Again . . .

Again and again it happens . . .

A massacre in a school . . . children murdered.

And politicians send thoughts and prayers 

While taking blood money from the NRA . . .

While weakening the few pathetic attempts at keeping weapons from those who should not have them . . .

While cutting funding for mental health . . .

While insisting that the threat from immigrants and Muslims is real . . .

While ignoring this new reality . . .

While affirming by their inaction that their love for the almighty gun trumps their love for their children. . .

How will they wash the blood of innocents from their hands?

They are all complicit in these  murders, all . . . every politician from the president down through  Congress and all the state senators and representatives . . . and those who put them in office.

My first reaction to the latest (latest! it's obscene that I have to use that modifier) school shooting was to think about home schooling Josie -- how can parents bear to send their children to school when such things have become, if not routine, far too common? 

How do you talk to your kindergartener about preparing for an active shooter situation?

No other country has this problem on this scale -- what is wrong with us?  

Please don't tell me it's mental illness or video games or a lack of prayer in schools or no discipline at home.  Perhaps some of this factors in, but the easy availability of weapons and ammunition meant for killing lots of people in a short period of time has certainly enabled all the disturbed people (mostly homegrown white young men) out there.

The fact that the shooter in Florida was able, despite multiple warning signals KNOWN to authorities, was able legally to purchase his weapon and stockpile ammunition, reveals the complete absence of any sort of  oversight. 

Of course, if he's wanted to purchase lawn darts, he'd have been out of luck. Those things are DANGEROUS and were banned after a little girl was killed. 

Keep writing; keep calling your elected representatives. 

There's talk of a walkout at schools by teachers and students on April 20 if no steps are taken by then to address this problem.

Kind of an Anti-Massacree Movement. Maybe they could all sing "Alice's Restaurant". . .

Stirrings . . .

Reporting Back . . .

Since I talked (HERE) about reading/re-reading some long overlooked books before getting rid of them, I've actually been doing just that -- and what a pleasant surprise, so far.

I began with Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi, a book that is considered by many as one of the classics of modern Italian literature. It documents Levi's stay in Gagliano, "backward, malaria-ridden southern Italian village." Levi was a political prisoner during the year of 1935, but he was in exile rather than prison and he spent his time getting to know the people of the village -- illiterate, apolitical peasants, for the most part. 

I found this book fascinating for the meticulous documentation of a way of life that had hardly changed in hundreds of years and for the close up characterizations of Levi's neighbors. How embarrassing that this little gem has been sitting unread on the shelf since we acquired it along with most of John's father's library -- about thirty years ago

Next I picked up The Constant Nymph (1924) by Margaret Kennedy. This novel deals with the somewhat messy family life of the children of an eccentric composer -- especially Teresa (the constant nymph,) who, in her early teens, falls in love with one of her father's friends. Set in the Austrian Tyrol and in Great Britain, it's full of wonderful characterizations and was evidently considered "Bohemian" and a bit shocking when it was published. A compelling read that I suspect originally belonged to John's grandmother -- who was a bit of a Bohemian herself!

Then came Captains Courageous (1897) by Rudyard Kipling. I taught this book to seventh or eighth grade boys at Berkeley Prep in Tampa. It's very much a boys' book with a moral of the sort beloved in Victorian times -- spoiled rich kid is transformed by hard work amongst simple, honest folk.

Harvey Cheyne falls off an ocean liner, is rescued by fishers from Gloucester, and, will he, nil he, must participate for months in the back-breaking work on the Grand Banks until the catch is complete. It's no surprise that this is the making of him (one wishes something like this had happened about fifty years ago to the current occupant of our poor White House.)

What I really liked about the book though was the detailed description of life and work aboard the schooner -- Kipling was a journalist, as well as a novelist --and he captures a bygone way of life most beautifully.

Like Levi's book, I was put off Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hemon (another dark horse from John's father) because of the back cover proclaiming it to be "Catholic literature." And it is, to be sure. But here again, it's not so much the story -- beautiful French-Canadian girl living with her family on a remote farm must choose between the life she's always known and the lure of the big city.  It's the perfect prose, the descriptions, and the glimpse into what life was like (very hard) in rural Quebec in the early 1900's. The characters and their way of life ring absolutely true -- no doubt because Hemon spent eight months living with a family who became the basis for his Chadelaines.

Last of all is Barabbas by Par Lagervist -- winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951. I read this for some class or other when I was working on my M.A. It's the story of Barabbas who was pardoned instead of Jesus. It follows him from the pardon, through the Crucifixion,  and the vicissitudes of the rest of his life -- always bearing the burden of unbelief.

As the introduction says, "In this enigmatic and unforgettable Barabbas, with its sense of spiritual torment, its deep stirrings of faith, its sure response to the movements of the human mind, is expressed the riddle of Man and his destiny, the contrasted aspects of his fundamental drama, and the cry of humanity in its death throes, bequeathing its spirit to the night."

A mixed bag of books, indeed! But all most worthwhile.

Next up A Yankee from Olympus and The Rise of Silas Lapham. I have my doubts about these . . .

To You

Household Bugs

Josie has a Question

Afternoon Light

A Mixed Bag of Books

In the never-ending battle to de-clutter and de-accession, I found myself pulling books from our living room shelves in order to make room for some big coffee table books that are no longer safe on the coffee table when Josie is rambling about.

And though most are elderly and crumbling paperbacks that even the library book sale probably doesn't want, I have trouble just throwing them out. So I've set myself the task of reading them first. Or reading the first chapter, at least. If I really am bored, I won't continue.

The Sea Wolf  and Captains Courageous are books I taught to First or Second Form classes (7th or 8th grade) when I taught at Berkeley Prep about fifty years ago. Death in Venice, Barabbas, and The Rise of Silas Lapham are from my undergraduate studies -- even longer ago. As I recall, I liked the first two and disliked Silas. But maybe my tastes have changed. 

I think the other books came from John's father and I've never read them, except for The Constant Nymph of which I have a hazy (and positive) memory.

When I picked up Christ Stopped at Eboli , I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't, as I'd always supposed from the title, a soppy book about a miraculous visit. Instead, it's the story of a man's year as a political prisoner in a remote town in southern Italy. The title's meaning is that Christ never got to Eboli "which means, in effect, that they (the people of Eboli) have been bypassed by Christianity, by morality, by history itself." 

As they say, you can't judge a book by its cover.

On Riddle Farm Road

Crock Potting

On the days I keep Josie, using a crock pot means I can put something together in the morning before Josie's driver delivers her and then have dinner ready soon after her driver calls for her in the evening.

Yesterday I made turkey thighs with beer and onions. We could smell it for most of the day and when we finally ate it, it was excellent. The gravy is rich and delicious and doesn't really taste like beer. I served it over rice but I think I'll use the leftover half as the base for a cottage pie.

The recipe I used is HERE at Dad Cooks Dinner. (For once, I followed it exactly -- given a choice of amber lager, brown ale, oAr porter, I used porter.)

A few days ago I made a kind of Pork Chili Verde/Posole --

We had the remnants of a pork tenderloin in the freezer and I cubed it up and browned the cubes in olive oil. Tossed the meat into the slow cooker, along with some salt, and in the same pan, sautéed a couple of chopped onions, some cut -up peppers (the mini red, yellow, and orange ones -- if I'd had some jalapenos, I'd have added them,) and some chopped garlic.

When the onion was translucent, I added the vegetables to the meat in the slow cooker, dumped in a jar of salsa verde, a little cayenne, and some cumin, and some chicken broth because it seemed to need more liquid. I let it cook all day on low. About a half an hour before dinner, I stirred in a can of hominy for the Posole effect.

We had this with a green salad with mango slices and corn tortilla quesadillas on the side. (Note: the tenderloin I used was fattier than most -- which was a good thing in this recipe. Pork shoulder would also work well.)

I have a feeling there's more crock potting in my future.