June 28th, 2016 → 5:54 am
“[I] have been at a great feast of languages and stolen the scraps…
as honorificabilitudinitatibus.” – Love’s Labor’s Lost
I’ve been doing some more research on Tudor England lately, and the words I’m discovering delight me! Including cooper, rufous, tatterdemalion, aglet, peascod belly, and parchminer (not to mention honorificabilitudinitatibus).
In addition, while writing a story yesterday morning I put down the word “trumble,” as in a loud, rumbling, trundling wagon. Yet, when I checked on it later, I had apparently made the word up! How is “trumble” not a word? Doesn’t it sound like it should be a word??
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
June 24th, 2016 → 5:03 am
“I turn my back.
There is a world elsewhere.” – Coriolanus
Wow. Big turn of events. I pray the fall-out isn’t quite as bad as projected.
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians
June 20th, 2016 → 5:26 am
“This royal throne of kings, this sceptered isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.” – Richard II
One of Shakespeare’s most famous odes to his motherland. Good luck on the vote Thursday! I’m quite anxious to see what happens…
Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians
June 16th, 2016 → 6:08 am
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.” – Macbeth
As written in this morning’s op-ed by Charles Blow: “There is so much blood on our hands that no amount of Second Amendment rationalizing can make them clean.” Just ban assault rifles already, for god’s sake. Every action has benefits and costs, and I don’t deny that some (good) people would pay a price if we banned rapid-fire weapons (as my husband put it, it’s fun to go to a range and just shoot repeatedly), but I’m sorry, that price is worth the benefit of the thousands of lives that would be saved. Even if we only diminish gun violence (I agree, we are unlikely ever to eliminate it), it is worth it. People who are opposed to such a public policy initiative I don’t think honestly get how many lives are lost to gun violence every day. The nonchalance die-hard gun supporters have about such loss of life appalls me.
Filed under: Blog & Other & Politics/Politicians
June 12th, 2016 → 6:15 am
“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” – Sonnet 18
I know it is only June 12, but a friend asked me the other day when we could go on a floating trip together, and the earliest date I could come up with was near the end of July! Our summer is so booked it feels practically over. Ah, summer, don’t go, stay, please, stay!
June 8th, 2016 → 5:21 am
“Give me a gash, put me to present pain,
Let this great sea of joys rushing upon me
O’erbear the shores of my mortality,
And drown me with their sweetness.” – Pericles
Joy, pure joy right now.
[P.S. Sorry to anyone who attended the discussion forum yesterday on Goodreads at the “wrong” time. The PR person in charge advertised the time incorrectly here in the United States so everyone on this side of the Atlantic was “late”. I was very frustrated by that. Still, we had a great discussion; thanks everyone who participated!]
Filed under: Blog & Politics/Politicians
June 6th, 2016 → 5:56 am
“…thoughts
Which ten times faster glides than the sun’s beams
Driving back shadows over lowering hills.” – Romeo and Juliet
Good thinking can drive back the shadows. I wish we saw more of it in the political sphere. Frankly, I wish we saw more of it everywhere! Happily, myself and the renowned scholar Onyeka will be contributing to an atmosphere of intriguing thoughts and useful discussion in an online Goodreads discussion this Tuesday, the 7th. Please join us!!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
June 2nd, 2016 → 6:24 am
“Where is the life that late I led?” – Henry IV, Part II
Just returned from a vacation to Alaska (see Mendenhall Glacier pic below). My son was up all morning yesterday asking when we would be going back. I think that means it was a success for all! That, or my son just doesn’t want to go to summer camp. 😉
Filed under: Blog & Self/My Life