All Purls. No Swine.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat: 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,… Continue reading Happy Father’s Day, 2024!
I thought that name was familiar, when I saw it on a notification elsewhere, earlier today. Here's why: Heinrich Hoffman was born in Frankfurt on June 13, 1809. His mother died when he was an infant, and his father subsequently married her sister for what was--by all accounts--a happy marriage for all involved. After qualifying… Continue reading Happy 215th Birthday, Dr. Heinrich Hoffman!
Into each life, some rain must fall. But not into ours. Our lives are where the garbage is delivered. — Jenny Today (June 10) is Jenny's birthday, and it's been three years since I first posted this here. In her honor, I'm proud to do so again: Ever have one of those days, weeks, months,… Continue reading Quote of the Day, June 10, 2024: On Life’s Vicissitudes
On this April 16, 2024, a day that would have been my grandmother Molly's 126th birthday, I bring back a post originally published on Ricochet on April 16--Easter Sunday--2017. Happy Birthday, Granny! My grandmother Molly could be a rather stern old lady. She was born when Queen Victoria was still on the throne, on April… Continue reading On Granny. Oh, and On Chocolate, Too. And a Few Other Things As Well
Yawn. I was busy here, down in SW Pennsylvania. Trying to get the Polaris UTV up and running after a rough, cold, and wet winter. I didn't have the glasses, so I wasn't spending every other minute staring at the sky. And, truth be told, I didn't notice all that much. Mid-afternoon, we were supposed… Continue reading Once in a Lifetime!** The Eclipse!
Yesterday's Telegraph article, about the latest children's book to be given the "trigger warning" treatment, put me in mind of a post from several years in which I held forth on the usefulness of the books which we are now--apparently--too frightened to let our children read without first blighting their minds and prejudging their responses… Continue reading The Nattering Ninnies Come for Hillaire Belloc
My maternal Great Granny was a fearsome old bat. She was born in 1869, just four short years after the US Civil War ended and (only five days subsequently) Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. She died a few months before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. What a lifespan. I was fourteen when she died, and… Continue reading Easter 2024: On Silk Purses, Sow’s Ears, and Horse’s Asses
A lightly-edited post from several years ago, in honor (or despight) of Jack Kerouac's 101st birthday today. My contempt for the man--and everything he represents--hasn't changed. What a rotten, deranged, misogynistic bastard. Unfortunately, and increasingly, it seems that--these days--there are those who find such people inspiring and worthy of emulation. Particularly on social media. But… Continue reading On Household Relations and the Natural Order of Things, 2024 Edition
With very few exceptions over the years, I’ve never minded being defined in terms of my familial relationships. Dad’s daughter. Mr. Right's wife. Peachy’s granny. Sam, Mike and Jenny’s stepmother. I’ve never thought of myself as an appendage or a cipher, nor do I function as anybody’s foil. Although by no means perfect, I’m generally… Continue reading The Stepmother Diaries, 2024
Sixty-three years ago today, my idyllic life as an only child came to an end and I began the rest of my life as a sibling. We were living in Mubi, in the British Cameroons which was, at the time, administered as a United Nations Trust Territory. In a few short months, a plebiscite would… Continue reading “Two Different Faces”–Happy Birthday, Sis!