Ambrose Bierce

This week my daytime reading has been the paperback of 23 stories by the strange, sardonic American writer, Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?), who was shaped by his terrible Civil War experiences. The title story of this volume, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", is his best known work and was made one of the Twilight Zone episodes. Besides the eleven Civil War stories, the book includes his horror stories and his tall tales of the Old West. (Dover Thrift Edition, 2008, $3.50)

And we thought the 20th century invented cynical realism!

This is strong stuff!

New Rowlingiana

Beedle the Bard? I haven't the faintest idea what's in this book of fairy tales by a very famous author, since it won't see the light of day until December of this year, but I'm sure it will be an instant best seller. I know at least one of you out there who will buy it. Oh boy, footnotes by Professor Dumbledore himself.


http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Beedle-Bard-Standard/dp/B001DB0HG2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219424707&sr=1-1

Spidery comment at the University

What the heck is this, an alien space ship?

Yikes, it has legs!

Maybe it's a giant spider and this is one of its practice webs.

Bikes resting while owners toil within the big What-Is-It.

Fortunately there wasn't one. ( I just liked this composition.)

This big building, the Health Sciences Center, is the tallest structure on Long Island. There are 3 or 4 stories below where we were standing. The cubes are connected by walkways high up which give a view for miles. It reminds me of that Russian folk tale of the witch Baba Yaga who lives in "a cabin on chicken legs with no windows and no doors".

A few miscellaneous pictures

Wild grapes (unsprayed)

Jewelweed, the hiker's friend

Fresh from the garden (not mine, alas)

Every where you look fields have been turned into vineyards

What you're likely to meet on a back road

Village Lane in Orient, where I'm going to move once I win the lottery

Enlarge pic and read the red sign. Glad they have some.

Ladies clamming

The Short Stories of Saki

The last two weeks of August are hot, thunderstormy, full of mosquitoes, and I'm moving s..l..o..w..l..y.. I want to read something... but something that is light, undemanding, witty, trenchant, brief, satirical, and (did I say it?) light.

In other words, I'm in the mood for Saki (H.H. Monro, 1870--1916), a British author whose short stories apparently few people read any more.They are set in pre-World War One Edwardian England. It's a P.G. Wodehouse atmosphere. (Indeed, PGW was strongly influenced by him)

In reading over the Wikipedia article on Saki I realized I had read "The Interlopers" in school--can't remember grade or teacher--and been moved by the irony. All of his stories are now in the public domain and you can read them online.

In the volume "Beasts and Super-Beasts" http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/269 I especially enjoyed the stories "The Hen", "The Cobweb", and "The Lull".

Drove Out East Yesterday:Martha Clara Winery

In addition to the wine tasting place they have animals, including a half dozen Scottish Highland cattle. Here they are heading for the shade of their barn.

One little calf trails along.

They also have a couple of friendly donkeys.

Roll in the dust? I don't do that. (Note shiny coat.)

This one liked to roll in the dust. When I told him I hadn't caught it the first time he obligingly rolled again for me.

Rolling.

The interview is over

High and mighty thoughts.

Oh, I guess I'll have a drink of water now.

Just the right height for a llama.

Wadda you lookin at? Never seen a llama before?

Hail and a quick farewell

Yesterday a little after 1:00 we had a sudden hailstorm. I was sitting at a computer and I heard this rattle-rattle-rattle and thought it was the air conditioning system. The hail lasted only about 3 minutes. I finally realized what it was, remembered that I had my camera with me, and got myself outdoors, but by then it had turned to rain and most of the hail had melted. I got a few pictures of white stuff underneath a tree and at one side of the ramp. A case of IMpermanence of nature!