tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post4738175817151363575..comments2023-10-31T15:39:09.651+01:00Comments on box elder: Latest things happening; a soapstone shape; white arthropods; cone flowers; TMI Marcel? Lucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-15971192315133211412014-08-06T21:37:32.854+02:002014-08-06T21:37:32.854+02:00The tear drop is perfect.
The white spider was mag...The tear drop is perfect.<br />The white spider was magnificent and beautiful.<br />Your flower photos, as always just wonderful.<br />So much to enjoy, and to think about in this blog post - Thank you! xxFrancescahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07643773227051148862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-91871857861573626072014-08-05T23:37:36.369+02:002014-08-05T23:37:36.369+02:00The sculpture class sounds great, and the results ...The sculpture class sounds great, and the results are most tactile and pleasing to see in your photos. I like the idea of a metaphor in stone. A tear drop, a piece of garlic, finding Molly in a shape. a texture.Lucashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07642126053527835870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-88165620182127860912014-08-04T01:55:19.389+02:002014-08-04T01:55:19.389+02:00Lucy,
I haven't been here in a while--was off...Lucy,<br /><br />I haven't been here in a while--was off in Ohio, teaching and then collaborating with an artist friend. So I have come by to say that I'm sorry about Molly, though glad you had a dog who meant so much to you and Tom, and also to say that your blog is very pleasing proof that life is irrepressible and goes on, even past the markers of death. The flowers bloom, the books are read, the discoveries are made... and memories come back, some sorrowful, some blessing. Pax tecum!<br /><br />Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-54868893917074500232014-07-31T09:31:09.446+02:002014-07-31T09:31:09.446+02:00Thanks, just stopping by quickly.
The white spide...Thanks, just stopping by quickly.<br /><br />The white spider does look a bit yukky, but I felt it was more attractive in reality, where it looked quite delicate and more of a piece with the flower than it appears here.<br /><br />In fact the 'bower of aromatic perfume' is really Moncrieff getting flowery; all Proust calls it is a 'vase de parfum' .<br /><br />Clearly smelly asparagus pee is something of a crowd puller!Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-17879704137990647642014-07-31T07:38:52.923+02:002014-07-31T07:38:52.923+02:00Web MD says: the effect of asparagus on urine odo...Web MD says: the effect of asparagus on urine odor has been observed for centuries. French novelist Marcel Proust famously wrote in 1913 that asparagus "transforms my chamber-pot into a flask of perfume." And one British men's club is said to have put up a sign reading, "During the asparagus season, members are requested not to relieve themselves in the hat stand."<br /><br />Depending on which study you read, between 22% and 50% of the population report having pungent pee after eating asparagus...<br /><br />But only about one-quarter of the population appears to have the special gene that allows them to smell those compounds. So the issue isn't whether or not your pee is smelly; it's whether you're able to smell it.christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04201537517464996231noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-74321534121501445622014-07-31T02:44:52.921+02:002014-07-31T02:44:52.921+02:00During the Renaissance era asparagus was believed ...During the Renaissance era asparagus was believed to be an aphrodisiac. Wives were counseled that they could discover if their husbands were straying (and using asparagus as the Renaissance era Viagra) by the distinctive aromatic side effect of eating asparagus. As Stanislas Martin wrote in the 18th Century, “asparagus has the drawback of giving the urine an unpleasant odor, which has more than once betrayed an illicit dinner.”<br />:)Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01640663629610290592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-12336499455891493132014-07-30T03:16:01.852+02:002014-07-30T03:16:01.852+02:00The soapstone is a beautiful object, looks to be c...The soapstone is a beautiful object, looks to be comforting to hold, like a dog on a cold night. <br /><br />To me, a white spider is more creepy, ghostly and deathly looking. But then, I appreciate spiders, and rather like tarantulas. Zhoenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03515663141425057088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-66108581733348397452014-07-29T08:44:01.203+02:002014-07-29T08:44:01.203+02:00There've been so many "final taboos"...There've been so many "final taboos" in fiction, all gleefully sundered by youngish authors wanting to get themselves published. Does anyone read J. P. Donleavy these days? His The Ginger Man charged noisily through a barrier chemically related to the above and I was duly impressed. I see TGM appeared in 1955 (inevitably brought to light by The Olympia Press "of Paris", the imprimatur of scandal) when I was - rather embarrassingly - a comparatively mature twenty; I had hoped I was younger and that my being impressed was rather more excusable.<br /><br />One thing Donleavy and Proust have in common is a relish in their subjects. Neither is solemn and thus both escape any charge of pornography; porn is almost always solemn. Donleavy embeds his climax in high farce while Proust, who wrote one of the greatest comic novels of all time (even if it does take a re-reading to establish this for sure) is - I think - being comical. "Aromatic" forsooth; if so, never take any of his recommendations when it comes to wine.<br /><br />Needless to say, I'd forgotten this passage and I thank Lucy for bringing it to my notice. It makes me realise that, despite re-readings, I've forgotten more Proust than I can remember. But that's probably as it should be. Almost any comment one makes about <i>A la recherche</i> is prefigured in the text. Without forgetting how can remembering seem so remarkable?<br /><br />I wonder if anyone reading this passage is tempted to read the novel? I have taken a vow of silence about recommending it but I can always hope. Those who knew Joe can flick through his blog and come upon his laconic observations about reading the novel in French. May I offer a tip: if you are tempted, it's worth buying a Kindle and downloading. Kindle's normal format is much kinder to those long. long sentences than the printed page.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-20600905591156524422014-07-29T05:29:26.499+02:002014-07-29T05:29:26.499+02:00the first part of the post brought tears to my eye...the first part of the post brought tears to my eyes. i am so glad the ending was tinged with kindness and peace, marketing or not.<br /><br />the problem with insects in general, is that the larger they are, the more their inherent alienness becomes apparent. tiny spiders don't bother me one whit. i only tolerate the larger ones by reminding myself that they eat other bugs, large and small. colour remains irrelevant.<br /><br />i love the small sculpture. soapstone is so wonderfully tactile and warm.the polish chickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09929281676865641560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-17275280051572307012014-07-29T03:24:13.898+02:002014-07-29T03:24:13.898+02:00Lucy, the tear drop is lovely. I can visualize it...Lucy, the tear drop is lovely. I can visualize it embedded in wood,<br />a headstone.<br />I don't mind spiders but when the white one appeared I freaked out with disgust - a piece of sickness.<br />Bumble bees pigging out on pollen, beautiful.<br />The poppy seed heads look like a piece of all embracing love to me and also remind me of walking to school in this small hamlet we lived and picking heads as soon as they were a good size and eating the seeds in all their stages of growth - white and milky to dark and dry. I wonder if I was high through grade three.<br />Have not read Proust but asked for it at work/our library. They only have one - Du Côté de chez Swann. It was out - I`ll be next.<br />Ha, volume-wise I pulled a RR on you.<br />Ellenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14965850008354379369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-79837948940297849792014-07-29T00:55:58.763+02:002014-07-29T00:55:58.763+02:00Spiders the color of the plants they inhabit fasci...Spiders the color of the plants they inhabit fascinate me more than startle me. I think you might be on to something, Lucy, with your idea that maybe it is the darkness of other spiders which make us afraid of them.<br /><br />The Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04846997590157958766noreply@blogger.com