Clouds Over August
Was hoping my previous blog post would generate interest, but it didn't. Heck, most of the people around today weren't even born when To Kill a Mockingbird was published. It used to be a reading requirement in school.
Actually, when I was in high school our reading requirement was Silas Marner. The members of the California Board of Education who devised that plan should have been shot. Silas Marner is not only the most boring novel ever written, it could turn you against literature for the rest of your life. Hell, I don't even think George Eliot liked it.
That was supposed to be funny. Why aren't you laughing?
Actually, my blog posts often bomb because they're too long. Nobody wants to sweat through a long blog post. And I can't blame them.
I know some people who write a dozen words on their blogs and immediately get 400 adoring comments. I write my ass off and have to beg for comments on the street corner with a tin cup.
Are you being vicious and envious, Jon?
Naw, I had a few beers and I'm exuding
alcohol-induced sarcasm.
Speaking of writing - my transitions are smooth and seamless, aren't they? - I finished editing the second edition of my poetry book Love Letters to Ghosts. I typed it up in two days and it's ready to be transformed into a PDF file.
I'll wait a moment until you catch your breath.
I know this isn't a big revelation, but it's something I've been meaning to do for months. Now that that's out of the way, I can concentrate on my memoir.
Clouds this morning
Everything is still in absolute chaos here but I'm making slow progress. My ongoing depression is buoyed by occasional bouts of cautious optimism. It's difficult to do any work in the garage because it's 110 degrees in there and swarming with angry wasps.
Actually, the insect problem has lessened. The only annoyances left are the nasty wasps. And the rotten fruit flies. And some mosquitoes. And loads of moths at night. And dragonflies and butterflies, which I like.
There was a hummingbird on my back porch yesterday.
Methinks there's another mouse in the cupboard. Something has chewed some holes in the bags of cat food. My cats are very alert at night.....waiting to catch the varmint.......but so far no luck.
I took this photo of Bosco last night
I didn't drive to town last week so I'm out of everything. I need milk, bread, and everything else. Not to mention litter and cat food. I'll venture out on Monday.
Fortunately there's still some food around. Tonight I plan to have roasted chicken, BBQed beans, and watermelon.
Only a few courageous souls have been visiting my new photo blog. It's nothing spectacular, but it's a photo-only endeavor - - so knowing how to read isn't a requirement.
P.S.
I don't think the homoerotic photos have killed anyone. Yet.
http://cabinetofcurioustreasures.blogspot.com
Congrats on Love Letters to Ghosts' finale! I'm still really taken by that title.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm in no way comparing my silly blog to your writing, Jon ...but I totally get what you mean about trolling for feedback. I'm constantly scratching my head at table-scapers and recipe writers -- whose comment boxes are filled with "ooh's and aaah's.
Actually, I don't spend much time in their neighborhoods. I'd much rather hang out with Real People whose Real Lives aren't filled with curly-cues and happy faces.
Speaking of trolling, I stopped by your photo blog earlier today. The pier at Huntington Beach is breathtaking. You were so fortunate to have experienced that, even if only for a while!
PS - Bosco certainly presents a formidable profile! :)
Myra, you and I think so much alike. That's scary for you.....(*smile*). I've always wondered how the crappiest blogs get the most adoring comments. I think a lot of people read our blogs but don't bother to comment - - and I ALWAYS wonder what they're thinking.
DeleteHuntington Beach was truly one of my favorite hangouts. I miss it, but I'm sure it's changed a lot from the "good ol' days". By the way, I really like the profie photo of Bosco. He looks like a Halloween cat.
The only required reading I REMEMBER is "Canterbury Tales". Talk about a waste of time. The only thing I remember about it is the excessive use of the word "arse".
ReplyDeleteAlso, have you ever taken St. John's Wort? (I love that name.)
I still have a copy of the "Canterbury Tales" stashed away somewhere, and I'll never know why we were forced to read it. I didn't "get" it back then, and I still don't understand it today.
DeleteNever had a reason to use St. John's Wort - but I'll have to admit that I like the name.
Was that 'C. Tales' in modern or medieval English? I've read the latter just twice - and, as you can imagine (or may know), it takes an awful long time - and the former, well, at least half a dozen times. As you might surmise, I do love the work, though of course it's a pity that it has such an overlong, concluding fizzle-out in devotional and pietic excess. But the tales themselves, I think, are magnificently told, even though some (most?) of them are cribbed from other writers. However, each to her or his own.
DeleteWe read the "Tales" in modern English. Medieval English would have been FAR too difficult for California kids to grasp. Heck, they can hardly speak modern-day American English.
DeleteIt does require application, Jon, it's true. But it's less taxing than reading an entire novel in a foreign language, though maybe only marginally so. I suppose it comes down to facing up to and meeting a challenge. Unfortunately it's only the physical challenges that get the kudos.
DeleteI had forgotten Silas Marner and you had to resurrect it...LOL I read about a novel a week and I hated everything we had to read in HS. Actually I hated HS too, never went to a reunion. I did not like then long ago and I sure as hell would not like them now.
ReplyDeleteWhen ever I bought a new bag of cat food Henry would chew a hole in it, perhaps you do not have a mouse. Unless the bad was behind closed doors.
It took me years to forget "Silas Marner". Much like you, I hated everything about high school and couldn't wait to graduate.
DeleteI keep the cat food inside a cabinet under the sink. I occasionally hear t being "nibbled" lat at night, so I assume it's a mouse. I sure as hell hope it isn't anything bigger.....
Having read several of Eliot's (just 3 or 4, to be honest) must admit I found 'Silas' to be one of her less digestible oeuvres.
DeleteYou were courageous to have read more than one......
DeleteLess courage, more the Everest 'Because It's There' syndrome, Jon.
DeleteI have to add, I buy the cat litter at Sams club and it comes in large plastic containers. I washed an empty one and I keep the dry food in there.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea - - in fact, I have a few huge plastic jars that pretzels came in - perhaps I'll use them.
DeleteI haven't seen a Sam's Club since I lived in Springfield, MO.
If I don't visit you it's because of my ignorance. Downloading Windows 10 was a one and half hour snap but now I'm lost and don't know if I'll ever be found.
ReplyDeletePaula, I'm terrified to download Windows 10. It took me over a year to figure out Windows 8. Good Luck!
DeleteAnd I'm still using Windows XP - just, as it ought to have become completely extinct by now, as this blasted computer itself is threatening to become. Any day now!
DeleteRay, I still have Windows XP on my desktop computer but I use Windows 8 on my laptop.
DeleteIncidentally, my desktop computer behaves in the same annoying manner as yours.
Well, that's reassuring to know, Jon - though not really. Windows XP is now so prehistoric that it's surprising it works at all, though when it does it's unreliable as you know. If I were to get a new computer I'll be in a quandary as to which Windows version to purchase. Every time a new one comes out the widespread complaints are massively off-putting, Windows 10 being only the latest one to be generally cursed - at least until number 11 arrives.
DeleteI would be very hesitant to suggest a version of Windows, since they're all annoying. It took me awhile to figure out Windows 8. I'd be afraid to try Windows 10, since is reported to be "easy to use."
Delete"Silas Marner" eh? Typical of Ca.Board of Edu. They slipped up and made me read "Ivanhoe", which I got to like when the hero entered the lists incognito with "disinherited" written across his shield --identified closely with that-- and I vaguely recall Robin Hood being in it too. But my kids had to read stuff like "Jane Eyre" --which my older boys called Jane Eyrehead-- and Daughter was assigned "A Raisin In The Sun". Fine old chestnuts but dead-depressing. Youngest son, 35 now, forgot to go to high school and went to college on accelerated enrollment. They all did fine. I suspect Ca. schools spent the past century teaching us how to write like people did the century before that. Given their prior record, I doubt the routine will change. Best we can do is give kids time to read what they want and hang on to our hats.
ReplyDelete"Ethan Frome" was also a reading requirement, but I liked that one. Sorry to admit that I've never read "Ivanhoe". I loved "Jane Eyre" and it's one of my favorite novels, probably because it's so "dead-depressing" and brooding. "A Raisin in the Sun" is fantastic, but I've only seen the play and the movie.
DeleteI most often strayed away from what I was required to read and read what I wanted to. It hasn't damaged me too much.
I remember reading Catcher in the Rye in English literature class. A classic for sure but it seemed so American to a 14 year old British school boy and I couldn't really relate. But when I read Sons and Lovers, I was totally smitten. I was entertained and my raging teenage hormones were temporarily entertained. Congratulations on finishing your poetry book. I too like the title.
ReplyDeleteI've read "Catcher in the Rye" but never really understood why it was so immensely popular. It seemed rather mundane to me, but maybe I missed something. I agree that "Sons and Lovers" is much better.
DeletePut some mint - or a lot of mint - in water in a glass and keep it in your kitchen, or wherever the fruit flies congregate. The mint will seriously cut down on the fruit fly problem. (Can't hurt, right?) Oops, maybe with cats it should be mint in a pot of dirt; that's easier to clean up than broken glass and water everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI love fresh mint, but I had no idea that fruit flies don't like it. I'd better opt for a pot of dirt, since the cats are destructive.
Deletecat food goes in a plastic tub. LOVE the pix of bosco (looks like he's seriously thinking).
ReplyDelete"david copperfield" - UGH! we had to read some of the most boring shit in high school. "canterbury tales" too.
I'll never know why we were forced to read crap.
DeleteThat's my favorite photo of Bosco. Actually, he was looking out the bedroom door at the other two cats.
Actually Jon it sounds pretty nice, and looks it, with those beautiful blue skies. There again you haven't included any bug photos. But better than Texas, right? Bosco is a lovely looking cat.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been visiting blogs so missed earlier posts, which I will now read, and of course I'll look at the photo blog.
Thanks, Jenny. It really is very lovely here and a delightful change from Texas. Despite the bugs - and the inconveniences of rural living - I do like it.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to count the fogs...!
ReplyDeleteFogs? Frogs??
DeleteFogs.......old mountain tale about the fogs in August predicted how many snow in the winter.....
DeleteI never knew that. It's foggy here every morning but it burns off by 9:00 or 10:00.
DeleteJon,
ReplyDeleteAs I sit here in the sweltering 90 degree plus heat awaiting the air conditioning service man, I'm finally catching up on my blog reading. Of course yours is the first on my list. That is a perfect picture of Bosco on the watch. You have the talent for composition as well as your many other talents. I too went to high school when Silas Marner was required reading. I agree with you, BORING. The only novel more boring was "The Mill on the Floss". I never did finish it. Believe it or not, I never read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and I missed your blog post (I will go back and catch up). The past few weeks have been crazy around here what with me being called into work every day with only an hour's notice. I had a "talk" with my boss last week and I think I have that problem straightened out, I'm not "on call." I'm retired working PART-TIME. Now where is that air conditioner service man?
Ron
I had forgotten about "The Mill n the Floss", but you're right - it's even more boring than "Silas Marner."
Delete"To Kill a Mockingbird" is well worth reading. It provides more details that the movie.
I hope the air conditioner repair guy arrives soon, and I also hope your work schedule gets straightened out. It's no fun to be on call when you're only supposed to be working part time.