Head-dibs

  The Beatles captured perfectly the meaning of “auld Lang syne” in their obscure little song titled “The Two of Us”. This one stanza is at the heart: “You and I have memories That stretches out ahead” Memories are precious, because over time, the bad ones fade away. You remember someone showing you a heart made with their hands in a backward look; a trip to the zoo or a park. Maybe an unexpected meeting of an old friend; meaningful conversation; music. Maybe decorating for the holidays or throwing a party, the humor of a private joke, a very expensive meal; a concert; a family reunion, a scent ... Memories give hope when used properly.  Books do both. They look back and look ahead. This is why I love the classics. A quote is one thing, an idea we like to carry forward, but reading the source material is another, looking back.  Head into a blessed new year with good books. Make new memories! Look ahead with curiosity and interest! For the sake of old times, read a book....

  Spend 15 minutes in the Classics   “. . . the vessel had two English sailors . . . One of them I shall always remember as the best specimen of the thoroughbred English sailor that I ever saw. He had been to sea from a boy, having served a regular apprenticeship of seven years, as all English sailors are obliged to do, and was then about four or five and twenty. He was tall; but you only perceived it when he was standing by the side of others, for the great breadth of his shoulders and chest made him appear but little above the middle height. His chest was as deep as it was wide; his arm like that of Hercules; and his hand ‘the fist of a tar—every hair a rope-yarn.” With all this he had one of the pleasantest smiles I ever saw. His cheeks were of a handsome brown; his teeth brilliantly white; and his hair, of a raven black, waved in loose curls all over his head, and fine, open forehead; and his eyes he might have sold to a duchess at the price of diamonds, for their brillian...

  Spend 15 minutes in the Classics   After twenty years' absence, Odysseus returned home to find his house filled with strangers rioting and wasting his treasure. With the aid of his son and the gods, Odysseus dealt with the unwelcome guests.  Homer (fl. 850 B.C.).  The Odyssey. Vol. 22, pp. 296-309 of The Harvard Classics

  “A Summary and True Discourse of SIR FRANCIS DRAKE’S West Indian Voyage, begun in the year 1585. Wherein were taken the cities of SANTIAGO, SANTO DOMINGO, CARTHAGENA, and the town of ST. AUGUSTINE, in FLORIDA. Published by MASTER THOMAS CATES.”  In “Drake's Great Armada” by Captain Walter Bigges in Vol. 33, pp. 229-240 of The Harvard Classics

 I like how Darwin describe the islands as being “put” where they are.  Spend 15 minutes in the Classics daily Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882). The Voyage of the Beagle. Vol. 29, pp. 376-389 of The Harvard Classics

“If you want to arrange it This world, you can change it If we could somehow Make this Christmas thing last By helping a neighbor Or even a stranger To know who needs help, You need only just ask”

Spend 15 minutes in the Classics daily

 

  “The idea of a classic implies something that has continuance and consistence, and which produces unity and tradition, fashions and transmits itself, and endures.” “Let us be content to know them, to penetrate them, to admire them; but let us, the late-comers, endeavour to be ourselves. Let us have the sincerity and naturalness of our own thoughts, of our own feelings; so much is always possible. To that let us add what is more difficult, elevation, an aim, if possible, towards an exalted goal; and while speaking our own language, and submitting to the conditions of the times in which we live, whence we derive our strength and our defects, let us ask from time to time, our brows lifted towards the heights and our eyes fixed on the group of honoured mortals: what would they say of us?”

 Charles Darwin, in exploring New Zealand, finds cannibalism, tattooing, and many weird customs among the natives. Instead of shaking hands, the salutation is by rubbing noses. Read more in “The Voyage of the Beagle.” By Charles Darwin in Vol. 29, pp. 425-434 of The Harvard Classics

 Spend 15 minutes in the Classics 

 

  “As with the force of winds and waters pent   When mountains tremble, those two massy pillars With horrible convulsion to and fro  He tugged, he shook, till down they came, and drew   The whole roof after them with burst of thunder  Upon the heads of all who sat beneath” (Painting by Norman Rockwell)

 Quite humorous, noting how educational objectives have evolved over the years. Better to learn Latin and be changed by thinkers in their original languages than be bored with sciences, especially geometry! “ As soon as he can speak English, ’tis time for him to learn some other language.”

 “ The mother of St. Augustine prayed unceasingly for her son's conversion. The most touching, most soul-revealing writing St. Augustine did is in the description of his mother's death.”

Since losing my job at the university back in March, I've been trying to regain a semblance of order. Life as we knew it no longer exists, and ironically, that truth extends far out of my experience as the world itself has completely changed. The power of the irony lies in the timing in which everything happened. All the patterns have changed.  The practice of reading and writing have all but disappeared in my life as my daily routine is not what it once was, so finding the time to do either or both is a challenge. Morning starts early around here and nights often go late. The days are full of other matters requiring attention, so sitting down to read or write does not come easy--until recently.  I've tried listening to books during my two-hour (total) commute but I have a difficult enough time trying to stay awake, especially on the way home--even with music blasting and A/C on full. My attention drifts or I am distracted by how something is being read and can't really pay...

 

 

Wonder what the world would be like if he gave us zoos or something ...well I guess he kind of did! Regardless, the memories are ALWAYS precious. 

Father calls me William, sister calls me Will, Mother calls me Willie, but the fellers call me Bill! Mighty glad I ain't a girl - ruther be a boy, Without them sashes, curls, an' things that's worn by Fauntleroy! Love to chawnk green apples an' go swimmin' in the lake - Hate to take the castor-ile they give for belly-ache! 'Most all the time, the whole year round, there ain't no flies on me, But jest 'fore Christmas I'm as good as I kin be! Got a yeller dog named Sport, sick him on the cat; First thing she knows she doesn't know where she is at! Got a clipper sled, an' when us kids goes out to slide, 'Long comes the grocery cart an' we all hook a ride! But sometimes when the grocery man is worrited an' cross, He reaches at us with his whip, an' larrups up his hoss, An' then I laff an' holler, "Oh, ye never teched me!" But jest 'fore Christmas I'm as good as I kin be! Gran'ma says she hopes that w...