A Small Pleasure

My gardening is sadly limited these days, what with a bad back, wonky knees, and perilous balance. And our entryway is already thick with iris, day lilies, and other perennials. But I really wanted a patch of foxgloves. So last summer I made a little bed for them by simply dumping a bag of potting soil in front of the rock wall , surrounding it with rocks, and sprinkling foxglove seeds over it.

rally spires

And now, oh joy!, I have my foxgloves!  They made leaves last year but now they have put up into stately spires of purple, white, and lavender.

With any luck, they'll self-sow and my foxglove patch will persevere.

I am ridiculously pleased with these beauties.

I am tempted to add another small bed--maybe this time of lupines . . . or cosmos . . .or . . .

                    
 

Looking East

 

A Very Strange Novel

                                       

 

Like drowning in Poison (the perfume,) one review read. Another compared the reading experience to the intoxication of sniffing nail polish remover. 

It's a heady trip, to be sure, this look at the obsession with beauty that pulls together fairy tales (Snow White, Beauty and the Beast,) mythology (Demeter and Persephone,) mother/daughter relationships, the nature of grief, the corrosive danger of envy, a fair amount of hallucinatory goings-on, and, oh yes, Tom Cruise.

Awad is a skillful writer and I especially enjoyed her use of word play as the protagonist looses her grip on language. Her descriptions are lush, if repetitive. But perhaps this speaks to our times.

I have been struck, during the two iterations of the current political regime, that the insistence on a particular sort of look trumps (as it were) an insistence on actual experience. From the eerie shining faces of Ivanka and Jared to the rugged camera-ready good looks of Hegseth to the interchangeable flowing locks (extension augmented) and plumped lips of the women, in DC these days, appearance is everything.

As it is in Rouge --everything. And in the end, nothing. 

A very strange book, to be sure. Entertaining and unsettling. 

Cows Don't Worry

I'm reminded of the old question: Would you rather be a satisfied pig or a dissatisfied philosopher?

These days, a bovine imperturbabilty seems a bit enviable.

But that would be wrong.

 

RabbitRabbit

 

Dear Sir

Dear Sen./Rep.______ ,

A hundred days.

In which we've seen economic chaos with on again off again tariffs, Greenland and Canada's sovereignty  threatened, Putin catered to, Zelensky  kicked out of the White House, people arrested without due process and sent to foreign prisons, our universities held hostage, vital research programs shut down,.. all at the whim of an egotist with a Sharpie.

I could go on.

But what I want to.know is how you, my elected congressman, feel about this. Do you support the president unconditionally, or do you have some doubts

At long last, sir, have you no shame?

Your unhappy constituent, 

 

And the Iris

 

The way the iris catch the morning sun always feels like a special blessing.78

Heretic

                            

The word heretic comes from the Greek, originally meaning choosing or chosen. Nixey's fascinating book details the multiple choices available in ancient religions, many bearing surprising commonalities with Christianity.

In fact, many of these "heretical" choices considered themselves Christian. But it was the Catholic Church that assumed the role of orthodoxy, ruthlessly suppressing other beliefs and choices, burning sacred texts and compelling "heretics" to join the one true religion. . . or else.

 

The book is full of interesting stories that have survived, in some form or another, centuries of censorship. I enjoyed it, having no particular religious faith to be challenged. For others it might be eye-opening and perhaps unsettling.

But as I read I kept thinking of the slippery slope our country finds itself on, as a madman and his followers attempt to impose their particular orthodoxy on our media and our schools, banning books, intimidating judges, and deporting dissidents.

It's happening here. So I guess I also found the book unsettling.

Almost Eight Years Ago

Hard to believe this cherub is almost eight  (going on twenty seven.)

Once again, the following group of pics showed up backwards and will make more sense if you begin at the end. 

 

6

A Prospective Reader

 Came across this in a file I kept of fan mail. I had to tell her that books weren't for her.

I was reminded also of a student I once had in a writing workshop who refused to read anything that contained the words God damn. Or, indeed, anything like G. D. Or even a blank because, she said, she'd know what was meant.

Silence

 

This and the Other

A beautiful hydrangea a friend brought to the party. When it finishes blooming, we'll plant it down at the party site.

My snake has moved to the planter by the green house door.

.

Maybe s/he wanted to see the epiphyllums in bloom.

 

Coincidence

There is,of course, no reason to link the death of the Pope to the visit paid him by JD Vance just hours before the sad event.

Nonetheless, I confess that the mere thought of JD and his smarmy face kinda  weakens my own will to live. 

Imagine his  effect in person on a very old gentleman, just recovering from a serious illness and faced with a self described "baby Catholic" who embodies much that Francis deplored.

Probably a coincidence.