dog. Late evenings in the park, the Canada geese circling low in increasingly large Vs.

We have spent a couple of evenings listening to the Democratic convention speeches. During the talking head interludes, I have flipped to CSPAN, which is running speeches from conventions of the past. What's most shocking is the difference between the vocabulary and cultural references that the speakers used then and now. For example, I heard Adlai Stevenson refer to a quote by Thomas Carlyle. Today, the speakers use the formula of quoting an anonymous person from St. Louis who...(fill in the blank). The exceptional speaker of last evening was Barack Osama, who someday I hope to vote for, along with Gavin Newsom (who of course did not speak at the convention, since 'unity' this year means not talking about same-sex marriage).

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