Mark Strand Saves Us Again

I know today is Cute Kitten Picture day, but this was in my head all evening last night. It seemed pretty perfect for my mood, the events (I was sunbathing), the moon that evening, the end-of-July poignant indecisive feeling (yes, that's the technical term for it).


Section XVI from Dark Harbor, by Mark Strand:

It is true, as someone has said, that in
A world without heaven all is farewell.
Whether you wave your hand or not,

It is farewell, and if no tears come to your eyes
It is still farewell, and if you pretend not to notice,
Hating what passes, it is still farewell.

Farewell no matter what. And the palms as they lean
Over the green, bright lagoon, and the pelicans
Diving, and the glistening bodies of bathers resting,

Are stages in an ultimate stillness, and the movement
Of sand, and of wind, and the secret moves of the body
Are part of the same, a simplicity that turns being

Into an occasion for mourning, or into an occasion
Worth celebrating, for what else does one do,
Feeling the weight of the pelicans' wings,

The density of the palms' shadows, the cells that darken
The backs of bathers? These are beyond the distortions
Of chance, beyond the evasions of music. The end

Is enacted again and again. And we feel it
In the temptations of sleep, in the moon's ripening,
In the wine as it waits in the glass.


That's so good: "...a simplicity that turns being into...an occasion worth celebrating, for what else does one do?" What else does one do, indeed.
And here's a cute kitten picture to boot:

Not too bad for a Monday. The kitten here looks less than thrilled.

Another Friday Post of Unrelated Information

1. Here's a kitten looking like it's going to pounce on you:



2. Last night I sewed a dress and watched The Way We Were, which was silly but in a good way. I liked Streisand's hair throughout.

3. A not-necessarily-encouraging-but-not-overtly-discouraging quote popped in my head this morning, from The Hours. Here it is:
"They could have had a life as searing and potent as literature itself."

4. I think there's a wildfire somewhere on the mountains. It's smoky.

More Fun Online

This is a video entitled, "Cats Being Awesome." It delivers what it promises. It's worth waiting for it to download if your connection is slow. (The video quality isn't that great even on a fast connection.) But it contains cats. Being awesome. Enough said.

A Site Unusual in its Single-Mindedness

Here is a link to a site entitled "Poulpe Pulps," poulpe being the French word for octopus and pulps referring to--of course--pulp fiction. Because why wouldn't someone collect (and post online) covers of pulp fiction novels that have octopi on them? Really, there's no good reason not to.

Weekend Report

Things I did:
1. Visited Blue Moon Ranch in Woodland which is a REAL LIVE ALPACA RANCH. I learned all about alpacas for an hour an a half. Then I bought some yearn, spun from Minnie.

2. Hiked up to Hidden Peak (in under three hours, with my dad), topped the ridge, saw the view to the east--nothing but more mountains and blue air--and thought of the first two lines from "Praise to the End!", one of my favorite Roethke poems. I looked up the other two lines this morning.

Arch of air, my heart's original knock,
I'm awake all over:
I've crawled from the mire, alert as a saint or a dog;
I know the back-stream's joy, and the stone's eternal pulseless longing.

Of course, I forgot my camera for both trips (the picture of Minnie is from the Blue Moon Ranch website). And there were baby alpacas.

Less-Manic Friday Post of Unrelated Information

Some things I've been thinking about this morning:

1. Hiking up Hidden Peak at Snowbird on Monday and taking the tram down.


2. What happened to Amelia Earhart? Basic theories, courtesy of Wikipedia and National Geographic.

3. A new knitting project, maybe.

4. Alpacas.

A Late Post of A Knitted Creature

(Sorry about no picture yesterday. It was visible on my machine at work, but I heard it still didn't come up. This picture that works is from knitty.com, a good site if you can knit.)

Words to Live By

"Do one brave thing, then run like hell."


(I tried to put this up Friday but noticed the picture didn't come through. And what good is a saying without a cute anthropomorphized picture?)

Haikai

Yes, that's the plural form of "haiku". There ends my knowledge of Japanese. Since it was so hot last night, here's something from Issa, whose name translates to "a bubble in brewing tea." (Maybe you shouldn't take my word for it, though.)

Under a full moon
yet still not cool:
the straw mat.


And, for good measure, here's something from the SPAM haiku site, going strong since 1998. This is number 48, and incorporates hobos, too.

Sing the hobo's blues:
SPAM for breakfast, SPAM for lunch,
SPAM for dinner, too.

It's Monday and We All Know What That Means

It's Cute Kitten Picture Day!

And there's even a word of the day: hebdomadal (heb-DOM-a-dul, adjective). It means "weekly" and comes from late Latin hebdomadalis, from Greek hebdomas, hebdomad- ‘the number seven, seven days,’ from hepta ‘seven.’

So one could say Cute Kitten Pictue Day is a hebdomadal event.

Happy Bastille Day!

Liberte, egalite, fraternite!
(Sorry, I can't make an accent ague in this program.)
Speaking of France, here's a series of images that superimpose Star Wars characters onto Parisian scenes--very French and futuristic.

Raymond Chandler Fix

I picked up The Big Sleep again last night and poked through it. This is from the first chapter, right after Marlowe gets done telling us what he's wearing (including socks with dark-blue clocks on them): "I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it."

Fact that you probably already knew: Chandler was British. Here he is:

Roommate update: He's much better. Not dancing any jigs yet, but better.

Two Random Quotes

First, sorry to disappoint all six of you who read this with no post yesterday. There was a slight emergency with the roommate, but nothing some muscle relaxers won't fix.


I was going to post these two quotations yesterday. They popped into my head for no known reason. The first is Hemingway, from The Garden of Eden; the second was from a college friend.

Quote 1:
"What makes your martinis better than everyone elses, David?" Catherine asked.
"Gin," he replied.

Quote 2:
"I endure it like I endure locusts."

(I foreget now what 'it' referred to. But I've always remebered the analogy.)

National Whatever Day

The Internet tells me today, July 10th, is both Clerihew Day and Teddy Bear Picnic Day.

Since something MUST be true if it's posted online, I hereby declare today (and maybe every recurring Monday) Cute Kitten Picture Day and, with this post, make it official. (Oh, the heady feeling of power!)

Manic Friday Post of Unrelated Information

1. My roommate will be out of town this weekend. I may have knitted a car by Monday. I'll let you know.

2. There's a demoltion derby at the Logan fairgrounds Saturday at 7:00. Gates open at 5:00. There's a even a dance contest between heats.

3. Here's a cute kitten picture. (This kitten's name is Enid--cute!)



4. And here's a sign from a site, www.engrish.com, that collects and posts such things.

Happy Friday, habitual drinkers!

Fun with the Internet Anagram Finder

This is good for a few hours. Put in a word or phrase and it will rearrange it into every imaginable combination. "Jolly roger" comes up with "rye jog roll," for instance. Yes. It's fun, I tell you.

Happy Fifth of July

I was one of the lucky ones who got a four-day weekend, but I had to share this belatedly patriotic quote. I felt the same way coming back from Paris--even though I loved it. Jefferson liked France, too.

[A trip to France] will make you adore your own country, its soil, its climate, its equality, liberty, laws, people and manners. My God! How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy.
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), U.S. president. Letter, June 17, 1785, to James Monroe.