Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

  Until her death last week, Queen Elizabeth II had been the only Queen of England in my lifetime, and I'm getting on in years.  She died at 96, so one can hardly curse the fates about her demise. She was entitled to Rest. Near the end, she was unable to leave Scotland and go to London to play her part in the transition from one Prime Minister to the next. the two PMs, outgoing and incoming, had to come to her. This was a big clue to the extent of her frailty. Still, the end came as a shock when it came.   I am an anarchist, but I salute her. She carried herself with grace through difficult times, in impossible situations, and as the Mum of an impossible family, a characterization by which I mean emphatically to include the new King.  The new King did not HAVE to call himself Charles III. Tradition allows for the adoption of a different "regnal" name. But Prince Charles went with remaining Charles even as he becomes King, and now the third King of that name....

This will be my last use this year of jokes from the Johnny Carson joke-a-day calender. On February 8, 1977, Johnny was doing some riffs on the silver anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II. "As a matter of fact, I wired the Queen of England a congratulatory wire and said I thought it was very nice of her, showing up every day for twenty-five years without using a guest Queen." On November 12, 1980, he said: "It is so dry out there today, I saw a robin rubbing Vasoline Intensive Care on his chapped worm." Okay, that doesn't make a lot of sense. But I'm sure it was preceded by Ed McMahon asking him dramatically "how dry IS it?" Finally ... On March 15, 1990, Johny said: "Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together wothout arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place." (And happy birthday to my kid brother Mark, a youthful 53 on Nov. 10, 2012).