Cats and Weather

I was going to keep the cats inside last night, because the propspect of a stormy morning was making me wary. But then I started focusing on the 20% chance, which is like no chance, and the night was looking so clear and calm, and I thought about how noisy the cats can be when they are penned up in the house overnight. So, I let them go.

But then I saw the weather widget on Pop's computer and got nervous again. I remembered Yahoo and checked with them, and they make the morning storms look like more than a chancy affair.

I hedged my bets and only put a little food on the plate. It's six in the morning now, and the light rains have happened. I have Coco and Ash in the house. I was figuring Sammy would be more of a problem and he is living up to that. It is not storming, but, then, that was forecasted for nine o'clock, when Pop and I should be off to the commissary to get the groceries.

1984 (2,10) How Small It Always Was

The brutality begins to roll over our romantic, would-be revolutionaries and they are overcome by fear and pain, the reality of brute power, of might makes right, that boot to the face. Always.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Winston was not trembling any longer. Even his eyes he barely moved. One thing alone mattered: to keep still, to keep still and not give them an excuse to hit you!

[...]

There was another crash. Someone had picked up the glass paperweight from the table and smashed it to pieces on the hearthstone

The fragment of coral, a tiny crinkle of pink like a sugar rosebud from a cake, rolled across the mat. How small, thought Winston, how small it always was!

[...]

One of the men has smashed his fist into Julia’s solar plexus, doubling her up like a pocket ruler. She was thrashing about on the floor, fighting for breath. Winston dared not turn his head even by a millimeter, but sometimes her livid, gasping face came within the angle of his vision. Even in his terror it was as though he could feel the pain in his own body, the deadly pain which nevertheless was less urgent than the struggle to get back her breath. He knew what it was like: the terrible, agonizing pain which was there all the while but could not be suffered yet, because before all else it was necessary to be able to breathe. Then two of the men hoisted her up by the knees and shoulders and carried her out of the room like a sack. Winston had a glimpse of her face, upside down, yellow and contorted, with the eyes shut, and still with a smear of rouge on either cheek; and that was the last he saw of her.

-- “1984” by George Orwell

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Winston also learns that Mr. Charrington, the supposed shop owner and lover of antiques, is a member of the Thought Police. And we thus close out Part Two.

The Dubya Library

The new George W. Bush presidential library has opened, and this has to be the best political cartoon I've seen in a long time.



[PolitiCartoons]

Cherry Blossoms and the Moon

Cherry blossoms and the moon. Photograph by Mamiko Irie

all day

She's spending all day in the kitchen. She slept till noon and now is in the kitchen all day. And now Pop, back from his eye appointment, is with her in the kitchen. I need to wash my dishes from my steak lunch. At least I didn't have to cook in front of her; she was still in the bedroom.

I'm glad the cats are so quiet today, being penned in the big room all day like this. I've never known them to be so quiescent, just dozing throughout the day. It is that kind of weather, but that doesn't usually work on them like this. Maybe they're starting to get a little old, a little mature.

page numbers

As I continue taking down page numbers from the books I'm reading ("Elvis: What Happened?" in this particular case), in preparation for blogging the quotes, it weighs on me that I will never get through all of this material if I should live to be 200 years old. But I don't suppose it matters. It just fills my days. I don't have a contract to meet. My cup runneth over, right? But it also feels kind of empty. The cup, my life, everything.

Daily Fun

Showing the love by *TlCphotography730

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