All Purls. No Swine.
It will be six years ago next Thursday since my stepson Sam died, and I wrote the post below. Today, July 20, 2024, would have been Sam's fifty-ninth birthday: "His family calls him Sam.” It was the afternoon of Monday, December 11, 2017. The phone was ringing, from a number in Pittsburgh that seemed vaguely… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Our Sam
It is true that few of us can worship the self, naked and unashamed for very long. For one thing, it simply doesn't work. Living for his own pleasure is the least pleasurable thing a man can do: If his neighbours don't kill him in disgust, he will die slowly of boredom and lovelessness--Joy Davidman,… Continue reading Quote of the Day: On Self-Worship, Boredom, and Lovelessness
To be clear, I rarely think about feet. Especially poets' feet. They're just not that attractive. But I make an exception for Pablo Neruda's feet for reasons I'll explain, if you'll grant me a minute or two of your time, and allow me to get there in my usual roundaboutatious sort of way. Today is… Continue reading Why I Dream About Pablo Neruda’s Socks
I first published this post five years ago, on June 6, 2019–the seventy-fifth anniversary–when Auntie Pat was still alive (she was 95 at the time). I really miss her: June 5, 2019: I just got off the phone with her and–shameless self-promotion alert–she’ll be 96 next month, and is my Dad’s last surviving sibling. I phoned her… Continue reading Five Years On: Auntie Pat on Operation Overlord
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. This is the quote attributed to General George S. Patton in his extemporaneous remarks at Boston’s Copely Plaza, on June 7, 1945. There’s no written record (on his part) of his saying such a thing,… Continue reading Quote of the Day: From ‘Old Blood and Guts in the Year Of Our Lord 2024’
Funny, sometimes, how the mind works. Today’s Telegraph has an obituary for figure skater Sjoukje Dijkstra, who has died at the age of 82. It’s a name that–today–will likely trip lightly off the tongues only of those native to Holland, but I’m a geezer, and I know that it’s pronounced something on the order of “SHOU-kee DIKE-stra.” Miss… Continue reading Sjoukje Dijkstra, RIP
One of the most delightful parts of my weekend is opening my email (yes, really, I know how sad that sounds) on Sunday sometime and discovering Douglas Murray’s latest “Things Worth Remembering” installment for The Free Press. I’m a basic (paid) subscriber to the site, so I get all the links and can read the… Continue reading For I Will Consider Christopher Smart, Who Died 253 Years Ago Today. And, Also, Our Penny
Wow. Eight hundred twenty five years ago today, King Richard I (Lionheart) was wounded by a crossbow bolt whilst fighting in France. He died thirteen days later, on April 6, 1199. In Hoc Signo Vinces. He has a troublesome history on many fronts, not least of which is his tie-in to anti-Jewish violence, something which… Continue reading Lionheart–Sometimes She’s a Woman
It was sixty-five years ago today, on February 3, 1959. I was four years old. Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed when their plane, a Beechcraft Bonanza, crashed near Clear Lake, Iowa, when the pilot lost control of the plane in bad winter weather, and… Continue reading The Day the Music Died: 65 Years Ago
Fifty-eight years ago today, on January 15, 1966, two of my family’s dearest friends were murdered. Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello (pictured right) was the Premier of Northern Nigeria and Sardauna of Sokoto. Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (ATB) was the first (and so far only) Prime Minister of a Nigeria that had achieved its independence from Britain on October 1,… Continue reading These Were My Father’s Muslims