All Purls. No Swine.
As we're about to see June, 2023 over the side (Hallelujah! some might say, although the month has been pretty good to me), I thought I'd take a little glimpse into musical history, and see what song was #1 in the USA one-hundred years ago today. Turns out that the winner is "Dearest," sung by… Continue reading Dearest….A Reflection or Two on Human Nature
June 24, 2023 would have been my mother’s 95th birthday. She died in September 2014, at the age of 86 after a long struggle with the effects of fronto-temporal dementia. Her death was, in the eyes of her children and others who loved her, a release and a blessing. And for her, peace at last.… Continue reading Music To Bury My Mother By–Redux, 2023 Edition
If I'm doing the math right (always a dodgy proposition) about one in every five posts here has to do with food or recipes. Stuff I've eaten, stuff I've cooked, or stuff I've thought about cooking. And a few of them even have to do with the gorgeous Thai food experience and my attempts to… Continue reading Say What? No, Sai Oua!
A little over four years ago, I wrote a post–Shadow Lands and Cyber Worlds–in which I reflected, among a few other things, on the books and stories of my childhood, and the life lessons I took from them: Through my childhood and over time, I came to find lessons and truth in these tales of… Continue reading The Death of Imagination
On this day--186 years ago--June 20, 1837, a young woman, just eighteen years old, ascended the British throne. She replaced her uncle, King William IV, and was just seventeen years removed from the death of her grandfather, King George III. (Remember him? I do--even just through history studies and because he wasn't--at least in my… Continue reading The Empress of India (and Much Else)
It’s been 16 years since my father departed this earth, and I miss him every day. Most days, I still chat with him, even now. (He can sometimes be quite helpful with advice for my life’s little projects and problems. I’ve found that he’s not nearly as excitable as he once was, which can–on occasion–be… Continue reading Always My Dad–A Belated Fathers’ Day Post for 2023
Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters, there is something which there are no words to express. So said Joseph Addison, seventeenth-century essayist, playwright, and politician… Continue reading Happy Fathers’ Day, 2023!
Numerous studies have shown that if it's a positive, grateful, loving one, you'll probably have a pretty good day. Just as they've shown that--if the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning is some imagined disrespect from twenty-thirty-forty-two hundred years ago, supposedly shown to you by a person you met… Continue reading What’s Your First Thought When You Wake Up in the Morning?
I've known for many years now that there may come a time in my life when it's time to let go. And at this point--when it comes to the edge of my 79th year on this planet--I might be ready: Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower;… Continue reading Moving On. You May Kiss the Bride!
I think she first crossed my radar in 1971 (or so) when she appeared on Masterpiece Theatre in the United States, in the six-part (or so) program Elizabeth R. It was glorious. So was she. I was excessively irritated today on GBNews when some clown or other asserted (if you insist on making me look… Continue reading Ave Atque Vale: Glenda Jackson