The ingenious part of this afternoon’s weather is the way in which it manages to be misty and raining at the same time. As I was driving home from Aberdeen today, looking at the mist thickening the air between the birch trees, I was thinking that this is ghost weather. The kind of weeping autumn […]
Regular readers will remember the midsummer contruction of doleful stuffed animals modelled after the toy carried by the infant Augustus in Edward Gorey’s The Other Statue. The memorious will possibly recall the international dissemimation of the pattern and the construction of the first Twisbaeus Heidelbergensis. Even at this early stage, we noted the slightly disturbing […]
The heading is from a fine poem by the good poet and genial bookseller Peter Scupham (in the latter capacity, he once advertised a sumptuous edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses as “suitable for a Lady or Gentleman who had recently been turned to something other than a Lady or Gentleman”). His poem is about memory in […]
Some time ago, I posted a blog about giant cats –– after a gamekeeper I know shot one by mistake. Because the University where I ply my trade is bursting at the seams, one of my classes acquired a couple more members, ceased to fit into its assigned room, and has had to be put […]
The Apparitional Gamekeeper’s little sister, who, like the AG himself, is quite a surprising person, turned up on her quad-bike last night, with a diplomatic mission: would I teach her something? Anything? — We negotiated around the basic concept this afternoon, and it has been decided that I will teach her Latin. This seems ideal […]
I am not going to say any more about the Papyrologist on the blog. Death is public, its aftermath is very often confidential. We’re grateful for the concern and goodwill of cyberfriends, but the overall situation is too complex to share with you all. So instead, let me assure you that real life continues in […]