Vernal equinox

"A moment ago his wrath and despair had been so fierce that he could have desired nothing so much as to wither her by a glance; but with her actual presence there came influences which had too real an existence to be at once shaken off:  recollections of the delicate and benign power of her feminine nature, which had so often enveloped him in a religious calm; recollections of many a holy and passionate outgust of her heart, when the pure fountain had been unsealed from its depths and made visible in its transparency to his mental eye; recollections which, had Giovanni known how to estimate them, would have assured him that all this ugly mystery was but an earthly illusion, and that, whatever mist of evil might seem to have gathered over her, the real Beatrice was a heavenly angel"--"Rappaccini's Daughter"

"Bennett looked at him with the triple-ringed uninterest of the creed that lumps nine-tenths of the world under the title of 'heathen'"--Kim

Today was the first day of spring, when the sun rises due east and sets due west everywhere in the world. (The same thing happens with the autumnal equinox.) The weather's getting warmer and I've started opening my windows.

Yeah, it's been a while since my last post on this blog.  I've had my hands a bit full lately.  I was reading a book about the Protestant Reformation for my History Meetup, and it was a bit long.  Now I've started reading Patrick French's Tibet, Tibet for next month's event. (I'm already fascinated!) I also had to finish the Kipling novel Kim for my book club.  Now I've started reading Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn yet again for our next event.

In the Short Story Meetup we've finished doing Guy de Maupassant's stories, at least for now.  The other week I met Maria for the first time in months, and read his story "The Necklace" aloud to her.  She guessed the twist ending! (I think I did when I first read it.)

Now we're reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories.  One of the ones we discussed last week was "Rappaccini's Daughter," which I think was an intentional parody of that florid, obsessively descriptive romantic writing style of the time. (I can well believe that Vincent Price played Rappaccini in the movie Twice Told Tales!) One of the stories for next time is "The Great Stone Face," which I recall reading in school. (There was a rich guy who was called Gathergold but should have been called Scattercopper...)

Last week we were doing more home improvement.  Moira and I toted out more buckets of dirt and concrete that John had dug up in the basement, and our new back yard pile will soon be big enough for another dumpster!  We were also pouring concrete to fix a leak in the foundation, and our huge stash of sand and gravel is almost finished.

I've subscribed to the Shonen Jump archive through viz.com .  Now I'm reading the manga versions of Dragon Ball and One Piece right from the beginning! Moira and I are now watching The Wire on Crave TV (great show) in alternation with the Water Seven story in One Piece, me for the second time.  But for a while last week we were watching One Piece alone because the story's so exciting at this point!