Monthly Archives: May 2018

Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier is the classic work on the theme of appearance vs. reality in relationships. The four main characters of two couples are flawed and everything that happens in the novel is realistically ironic. I first encountered … Continue reading →

Snowing white flower petals–a reminder of fall in spring, no less. Fountains still waiting to be turned on for the summer. A Canada goose plodding around the square by the Admin bldg. looking like he owns the place.

The Royal Wedding. Refinement, ritual, respect, dignity, grace, ceremony, order, artfulness. No North American rubes, rudeness, coarseness, hate, violence, abuse, political agendas. A reminder of some of the best of disappearing Western civilization via Brit culture.

Heard from a reporter during Hawaii volcano coverage: “We moved our people when the sulphur dioxide smell became palatable.” Yum! Yum! Two more lost words: palatable and palpable. So many of these reporters throw out words they don’t even know, … Continue reading →

is when no solicitors call. -RD

Construction site with big hills of dirt. Couple pulls car over by the side of the road. Get out with shovel and garbage bag and walk to the hills. Free dirt! Help yourself! I have long maintained that if it’s … Continue reading →

Trimming my ears periodically at 68. The many things we don’t have to do when younger. This morning, doing same, I was suddenly mentally back to spring, 1998 in Winnipeg General Hospital–where both my Dad and I once worked–trimming his … Continue reading →

The disgruntled female customer in a Langley Tim’s who dropped her pants, then defecated on the floor, and who next threw her crap at a Tim’s employee behind the counter shows that Screwball Central has really taken over and that … Continue reading →

I can still remember reading his first collection of essays, The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (1965) in 1971 (as the most modern American writer in a 20th century American lit course) and really enjoying his funny Las Vegas essay which … Continue reading →