Eftsoons the Lady Guinevere bethought her
That Lancelot hadde much ex kaliber.
Eftsoons the Lady Guinevere bethought her
That Lancelot hadde much ex kaliber.
Listen how
Each breath we take
Advances and retreats.
Breaking on a fragile shore—
The heart.
There's a haiku, I think by Issa, that means approximately
A memorable thought.
It's been translated into several (more likely many) languages and I wondred how it turned out in French. I was surprised: in one translation I read the poet felt old already, not cold. But old makes perfect sense.
So who is right, or neither? I don't know Japanese, so I turned to Google translate. The Japanese is
aki tatsu to iu bakari demo
samusa kana
What cheese manufactory sounds like a person succumbing to a respiratory complaint?
An Angel caught me by the throat.
"Is this in the rules?", I cried.
"No, but it's quicker", she replied.
Until the spellchecker intervened Bach had intended to be a composer.
Image credits
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach#/media/File:Johann_Sebastian_Bach.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucy's_choc-chile_fudge.jpgThe object below is an Iron Age (Celtic or early Roman) brooch that was found near here.
It's actually bronze—not gold as the photograph makes it appear—and about 30 mm across. The style is 'La Tène III', named after La Tène in Switzerland where an enormous cache of artifacts in this characteristic style was excavated in the 19th century.
It took me a long while to work out what the geometry would have been but after looking at lots of pictures and consulting a friend I now have a reasonable idea. There would have been a pin, wound round one end to make a spring, and at the other end a catch for the pin, something like this
The missing parts being more fragile have broken off, or possibly just corroded away. Indeed it's possible the clip breaking caused the brooch to get lost, or perhaps when it broke the owner simply slung it away. It would have been the budget-friendly jewellery of its time, and very large numbers of similar brooches are found.
All the same I felt a thrill to handle it and reflect that until a few days ago no other human being had touched it for two thousand years.
How many British cheeses can you find that are named after former Roman towns?
Today I caught a snatch on WKSU radio
Therapy...Japanese...Forest...
I found this is 'forest bathing', Shinrin-yoku. The idea is that visiting a forest may calm and relax us, as we breathe the woodland breeze.
It seems intuitively plausible that this might be therapeutic, and there is some scientific evidence of the beneficial effects. I'm biased-pro though, because of my love of trees. Here's a thought I have had many times but only now expressed.
I'd rather breathe my last on a woodland path.
Dying on a hospital corridor would be much horrider.
What composer is hard to find?
My life coach said I should take stock. I was like "Whose?" and "Should I take shares also?"
Edgar Allen Poe
Wanted his cheeks to glow.
So he wore blusher.
When writing The Fall of the House Of Usher.
'Alla barnen = 'All the kids' is a children's humorous verse form, from Denmark and Sweden. Like Scandinavian detective writing it can be a bit dark. But still funny.
Below are some classics rendered into English. Google Translate did the heavy lifting but I applied some finishing touches, here and there, such as making the rhymes work.
All the kids loved the World Wildlife Fund, except Amanda.
She shot a panda.
All the kids enjoyed their burgers, except Tony.
It was his pony.
All the kids looked into the washer, except Doug.
He went glug.
And here is a distasteful one of my own.
All the kids worried about the smell, except Ed.
He was the one that was dead.
They've just built a new bus shelter in the village. Trouble is, it's too small for the bus.
I was grilled about my favourite cheese. I had to answer carefully.
We cross the ice-bridge one by one.
Will it bear my weight?
Far below I hear the beautiful sound of falling crystals.
"Time, why do you hurt us so?"
"It is my fate. And you would never wish to share it."
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