tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-146597182011-11-18T17:51:29.757-05:00In this place standing.LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.comBlogger1781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-67124675805467754072010-01-16T17:30:00.001-05:002010-04-29T12:23:30.724-05:00

As devoted readers of this blog know, I'm about to move to New Orleans. I'm a bit puzzled about what to do with this blog. Or, more specifically, I'm puzzled about the picture above.  It was taken in New England and it belongs to New England.  I hate to change it. Perhaps I will start writing all new posts in my newer blog (Transient.)  Haven't decided yet.  But somehow I suspect that New

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-35645359436512494432010-01-05T12:25:00.002-05:002010-01-06T11:30:19.517-05:00

I was so impressed by the book of Noel Coward plays I read a couple months ago that I decided to go through his diaries.  (They cover the years 1941 to 1969.  He died in 1973.) He does occasionally say nice things about other people besides himself.  And he does not always retract his praise a few pages later.  However, he does rate his own talents above those of everyone else . . . even his

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-52839392675856391172009-11-24T11:43:00.000-05:002009-11-24T11:43:50.653-05:00

Pronunciation: sweet sweat weak week break  

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-88514422778878364002009-11-12T11:44:00.000-05:002009-11-12T11:44:26.136-05:00

So, last night I realized something:  when we say, "an American," we mean an American person.  But we don't say "an English" to mean an English person. A Canadian, Mexican, Italian, Russian . . . but not a French, Irish, Turkish, Polish.  We say "a Pole."  Or a Swede or a Dane.  We say "a Danish" but that doesn't mean a person. I think I may have heard people say "a Vietnamese" or "a Japanese"

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-20944813931562047502009-11-06T13:32:00.000-05:002009-11-06T13:32:35.691-05:00

I've recently started reading Atlantic columnist Ta-Nehisi Coates.  Like his stuff a lot, even if he thinks of Prince as "his mother's music."  And god knows he could use a proofreader.  But anyway.  Not only are his posts interesting, but he's built up a large and mostly well-behaved commenting community.  I haven't joined it because it is so large and well-spoken even without me, and I just

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-34422497905100697152009-11-02T13:34:00.002-05:002009-11-03T12:35:30.503-05:00

I've been wondering for a while how many similarities there are between Benjamin Disraeli (the first and so far only Jewish Prime Minister of England) and Barack Obama (the first black President of the United States.)  I didn't really know anything else about Disraeli.  Finally I got around to reducing my ignorance by visiting Wikipedia. Two interesting things struck me: When Disraeli began his

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-79396428234712609722009-10-22T12:17:00.000-05:002009-10-22T12:17:34.738-05:00

On one of the blogs that I visit, people were recently discussing the topic of religious/spiritual beliefs and "faith." One person said that he envied people who had faith . . . What I envy, I think, is the idea that the universe is being personally benevolent to them. The universe is clearly benevolent to a degree: we exist, after all. But it isn't benevolent to any of us in particular. Now, "

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-64353990020209377542009-10-02T10:34:00.001-05:002009-11-02T15:35:41.293-05:00

(cross-posted on Facebook) elephant lore the elephant sleeps and dreams of home awakens to find to find itself captive and often dies of homesickness therefore the elephant drivers keep their elephants awake therefore, says the poet, live in fear that someday your heart will awaken and remember its home (from Wilberforce-Clarke's notes on the 359th ghazal of Hafiz) a misconception Love is

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-19088964396630152132009-09-14T16:46:00.000-05:002009-09-14T16:46:48.431-05:00

I recently watched the film Design for Living and I loved it.  I heard that it was different from the original play, so I decided to seek that out.  I've done a lot of thinking about the difference between books and film versions of the book; haven't ever thought much about the difference between theatrical and film versions of a script. Design for Living is a interesting example, in that the

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-14323874197817753852009-09-09T12:45:00.000-05:002009-09-09T12:45:26.558-05:00

I've been watching some of the original Star Trek episodes, surprised by how enjoyable they are.  Old science fiction shows don't always age well . . . modern people complain about cheesy effects, the technology is usually laughable -- in short, what was cutting-edge then looks silly today. But there are some things that don't change:  the importance of character psychology, dramatic conflict,

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-54401227199982458672009-08-30T14:43:00.000-05:002009-08-30T14:43:03.525-05:00

Two recent news stories collided in my mind and I imagined that the late Ted Kennedy had once kidnapped an 11-year-old girl, kept her captive in his backyard for 15 years and fathered two children on her.  (Is that worse than leaving someone to die in a submerged car?  Answer to rhetorical question:  yes, I believe that prolonged abuse is worse than a "quick" death.  But anyway.) On one of the

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-56677137074938281132009-08-28T10:42:00.000-05:002009-08-28T10:42:22.283-05:00

Okay, I admit it: my favorite Shakespeare play is Measure for Measure. Yes, I admire Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet (although I insist that what Lear needed was an appointment with the cluestick.) But Measure is just so weird, and dark, and twisted, and modern. Is it modern? Can I say that? It was written in 1604, after all. It is officially a comedy, because it ends with a number of weddings

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-28364024136636321082009-08-28T10:03:00.000-05:002009-08-28T10:03:55.178-05:00

Thanks to the magic of Facebook, I discovered that two of my friends from elementary school were "friends" with someone who constantly teased me. I told them about it. One of them wrote to her "you were one of the kids that tortured her in school, so not cool." This person's response: Nope, you are right about it not being so cool. It taught many of us a good lesson to stop bullying. . . . She

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-71043832826120461852009-08-14T18:41:00.000-05:002009-08-14T18:42:49.046-05:00

Okay, I can figure out how to cast on, and I remember knitting and purling, but casting off doesn't stick in my mind after a year or so has gone by. So here is a helpful link:http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/casting-offIt has several varieties of casting off, some of which look very useful even though I will never actually use them.The basic technique: "Slip or knit the first stitch. *Knit

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-92141780199846281572009-08-09T13:05:00.011-05:002009-08-09T15:17:02.015-05:00

A friend recently loaned me Washington Irving's Sketch Book. She thought I would like it and she was right. I liked it so much that I headed over to Wikipedia to see what the dish on Irving is. Some of this info comes from there.Washington Irving (1783-1859) is said to be one of the first Americans to make a living as a writer. He created the following items:"Gotham" as a nickname for New

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-27383959187423786622009-08-06T08:27:00.007-05:002009-08-06T11:34:03.801-05:00

When I was a college freshman, I spent a semester in therapy. For the first session, the counselor handed me a pad of paper and some crayons. "Draw a picture of your childhood," she said.That was easy. Without hesitation, I drew a large circle, for the horizon. I drew a line intersecting the southern edge of the circle - that was the road. Most of the circle I colored green, pink and blue.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-83609566378152962912009-07-12T15:24:00.007-05:002009-07-12T17:26:02.233-05:00

I saw this movie recently and thought it was amazing. I had heard a lot about it; ironically, it was not what I had been led to expect. It's often described as a "classic" -- I agree with that. Two other labels that get applied to it are "camp" and "film noir" -- those are two things I didn't see in the film.It's very much an homage to bygone days: it harks back to the early Hollywood era, and

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-66102782647990974742009-06-11T18:49:00.013-05:002009-10-02T10:35:49.252-05:00

(cross-posted on Facebook) glass three-quarters full sunlight, oxygen, water and earth. without these things to nourish us free gifts from the universe where would we be? therefore I don't believe that evil outweighs good. if that were true, nothing could live. my role models some people aspire to reach the top of the heap, where everyone will recognize their merits (of course, this

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-76160656040117569932009-06-11T18:05:00.003-05:002009-06-20T12:15:51.645-05:00

When I was a teenager, one of my favorite books was A Long Way from Verona, by Jane Gardam. There's a bit near the end where the protagonist is feeling rather depressed, so she decides to take her mind off it by reading all the Classic English Novels in the library. All goes well until she gets to H and discovers Jude the Obscure. According to her, the main point of this book is that nothing

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-83148895716497614642009-06-11T17:34:00.002-05:002009-06-11T18:05:05.907-05:00

Mrs. Gaskell was a contemporary of Charlotte Brontë. Although Brontë is better remembered now, Gaskell may have been more popular at the time. She was certainly more prolific (and, not coincidentally, longer-lived.)I have only read a couple of her books. Wives and Daughters is very long and fairly interesting. It strongly resembles Mansfield Park, being the story of two young women, one meek

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-46566157903785646222009-06-11T16:32:00.003-05:002009-06-11T17:33:46.554-05:00

For the most part, I disliked season 3. Compared to Torchwood it seems juvenile (which makes sense, because it's a "family" show), Daleks bore me*, and Martha's unrequited love just seemed gratuitous (and demeaning to the character.)But I really liked the "Human Nature" two-parter. It was original, and it demonstrated to me that David Tennant can act, which I was starting to have doubts about.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-55544374395706592212009-06-09T08:08:00.001-05:002009-06-09T08:11:22.925-05:00

my heart is a peachsliced neatly into four quarters,still clinging to the rock-like core.and insideinside the stoneis a hollow worldof eternal darknesslit by the moon.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-23225483736919224942009-06-09T08:04:00.001-05:002009-06-09T08:06:19.285-05:00

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-63685046520539728682009-06-04T17:35:00.003-05:002009-06-09T08:07:50.764-05:00

Click on it for a larger view.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-70518795259099823992009-05-25T18:34:00.011-05:002009-05-27T14:00:22.068-05:00

The surface of the river is dustywith pollen.The current flows both ways.In sun and shadow,fish go about their business--above them, the dragonflies glide.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-17937524985957961052009-05-17T09:23:00.002-05:002009-05-17T10:12:40.338-05:00

I had thought I was too close to the city to see any red-winged blackbirds around here, but yesterday I went to a park that's only a few miles away from my house. It's mostly a marsh, which was lots of fun, all slooshy and smelly and flat, but there was also a pond which was almost completely covered with pond scum and featured frogs, tall reeds and a pair of blackbirds. (Well, there were many

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-78057652911457081692009-05-15T15:29:00.002-05:002009-05-15T15:33:29.596-05:00

An aprium is a cross between an apricot and a plum. They look a lot like apricots, and are very tasty, if you like apricots and plums, which I do.The Internet informs me that pluots are also a hybrid of apricot and plum. I didn't know that. I've never actually tried a pluot but now I will have to. Furthermore, both apriums and pluots are derived from another hybrid: the plumcot.Isn't genetic

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-33923962851895420072009-03-29T18:04:00.005-05:002009-03-29T19:06:57.478-05:00

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911) was a writer and what we might today call a political activist, although she seems to have expressed herself mostly in religious terms. Her novel Iola Leroy is said to be one of the earliest known novels by an African-American. For many years it was believed that she had written no other novels, but three more were discovered and republished in 1994. I

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-45738281618088614082009-03-20T17:15:00.005-05:002009-07-13T16:15:29.989-05:00

This is a building near my house. They are currently renovating it . . . hope they'll keep those tiles.Update (7/3/09) another detail which I never noticed before:

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-69402566632821617802009-03-17T15:13:00.006-05:002009-03-19T15:32:37.046-05:00

Once upon a time there lived a painter. One day he encountered a most beauteous youth. "My goodness!" he said. "You are the most perfect thing I have ever seen. I must paint you!""If I am already perfect, why do you wish to add paint to me?" the young man asked. But at length he was persuaded to sit, and the portrait was done.When the young man saw it, he cried, "Alas! This picture will

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-43720336521414762472009-03-15T08:47:00.001-05:002009-03-15T08:49:09.306-05:00

I don't think I've ever seen one before.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-71122683855206340142009-03-08T12:17:00.002-05:002009-03-08T12:20:57.629-05:00

My analogy of good government is a traffic light. It gives everybody a chance to get where they're going and prevents us from crashing into each other. Of course, your destination is your own business.I was briefly an anarchist when I was younger, but I've come to realize that we do need some order, and the rule of law. (Still like The Sex Pistols though.)

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-82208700343190449162009-03-05T19:49:00.003-05:002009-03-05T19:54:37.386-05:00

The moon says:Everything that is not realis real.Everything that lives in darkness,everything that lives in sleep.The moon saysThe sunlit life is only half a life.Close your eyes and seeThe radiance of the moon that shines within.I wrote this over a year ago. (Somebody else wrote "by the light of the moon that shines within" and I borrowed it.)

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-87118119134114265612009-02-19T13:58:00.002-05:002009-02-19T14:10:52.897-05:00

It sounds like a weird combination, but it's really good. I found this recipe in The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas, and I assumed she had invented it. Turns out it's a traditional Italian dish . . . which somewhat revises my ideas of the Italians. Anyway, here it is:3 medium potatoes, sliced or diced into fairly small piecesabout 3/4 lb. fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces1 lb.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-68651196715035149292009-01-29T11:43:00.015-05:002010-10-05T16:44:30.332-05:00

Since DWJ is one of my favorite authors, I've been wanting to write about her books for a while. However, I was afraid that the post would either be too short (two words: OMG! Squee!!!!) or too long (expanding those two words almost into infinity.) Here is a compromise: a list of her books with my favorites first, very brief descriptions, and publication date. First Prize Fire and Hemlock (

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-75426248474758605572009-01-25T10:56:00.007-05:002009-01-25T11:30:35.746-05:00

Well, I've been making my way through Torchwood, and I've now seen two episodes that really stand out."Countrycide" - I liked this a lot, even though a) I usually don't like horror at all and b) "countrycide" is actually a dumb name. Literally it would mean "killing the country" (on analogy with "homicide" - killing a person) but in this case it's arguably the countryside that's doing the

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-72660767996635650732009-01-14T12:47:00.001-05:002009-01-14T12:50:51.665-05:00

A friend of mine asked me what is the difference. Here is a visual aid:As for the taste, blood oranges are slightly less sweet and slightly more . . . intense. I like them better than regular oranges.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-81223917192896424212009-01-04T12:33:00.003-05:002009-01-04T12:48:40.392-05:00

Finally saw it. So behind on everything. Knew that it deviated from the book, but what interested me was the habit it has of deviating and then wandering back. Book and film are still mostly about the same thing: the danger of catching falling stars. Isn't that right?I thought the biggest change was in Howl's character. In the movie he's much more heroic (which makes the tantrum he throws

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-56236220067532507562008-12-07T11:07:00.001-05:002008-12-07T11:08:10.929-05:00

First I saw it on the grass, then I saw it on the rooftops, then I saw snowflakes in the air.It has arrived.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-31577917826246202722008-12-03T10:19:00.008-05:002009-01-25T12:08:19.122-05:00

I just watched the first two episodes of Torchwood. It made me wonder what people who have never seen the new Doctor Who would think of it - not just because it's an official spin-off, but because the premise for both is very similar: an ordinary young woman meets a charming, enigmatic man and discovers the existence of a secret universe. (I even thought that the two actresses who play the

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-56092616502603633012008-11-07T15:47:00.003-05:002008-11-07T16:34:40.031-05:00

This book has been following me around for a while. I kept looking at it on the library shelf and wondering if I wanted to read it. Then I saw a copy at the book sale, passed it by, went back for it -- alas, it had already been covered by the shifting sands. So I finally had to check it out.It is noticeably different from the work of other Brontës. It might even be a better novel. I found it

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-52219794341724391822008-11-05T08:43:00.001-05:002008-11-05T08:47:01.742-05:00

This is the most pleasant historical moment I've ever been a part of.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-15182611728175393842008-11-02T10:10:00.002-05:002008-11-02T10:12:18.754-05:00

I say, "Dear universe, thank you for inventing sheep."

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-74152083348558469272008-10-27T09:01:00.002-05:002008-10-27T09:02:42.811-05:00

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-36290102831264259502008-09-29T09:21:00.004-05:002008-09-29T09:30:18.160-05:00

(to continue the Tove Jansson motif)My laptop had to go in for repairs, and I miss it the way the character above missed his penwiper. But I pulled my old desktop out of the closet, so blogging can continue unabated. There are two things to be learned from this:It still works. The laptop is only three years old. I bought the desktop used, six years ago, and it's still plugging away. Slowly

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-84073249901245554592008-09-26T09:25:00.002-05:002008-09-26T09:31:52.991-05:00

I am informed that gray squirrels have two litters a year, in February and August. I just recently saw some young squirrels (not tiny babies, old enough to run around on their own, but smaller than adult squirrels), and for the first time wondered about their life cycle.They are cuter than adult squirrels. They remind me of Tove Jansson's "squirrel with the marvelous tail."

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-88489627728491176352008-09-23T19:07:00.002-05:002008-09-23T19:11:12.924-05:00

small boats fill the rivereach white sail tinged pink by sunsetSeptember air is cold

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-42380390600027057512008-09-20T13:46:00.003-05:002009-07-06T17:53:59.546-05:00

Update (July 6, 2009): I used to like Bujold's books a lot. After finally reading her clueless comments from a couple months ago, I have lost most of my respect for her. Good writing is still good writing, but the things it leaves out are important too.Some people write science fiction, some write fantasy, some write a blend of the two. But I can think of very few writers who have gone from

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-30159222828489990462008-08-30T07:55:00.007-05:002008-08-30T09:12:05.077-05:00

(or, JA does JA)The late Joan Aiken is one of my favorite authors. For the most part, I have only read her children's books. I adored The Wolves of Willoughby Chase when I was very young. Later my favorite of hers became (and still remains) The Whispering Mountain.Recently I discovered her Jane Austen sequels. She handles the language pretty well,* which makes sense because many of her

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-15711366577682631292008-08-18T16:43:00.004-05:002008-08-30T09:15:11.489-05:00

Well. Long story short. I've started another blog, on another subject. I do intend to keep posting here, the same kind of stuff as always, but my orderly mind requires a new blog in addition.Start here: the coming out letter.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-26891726586189030892008-08-13T12:49:00.006-05:002008-08-13T14:08:01.874-05:00

This morning I was thinking about colonial history, which I do every so often, and it suddenly occurred to me that I couldn't name any Scandinavian colonies (except for Iceland.) Lots of European countries colonized various bits of the rest of the world . . . but the Sweden-Norway-Finland-Denmark contingent? Like I say, I can't think of any.I thought the Internet could help me out. I did a

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-33077196909256793672008-08-13T12:47:00.002-05:002008-08-13T12:49:21.938-05:00

Yesterday one of my cats was sleeping with his neck wrapped around the arm of the chair in a most amusing manner. But by the time I got my camera he'd woken up. So you'll just have to imagine it.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-63492872040549644542008-07-24T17:41:00.003-05:002008-07-24T18:44:37.512-05:00

Yes, I've written about forgiveness before on this blog, and how I don't really approve of the concept, as people often express it. But then I read about someone like Nelson Mandela, and you know, I can admire forgiveness, when it's done on a large scale like that, in a really classy way.So when is forgiveness a good thing?When you have a choice between killing a whole bunch of people or

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-28325493500868612502008-07-14T12:28:00.001-05:002008-07-14T12:29:57.151-05:00

Dried grapes. Not raisins, you understand. Dried grapes.(grumbles) What is the world coming to?

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-84180218757621159282008-06-25T15:44:00.002-05:002008-06-25T15:47:14.036-05:00

We have been having thunderstorms every day for almost a week. One of my cats is terrified of thunder -- he goes creeping around the house to hide under the bed, or the couch, or wherever he feels safe, and doesn't come out until the storm is long over. The other cat seems oblivious.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-33564105900028939522008-06-13T17:31:00.003-05:002008-06-13T17:37:20.434-05:00

I recently listened to a little boy and his mother (I assume it was a little boy, and his mother) talking about a book on Greek mythology."What is she the god of?""That's Athena. She's the goddess of wisdom.""What's that?""It's like science.""What is he the god of?""That's Zeus. He's the king of gods . . . and men. He's the head honcho. Like Optimus Prime."

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-69942576716138076332008-06-06T17:20:00.005-05:002008-06-14T16:10:06.525-05:00

I have been waiting and waiting for these to bloom. They were only planted a couple years ago, when this side of the riverbank was refurbished. (The other side belongs to a different town.) A few smaller clumps were also planted in other spots.PS: There are a couple white iris plants too.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-43068622000759053252008-06-02T10:45:00.007-05:002008-06-02T12:12:18.973-05:00

I used to believe that there was no such thing as a good adaptation of a novel to film. "They always ruin it," I would say. But recently I have seen some good adaptations (and still some not-so-good.) The film can never be exactly the same as the book. Changes are required, but they can be good ones or bad -- or perhaps, done for good or bad reasons.Here are a couple examples of adaptations (

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-55911930567350763122008-05-26T16:09:00.004-05:002008-05-26T16:15:31.914-05:00

As a child I was told that lady's slippers were very rare and never to be picked. They may indeed be rare, but I saw about a dozen of them flowering in this one spot in the woods. When you see that many of them together they cease to seem rare. (Still didn't pick any though.)

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-55301469969054359462008-05-13T09:56:00.004-05:002008-05-13T10:01:53.943-05:00

There's a railroad near my house -- not so close that I can see it, but close enough for me to hear the train whistles, especially at night.What is it that makes trains so cool? Is it the whistle saying "I'm going somewhere far away" (although most of the trains on this line in fact don't), or their purposeful unstoppingness?I don't often get to ride the train, but when I do two of the things I

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-79550326229403336392008-05-10T11:22:00.008-05:002008-05-12T10:58:29.882-05:00

They say that the root system of a tree extends as far under the ground as its branches do above the ground. So the visible tree is really only half of a tree.I've been contemplating a theory that the human mind is like that. The subconscious mind is a set of roots, extending into the dark, deeper than we can imagine. The conscious mind, however, is not the visible half of the tree. It's only

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-14191808213913689972008-05-05T11:07:00.002-05:002008-05-05T12:10:54.691-05:00

There is a fairly large cemetery near my house, which apparently has always been a sort of tourist attraction. But not in a tacky way. It is known for its landscaping. Many of the trees and plants are labeled, so you know what you're looking at, which is a very helpful feature. Everything in nature should be labeled. I saw a witch hazel bush, which I have never knowingly seen before, and an "

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-49775537838232984362008-05-02T11:59:00.005-05:002008-05-03T12:27:32.935-05:00

Okay, I don't really believe that all fantasy is urban fantasy. But I do believe that the genre we now call fantasy is about ordinary life, ordinary people, crossing over into "the other world," or about the other world (or its inhabitants) coming here. As Tolkien put it, "Fairy-Stories" are not about fairies, but about the land of Faerie, and our fascination with extraordinary worlds.Most

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-10132683501891352542008-04-19T10:43:00.006-05:002008-04-21T14:08:14.443-05:00

I don't usually take pictures of people's houses. But this arrangement of pink and yellow is too unusual to miss.PS: if you click on this photo, you can see a larger version. Blogger seems to have shrunk it for some reason.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-65158294345537040632008-04-16T13:08:00.003-05:002008-04-16T13:15:16.675-05:00

I planted them seven days ago. My windowsill garden consists of one pot of (perennial) oregano and one pot for basil.Around here, basil seed sells out faster than the other seed packets, so you have to move fast. I went to two stores before finding "plain" Italian basil. Then ended up trying the "lime basil" anyway. Sounds yummy.They're so cute.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-56603100832388476532008-04-08T09:52:00.006-05:002008-04-08T11:45:50.525-05:00

In Part 1 I talked about Steven Brust, and therefore the only possible way to start Part 2 is by mentioning Freedom & Necessity, the epistolary novel co-written by Brust and Emma Bull. It is a very good book, arguably better than anything they've written individually. A charming book.As Steven Brust tells the story, this book began when his friend Emma walked up to him, handed him a letter, and

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-1950616811227894482008-03-26T11:16:00.002-05:002008-03-29T15:17:46.901-05:00

RobinCrocusesIt's supposed to snow on Friday, but who cares?Update: it didn't actually snow. Has been kind of cold though.It seems to me that at the end of winter I'm less tolerant of cold than I was at the beginning. Like, in autumn the cold weather is novel and interesting. But in March . . . it's not.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-73331207897979898622008-03-25T10:19:00.003-05:002009-10-28T13:02:17.050-05:00

Books of his that I have read: Agyar, a vampire novel. I liked this a lot when I read it, but afterwards I realized that I had no interest in reading it again, which is my test of a truly good book. Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille. I liked this okay, with two quibbles: I have never met Mr. Brust, or any of his friends (that I know of) in person. But I have eavesdropped on some of their

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-61102214787183475542008-03-24T16:08:00.004-05:002008-03-24T16:17:00.907-05:00

On a recent evening, I was lying in bed, working on my laptop, when a spider appeared from somewhere in the bed, crawled across the keyboard and up the screen. I was naturally a little upset.It sat on top of the screen for quite a while. I began to have a rather companionable feeling for it. Until I remembered that at some point I would have to go to sleep. I don't kill spiders, but I do

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-84138409136789424802008-03-23T17:12:00.002-05:002008-03-23T17:13:13.525-05:00

It's after 6:00 in the evening and the sun is still up.How is this possible?

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-17294080309269308712008-03-19T10:23:00.005-05:002008-03-19T12:05:30.981-05:00

I have only brief comments about her four books, except for Shirley.The Professor. This was her first completed novel, although it was not published until two years after her death. It is told from the point of view of a young Englishman who goes to Brussels to become a teacher. (He does this because he has no money, no talent or ambition for anything else in particular, and no family except a

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-33494261440598542282008-03-18T10:54:00.009-05:002008-03-18T12:02:34.292-05:00

They were daughters of clergymen.As children, they attended unsanitary boarding schools where they almost died. (Two of Brontë's sisters did die. Austen and her sister got very sick but survived.)They started writing quite young. Austen seems to have started at twelve, Brontë at about thirteen.They died tragically young also, Brontë at 39 (having outlived all of her siblings) and Austen at 42.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-60649648122859057492008-02-26T08:47:00.002-05:002008-02-26T08:49:38.192-05:00

I guess that really ought to be "blue and chocolate brown."

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-19574315261672857712008-02-15T17:53:00.003-05:002008-02-15T18:46:00.226-05:00

My cats were given names by their previous owner which I never really liked, but it took me a while to come up with new ones. A certain event gave Indigo his name.Many years ago, when my cats were only four years old, our household (two humans, five cats) moved to a new apartment, in a part of town where we thought it might be safe to let the cats go outside. We discovered our mistake when one

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-32236190399317146902008-02-08T19:39:00.000-05:002008-02-08T19:54:39.626-05:00

My cats are thirteen years old (turning fourteen in a couple months.) They're brothers, and they've lived with me since they were little.Until recently, they never had any health problems. But now the vet tells me that one of them is diabetic and the other one has hyperthyroidism. The diabetic one just got back from spending three days at the vet, being monitored I guess.The good thing is that

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-36917107523298164182008-01-27T17:55:00.001-05:002008-01-27T18:07:45.426-05:00

Okay, I thought they predicted a small chance of snow for this weekend. I wasn't expecting this. I am too trusting of the weather report.I didn't take any photos, because the snow wasn't sticking to the trees this time, nor was there that beautiful purple glow in the air which appeared the last time it snowed. But I wished I had my camera with me later, when I was walking along the river and a

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-48961734081257918772008-01-25T13:00:00.000-05:002008-01-25T13:31:02.960-05:00

I recently watched an absolutely enchanting movie called The Adventures of Prince Achmed. It was made in 1926, and is believed to be the first full-length animated film (predating Walt Disney.) It was created by a German woman named Lotte Reiniger. Her animations were made out of silhouette figures, paper cut-outs, rather than being drawn as is usually the case. These days movies are full of

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-21270838542600236132008-01-19T15:49:00.000-05:002008-01-19T16:17:57.141-05:00

I was just reading a news article about the woes of the music business.In 2006 EMI, the world's fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-6933263303665622172008-01-14T09:25:00.001-05:002008-01-14T09:27:29.510-05:00

I went out on the back porch to take this picture. It's still snowing.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-53160317133937431412008-01-11T14:06:00.000-05:002008-01-11T14:32:22.626-05:00

Today's surprise: Lipton. Who knew?I just tried Lipton's herbal "Ginger Twist" tea and I like it a lot. The first three ingredients* are orange peel, ginger root and coriander, which is quite unusual but tasty. The remaining ingredients are nice too.Good herbal tea blends are hard to find. It seems like lots of companies put in too much of the wrong ingredient -- cinnamon, for example, which

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-11397878328324783352008-01-07T13:24:00.001-05:002008-01-07T13:26:02.418-05:00

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-53399006070273166212007-12-28T12:30:00.000-05:002008-01-01T11:08:54.490-05:00

This show started in 1963, and ran without interruption for about 25 years. I don't remember exactly when it was canceled, but people tried for years to bring it back, and in 2005 Russell T Davies finally succeeded.When reviving a classic show like this, there always have to be choices made about what to change, and what to keep the same. It's interesting to think about which choices work and

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-39352193993216690272007-12-28T11:54:00.001-05:002007-12-28T12:16:20.587-05:00

I can't help but notice that movies based on children's fantasy novels are currently popular (thanks no doubt to Harry Potter and Mr. Tolkien). Well, there is a young adult author who deserves to be just as rich and famous as J.K. Rowling, if not more so. I'm talking about Diana Wynne Jones, who has been around for a long time.When I read the first Harry Potter book, I thought, "This is

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-2580621876324552112007-12-24T16:11:00.000-05:002007-12-28T11:53:34.982-05:00

I first encountered the term "technobabble" in reference to Star Trek. It refers to pseudo-scientific* explanations, given by characters in science fiction movies or TV shows, for why a certain thing happens, why something can or cannot be done, why the ship they're traveling in is about to fall apart, etc.Technobabble is painful to listen to (in fact, the only way one can watch any significant

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-5766443581779372582007-12-22T16:03:00.000-05:002007-12-22T17:13:05.884-05:00

As a teenager, I couldn't appreciate Jane Austen at all, but as I get older I admire her writing more and more. So here are my comments on her novels, listed in roughly reverse order (from least favorite to most favorite.)Pride and Prejudice: I was required to read this in high school, and I could not distinguish between it and an ordinary romance novel. I understood the plot pretty well, but

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-30224461011638901692007-12-03T17:32:00.000-05:002007-12-03T17:36:53.574-05:00

A couple inches of soft wet snow, changing to rain. Here's a photo:I have not seen any swans in a while. I seem to recall that this is not the first time a snowfall has brought them out. Maybe they understand that it suits them.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-14288066984534663732007-11-23T13:20:00.000-05:002007-11-23T13:22:09.498-05:00

Here's another:

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-548820603288499452007-11-23T13:14:00.001-05:002007-11-23T13:19:29.877-05:00

Every year I love to watch this tree change color:Here is an earlier photo, from when it's just starting to change. Ordinarily the leaves are the normal green color.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-39155348215451754842007-11-20T17:31:00.000-05:002007-11-23T13:24:32.321-05:00

It melted on the paved areas, and only stayed on the bare ground and grass, but it was definitely snow, not just flurries.Does that mean it's winter now?

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-79265205413280727942007-11-11T13:13:00.000-05:002007-11-11T13:16:55.175-05:00

Write, wrote, writtenSmite, smote, smittenRide, rode, riddenStride, strode, striddenI came across the word "stridden" used in a story the other day, and I was taken quite by surprise. But I suppose it is correct.Then there is "bedridden." What is the derivation of that?

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-5653809332300795652007-11-06T10:55:00.001-05:002007-11-06T10:56:51.710-05:00

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-22855997530533167062007-10-17T08:28:00.000-05:002007-10-17T08:50:58.192-05:00

My cats are half Siamese, which means they are very vocal. Here are some of the distinct "words" that I believe I can recognize:Hungry!Bored! (This may also mean "lonely", as in "everybody has gone into the other room and left me here by myself.")Going somewhere! (This is a funny one. When they get up, jump off the chair, walk over to the food dish, etc. they really do make a noise.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-85074830677517621522007-10-12T09:37:00.000-05:002007-10-12T14:12:25.488-05:00

There are some people whom I would forgive anything. There are others whom I don't believe I'll ever be able to forgive. This suggests to me that there is nothing moral about forgiveness. It's a feeling--it is, in effect, a preference.Here's an analogy: I love pomegranates. They're only available here in one brief period of the year (namely, right now!) Now, when choosing a pomegranate it

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-12844092636986900502007-10-03T10:25:00.000-05:002007-12-28T11:53:34.983-05:00

When I was a teenager, my favorite movie was Harold and Maude. It's a perfect movie for adolescents, because it depicts hopelessness and hope with equal accuracy. Or to put it another way, if Harold can finally decide not to kill himself then I can too.I haven't watched H&M for a few years now, and I'm starting to think that my new favorite movie is Performance. The two films have a lot in

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-76139296186657286742007-09-19T13:58:00.000-05:002007-09-19T14:22:42.718-05:00

Last week I was waiting at the bus stop. A couple pigeons were pecking around. Suddenly a tortilla chip appeared out of nowhere (honestly, I'm not sure where it came from) and the birds leapt on it.One of them managed to stake a claim, and as more and more pigeons arrived, he spent more time fending them off (and making sure that nobody snuck in and grabbed the chip while he was busy dealing

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-29787970234652949992007-09-17T05:38:00.001-05:002007-09-17T08:30:18.378-05:00

I don't know if people still do still lives. It seems rather old-fashioned. But here is one anyway.(In French, a still life is called nature morte -- "dead nature" -- an interesting reversal.)

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-81583776577059906422007-09-07T10:59:00.001-05:002007-09-17T08:30:18.378-05:00

Here is the story to go with this picture:This cat once had his leg injured, and although he's normally fine, I have noticed that he doesn't seem to do as much jumping as his brother. Specifically, one day he wanted to jump up on the windowsill but he couldn't quite go for it. He sat up and gazed at the window, he ran back and forth under the window, he mewed, but he didn't jump.Meanwhile, his

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-91707817962660877872007-09-03T16:45:00.000-05:002007-09-07T11:37:52.749-05:00

Recently I wrote about "the power of speech." Today I started thinking about the power of silence.In the European occult tradition, there are said to be four "laws," or "powers." (Just to make them sound more impressive, they are sometimes referred to as the "Four Laws of the Magus" or "Four Powers of the Sphinx." But I digress.) They are: To Know, To Dare, To Will, and To Keep Silent.In

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-43558028093783644242007-09-01T14:10:00.000-05:002007-09-07T11:33:52.196-05:00

Love is disruptive. Love is corrosive.Love dissolves. Love transforms.Love takes one outside oneself.Love is not oneself: it is other.Love is the presence of another in the universe.Only love is strong enough to break through.Only love endures.Love is the end and the beginning.Love is the end.And the beginning.Love changes everything.

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14659718.post-11299770075600214162007-09-01T14:05:00.000-05:002007-09-07T11:35:38.534-05:00

Despite some of my recent posts, I have no intention of turning this into a political blog. However, I just have to say one thing:Rats leaving a sinking shipRats leaving a sinking shipRats, rats,long-tailed, smelly, garbage-eating, baby-chompingRats

LDRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05749431141806133937noreply@blogger.com0