When I worked at Kaplan for a year or so in 1996, I went through the dictionary and wrote down cool words I thought might be useful someday. It has taken 28 years to finally deploy "fatidic." I hope you can use it quicker than I did!
Once again thank you for my Sunday literature lesson. I truly enjoy these pieces. A romantic tale wrapped in a literature lesson? The French countryside is absolument merveilleux.
You brighten up my life immensely! I watch the 5-8 show every week along with a good friend who lives in Manhattan! I live in Denver. So we’ve got you & LB covered!! You keep us on our political toes! 💯🥰
Thanks for reminding me of my French grandmother (Memère) and her ham with butter sandwiches, which I never understood until I ate jamon et buerre on a small baguette in the pyramid of the Louvre! Love this piece, esp the walk in the scary dark!
I'm old enough to remember Sunday Papers; big behemoth things that came in at 3-5 pounds and how every Sunday morning, NOTHING happened until those papers were thumbed through, taken apart, and read. We don't really have those anymore, only the inflated price if you want a "Sunday edition" of the Chicago Tribune or the Sun-Times. YOU, Greg, have become my Sunday morning ritual just like the newspapers of ye olde thymes. Thank you, once again, for a fascinating column this fine Sunday morning -- well, afternoon! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Steve, you reminded me of a snowy Sunday, the fragrance of freshly made coffee hanging in the air, mug beside me and newspapers spread on the floor. Always had one edition with a comic section, Beetle Bailey a favorite.
My sister and I raced each other to the Sunday paper so we could cut out the "beautiful girls" in L'il Abner. The six of us would sit in a circle while Mama read the funnies.
Prophecies or warnings. Bob Dylan has always seemed to me to be proof that sometimes the Universe speaks to us, not through a single person, but through a single writing instrument. Not to warn or change us, but for the sufficient pleasure of that Universe & of that pen alone. You, mister, get better & better.
I agree about that, and I've often thought about it, especially with music. Paul McCartney woke up one morning with "Yesterday," all of it, playing in his brain, out of nowhere. Case in point...
I thoroughly enjoyed your account of your honeymoon in the south of France, being a lover of the charm of old Europe and not having experienced nearly enough of it. Nostradamus, though, I’ve never been able to take seriously. Maybe it’s because he always seems to be associated with predictions of doom. I’ve watched my share of YouTube psychics over the past eight years because, now that I’ve given up on organized religion, I need something to give me hope that we’re going to get through this. What good are psychics if they don’t predict eventual goodness?
I've often said that anyone who grows up in a fundamentalist, prophetic religion (I grew up Mormon, which is evangelical and prophetic to its core) is sure to develop an eschatological habit of mind. It's hard wired. I'm always suspicious of hope.
Damn dude! While I enjoyed reading all of that, your last six paragraphs bring hope to tomorrow, as scary as all that shit might seem today — brilliant and oh so timely! Merci!
"I tend to think of the sixteenth century as a sort of isthmus connecting the Olden Days to the Modern Times."
I fucking looooove this sentence, especially the use of the word "isthmus".
I loved “fatidic”. Gotta find a use for it…
When I worked at Kaplan for a year or so in 1996, I went through the dictionary and wrote down cool words I thought might be useful someday. It has taken 28 years to finally deploy "fatidic." I hope you can use it quicker than I did!
A man with a plan…
Nerds R Us
Thanks, Sharon! A man, a plan, a canal...ISTHMUS!
You're always so good. ☺️
Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks, you too!
Lovely
Enjoyed this a bunch! Thanks!
Thanks!
Once again thank you for my Sunday literature lesson. I truly enjoy these pieces. A romantic tale wrapped in a literature lesson? The French countryside is absolument merveilleux.
Thanks, Old Man. It makes me miss Provence, is what it does.
I love your storytelling, Greg! Watched the 5-8 last night. Great as usual. YOU are our Nostradamus. All hail
Thanks, Dana. I appreciate that. Would that it were so...
You brighten up my life immensely! I watch the 5-8 show every week along with a good friend who lives in Manhattan! I live in Denver. So we’ve got you & LB covered!! You keep us on our political toes! 💯🥰
Absolutely wonderful.
Thanks, Sally!
Love this! Btw, what does "fatidic" mean? I looked in my online dictionary. Nothing.
I had to look it up too. I found it on Google.
1. of or relating to a prophet or prophecy. 2. containing or of the nature of a prophecy; predictive.
Thank you!
Thanks, Kris! Sharon answered your question...
Magnifique Greg! Tres Magnifique! A most enjoyable, fascinating and enlightening read this fine Sunday morning. Thank you so much ❤️
Helenbirdart.com
Thanks so much, Helen!
Thanks for reminding me of my French grandmother (Memère) and her ham with butter sandwiches, which I never understood until I ate jamon et buerre on a small baguette in the pyramid of the Louvre! Love this piece, esp the walk in the scary dark!
Thanks, Gwen. So I'm not crazy about the butter sandwiches!
My Sunday treat is reading your pages. Thanks!
Thanks so much, Ellen!
I'm old enough to remember Sunday Papers; big behemoth things that came in at 3-5 pounds and how every Sunday morning, NOTHING happened until those papers were thumbed through, taken apart, and read. We don't really have those anymore, only the inflated price if you want a "Sunday edition" of the Chicago Tribune or the Sun-Times. YOU, Greg, have become my Sunday morning ritual just like the newspapers of ye olde thymes. Thank you, once again, for a fascinating column this fine Sunday morning -- well, afternoon! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Steve, you reminded me of a snowy Sunday, the fragrance of freshly made coffee hanging in the air, mug beside me and newspapers spread on the floor. Always had one edition with a comic section, Beetle Bailey a favorite.
My sister and I raced each other to the Sunday paper so we could cut out the "beautiful girls" in L'il Abner. The six of us would sit in a circle while Mama read the funnies.
That is high praise, Steve. I miss the Sunday paper. I miss doing the Sunday crossword. But it's a different era now. Thanks, and happy Thanksgiving!
Prophecies or warnings. Bob Dylan has always seemed to me to be proof that sometimes the Universe speaks to us, not through a single person, but through a single writing instrument. Not to warn or change us, but for the sufficient pleasure of that Universe & of that pen alone. You, mister, get better & better.
Thanks, Richard. I appreciate that!
I agree about that, and I've often thought about it, especially with music. Paul McCartney woke up one morning with "Yesterday," all of it, playing in his brain, out of nowhere. Case in point...
I thoroughly enjoyed your account of your honeymoon in the south of France, being a lover of the charm of old Europe and not having experienced nearly enough of it. Nostradamus, though, I’ve never been able to take seriously. Maybe it’s because he always seems to be associated with predictions of doom. I’ve watched my share of YouTube psychics over the past eight years because, now that I’ve given up on organized religion, I need something to give me hope that we’re going to get through this. What good are psychics if they don’t predict eventual goodness?
I've often said that anyone who grows up in a fundamentalist, prophetic religion (I grew up Mormon, which is evangelical and prophetic to its core) is sure to develop an eschatological habit of mind. It's hard wired. I'm always suspicious of hope.
Wise, just a tease.
"Suspicious of Hope" is a good title...
Coming from you, Maestro, I'm genuinely flattered. Feel free to use freely.
Thanks so much, Earl. There is SO MUCH DOOM. Everywhere doom. It's high season for doomsaying. Doom is so blah.
Musk brings us DOGE yellow eyes and teeth glaring in the darkness of an evil empire.
Eeeek!
Yikes.
Damn dude! While I enjoyed reading all of that, your last six paragraphs bring hope to tomorrow, as scary as all that shit might seem today — brilliant and oh so timely! Merci!
Thanks, Dock. I'm glad to hear it about the end of the piece, as I was sort of going with my gut there...I'm glad it worked.