To thine own self be true

after the blizzard

(with apologies to the great, prophetic Percy Bysshe Shelley)

I met a traveller from an antique land                                                                                              who said–“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone                                                                              stand in the desert….Near them, on the sand,                                                                                    half-sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown                                                                           and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command                                                                              tell that its sculptor well those passions read                                                                                      which yet survive, stamped upon these lifeless things.                                                                  The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.                                                                  And on the pedestal, these words appear:                                                                                    ‘My name is Trump, King of Kings.                                                                                                      Look on my works, ye Mighty and despair!’                                                                            Nothing beside remains. Round the decay                                                                                      of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,                                                                                  the lone and level sands stretch far away.”

(for Joe Biden’s win)

By the grace of God

By the skin of our teeth

Mercifully

We dodged a bullet

A white-knuckler

Close call

Close shave

Hairbreadth escape

A near miss

Too close for comfort

By a whisker

Under the wire

As luck would have it

Blessedly

“It is wonderful to create.”

His masterpiece Ran was made when he was 75. A brilliant, original adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. The Criterion Collection version with a disc of intriguing supplements is highly recommended viewing for serious filmgoers or for those who want to see a sublime tragic epic.

has suggested that Fauci and Wray be beheaded with their heads displayed on pikes as warnings to other potential ‘traitors’. Trumpian and GOP evil continues to spew from its converts and enablers.

Lest We Forget Dept.:

It was Jan. 2020 when Trump GOPs were warned that, if they voted against him for impeachment, their heads would be on pikes. Hmmmm, wonder who that little threat came from?

Both my father-in-law and father served in WWII.

My Dad (in big photo) started in the Navy during the war, then after transitioned to the Air Force, and, finally, a brief turn in the Army. Highlights of his career are in the big opened album,. The binoculars are from his Navy stint.

I also own a 1st ed. of John McCrae’s only book of poems (black book on the left) after his death. I also have some nice commemorative coins and a V-Day watch.

Every Remembrance Day, my wife, daughter, and her companion with military background congregates around the family room fireplace to remember both fathers and grandparents as we watch the annual CBC ceremony from Ottawa.

I was aware of how much the kids spread out over the school yard and field at recess resembled a Bruegel painting. Some kicked a ball, some stood solo in corners, some skipped a rope, some played baseball, etc. All these little scenes played outseen from a passing third party adult point of view.

(excerpt from Bruegel’s “Children’s Games”, 1560)

“The more things change, the more they remain the same.” –Karr, 1849

Not me.

Above, with the classic 1st ed. dust jacket designed by her sister Vanessa Bell. The book is oft-cited as her masterpiece novel.

–a journalist. I covered the sports beat two years for my high school newspaper and wrote a strong piece about a hootenany at our school.

–a nursing orderly. My Dad was one and got me a summer job after grade 12 which ran for a couple of years. I had a short (1 day) experience as an orderly in Edmonton at Norwood Auxillary, but quickly realized I was too slight and weak to lift patients around all day.

–a letter carrier. Lots of walking and outdoors on a lot of good days (passing many people’s jealousy tests). But winter and heavy mailbags, plus a lack of challenge nixed this one, though it paid for my last two years of u tuition.

–a disc jockey. I had spun records in my own imagination and created song lists, sometimes entertaining close friends. I also partially dj’d 2 jr. high dances.

–a songwriter/performer. I certainly had a good enough band to start introducing my songs in between 1973 and 1975. I also did demos of my material in the ’80s sent to the likes of Glen Campbell’s manager and Rita McNeill. Jack Richardson who produced The Guess Who liked my “Computer Kid” song back in the ’80s at a songwriter’s conference. (Finally, I realized that teaching would remain my likely day job, that my main 2nd job was as a textbook writer, that I could still do poetry, and still be able to perform music at school events.)

–A high school administrator. My dept. chose me as replacement department head and then I went through the hoops to make it permanent (stopping short of a final interview with the principal whom I didn’t like and didn’t want to slave for). The downtown types really liked me and suggested I go for a senior high admin position, but I turned them down. Admin. was not a job that really interested me. I did not want to be a yes-man in Edmonton Public; I have always had an allegiance to my own integrity and soul.

–A film classifier. For three years in the 2000s, I worked for AB as a film classifier which I would not wanted to continue much longer than that. Most of the films of that time were weak or sheer crap (about 90%); it continued to get worse after that. I also likely did not get hired to continue in the job because I was “too old” (ageism); there was definitely pc-ness creeping into the job hirings.

And so I became a high school teacher, a prominent Canadian textbook author, and leader of various staff bands I put together, as well as a poet, writer, and blogger.

The other good Bonds and Bond films aside, there was, after all, only one true founding James Bond in the most popular, famous movie franchise: Sean Connery. Obit: Halloween, 2020 at age 90.

And what Bond treats he left us with:
-Dr. No (1962)
-From Russia with Love (1963)
-Goldfinger (1965)
-Thunderball (1965)
-You Only Live Twice (1967)
-Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
-Never Say Never Again (1983)

The epitome of the James Bond character: suave, debonair, witty, charming, clever, imaginative, determined, dedicated, and very focused. He will sorely be missed by Bond fans globally.