The day after

"Now I, an under-tenant of the earth, can see

That the branches of a tree

Spread no wider than its roots.

And how shall the soul of a man

Be larger than the life he has lived?"

--Spoon River Anthology

Some years back Lilliana the psychologist was interviewing me for her doctoral dissertation on Asperger's Syndrome.  She was a Serb in Croatia and ended up a refugee in Canada as a result of the 1991 war.  She told me that when the war started nobody could believe it--they all thought someone would stop it!  I guess that's how a lot of us feel after Donald Trump's election as U.S. president.  I was thinking about the poem W.H. Auden wrote about seeing war break out in Europe in 1939.  I went to the Meetup of political discussions tonight, but I didn't have much to say.

It's interesting that I've been reading The Wizard of Oz just now, because Trump seems like the Wizard:  a tough-talking humbug.  For someone like me who supported Bernie Sanders during the primary contest, it's a great temptation to say, "I told you so." I could see all of Hillary Clinton's weaknesses back then, yet on the election's eve I just couldn't believe that they'd take the plunge! (Could there have been fraud?)

This morning Moira and I walked down to Puitak's apartment and took her to lunch.  It was nice weather for November.  But I had a big headache today.

The other night I had a dream where I was visiting my old Sackville home. (I often have that dream, and sometimes meet a friendly, non-existent woman living there now.) In this dream I said, "Viewing your old home is like visiting a parent who's too senile to recognize you"!

We're now learning The Merry Widow at opera rehearsal. (This week I remembered my score!) When we were rehearsing the Habanera from Carmen, Beatrice sang the solo part.  It was nice to hear her sing again--she was a soloist before taking up directing, and Carmen was one of her roles.