April 22nd, 2014 → 6:58 am
“O ruined piece of nature! This great world
Shall so wear out to nought.” – King Lear
I’d like to say “Happy Earth Day!!” as I did two years ago on this day, but this time around I’m much more pessimistic. We appear to be wearing out the planet. The latest IPCC report, recent media pieces, a couple of conservation biologists in my class, passing on to me the most up-to-date, negative statistics on the health of our planet. Is there a way out of this mess? My fingers are crossed…
Filed under: Blog
April 20th, 2014 → 6:24 am
“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers’ tears;
What is it else? A madness most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet
Today is both Easter, and the anniversary of my first date with my husband. Love, of all kinds, is in the air.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
April 17th, 2014 → 8:09 am
“They say, best men are molded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad; so may my husband.” – Measure for Measure
Arrrggghhh…..husbands!
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
April 15th, 2014 → 7:22 am
“‘Tis bitter cold,
And I am sick at heart.” – Hamlet
And sick of it! It was 70 degrees and sunny on Saturday, then last night it snowed (albeit briefly). I had to pull my winter jacket back out again. Argh. I wish spring would just get here already.
April 13th, 2014 → 7:50 am
“The world must be peopled.” – Much Ado About Nothing
Last month one friend of ours announced they were having another kid; today a different friend told us they’re trying for a third. Wow! And to think, we’re sticking with just one. Kudos to everyone out there going for a second, third, or even fourth child. Your efforts should help keep my social security checks coming one day.
April 8th, 2014 → 7:59 am
“Thou art so leaky that we must leave thee to thy sinking.” – Antony and Cleopatra
The time just felt right this morning for a good insult.
April 6th, 2014 → 9:56 am
“We will meet, and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Went to a production of Noises Off last night (after a nine course meal that included fiddlehead ferns – my new favorite vegetable). It’s a play about a play; a comedy about the mishaps and mistakes that can take place behind the stage and in rehearsal. Hilarious!! I recommend it to anyone wanting a laugh and needing a night off.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 4th, 2014 → 8:30 am
“A good sherris-sack hath a two-fold
operation in it. It ascends me into the brain;
dries me there all the foolish and dull and curdy
vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive,
quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and
delectable shapes, which, delivered o’er to the
voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes
excellent wit. The second property of your
excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood;
which, before cold and settled, left the liver
white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity
and cowardice; but the sherris warms it and makes
it course from the inwards to the parts extreme:
it illumineth the face, which as a beacon gives
warning to all the rest of this little kingdom,
man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and
inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain,
the heart, who, great and puffed up with this
retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this valour
comes of sherris.” – Henry IV
No wonder Queen Elizabeth gave the pope a gift of whiskey at their meeting yesterday. Originally I had thought the gift rather odd for a religious man, but Shakespeare expounds the virtues of alcohol so thoroughly I feel like getting a drink myself right now!
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians
April 2nd, 2014 → 6:02 am
“We […] alone will sing like birds i’ the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I’ll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we’ll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we’ll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who’s in, who’s out;
And take upon the mystery of things,
As if we were God’s spies: and we’ll wear out,
In a wall’d prison, packs and sects of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.” – King Lear
King Lear was recently performed in the Zaatari Refugee Camp, in Jordan. Hearing about it I pictured a sun-swept, bone-dry, dust-encircled platform with thin, but passionate refugees voicing their sorrows and hopes upon the stage. Acting in their wall’d prison. I wish I could have seen it.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
March 31st, 2014 → 6:52 am
“I have lived long enough: my way of life
Is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf.” – Macbeth
Every once in awhile my husband says something that makes me realize he’s getting older. This weekend it was a lengthy harangue about modern cars, which aren’t made for tinkerers anymore. True, who gets under the hood nowadays?, but at the same time, I like it that cars are sturdier, better made. Either way, my husband told me I should write about this in my blog, so now I have.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life