George Orwell

“In a prosperous country, above all in an imperialist country, left-wing politics are always partly humbug. There can be no real reconstruction that would not lead to at least a temporary drop in the English standard of life, which is another way of saying that the majority of left-wing politicians and publicists are people who earn their living by demanding something that they don’t genuinely want.”

-- George Orwell, a book review (1939) in Essays (Everyman’s Library, p. 127-8)

Sleep, Weather, and the Cats

Wow, I almost forgot what a good night's sleep tasted like. That was nice. Sure, I still needed a few bathroom runs throughout the night, but I always fell right back asleep, a solid crystal sleep of sweet oblivion. Yeah, I let the cats go out yesterday. There's nothing but clear skies ahead too. It looks like we have finally come out on the other end of that weather system.

I would say that the Deluge of 2015 was not quite as bad as the Deluge of 2007, but I think this one lasted longer, even if it did not end up dropping quite as much rain. In 2007, I remember the water creeping up the patio and starting to climb up to our doorway. That never happened this time. It also may be remembered that when it was raining cats and dogs in 2007, we actually managed to pick up a few cats ourselves.

Heh, good old Mother Gray and that beautiful calico princess! Eight years later, the feline line remains unbroken. It should end with Coco, Ash, and Sammy, though, since they are spayed and neutered, but it is not as though Pop and I have a lot of time left ourselves, as another lineage comes to an end, seeing how Jack is not Pop's biological son, and it does not look like I will be leaving any offspring behind, unless something very surprising happens very soon. It was a weak line anyway.

Becky

Jack stopped by for a few minutes, and if I am not mistaken, he and Jill had Becky with them. She appears to have kept her shyness, and although she is still in her early adolescence, one imagines she will probably keep it in her adulthood. Interestingly, she has given way to the allure of blondes, as she has died her hair accordingly. Remember, her skin is a bit darkly complected, and I do not think it can work for her, but maybe I am speaking for my generation; maybe the young folks are more comfortable with such blending.

I cannot help thinking that I might have been a good uncle, enriching their lives with my bookish ways, but I might be kidding myself in supposing they would be different from Jack in this. Hell, it took me a long time, till I was closing in on forty, to see the magic in Shakespeare, Milton, and Homer, and to be able to lose myself as fully in the various landscapes of fictions and histories. I only kept at it because I had absolutely nothing else in my life, and I could have cried in gratefulness when that door finally opened for me. It enabled me to pursue another kind of beauty and made my life more worth living.

The Natural World

Close encounter with a shark by Mark Brodkin

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