Hello again! So glad you could join me in my newsletter. Please, pull up a chair next to the fire. Yes, that's it. Would you like some hot chocolate? There, now you can get all warmed up––you're dripping wet! How's the work been going this week? I see, well that's certainly something. And the family? Mm-hm, just like them isn't it? Oh don't mind old Cujo there, he loves a good scratch behind the ears. How have I been, you ask? Well…
I Got Out and About
It’s spring, and that means it’s time for celebrating the great outdoors!
As far as I’m concerned, David Attenborough is an international treasure, and I was charmed once again by his demonstration of the strange phenomenon of exploding seed pods.
And while we’re out of doors, how about entertaining some cows with a little jazz?
You all know by now that I can’t resist colorized photographs and films. So enjoy some spring-like outdoor footage of Paris and the beach, many moons ago.
Part of getting out and about for many of us, is, unfortunately, flying. But as the crazy woman who clutches the arm rests at every innocent bump, I never realized how much safer flying has gotten in the last few years. In fact, it turns out that, in America at least, crashes have been nearly entirely eradicated. (Of course that doesn’t mean everything about flying has improved: airlines will not be boarding more efficiently any time soon, for example).
But maybe bicycles are more your speed. After all, cycling around the world is possible. Annie Londonderry was one of the first to do it, way back in 1894. The entire ride took her 15 months, which is pretty good considering her first ride was only a few days before her departure.
And All the Rest…
There are some classics you just know you’re never going to get around to reading, and for me, Dracula has always been one of those. But the Dracula Daily newsletter just might get me to read the whole thing this summer. Since Dracula is an epistolary novel, Matt Kirkland had the genius idea of setting up a newsletter that sends out the letters in the book on the very days on which they are dated in the story, so you can follow along and read in real time. I’m way into this. Letters begin on May 3rd and end in November, so there’s still time to sign up and start from the beginning!
You may think you’ve suffered from a few bad hair days, but have you ever heard of Uncombable Hair Syndrome? The pictures of the kids who have it are adorable and I’ll just never get over the hilarious and very apt name.
A father and daughter in Japan have turned mending clothes into a veritable art.
The title of the linked article is “Why China is using guard geese to uphold its zero-COVID policy.” Need I say more?
Female a cappella group sings Finish folksong. And it’s been stuck in my head for two days.
That’s All for this Week
Thanks for asking! Same time next time? I’ll keep the kettle on.
Liz, I appreciate you web tips. I hardly do any web surfing on my own, so it’s nice t get your whimsical pointers. I was really amazed what has been accomplished in colorizing old black and white films with AI. There used to be a cottage industry in colorizing black and white photographs by hand. The mom of one of my grade school friends had a studio in their home and specialized in large portrait photographs. There’s a scene in my novel, A Tale of Two Times, in which the travelers guidebook recommends taking note’s on the colors of a popular scene so the colorized version is authentic. Keep up the good work!
Awhile back we had an exchange about GM Hopkins’s idea of inscape. I’ve found a book on the whole subject (cheap on Thriftbooks) which I’ve started to read. It’s pretty dense but rewarding, so I give it a ten or fifteen minute wack on most days. The book is “Inscape” by James Finn Cotter. A good book is so much bigger than most web sites! JBSP