January 5th, 2014 → 5:54 am
“Our loves and comforts should increase
Even as our days do grow.” – Othello
Welcome back and Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I enjoyed Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas, but to be honest I’m glad to be back to the blog. And glad for life in general to return to a degree of routine and normalcy. No more ridiculously late nights (I’m too old for that), no more long travels (I’m too tired for that), no more heavy chocolate fondue (though that was insanely good). I wish everyone love and comfort in the year ahead, and I can’t wait to start picking some quotes from a book I read over the holidays, Living with Shakespeare, by Susannah Carson. Much better than her compendium on Jane Austen. Stay tuned…
November 21st, 2013 → 6:20 am
“Would I were in an alehouse in London!” – Henry V
Well I’m not in London right now (would I were!), but I am leaving tomorrow for a conference, then there’s Thanksgiving, then relatives come to visit (not to mention Hanukkah to celebrate), December has Christmas and New Year’s… I think for the sake of my sanity I’m going to have to take a brief hiatus from blogging, just until December is over. I’ll return with lots of new quotes (I’m reading a Shakespeare book right now that’s giving me some great ideas) in January, 2014… See everyone again then! And Happy Holidays of course. 🙂
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
November 19th, 2013 → 11:51 am
“Blow winds and crack your cheeks! Rage, blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers of oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o’the world!
Crack nature’s moulds, all germens spill at once
That make ingrateful man!” – King Lear
We lost our power as a result of the storms, and its only just now come back on. Hallelujah! In fact, on Sunday when the storms hit, I was entertaining guests and my son had a friend over. We had all these people in our house and a ton of food ready to cook on the stove. Then a number of us watched as a rather large tree branch fell on our power line, crashing it to the ground. Next our big metal gazebo was dashed by the wind onto the tree branch that was on the power line. It was so shocking it was funny at first, till I realized I had all this food going to waste and people still to entertain. Our power is actually only half on right now (“half restored” they call it??), but thank god for that. And welcome back my beloved internet connection!!
Filed under: Blog & Other & Self/My Life
November 14th, 2013 → 5:57 am
“This all lies within the will of God.” – Henry V
Estimates are that the typhoon that hit the Philippines killed around 10,000 people. The survivors are now desperate for food, water, and aid. If events such as this are the will of God, as I’ve heard some say, one really has to wonder why.
November 12th, 2013 → 6:10 am
“Skimble-skamble stuff.” – Henry IV, Part I
The date today is 11-12-13. Ha! I love silly number stuff like that. Silly skimble-skamble symbolic sets and stuff.
November 7th, 2013 → 5:40 am
“‘Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after.” – Timon of Athens
I was reading through some Shakespeare this morning, looking for an interesting quote to discuss, and I came across this. It sounds like an argument for social responsibility, for taking care of one’s fellow citizens, for welfare, liberalism, democratic values, whatever you want to call it. At the same time, I know that in Shakespeare’s plays there are a number of quotes of a more “conservative” nature. Hold tight and I’ll post one of those next time…
Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians
October 27th, 2013 → 8:51 am
“Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw. —
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweltered venom, sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’th’ charmed pot.
Double, double toil and trouble:
Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and howlet’s wing,…
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf,
Of the ravined salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock, digged i’th’ dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Slivered in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.” – Macbeth
I was a witch last night for a Halloween party. Mostly I chose to be a witch so my son (who is quite intrigued with witches right now) could also play with the toy hat and broom. And sure enough, ever since he found the accessories in my closet the other day, he’s barely let them out of his sight…
October 23rd, 2013 → 5:39 am
“‘Tis the mind that makes the body rich.” – Taming of the Shrew
I’m not sure what to write about today, so here’s just a good quote. One of my favorites.
October 21st, 2013 → 6:12 am
“This bodes some strange eruption to our state.” – Hamlet
Horatio spoke this line on the appearance of the ghost in Hamlet; it duly set off the rest of the Shakespearian tragedy. I hope the strange oarfish (a.k.a. sea serpents) suddenly washing up on California’s shores don’t bode some similar sort of tragedy, like that our oceans are even more acidic, polluted, GHG infested than we even imagined.
October 16th, 2013 → 6:34 am
“Why should she live to fill the world with words?” – Henry VI
I’m sure the Taliban are asking this question every day they see Malala on the television again, giving another interview, raising more awareness for her cause. Why? Because she has something rather important to say.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians