All Purls. No Swine.
So sue me. I've never really pretended to a deep acquaintance with, nor understanding of, mid twentieth-century American playwrights and screenwriters. And so we have Days of Wine and Roses, a 1958 teleplay by JP Miller with Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie , which I've always gotten spectacularly mixed up with Splendor in the Grass,… Continue reading The Brief Sum of Life–In Praise of the Liberal Arts
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
“I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night”– Sarah Williams Sarah Williams was a British Victorian poet who is best known for “The Old Astronomer,” written in the person of an elderly astronomer on his deathbed who speaking to his young pupil. Her output is short, as was her life (1837-1868),… Continue reading Quote of the Day: Worlds Beyond Earth
“If we had no winter the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” — Anne Bradstreet, Meditations Divine and Moral So, there I was, looking for a quote about Spring, about how glad I am that the cycles go on, and that this… Continue reading Quote of the Day: By a Gentlewoman of Those Parts
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
He thought his happiness was complete when, as he meandered aimlessly along, suddenly he stood by the edge of a full-fed river. Never in his life had he seen a river before—this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh… Continue reading Quote of the Day: From Kenneth Grahame
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And… Continue reading Paean To A Plain Woman, And a Few Recollections in Tranquility
Independence is all very well, but we animals never allow our friends to make fools of themselves beyond a certain limit; and that limit you've reached. I've written a few posts on friendship and loyalty over the years. Count this as just another one such. Anyone who's ever read the book (those of you who… Continue reading Quote of the Day: From The Wind in the Willows
. . . from Geoffrey Chaucer, who, as with so many other things, is often credited with starting it all. His dream vision poem, The Parliament of Fowls, was written about 1380 and begins with the narrator (who seems not to know how to love, has perhaps never been in love, and will very likely never… Continue reading Happy Seynt Valentyn’s Day!
I wear the chain I forged in life,” replied the Ghost. “I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it--Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol First off, Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens! He was born 212 years ago,**… Continue reading Quote of the Day: On the Chains We Make (Or Don’t)