16 September 2016, Landschlacht, Switzerland Two days ago I returned from a week´s sojourn in Turkey. (To be mentioned in future blog posts…) Today I am paying for it with symptoms that need not be described here, but suffice to say I am staying home and close to medicine chest and bedroom and water closet. But,… Continue reading Adam in the Abbey 2: The Path of Benedict
Category: Literature
Adam in the Abbey 1: The Road to New Norcia
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 2 September 2016 / 15 September 2016 Homer once said that all men have need of the gods. And maybe this is so, for since time began we have sought a way to understand, and perhaps even influence, powerful natural phenomena, such as weather and the seasons, creation, life, death and its aftermath. There… Continue reading Adam in the Abbey 1: The Road to New Norcia
Moving heaven and earth 3: Job and Virginia in Amatrice
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 29 August 2016 An earthquake, measuring 6.2, hit central Italy five days ago (24 August 2016) at 03:36:32. This quake resonates with me, not only because Canadians were among its victims, not only because the quake was felt in cities my wife and I have visited, and not only because of the massive destruction… Continue reading Moving heaven and earth 3: Job and Virginia in Amatrice
Moving heaven and earth 2: The weekend that wasn´t
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 27 August 2016 This was the town of Amatrice before 03:36:32, 24 August 2016. The town had few claims to fame before Wednesday morning: The museum of Nicola Filoteslo, Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor known for his work on frescoes and facades Above: Dormitio Virginis, Capitolini Museum, Roma Elio Augusto Di Carlo (1918 – 1998),… Continue reading Moving heaven and earth 2: The weekend that wasn´t
No sex, please. I’m online!
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 August 2016 Perhaps it is a bad idea to watch Cyrano de Bergerac and Bridget Jones’ Diary while drinking copious amounts of alcohol, for the mind may take a funny turn down dark paths that it shouldn`t. I think of Cyrano… Hercule Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a cadet (nobleman serving as a soldier)… Continue reading No sex, please. I’m online!
The Name Game
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 16 August 2016 Recent events have made me aware of the importance that humanity gives to names. A colleague and her husband, both good friends of mine, brought a new soul, a baby boy, into the world at 12:27 pm today. This past weekend the mother was honoured with a baby shower – a party… Continue reading The Name Game
Artistic differences, dogs and cats, earth and sky
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 7 August 2016 One of the dangers of spending “quality time” with a significant other, especially if much time has passed since the last period of “quality time”, is the need to “discuss the relationship”. Spend any significant amount of time with a member of the opposite gender and you quickly come to… Continue reading Artistic differences, dogs and cats, earth and sky
The Battle Electronic
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 23 July 2016 It´s 5 am and my wife is still asleep in her bed while I stare at an electronic screen willing it to magically put scattered thoughts into sensible prose for public digestion and edification. I think of the number of topics and events I have yet to write about and… Continue reading The Battle Electronic
Canada Slim behind bars 5b: Time served
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 22 July 2016 In the past five posts I spoke of prisons – how prisons inspire literature, prisons as tourist attractions, prisons as tourist accommodation, my work and life in a youth hostel/former jail, and the road that lead to me being imprisoned for a short time in America. In this sixth and… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 5b: Time served
Canada Slim behind bars 1: Voyeurs of tragedy
Dorchester Prison, Dorset, England, Saturday 9 August 1856 A day of drizzle, a crowd of 4, 000 people of all ages gathered to watch a woman swing from a prison scaffold. Before the gallows, Martha was counselled by the Reverend Clementson, the prison chaplain, so she faced her death composed. Elizabeth Martha Brown had been… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 1: Voyeurs of tragedy