Monthly Archives: January 2012

Something GOOD About the Good Old Days

Posted on January 31, 2012 by

Last fall I bought a used book that had once been a library book. Glued firmly to the back inside cover of the book was a neat old card (see below). I don’t visit many used bookstores, and I get most of … Continue reading →

Posted in books | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Venice in the Morning

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

Our first morning in Venice, we took a water taxi somewhere (I can’t remember where, without looking it up!). The city looks like a weird movie. I only wish my photos could explain how odd it is to look at a city … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, My Photographs, travel | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A Great Woman

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

I was on the treadmill at the gym one day last year, when a TV station announced that Gabrielle Giffords had been shot and killed. The few of us in the building, there to exercise on a bitter cold weekend in Minnesota, shook our heads, exchanged sorrowful comments, put … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Pottery I Love, from Jamaica

Posted on January 24, 2012 by

Although I do cat voices very well (and credibly, if you ask me), I possess no other artistic skills. I do admire others’ work, though, especially pottery. Here’s the first in what I hope to be a (short) series on hand-thrown pottery that … Continue reading →

Posted in My Photographs, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“To Poems” by Arseny Tarkovsky

Posted on January 22, 2012 by

translated from the Russian by Philip Metres & Dimitri Psurtsev My poems:  fledglings, heirs, Plaintiffs and executors, The silent ones, the loud, The humble and the proud. As soon as the shovel of time Threw me onto the potter’s wheel— … Continue reading →

Posted in poems, quotations | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“The Secret” by Denise Levertov

Posted on January 15, 2012 by

Two girls discover the secret of life in a sudden line of poetry. I who don’t know the secret wrote the line. They told me (through a third person) they had found it but not what it was not even … Continue reading →

Posted in books, poems | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Another Favorite

Posted on January 14, 2012 by

I’ve always loved Angela Lansbury.

Posted in celebrities | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Summery Poem for a Cold Day

Posted on January 11, 2012 by

It’s January in Minnesota, and there’s no snow, but it got cold and windy today. Seems like a nice chilly night for a summery poem by Mark Twain. Well, it’s not really about summer, but that’s perfectly fine. Even better, … Continue reading →

Posted in books, poems, quotations | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ann Patchett’s “State of Wonder”

Posted on January 7, 2012 by

A couple of years back, I read and loved David Grann’s The Lost City of Z, a true story about a late 19th- and early 20th-century British explorer, Percy Fawcett, who traveled many times to the Amazon to search for a … Continue reading →

Posted in books | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When Romney was a Democrat, and I was a Republican . . . a Hateful But Necessary Post

Posted on January 6, 2012 by

Let’s say that, just for today, Mitt Romney is a Democrat. And let’s say, that for the last few hours of today, I am a Republican. And today’s story from Mexico broke about the guy on the other side of … Continue reading →

Posted in politics, ranting | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment