Dear Friends,
Tangents:
The Beauty of the Ordinary
We treasure autumn days as reminders of everything we must not take for granted.
By Pico Iyer
Mr. Iyer is the author of “Autumn Light.”
NARA, Japan — Falling in love is the easiest thing in the world. But staying in love, we all know, can be one of the hardest. How do we keep the glow, the sense of unending discovery, alive once we’ve pledged ourselves to familiarity? And how to sustain the sense of anticipation that deliciously quickened the honeymoon? Put differently, how might we be enchanted by discovery’s opposite — routine — and find in constancy a stimulation as rich as novelty provides? The story of every marriage, perhaps, is the story of what happens after the endless summer ends.
“To learn something new,” the wise explorer John Burroughs noted, “take the path that you took yesterday.” A knowing friend in New York sent me that line when he heard that I’d spent 26 years in the same anonymous suburb in western Japan, most of that time traveling no farther than my size 8 feet can carry me. I’d arrived in Kyoto, from Midtown Manhattan, just out of my 20s and alight with everything this wildly unfathomable place could teach me. I never dreamed that I’d come to find delight in everything that is everyday and seemingly without interest in my faraway neighborhood, nothing special.
Of course this has something to do with the eye of the beholder and the passing years: When we’re young, we want to stand out, to leave our mark on the world, to be exceptional. As the seasons pass, we come to find that it’s everything that’s not extraordinary in us — our ability to tend to a family, to keep ill health at bay, to hit a Ping-Pong ball — and even in the world around us, that may be most memorable.
It’s certainly what is unremarkable in us that allows us to keep going to the office, to find common ground with our neighbors, to have something to write about. Growing up, I thought a writer was obliged to write from strength and show off all the things that he could do with more authority than almost anyone else; as autumn draws on, I begin to think that anyone’s strength is only what unites her or him to everyone else in shared experience, and often vulnerability.
But something other than that took me to Japan. Unlike in Britain, where I was born, and the United States, where I grew up, the citizens of my adopted home have been encouraged by their distinctive traditional culture to be quiet, to remain invisible, to try to look and sound like everyone else. The one thing others don’t much need, they know, is the loud impress of personality. Since I’d been trained to babble, I thought, when choosing to move to Japan, that it might be a good thing to go somewhere where I could learn to listen. Since I’d been encouraged at school to try to be an individual, it didn’t seem a terrible thing to learn to be quite typical. Becoming myself, I realized, might not involve anything more than becoming more like everyone around me.
When I met the woman who would become my wife in a Kyoto temple three weeks after I arrived in 1987, of course it was everything that I assumed to be distinctive, unique, even foreign in her that pulled me, much as she was surely drawn by the foreignness in me. But as we pass into a deeper season in our lives, we come to see that the season’s special lesson is to cherish everything because it cannot last; from Vermont to Beijing, people relish autumn days precisely because they’re reminders of how much we cannot afford to take for granted, and how much there is to celebrate right now, this shining late September afternoon.
I could have learned this anywhere, no doubt, but in Japan the seasons are treated with the sort of passion and reverence usually associated with religion. Every time the cherries begin to blossom, people flock into the parks because, in 10 days or so, the frothing pink flowers will be gone; and every time the maple leaves blaze in late November, my Japanese friends and family throng into temple gardens in much the same spirit that people of any faith may gather in temples or cathedrals. To be joined in a congregation; to be reminded of something larger than ourselves, keeping us in place; to catch moments of light in a season of mounting darkness.
I love the sunshine when I visit my mother in Southern California, but I can’t say I love the fact that February and August are growing interchangeable. It’s the end of things, Japan has taught me, that gives them their savor and their beauty. And it’s the fact that my wife — and I — are always changing, even as we’re shedding leaves and hair, that confers an urgency on my feelings toward her. Every year the autumn reminds me that progress doesn’t move in a straight line and that I’m not necessarily wiser than I was last year — or 30 years ago. Every year, autumn sings the same tune, but to a different audience.
My first year in Japan, I wrote a book about my enraptured discovery of a love, a life and a culture that I hoped would be mine forever. My publishers brought out my celebration of springtime romance in autumn. Now, 28 years on, I’m more enamored of the fall, if only because it has spring inside it, and memories, and the acute awareness that almost nothing lasts forever. Every day in autumn — a cyclical sense of things reminds us — brings us a little bit closer to the spring. -New York Times.
Here’s a sneak peek of when the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies collide, in four billion years.
On Oct. 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the island. Go to article »
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
A lone oarsman stands on his boat during the dress rehearsal for the Royal Barge ceremony on the Chao Phraya river Bangkok, Thailand. The Royal barge procession is part of the coronation of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn and will be held on December 12.
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/SAKCHAI LALIT
A gardener walks through the Acer Glade at the Garden House in Buckland Monachorum, Devon. The Garden House is at the forefront of a revolution in ‘naturalistic planting’ working in harmony with the nature rather than against it, allowing flowers to intermingle to provide living kaleidoscopes of colour.
CREDIT: SWNS
Autumn colors reflected in the water at Buttermere in the Lake District, Cumbria, UK.
CREDIT: OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA WIRE
Market Closes for October 22nd , 2019
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
26788.10 | -39.54
-0.15% |
| S&P 500 | 2995.99 | -10.73
-0.36% |
| NASDAQ | 8104.297 | -58.690
-0.72% |
| TSX | 16391.52 | -26.94 |
| -0.16% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 22548.90 | +56.22 |
| +0.25% | ||
| HANG SENG |
26786.20 | +60.52 |
| +0.23% | ||
| SENSEX | 38963.84 | -334.54 |
| -0.85% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 7212.49 | +48.85
+0.68% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield | |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
1.522 | 1.568 | |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
1.627 | 1.670 | |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
1.7660 | 1.8010 | |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
2.2550 | 2.2906 |
Currencies
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.76361 | 0.76417 |
| US $ |
1.30957 | 1.30862 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 1.45707 | 0.68631 |
| US $ |
1.11263 | 0.89877 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
1491.65 | 1490.00 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 54.16 | 53.31 |
Market Commentary:
On this day in 1938, in a lab in Queens, N.Y., Chester F. Carlson coated a six-square-inch zinc plate with sulfur, charged it with static electricity by rubbing it with a hankie, and exposed it for 10 seconds to a glass slide reading “10-22-38 Astoria.” He pressed a piece of wax paper against the plate and peeled it away to reveal the world’s first photocopy, later commercialized by The Haloid Co., now known as Xerox. It took 21 years to bring to market, however.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks slid late in the day as U.K. politics overshadowed domestic affairs. The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 0.2% to 16,391.52 after trading higher for most of the day. The late-session decline came as the U.K. Parliament blocked Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to rush his Brexit deal into law, creating a risk-off mood. SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. was the benchmark’s biggest gainer, rising 14%, the most since 2008. The re-election of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seemed to remove an overhang for the embattled engineering firm, which was the center of a political controversy ahead of the election. Today, 114 of 233 shares fell, while 112 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by technology stocks that fell almost 3% as a group.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $16.75 discount to WTI
* Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,490.70 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.1% C$1.3099 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell to 1.52%
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | -24.6737| -2.9| 0/9
Consumer Discretionary | -3.7484| -0.5| 7/9
Consumer Staples | -3.6099| -0.5| 2/8
Materials | -2.2209| -0.1| 22/25
Communication Services | -1.2420| -0.1| 4/3
Financials | -0.3997| 0.0| 14/12
Health Care | -0.1968| -0.1| 4/6
Utilities | -0.1642| 0.0| 11/5
Real Estate | 0.7326| 0.1| 14/10
Energy | 0.8064| 0.0| 17/12
Industrials | 7.7734| 0.4| 17/15
US
By Rita Nazareth and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell as uncertainty over Brexit sank the pound after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson lost a key vote to fast-track legislation. Traders also parsed a flurry of corporate earnings. The S&P 500 Index erased gains as a slide in tech shares outweighed a rally in energy companies. A sell-off in Facebook Inc. and Netflix Inc. helped push the Nasdaq-100 Index down. Boeing Co. climbed on the eve of its results, despite a cut in outlook by S&P Global Ratings. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar rose. In a very volatile session, the pound slid as Johnson’s mission to take the U.K. out of the European Union in nine days’ time was thrown off course. Members of Parliament blocked his plan to rush the Brexit deal into law. Sterling could “see a 2% or so sell-off in a longer-delay scenario,” said Brendan McKenna, a currency strategist at Wells Fargo in New York. “The U.K. is not as large a trading partner as China, but at the same time it does create some additional instability in the trading landscape,” said Peter Jankovskis, Oakbrook Investments LLC’s co chief investment officer. “The whole Brexit situation entails all of Europe. That’s really where you’re seeing it. It goes beyond just the U.K. to be another potential drag on all of Europe.”
In earnings news:
* Procter & Gamble Co. climbed after raising the high end of its full-year sales forecast.
* United Technologies Corp. boosted its profit outlook, lifting shares.
* Harley-Davidson Inc. jumped as earnings beat estimates.
* McDonald’s Corp.’s home market lost momentum in the latest quarter amid fierce competition. Shares fell.
* United Parcel Service Inc.’s profit margin expanded, but shares slid on the retirement of Chief Operating Officer Jim Barber.
* Hasbro Inc. tumbled on weaker-than expected earnings as tariffs weighed on sales growth.
* Travelers Cos. sank as profit missed estimates.
It’s a huge week for earnings, with around one-fifth of S&P 500 members due to report their results. So far the numbers have generally surprised to the upside, reassuring investors that companies are weathering slowing growth and the trade war. All the same, analysts are cutting estimates for next year as the dispute between the world’s biggest economies continues to take a toll. “Earnings are coming in OK,” said Jeff Mills, chief investment officer at Bryn Mawr Trust Co., which manages $15 billion. “But my point of view quite honestly is that we’re still going to end up trading in this tight-ish range that we’ve been in at least through the end of the year.” Netflix sank as Verizon Communications Inc. announced a partnership with Walt Disney Co. Facebook’s antitrust woes widened as dozens more states joined New York’s probe into whether its business practices have stifled competition or put users at risk. Biogen Inc. surged on news it will ask U.S. regulators to approve an experimental Alzheimer’s therapy. Lyft Inc. jumped after executives said the company would turn a profit by the end of 2021. Elsewhere, the Canadian dollar fluctuated after lower-than-expected retail sales. The currency rose earlier Tuesday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term in a federal election that pointed to more fiscal stimulus. Oil jumped after a report that OPEC and allied crude producers will discuss deepening supply cuts next month.
Here are some key events coming up this week:
* Earnings season is in full swing with companies reporting including: Microsoft, Caterpillar, Amazon.com, Daimler and Kia Motors.
* Thursday brings monetary policy decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank Indonesia.
* U.S. factory orders for business equipment will provide a look into the strength of capital investment in September. The figures will show to what extent the latest tranche of tariffs on China and others is impacting investment decisions.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 lost 0.4% to 2,996.12 as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.1%, and the Nasdaq 100 retreated 0.8%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.1%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.2%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.1%.
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1134.
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2899.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 108.48 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries sank three basis points to 1.77%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield sank two basis points to -0.37%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 0.711%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index gained 0.3%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.6% to $54.16 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.2% to $1,490.80 an ounce.
–With assistance from Justina Vasquez, Andreea Papuc, Todd
White and Samuel Potter.
Have a great night.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
-Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962
Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor
Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7
Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com
