Book Corner 2024.18

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

by Edith Holden

I just couldn’t get into the drawings of birds and the poems about nature and the naturalist observations. I would have liked more glimpses into what life was like for a lady in England in 1906. The most interesting parts were the explanations of the names of each of the months, which she got out of the encyclopedia; and the side-leaf that described the author’s brief life (she dies at 49 by falling into the Thames).

Book Corner 2024.17

The Silmarillion

by J. R. R. Tolkien

I believe this is my second re-read (three reads total). It can be hard going, but just let it wash over you. Tolkien’s theology, it feels like an otherworldly retelling of the old testament. Occasionally a beautiful tale will jump out of the mirk, like that of Beren and Luthien.

Digression:

Tolkien’s old-school Catholicism is evident, and not necessarily unappealing. I see it this way. Modern thinking in our culture is extremely Freudian. We like to think we’re well beyond Freud, but he’s evident here every day. Every movie and book hero has a backstory “explaining” why he is the way he is. It’s all about his childhood. It made him evil, or good.

Characters in Tolkienland, they’re just evil. Or good. Or a little of both. It seems to me that every creature, lowly middle-earthlings or hallowed Ainur, have the capacity for evil. And sometimes someone just tips over the edge. In other words, it’s in all of us, and it’s just a random spin of the wheel whether you are going to get tipped over at any given moment, briefly, or for a lifetime.

Amen and thanks be to god and also with you.

Practice

I’m happy enough with the beading. What I need a lot of practice with is finishing. Beading wire is really hard to deal with. I might try sticking with ordinary thread.

This piece is annoyingly too long for a bracelet, too short for a necklace, and as far as projects go more useless than most.

Dream

If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?

This is a line from a song in SOUTH PACIFIC. It was also something my Aunt Alice used to say, back when I Was Very Young, and she wanted to encourage me to dream big.

Everything Under the Sun Was in Tune

All that you touch

All that you see

All that you taste

All you feel

And all that you love

And all that you hate

All you mistrust

All you save

And all that you give

And all that you deal

And all that you buy

Beg borrow or steal

And all you create

And all you destroy

And all that you do

And all that you say

And all that you reap

And everyone you meet

And all that you spite

And everyone you fight

And all that is now

And all that is gone

And all that’s to come

And everything under the sun is in tune,

When the sun is eclipsed by the moon.