Sunday, December 31, 2023

Lady, Flying

 


Or so it may seem.

Flying, falling.

The eye quickly shifts the picture: cat reclining atop table or some such.

That momentary pause before the shift, that's art, that's literary, in the disturbance of expectation and obvious reality. 

A silly claim?

Still counts.



Mugshot: End of 2023

 


A more positive selfie than 2023 has yielded before.

Not sure why.

The death of Captain recently, not to mention other losses earlier, makes the end of anything difficult, much less an annual accounting.

Kublai Khan.

Beware, beware.


Saturday, December 30, 2023

Friday, December 29, 2023

Monday, December 25, 2023

Thursday, December 21, 2023

One Year Ago

 


Captain and Lady.


Monday, December 18, 2023

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Garage Warriors


Memory lane.

1970s, Berkeley bookshops and gameshops, Dungeons & Dragons, Tolkien & Howard & Leiber & more.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

"The Salt of Absence"

 


"The salt of absence

The honey of memory"

-- from Scottish poet Norman MacCaig



Farewell, Captain

 Your final roll call.

Four years you've fought cancer, but the disease has proved too strong.

Rest in peace, my pal.

12/6/2023



Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Saturday, December 2, 2023

Captain

 










December 2, 2023.

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Heroic . . . Toy

 


Artifacts from the past.


Friday, November 24, 2023

A Favorite Moment, A Favorite Memory

 I am very happy that I was able to tell a beloved author, Dorothy Dunnett, how much her novels meant to me.  I think that authors, who work in such isolation and in professional dreaming, need our concrete support.


In this case, I was able to have a beloved book signed by the author. I don't usually care about or collect such signings. I mostly want to appear at readings in support, not to obtain something.  

Still, I am happy to report, while Dorothy Dunnett was signing my hardback I scanned the line of fans behind me, fans holding and even clutching their copies of Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, her first series, and their Niccolo Chronicles, her second beloved series, and so I leaned towards her, gesturing at my copy of King Hereafter, a brilliant stand-alone novel, and whispered, "This one's my favorite."

Dorothy Dunnett glanced at the fans behind me and also whispered, "It is my favorite too."



Monday, November 6, 2023

Tinker Tailor

 






Tinker Tailor 

Soldier sailor.

Captain Monday

 


I had thought he was on his last legs on Friday, but Captain has rallied.


Captain

 








Frankly, I thought my beloved Captain was going to die last Friday. He has rallied, and I am doing the best I can to help him forward.
Grim times ahead.