Frank J. Scannell

            On Saturday morning I worked out the chords for the third verse of "J'ai pas d'regret" (I've No Regrets) by Boris Vian. 

            I worked out the chords for the verses and choruses of "Entre autre, pas en traître" (I Took You for Other than a Traitor) by Serge Gainsbourg. I just have to place the chords for the last two verses. I might have the song uploaded to Christian's Translations on Sunday. 

            I weighed 84.5 kilos before breakfast, which is the lightest I've been in the morning in a week.

            In the late morning I went to No Frills where I bought six bags of green grapes, a whole chicken, Sunlight dish detergent, black bean and white corn salsa, and skyr. I notice that even though the social distancing is no longer enforced and the belt dividers are back at the checkouts, a lot of people are still standing back. I wonder if it's out of caution or simply because it's become a new habit.

            There was a customer who was a few people ahead of me bagging his stuff incredibly slowly and he was only half done by the time I was bagging mine. He pointed at my grapes and told me they are his favourite food. 

            When I got home I went back out to the liquor store to get a six pack of Creemore. On the way back I ran into my neighbour Benji and we chatted for a while. 

            I read part of "The Mirror Stage" by Jacques Lacan. There's a lot of convoluted psychobabble but the gist seems to be that the "I" is formed as a result of an infant seeing their self in a mirror. 

            I weighed 85.5 kilos before lunch and that's the most I've weighed at that time in seven weeks. I had Mexican salami with five-year-old cheddar on toasted Bavarian sandwich bread with a glass of half lemonade and half cranberry juice. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride and there was so much sunlight on my way downtown that I thought I might have mistakenly left an hour early. But it was the same time as usual, it's just that the sky hasn't been that clear at that time for a couple of months. Plus the days are slowly getting longer even though just a few days ago I had to put my flashers on during the return home. 

           At around Bloor and Christie someone had thrown some stuff out on the concrete tree planter in front of an old low-rise apartment building. There have been several occasions over the last few years when I've found stuff in the very same spot and the things are usually quality items. In this case there were mostly picture frames but there was also the remains of a scented candle in a dark glass the size of a large mug. I thought I would take the candle and finish burning it, then melt the rest of the wax, clean up the glass and use it for beverages, so I put it in my bag. When I got home I lit it and didn't think it would burn for long because the wax was down to its final eighth. 

            I weighed 84.3 kilos at 17:15, which is the lightest I've been at that time in a week. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:00. 

            I read "Subjectivity" by Emile Benveniste. He's talking about language and how when we say "I" there must be a "you" that one is speaking to. So "I" depends on "you" to exist. I guess that means we can't have identity except in relation to another identity and vice versa. 

            I watched and listened to my recordings of "Joanna" by Serge Gainsbourg and my translation from June 10 to June 16 of last year. In two of the French versions the screen was too much over my mouth and in the last one I fumbled. On June 13 I did a good English version. 

            I returned to my Movie Maker project of making a video for my song "Instructions for Electroshock Therapy". I need a video clip to correspond to the line, "a delayed attack is coming around" and so I decided to look for something that shows an imminent wolf attack. I've bookmarked a couple of things, but I'll look a little more. 

            I fried an egg sunny side up and had it with a toasted slice of Bavarian sandwich bread and a beer while watching season 3, episodes 25 and 26 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            In the first story Granny is still homesick. She's sitting in her rocker in front of the reconstructed replica of the old cabin, playing autoharp and singing about how she wants to go home while Elly's dogs howl in response. 

            Meanwhile Jethro is starving for biscuits and red eye gravy. He tries to make the biscuits but they come out hard as rocks. Jane tries and they come out like rubber. 

            We see Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in rehearsal and then they head over to the Clampetts. When they play for Granny it cheers her up and she sings and plays the autoharp. Lester and Earl get the idea to add the rustic touch to their stage show by having Granny in her rocking chair and playing ancient folk songs. But she gets all dolled up with a long blond wig and a long shiny gown and sings a more modern version of her earlier lament that goes, "I wanna go home yeah yeah!" Lester and Earl join in and it seems to be a hit. 

            The stage manager for the theatre was played by Frank J. Scannell, whose first boss was Al Capone when he started out as a tap dancer and singer at one of Capone's Chicago speakeasies. His first movie appearance was in "Whistling in Brooklyn". He appeared in over 100 films and TV series, including six appearances on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. 

            In the second story it's time for Granny to make her spring tonic. She can't find the ingredients in a Beverly Hills drug store so she declares they aren't really drug stores but rather "whatnot shops". Fortunately Pearl sends her the ingredients from back home and a potent tonic is brewed. 

            Meanwhile the Countess Maria Von Holstein knows that it's tonic time and returns from Europe just to get some from Granny. The Clampetts wonder what happened to Humphrey, her former chauffeur who she married at the end of her last appearance. She says she lost him on the night of her wedding reception and so she's not married anymore. 

            Jed wants to only give Maria the tonic as a parting gift so she doesn't start chasing him around. But Granny plans on slipping her some in the gravy so she'll hook up with Jed. 

            Jethro wants to become Maria's chauffeur but when she says she wants Jethro to replace Humphrey they think she means as a husband, especially after she says they will need a license. Jethro picks out his own uniform and it looks like a Bavarian officer's formal parade uniform complete with epaulets on the coat and feathers on the pointy helmet. But suddenly Humphrey shows up looking weak and old. He says he got lost in the wine cellar a year ago. Granny gives him some tonic and he charges in to carry Maria away over his shoulder. 

            I looked up red eye gravy and it's made with the drippings from pan fried country ham mixed with strong black coffee. The Cajuns use beef instead of ham. It sounds interesting enough to try and make. 

            I searched for bedbugs and found one in a groove in the new plaster that I'd put down to cover the cracks in the upper right hand corner of the old exit door at the head of my bed. It's hard to make it perfectly smooth without sanding it. 

            The candle was still burning when I went to bed and so I left it to live out the last of its life overnight.