Here’s a 6-word memoir:
Sweet wife, good kids–
I’m rich.
(For me, life has been all about a search for a particular non-financial richness, something not measured in mere filthy lucre terms. One can be rich emotionally, mentally, soulfully, and spiritually. It takes focus, effort, appreciation, and attitude, and I should add that I’ve been very lucky thus far. Good timing, good choices, and all that, too.)
I went looking for the out-of-print CD soundtrack which was available in a special limited collectors’ edition (only 3000 issued) back in 2005. This was the 1st time the soundtrack had been performed and newly recorded in its complete form. With the accompanying liner notes, you can imaginatively relive the movie with each cut and plot episode summary. I must admit it was like ‘watching’ the movie again. Such amazing music and detailed composition. Very impressive package overall.
I also picked up the now-rare theatre movie program from the 1961 initial roadshow. The movie was the first in a series of action-adventure movies of the 1960s, several also originally written by Alistair MacLean.
kids and pets (particularly dogs).
In the States, it’s all about the survival of the “American experiment”, their constitution, and their democracy.
In Canada, it’s all about getting rid of plastic bags.
(Canadians would do well to get themselves acquainted/up to speed with the major crisis in the States which has serious implications for Canada and the rest of the world.)
friend Clint McElwaine. His memorable ballads are available on two CDs: After the Harvest and Gold, the latter on which “Tree Shadows” appears.
by Trevor Hughes, a high school teacher who started out in 1972, like yours truly. The last poem in my UK friend-poet’s moving collection: belongings (2017). Says a lot today in a fall COVID time. (It was originally written about the tragic passing of his 25-year-old son.)
Nature, fall, and Time have their ways with us, always.
autumn leaves
dazzle on the drive
through the wood
approaching Le Prin
russet hues
bronze and copper tints
glint in the sun
shaken by the wind
some already float earthwards
accumulate
bleed a subtle variety of shades
which will in time
acquire dark spots
decompose
dissolve into a mulch
seep into the earth
broken down
assimilated
let fungus do its work
spread in deep profusion
its white filaments
enrich the soil
liberating dead organisms
for renewed life
This is one of a surfeit of good poems from The Collected Poetry by local poet-friend Gerald St. Maur (aka Gerald S.H. Lock). I had the great pleasure of responding to both volumes and wrote the Foreword introducing them. I consider Gerald to be one of the top poets in the city and province. He is also a scholar and a gentleman as well as a visual artist.
and it seems that COVID got inside…..
The Continuing Relevance of E.A. Poe
His classic plague short story: “The Masque of the Red Death”. Who could have guessed how truly timeless and prophetic this tale would turn out to be?
Donald Trump as Prince Prospero. COVID as the Red Death.
Actors who can no longer get work in Hollywood and who are long passe end up on Netflix where the shows are generally dumb and the quality low. Many examples.
