Well played

Whereas elsewhere in Europe,
no educated man would be caught dead speaking a vernacular,
the Irish thought that all language was a game.

            Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone can do it

Repentance need not be multilateral.

Bayard Rustin as quoted by Andrew Young,
The Free Press Interview, March 2026

Poem: Long Thoughts - Short Walks

some believe in general motors,
others in market purity;
some believe in earnings per share
and their financial security-
still more believe in politics,
and everything they've read;
but i believe the sun
when its shining on my head.

                A. Cohen

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Irish way

In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting.

In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea.

I liked the Irish way better.

             C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky.

        David Gerrold, The War Against the Chtorr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's in the details

The true secret of happiness lies in taking
a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.

            William Morris, The Beauty of Life

 

 

 

 

 

What's happening?

 In Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs.

        Sir John Pentland Mahaffy, Mahaffy: A Biography of an Anglo-Irishman