Periodically, I love looking back at many of the articles I have posted on this blog. I am delighted to find this excellent article by Kirsi Kenerva on the fantastic in Iceland again. The video is pretty amazing. Here are two fascinating and remarkable takes on the traditions of the Icelandic Sagas. The first […]
Icleandanic Sagas, The Role of the Dead and the Life of the Landscape Read More »
Here's another one of those mysterious family photographs — this one of my maternal grandmother (the one in the back-left squinting from the smoke of her cigarette) sitting at a small table in an even smaller kitchen with a group of really elegant women friends and a whole lot of bottles of
How They Drank in the 40s Read More »
I have always loved this weird and wonderful piece of medieval marginal art. She is cranky, aggressive, and ready to pull out hearts and saw off legs. I know I shouldn't like her so much, but on frustrating days (like paying the taxes), I feel a kindred spirit of Don't mess with me if you
I am a bit late in posting this, but I want to acknowledge my father's participation in WWII, which was considerable. My Jewish father was 16 when he fled Nazi-Occupied France and arrived in the US. At 17, he enlisted in the Navy and served in almost every major Naval battlefield, including Normandy, where
Emile as a Young Sailor Read More »
This post is for my cousin François, who has been visiting the blog to see what photos of our families are appearing — and happily identifying those I don't know. I love these three photos for how the people are grouped, smiling, and staring back at the photographer. I am not sure who everyone is,
The Mystery of Family Photos Read More »
"Traveling is brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” –Cesare Pavese
The Novels of Mythic and Perilous Travel Across Borders Read More »
I am gobsmacked by German artist Lotte Reiniger's gorgeous black papercuts that she used to make silhouette animated fantasy films and beautiful book illustrations (when money could not be found for the movie). Her work spans some 60 years (from 1919 to 1979); the early work developed in Germany, then later, after the war,
Lotte Reiniger: Silhouette Fairy Tale Films Read More »
I have respect for authors who manage to write incredibly long, complicated sentences — but with such consummate skill and daring that I inhale deeply and then read it aloud, trying to see if I can make it to the end in all one exhale. These sentences enter the text to condense a moment into
Barry Unsworth and the Best Long Sentence Read More »
Years ago my daughter introduced me to this wonderful Peruvian poet. I was delighted to discover that there is an audio version of Vallejo reading the poem aloud. His voice is really beautiful and he reads it slowly a mixture of loving and sad.
“Distant Footsteps” Cesar Vallejo Read More »
Moon, come down andcome alone. I have to tell you allabout Akechi’s wife. — Bashō My husband and I will celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary this coming June. I think of all that passion at the beginning, rocking back and forth between joy and fear that it might suddenly prove
Basho’s Reflection On Marriage: Akechi’s Wife Read More »
