Saturday, March 27, 2021

warmth

 The grass is entirely green now, and all it takes is a warm day. It had begun to turn a couple of weeks back with those two days of warmth, and then stopped the greening when it cooled down. This week was enough to finish it - it makes such a difference, to see green grass all around! And the maples have their red buds all over them.


And Easter is coming. 

I heard a question on the radio the other day - they wanted to know if anyone could guess which president said this:  "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"  I said to myself, that sounds like something Reagan would say, and I was right. Good old Ronnie. Life was simpler then.

I thought I would've had some seeds started inside by now, but you can only do so many things in one day, and Sweetie's condition has been occupying my mind a lot this week; she took a turn for the worse over last weekend and can't seem to eat by herself anymore. So, we fish her out of whatever corner she's hiding herself and squirt some thinned-out soft food in her mouth a few times a day. She can still drink from the water bowl on her own. The vet's coming on Monday, and I hope she can help us figure out a way to clean her - she doesn't groom herself and she is dirty and smelly, poor mite. But she's so hostile to any kind of messing with her little person - she really is the most difficult cat I've ever dealt with. But I feel sorry, and I think she understands we're trying to help her when we disturb her so often. If she can be sedated so she can be bathed that would be great; it's a terrible situation but today she came out from hiding for a bit and scratched on a cardboard scratching thing. The reason she hides is not because of her illness, but because she does not like being bothered so often by us - this I know. The vet ordered a pain med for her which should arrive soon. We'll see. She still enjoys hearing the chant CDs I play every day. 

The reading challenge I'm taking part in requires a book written in ancient Greece or Roman times, or one about those times, or even just a novel taking place during those times. I looked around the library and settled on The Roman Way by Edith Hamilton, published in 1932. So interesting! What Charlotte Mason would call a living book, I think, which means non-fiction written in a narrative style. I have never been attracted to those cultures very much - I prefer the middle ages. Still, a chapter from this morning's reading was about Cicero, and apparently we have eight hundred of his letters. 

"Cleopatra. How I detest the woman. You know she lived just across the river from me for several months."  (maybe she snubbed him!) He says that Brutus was charging forty eight percent interest on money he's paid to the people of Salamis! It's becoming more appealing to me - I guess I'm warming up to it. Lots of gossipy stuff.

8 comments:

  1. Poor Sweetie! I hope the vet can suggest something to help you. <3

    I have never been much interested in the ancient Greeks or Romans either; probably because I mainly learnt about their political history when I was at school and I am so much more interested in social history. They lived so very long ago it is difficult to find connections between their lives and mine. If I had ever read a 'living book' when at school I might have been more interested in ancient history. They really do enable us to 'see' the ancient world.
    However, I read Rosemary Sutcliffe's Roman legion books when I was young and re-read them recently and they are very good. So well researched. I also enjoy Lindsey Davis' mystery novels set in Roman times. These are all fiction.

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    1. Oh, yes! I've seen the Lindsey Davis mysteries at work. I know they're well liked. Edith Hamilton says that Cicero is the source for the code of behavior for the English gentleman. "The fundamental precept of the gentleman, that if in a bargain one of the parties is to come out worsted, he must be the one, is laid down uncompromisingly in one of his essays." And other things like that, which aren't really gentlemanly behavior, but a code of behavior that a gentleman should follow. I guess the sort of thing they absorb in an English public school education. Unless that's all gone out the window now - who knows?

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    2. Who knows, indeed! There are English gentlemen around, often found in unexpected places, and a few English ladies but most are subsumed by hordes of people behaving in a most ungentlemanlike and unladylike manner! :D

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    3. I'm sure that you are in the former group. ;-)

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  2. That does sound good! Are you doing The Literary Life reading challenge? I chose The Children's Homer for my Greek/Roman book, and I loved it, too. But I briefly considered reading Edith Hamilton.

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    1. Yes, that's the challenge I'm doing, Gretchen! I like it. I love the podcast.

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  3. The Romans fascinate me; the whole concept of Rome as a pan-European superstate is simply fabulous. They nicked a lot from the Greeks of course. And I've been to Salamis!

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    1. They were definitely amazing, with their discipline, their roads and buildings. But I think the Greek culture was superior. (I had to look up Salamis to find out where it is)

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