Category: Off-Topic

Ugh, I’m home sick, with prescription drugs and everything, so the blog will be terribly neglected for a few days. I’m not even strong enough to walk the dog, much less concentrate on anything substantive. But I can always share a poem.

Before I got sick I was reading an excellent biography of Jonathan Swift by Leo Damrosch.  I’ll have to wait to get back to that, but yesterday I was flipping through some lighter reading and I was surprised and delighted to see a poem from William Butler Yeats called Swift’s Epitaph.

Yeats wrote this poem based on Swift’s actual epitaph, which Swift wrote in Latin, and which is mounted on a plaque in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. The Yeats version is just beautiful.

Swift’s Epitaph

Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his Breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
World-Besotted Traveler; he
Served human liberty.

———————————

The above painting of Jonathan Swift is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or less.

 

When I was sick last week I had time to watch something great.  The show I watched is called River, and was made for BBC One broadcast but is now streaming outside the UK on Netflix.

River runs for six one-hour episodes.  I watched the first two because I couldn’t do anything else — being sick. Then I watched the next four because I couldn’t do anything else — being captivated by the show.

Without giving away too much of the plot, River is a police show, but the hook is that the central character is a detective who sees dead people. So it requires more than a normal suspension of disbelief.  But in other ways, it might be the most realistic, and easiest to believe, show I’ve ever seen.

River stars Stellan Skarsgård, who is remarkable.  So is the entire cast.  So are the visuals — this was beautifully, and carefully, designed and shot.  And the writing.  What a show.  I’ve been thinking about it since I finished it.

I’ve also been thinking about the story A River Runs Through It, by Norman Maclean.  I recently gave my old copy to my son to read, because he has a friend from Missoula, Montana.  But mostly because the title story has stuck with me in the decades since I first read it, and I thought he’d like it.  He did.

 

I love coffee (and tea!), and I love a good chat with friends.  With the kids home on winter break, the last two weeks were a wonderful family-centered time. That ended this morning, with the start of school for the kids and work for the adults.  But there are compensations, among which is some adult time with friends. So enjoy a coffee or tea, whether it’s morning or not, along with me.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask how your Christmas and New Year’s were.  Our holidays were lovely, and after a week off, I feel so relaxed.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you about a play I saw called Marjorie Prime.  The play itself was interesting and moving.  And the production was perfect. But the sublime acting made the entire experience.  I feel privileged to have seen that kind of talent in a tiny theater with less than 100 seats.  And every time I see theater, I think, “I should see more theater.”

If we were having coffee, and you were a pen person, I’d tell you I’m totally in love with one of the new inks I’m testing now.  I want to give it a more thorough workout before reviewing it, but it looks like a great one.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you we had to get a new clothes washer unexpectedly last week.  Boring.  But this new one has a window so you can see the clothes go round.  I have to admit that there’s some entertainment value in that.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I’m trying new contacts this week, which are great, except I had to run out to Walgreen’s to get emergency reading glasses.  If you’re under 40, have your fun now.

If we were having coffee, I’d ask what we’re all making for dinner tonight.  Having to make real dinners is part of the downside to being back on a normal schedule.  But I’m upping my game starting now.  Winter is a good time to cook.

And then I’d get to hear what’s new with your life.  I hope things are going well.