All Purls. No Swine.
The image of the boy in a tree, sawing determinedly away at the branch he is sitting on, while he's actually sitting on the wrong side of it--on the part of the branch that's going to fall to the ground with him on it when he cuts all the way through--is one that's always amused… Continue reading Step Away–I Got This (Not)
Yes, the pedantic me (or "I" as it should more properly be) knows that in his most famous quatrain, William Ernest Henley spells, and is using the word "strait" as it applies to a narrow body of water, often difficult to navigate and get through in one piece. And certainly, sometimes when you're undertaking a… Continue reading How Straight the Gate!
In my Autumn garden I was fain To mourn among my scattered roses; Alas for that last rosebud which uncloses To Autumn’s languid sun and rain When all the world is on the wane! Which has not felt the sweet constraint of June, Nor heard the nightingale in tune Broad-faced asters by my garden walk,… Continue reading An October Garden
Jake August writes pulp fiction. He was a Navy Criminal Investigation Division officer, before he got shot in a brothel in Occupied Japan and was invalided out of the service. Now in 1952, he writes paperback novels for Rattlesnake Books. Deadline: New York, a mystery by Jim Lester, explores the emerging world of paperback publishing… Continue reading Book Review By Seawriter: A 1950s -Style Noir Mystery Set in 1950s New York
Before my husband, Mr. Right, died last year, he spent many years (probably well over a decade, now that I reflect on it with the benefit of hindsight) slowly succumbing to dementia. It's a cruel disease, as many of you know. But also looking back on it, and--indeed--since he died, I've found humor in some… Continue reading An Autocorrect Fail, or Just the Funniest Book Review Ever?
Susan Vass is a retired stand-up comedian (from the days when such people were actually funny), who writes a regular Friday humor column on PowerLine, one of my favorite websites. (It's the website that, all the way back in August of 2010, introduced me to Ricochet.) Susan's column for Friday, October 8, 2021, can be… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Ammo Grrrll!
There are days when I despair for the future of the generations that will come after me. To be clear, though, today isn't one of them. This morning, I was gifted a photograph of 98-year-old Auntie Pat, sitting with my three-month-old niece on her lap. The joy in Pat's face, and the equanimity with which… Continue reading Pee Po Belly Bum…Drawers?
Where did the universe come from? How does it work? When did it begin and when--and how--will it end? People have asked variations on these questions since people started asking questions. Where Did the Universe Come From? And Other Cosmic Questions, by Chris Ferrie and Geraint F. Lewis examines those questions. The authors show how… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: Answering Cosmic Questions
Most truly honoured, and as truly dear, If worth in me or ought I do appear, Who can of right better demand the same Than may your worthy self from whom it came? The principal might yield a greater sum, Yet handled ill, amounts but to this crumb; My stock's so small I know not… Continue reading “To Her Father with Some Verses”
Well, TBPH, I didn’t sleep through it. I discovered, decades ago, that the reason I don’t get much sleep is not that I can’t get to sleep; it’s that I’m a very light sleeper, and everything wakes me up. So last night, I was unsurprised to be awoken at 2:30AM by a pack of yelping… Continue reading While I Was Sleeping: Death Comes to the Farm