Something in the Eyre

During my week of solitude, I re-read Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre in the handsome illustrated version beautifully rendered by Dame Darcy. It's been ages since I last read it and months since a friend went off on a long rant about how he hated Jane. I found myself instantly captivated by the iconoclastic rebel, Jane. There were several words that made me want to reach for my dictionary and it was odd to be without both a dictionary and dictionary.com. Most could be figured out from context (e.g. "vicinage" as an analogue to "vicinity") but many were simply out of fashion (like negus and bashaw). And speaking of fashion I ought to have known what a pelisse was, but it didn't matter too much. Brontë's habit of using painters to flavor her descriptions led me to several unfamiliar artists, like Cuyp. While watching Krapp's Last Tape, a Beckett play I thought I had read before (but hadn't) starring the wonderful John Hurt and a tape recorder (it's mesmerizing!), he uses the word "viduity" and I thought, argh, where's that dictionary. But Krapp has to look up the word he used 30 years ago on the tape, so I guess I ought not feel bad about looking words up that I thought I knew at one time.



Trying to hold on to the feeling of peace that permeated last week. That's always the hard part. As Larry Darrell says in The Razor's Edge, it's very easy to be a holy man on the top of a mountain; the challenge is holding on to a sense of tranquility when you're back in the noisy whirl of daily life. It pays to keep that sense of quiet in mind and to make some more concrete changes to that daily life. One endeavors.

Last night we drove down to make birthday tacos for Robert. They turned out pretty good, as did the nice chocolate cake from Hannaford's. We even had a chance to chat with the folks and Steve thanks to the speakerphone, then watched some SCTV. Around midnight we heard a crash outside -- it was the Possum of Unusual Size. The size of a schnauzer it was! Yikes. Robert's fattening it for slaughter, I think. How do possums taste?

Back to work on the last syllabus -- argh! Choices to make; decisions, decisions. Writing to do, too; I don't want to lose the momentum of last week.