regshoe: (Reading 1)
regshoe ([personal profile] regshoe) wrote2025-08-17 02:26 pm

Recent reading

Alison's Easter Adventure by Sheila Stuart (1950). Picked up at the second-hand bookshop thanks to the lovely cover illustration, which shows two teenagers—main characters Alison Campbell and her brother Niall—in kilts running across a Highland hillside and promises much Adventure. I didn't realise at first that it's one entry in a long series which apparently has quite a lot of continuity, because the Adventure involves tracking down the final member of a criminal gang the rest of whom were dealt with in a previous book, and the whole thing is coordinated by the Campbells' uncle who works for the Secret Service. I couldn't help feeling that it was all a bit too well-organised for a proper children's adventure book, but there is a lot of excitement and enjoyable scenery on the way.


By Marsh and by Moor by Annick Trent (2025). Oh, dear.

So, to start with the things I did like: I've said before in some of my Hornblower reviews that I could wish for a story about some ordinary seaman who was pressed into the navy and experiences its cruelty and injustice and hates it and eventually escapes and gets a happy ending, and this is that story, or at least the last part of that story! The book opens with one half of the main couple, Jed Trevithick, washing up on the shore of the Bristol Channel having deserted from what I think is actually one of Hornblower's own ships shortly before Hornblower takes charge of it. Here he meets Solomon Dyer, the other half of the couple, and they go on the run from the still very much active press gang together. I appreciated this setting and the general sort of historical detail and background that Trent is always good at.

The rest of it:And, to be fair, one of the problems was my own fault for misunderstanding the promotional blurbs: I was expecting smugglers and there were no smugglers, and that was disappointing! In general I felt the book didn't really have the excitement of a proper adventure novel, but of course it isn't an adventure novel, it's a romance novel, so it's an unfair standard.

Anyway: so I was getting into the middle of the book, enjoying it on the whole but feeling mildly annoyed by some things the way I often am when trying to read modern romance novels: the relationship is insecure and untrusting and yet the whole thing is also really nice in a grating way, it's like turning my id inside out; the sex scenes are annoying; there are occasional lapses in historical-feeling language. The rather tediously moustache-twirling abusive ex—who also shares Christopher Drawlight's job leading young gentlemen into financial ruin and, just in case we didn't realise he's bad, also embezzles charitable funds; he probably kicks puppies too—didn't help matters. But what really didn't help matters was—look, I knew the author had compared this book to Jamaica Inn, but I don't think I really believed it because I do quite like Trent's previous books; and then going on through the book I realised there were actually several deliberate references being made and went, ugh, why are you making references to that piece of trash, and was more annoyed. And then we got to the ending, and... To be maximally fair to Trent, the ending of this book is not nearly as bad as the ending of Jamaica Inn and I would not have reacted so strongly against it if it hadn't been so obviously a deliberate homage. But the ending of Jamaica Inn is so bad that the only possible 'homage' is a complete repudiation; you can't do 'the same thing happens, but in a slightly different way so it's good now'. As it was the whole thing was just a nice reminder that the things that repel me in het romance can, done well enough, repel me in m/m too. No, Jed, cried I! Life has changed, but the things that mattered to you before can and should still matter, despite the specific and convenient contrivance about your sister; I believe they did, and you should not throw them all over for a completely different life wrapped up in your new love interest! Do NOT commend all the rest, though fair and wise, to cold oblivion even if you are gay!! I don't know; I see what Trent was trying to do, I think; but relationships between characters and places mean a lot to me, and I can't look at this one being held out as supposedly important all through the story and then crushed so cruelly in favour of a romance which already has the upper hand and accept it as a happy ending.

(Look, if you had to then the least you could have done was also include a creepy-looking disabled character who's just a person and isn't evil.)

(There's also the bit where Solomon betrays Jed—actually betrays him in a way so brazen I read it and went, ha, there's no way you actually had him do that, there'll be a twist and a clever plan, right? and then there... wasn't? He hoped he'd be able to manage something to help Jed escape but that was it, and events prove he was in fact wrong to hope so, and the twist/clever plan by which they actually end up escaping is unrelated. And, no, I don't think that's the sort of thing you forgive your love interest for after one conversation or ideally ever, actually!)



Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham (1930). This is a fascinating bit of outsider POV writing, and also of writing about writing. It's narrated in first person by the author Willie Ashenden (who shares his name with, and may actually be (?), the protagonist of some spy stories Somerset Maugham also wrote; Wikipedia tells me the spy character is also a novelist and that WSM himself worked for the Secret Service during WWI)—anyway, whether or not he's a spy, Ashenden is contacted by a writer acquaintance, Alroy Kear, who is preparing to write a biography of a third, recently deceased writer, Edward Driffield, at the request of Driffield's widow. Ashenden knew Driffield earlier in life and Kear hopes that he can provide some material. But his recollections of Driffield, and especially of Driffield's first wife Rosie—which he proceeds to set before the reader at some length—are not quite the suitable biographical material for which Kear and the second Mrs Driffield were hoping. I enjoyed WSM's prose—he has that early twentieth-century precision and fluency of vocabulary and sentence structure without the density and sometimes difficult intricacy of earlier writers—and the practical and social (sometimes downright gossipy) details about the lives and careers of writers at this period. (I enjoyed the dig at Aspects of the Novel, agreeing as I do that the best, if not quite the only, way to write novels is indeed like Mr E. M. Forster.) But the book is also a more serious examination of the relationship between life and writing, and the final chapter is an excellent twist/payoff of what you didn't realise at the time was foreshadowing/reframing of things referred to apparently casually earlier on, which makes it an even more interesting one.
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puppetmaker ([personal profile] puppetmaker) wrote2025-08-16 08:15 am

Life goes on and on and on

 I know I have been rather quiet. There has been a lot going on but my want to write about it has been weak.

There have been some nice memorial services for Peter at various conventions. I was either there, or someone was kind enough to tape it. It is nice hearing all these stories about Peter and how people remember him. At the SDCC George Takei copped to the fact that the Jim Beam line in Oblivion was entirely of his doing. Something Peter has been saying for years only to get a “Yeah, sure Peter” in return.

The will is slowly moving forward. We can’t file it until we get a couple of signatures to complete the paperwork needed for the will. Meanwhile I am twiddling my thumbs waiting for other things to happen before I can pick up the trail and move my piece forward on the board of life.

I am, as I told my parents, two puppets behind. Those may get shelved as I move onto creating stock for our table at Dragon Con in the Pop Art section. A name came up that if I had known they were coming I would have gotten their puppet done. Also, this year I have a costume I must build for myself for my brother’s Addam’s family reunion. I have the pants and the shirt. I need a vest, swallow tailcoat, and boot covers.

I miss Joann’s so much right now. I can’t run out and get some fabric. I have found a quilting store near me that has cotton fabric. I know some Micheals have fabric counters. I hear that Walmart and Target have fabric in some of their stores. Right now, what I need is simple things like black lining and buttons. I do have one set I need but am scratching my head where I am going to get the rest. We are supposed to have buttons at our Michaels location. They haven’t come in yet. Apparently, Micheals bought Joann’s materials, and we are starting to get it into our store.

Today I think it is going to be vest and heads since I finally found my puppet eyeballs, I have been looking for over a month. I need to balance my costume and the stock I need to build for DragonCon.

We have a table in the Pop Art Alley. Caroline and her roommate are selling their art, and I will be selling puppets including just puppet bodies that can be turned into your own personal puppet. Then there are the puppet heads. Just heads. Come on by and say Hi. I’ll post the number when I know it.

I need to clean up from the previous project before starting the next one. That and cat boxes need to be cleaned as does their water bowls.

I am grateful for a peaceful mind.

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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-16 07:34 am

The Miracle Of Flight

 We live about a mile from the epicentre of the Air Show. From an upstairs window I watched the tiny little planes doing their aerobatics above the chimney pots- first a Spitfire, then a jet I couldn't identify. Once or twice I thought I'd seen one of them come into view only to realise after a couple of seconds that I was looking at a gull. 

The jet made a fearful racket and left behind a reek of aviation fuel. I don't have the affection for jets that I feel for planes with propellors.
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-15 09:31 am

As Zen As Possible

 Starting tomorrow we'll be having house guests coming and going for a fortnight. At the max there'll be nine of them vying for beds. There's a plan to put some of the younger ones in tents in the garden.

I reckon that the more of them there are the more they'll be taking care of one another. 

This weekend is Eastbourne's busiest of the year- owing to the Air Show. Traffic will be horrendous.....

Busy, busy, busy. I'm going to be as Zen as possible- and let go and let be.....
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-14 05:59 pm

Lancaster

 The Eastbourne Air Show started today.

A shadow flickers over the space I'm occupying and I look up and see a huge, slow-moving, flying behemoth moving away from me- and identify it as a Lancaster bomber. I'm a Quaker and a peacenik but I'm also the kid who grew up in the fifties- when we were impoverished and exhausted from the experience of four years of total war and keeping up our spirits by telling ourselves how well we'd done in standing up to Adolf- and I can't see one of our old warplanes and not want to jump up and down and wave my arms about.....
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-14 07:24 am

Dream Snippets

 A wild party. A young man is showing his penis to the girls- who titter. I turn to the person next to me and say, "I am pretending to disapprove."

The dog is unhappy. It opens its jaws and I see it has a wrist watch stuck to the roof of its mouth. I remove the watch
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-13 09:33 am

Spitfire!

 We were at the Farm on Monday and a Spitfire flew over and did a roll for us- practising no doubt for the Eastbourne Air Show this coming weeked. I pointed up at it and shouted "Spitfire!"- which is what I normally do when one turns up.

You got to love a Spitfire, right?

Well, perhaps not if you're a Quaker..

In this respect I'm a bad Quaker.....

There are those at the Meeting House who want to stage some sort of protest at the Air Show. I'm going along with it because it's been discerned as the will of the Meeting but I have reservations. I don't think that getting in people's faces and annoying them is the way to promote Peace. I could be wrong. 

My contribution has been to pin this poster up outside the Meeting House.

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There are those who find it insufficiently serious. Sure it is. Serious people start wars. Humourous people tend not to.
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-12 10:24 am

Briefly

 It was hot yesterday and will be hotter today. Tomorrow we're promised some blessed rain.

"Have you ever worked in a hayfield?" asks Damian apropos of nothing. And I say, "Yes, once in Kentucky- where it gets a lot hotter than it does here. I lasted for a morning; had I carried on it would have killed me- and I mean that literally."

Mike is working a concrete mixer in the front yard. "How do you know when you've got the mixture right?" asks Ailz. "By the colour" he says.
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-12 08:11 am

On The Farm

 We went round the farm on a big trailer pulled by a tractor with Peter the farmer driving. At intervals Peter would get down from the cab and tell us what we were seeing.

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The farm covers something like 1,050 acres. Back in the Middle ages the land belonged to the Augustinians at Michelham Priory. Peter is the third generation of his family to farm here- and is in the process of handing over to the fourth. His grandfather moved the family south from Nottingham just after the war.

It's a dairy farm, but they also grow maize. The river Cuckmere runs through it- and they're taking steps to stop run off from their fields getting into it- and to eliminate the North American mink who are doing their damnedest to kill off all the native riverine wildlife.
Theyre building a new milking parlour with a a huge central turntable which will speed up milk production no end. They're trying to be scientific, they're trying to be ethical.....

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I looked through the skeleton of the new milking parlour and many miles away were Windour Hill and The Long Man. I ran my telephoto up as far as it would go.....

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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-11 08:15 am

Small World

 We show up yesterday morning and the litter tray has been used and some kibble eaten so we search the house again- and this time we find her. She's nestled between two bags in a bedding box under the bed in the spare room. 

Phew.

We have to go take a final look at her this morning and then- unless we hear to the contrary- her owners will be back. 

Another heat wave is underway. This afternoon we've said we'll be going on the "hay ride" which a local Quaker farmer lays on once a year as a treat for Sussex Quakers and residents of the Quaker-run care home where Ailz is a trustee. He owns dairy cows and pastures them on a chunk of of lovely Sussex landscape in the parish of Arlington- and the tea he lays on after the tour of the farm is supposed to be fabulous. 

The world of East Sussex Quakerism is intense and circumscribed and if you hang about long enough you get to know everybody. Happily everybody is nice.  Oh, we all have our foibles and some of us have dictatorial habits but dive beneath the surface insecurities and fear and distrust drop away. There's a woman we originally dubbed "Scary Mary" because her public face is so formidable but I've got to know her properly now and she's become one of my favourite people.....
regshoe: Orange-and-black illustration in the style of an Ancient Greek terracotta vase, showing head and upper body of a young man with Greek text '𝚨𝚲𝚬𝚵𝚰𝚨𝚺 𝚱𝚨𝚲𝚶𝚺' (Alexias kalos)
regshoe ([personal profile] regshoe) wrote2025-08-10 05:28 pm
Entry tags:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

I have been reading some books! Here is one of them:

Facilis descensus Averno... )
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-10 08:24 am

Cat!

 We're looking after a friend's cat. Or that's the idea.

The cat doesn't leave the house- at least not on our watch- and there's no cat flap.

We turn up for our first session yesterday evening. Should be straightforward. Feed cat. Socialise with cat for as long as its prepared to tolerate us. We've done this before. Easy.

Only, no cat. 

We search the house top to bottom. I even go down into the locked cellar, where I have to move around bent double. Lots of carboard boxes, Lots of wine. No cat.

Our friend's son has been staying in the house. Did he let the cat out and not let it back in? Did he take it with him? We don't want to bother our friend- who is somewhere far away and not in a position to do anything but fret. 

So we'll be going back this morning. Will the cat have emerged from its hidey-hole? Will it be waiting on the doorstep?

Cats, I ask you!

Something I read online: The difference between having a dog and having a cat. A dog is like a child, a cat is like a housemate......
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-09 09:43 am

Uncoupling

 Elizabeth rings from her care home shortly before seven o'clock in the morning to ask if anything is happening today that she should be aware of.

The answer is "No"- bcause today is Saturday and the things she might want to be aware of- and which we've told her about- are happening tomorrow.

Once upon a time I'd have shaken my head and said "Sad..." 

These days, no, I just see it as evidence of a Mind in the process of uncoupling from Time- something all of us have to look forward to. Some will do it suddenly. Some will do it gently, by degrees. It's all good. 
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-08 11:01 am

Eris

 "Who is the Goddess of chaos? I know the name. It's on the tip of my tongue"

"That would be Eris."

"Hmm, wikipedia calls her 'Goddess of strife and discord'. That's close enough.

This is her time.

Here she is on a piece of Attic pottery. In mythology she is held responsible for kicking off the train of events that led to the Trojan War.....

Eris_Antikensammlung_Berlin_F1775.jpeg

Love those boots!


By chance (only these things are never Chance) her name was given to a dwarf planet that was discovered on the edge of the solar system at the beginning of the present century. Planet Eris is smaller than Pluto but has greater mass.... 

Eris_without_Dysnomia.png

....and has a moon that has been named Dysnomia, meaning lawlessness.

The Discordian religion, which was founded in the 1960s, has Eris as its presiding Deity.  Erisians believe every man and woman on the planet is a Pope and are enjoined to disbelieve everything they read including, I presume, the Erisian scriptures.....
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-07 07:32 am

Too Butch?

 "Did Michelangelo ever work in ivory?" she asked.

I thought the answer had to be "No, Michelangelo was far too butch" but I asked the Internet just to be sure.

And it told me there are a couple of ivory crucifixes in Spain- in Guadalupe and Montserrat- that have been attributed to him.

Well, I never!

They're not greatly impressive as works of art, but they're skilful- so I'm modifying my answer from "No" to "Probably not."
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knitmi ([personal profile] knitmi) wrote2025-08-06 06:05 pm
Entry tags:

origami

I've gotten into origami again, probably because I have a lot of free time right now recovering from a total hip replacement and I can only do so much knitting, reading, and watching TV. Some things I've folded recently:

Star Infinity:


Carambola:


Inflatable Heart:


Seamless Box with Lid:


Hydrangea:
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-06 07:59 am

Scenes From A Revolution

 The narrator of the book I'm currently reading- Iris Murdoch"s Under the Net- has been telling us about the time he ghosted his best friend. Synchronicity, eh? He ghosted him because he'd first betrayed him- and can no longer bear to face him. I can bear to face the person I've ghosted, but I think Murdoch has hit upon something in linking ghosting and betrayal. In ghosting we betray the trust the other person had placed in us. We may argue that the trust was always misplaced and we didn't invite it, but this doesn't entirely stifle the feelings of guilt.

I dreamed I went to have my hair cut and the Latin American hairdresser wanted to shave scenes from her country's 19th century revolution into the stubble. I said, "Go for it." 

I'm happy Jeremy Corbyn is starting a new political party. People are joining in droves- and disgust with mainstream politics is such that it may even get somewhere. I don't fancy tying myself to someone's else's mast so I won't join but if the party puts up a candidate locally I'll vote for them.
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-05 09:39 am

Ghosting

 Ghosting- the new name for a practice as old as Linear "B".

I've ghosted and been ghosted. 

On occasion I've ghosted inadvertently, meaning I've put off replying and put off replying until it would be silly to pick up the thread.

I'm ghosting the person who annoyed me- but only after telling them that I wasn't going to exchange any more texts. And leaving the loophole that if they wanted to speak to me face to face they knew where to find me. This person dodged out of an earlier face-to-facer and that was pretty much the final straw.

I was always a reluctant correspondent.  Writing any kind of letter, email, text is a perfomance. You have to assume a mask adapted to the nature of your correspondent. The persona you present to a bank manager is very different to the one you present to a sweetheart- and for everone in between the two extremes you have to calculate just how intimate/comic/severe you can afford to be and choose your words accordingly. It's bloody hard work. Some of the same applies to face to face meetings but there you're relating to the person in the moment and words are not the only medium; there's body language, there's emotional temperature and what- for want of a better word- I'm going to call vibes. Face to face you can adjust, turn on a sixpence, improvise....
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-05 07:36 am

Floris

 Scotland and the North of England got hit hard but Storm Floris merely dragged the skirts of its coat over us down here on the South Coast.

Floris- is it a girl's name or a boy's name? Neither and both. The internet tells me it's gender neutral and Dutch, derived from the Latin word Florens meaning "flourishing". I'm all for gender-neutral. And what a beautiful name it is!
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poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2025-08-04 11:35 am

Picture Diary 100

 Picture Diary 100

1. Under the mountain

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2. Tap Dancer

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3. Vive la France

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4. Ascended master

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5. Hermit

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6. O.B.E.

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