Me and Bobby

I have a wonderful friend.  She is one of those people who listens.  She accepts everything in me (and others) with calm joy and delight.  Except sadness, which always gives her concern.  I met her first when I was about eleven, and although the last few years have mostly kept us apart, I have never stopped holding her very dear.  She lives with her exceptional husband and family on the other side of the world, but I have recently found out that next winter she and her daughter will, all things going according to plan, stay here with me for at least a few months.  I am so looking forward to that!    

Archy and Mehitabel

I'm not very fond of cockroaches.  Except maybe one - a fictional one, full of social commentary and humor, invented by Don Marquis.  Archy is a cockroach who types his views at night in a newspaper office, and whose work is characterised by distinctive typing due to his lack of ability to hold down the shift key and type at the same time.  

Originally a series of newspaper articles back in the 1916, it captured my imagination when I saw it some years ago in a mag.  I remember Archy every time I have a sore finger or hand and can't type properly.  And also sometimes when I see all the lower-case, no-apostrophed stuff touted as as writing communication these days.

It was turned into an animated musical (Shinbone Alley - 1971) but was a bit of  a flop.  

Archy's story begins:

expression is the need of my soul

i was once a vers libre bard  

but i died and my soul went into the body of a cockroach

it has given me a new outlook on life

i see things from the underside now

thank you for the apple peelings in the wastepaper basket

but your paste is getting so stale i can t eat it

there is a cat here called mehitabel i wish you would have

removed she nearly ate me the other night why don t she

catch rats that is what she is supposed to be here for 

there is a rat here she could get without delay

And a bit of philosophy:

if you get gloomy just
take an hour off and sit
and think how
much better this world
is than hell
of course it won t cheer
you up much if
you expect to go there

A Leek Quiche is not to be Despised

I once began to read a foodie column, probably in some waiting room somewhere, and the above title caught my eye.  I thought the sentence was wonderful!  It conjured up for me a whole frowning crowd of chef-hatted cooks, poking at a leek quiche with forefingers or wooden spoons and muttering disparaging comments.

I promptly wrote down the recipe.  And the quiche wasn't bad, but not as memorable as the sentence.

So, here's my lunch today:  Home-made bread, slivers of red pepper, a dollop of home-made green tomato chutney, and a thick topping of mature cheddar, grilled to a light golden colour.  

I would like you to go away with this thought:  Grilled cheese on toast is not to be despised.  

Relativity

A new day, and this one with no headache.  Ah, it was almost worth having it for the light feeling of well-being when it's gone.  Well, almost!  Is our experience of everything relative?  A question to explore another time, or for someone else.  

Sunlight chases away the dark blue sky and warms the tops of the pines...

Each time dawn appears, the mystery is there in its entirety.

- Rene Daumal

No rain again

Another gorgeous day.  We had a light sprinkling of rain last night, but hardly a teaspoon.  It must be nearly three weeks now.  I awoke to the wonderful scent of freshly baked bread which J. had set up in the breadmaker late last night.  The purple on this shrub in my garden is so bright it almost hurts my eyes.  I should be finishing off the skirting boards in N's room but it seems a pity to be inside on such a lovely day.  I wish I could get rid of this headache, though.

A trip away

We're going to go down to the Deep South.  My middle son starts the next post-grad phase of his university life in a month, and daughter N. and I have decided we'll take him down to Dunedin then.  I haven't been down to the South Island (except for conferences, and they don't count) since I left university in Christchurch myself mumble years ago.  It's all very exciting.  I've been online looking at trains and boats and planes, but this morning at 4 am I sat up in bed and thought "I'll drive down!"

  

It's a long way, and now that petrol is over two dollars a litre, it's not going to be cheap, but the flexibility will be lovely, and if I tow the compactavan, we'll be able to decide at the last minute on overnight stops, save on accommodation and have room to take J's stuff as well as the old Apple Mac down to Ellyn in Oamaru too. 

It's going to be cold too, but we'll bundle up.  We might even make it to the mountains and see some snow.

Bounty bars

It's been a pleasant weekend.  I got the lawns mowed (except that I've bumped into something and damaged the motor mower spark plug wire sleeve thingy and it needs replacing) and a few other tasks around the place. Unfortunately I shouldn't have had those two Bounty bars instead of lunch because now I have a slight chocolate-induced headache.  I feel like the lemon soon will.  The kids are doing the washing up so I'm off to bed soon.  Nightie-night.