All Purls. No Swine.
Regular readers here (thank you!) may have noticed that I've been signaling a bit of distress the last couple of days. That's because a dear friend, a virtual friend, a person I've never met, someone I didn't "know," IRL, but who (as they used to say about Princess Diana) I'm pretty sure knew me, died… Continue reading (Not) His Last Post: Boss Mongo, RIP
Yeah. No. (As he, himself, might say.) From Wiktionary: Verb: embrace the suck: 1)--military, slang--To consciously accept or appreciate something that is extremely unpleasant but unavoidable. For your sake, dear man, I'm trying. And I'm halfway there. I won't, won't, won't, embrace it. But it does bloody suck. Pretty sure that's the best I can… Continue reading Military Quote of the Day: Embrace the Suck
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking; Dream of battled fields no more, Days of danger, nights of waking. In our isle's enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, Fairy strains of music fall, Every sense in slumber dewing. In our isle's enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are… Continue reading For A Dear Friend: Soldier, Rest!
Those of you who can legitimize the quote mentioned in the title (which is supposed to come from Plato’s Meno), please have at it. I can’t authenticate it. However, the spirit of “bequeathment” is entirely appropriate for what I’m about to say, so I’m going with it. “Pity. Pity he never had any children.” And… Continue reading Bequeathing a Spirit of Reverence
“The internet is not where you hide – it’s where you are found.“–Emily Aston Perrin I’ve been giving the advice found in the title of this post to student writers and friends for decades. It’s advice I follow myself, as anyone who’s read more than a few of my posts (thank you) must know. And… Continue reading Write What You Know
Today, July 10, 2021, is the fifty-ninth anniversary of the launching of Telstar 1, a 170lb communications satellite launched for the purpose of receiving ground signals and re-transmitting them back to earth. According to britannica.com: Following Telstar’s launch on July 10, 1962, a giant movable horn antenna near Andover, Maine, locked onto the satellite when… Continue reading Musical Interlude: Telstar
The European discovery of the Americas and the subsequent colonization of that land by Europeans was the most consequential occurrence of the last millennia. Two men prominent in that discovery’s opening events were Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortés. Sword of Empire: The Spanish Conquest of the Americas from Columbus to Cortés, 1492-1529, by Donald E.… Continue reading Book Review by Seawriter: The Rise of the Conquistador
Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness,… Continue reading Book Recommendation: Corelli’s Mandolin
A few months ago, on the occasion of 2021's Easter Sunday, I wrote a Ricochet post called "First Easter," in which I reflected on the fact that, following the death of a loved one, there's an inevitable year, 365 days, of "firsts." It begins thus: I learned, many years ago, that when a loved one… Continue reading The Last “First”
Some recent, and to my mind, quite moronic comments about female ugliness, elsewhere on the web, got me reminiscing about one of my mother's favorite sayings: "A woman of 40 gets the face she deserves." I went looking for its source some days ago, and found it attributed to a 1957 Los Angeles Times interview… Continue reading Growing Up Ginger, Redux