On life and writing: the fast and the slow of it
I was charmed by Dorothy Wordsworth's journals, wishing I could reverse time's arrow to accompany her on a walk to...
Of tea and stars
A charming juxtaposition of homeliness and magnificence - people drinking tea but noticing a sky sprinkled with stars.
Handsomely-bound journal
The first entry of a journal which provided the material for some of the best travel writing of the 20th...
A blank-book for thoughts
Having had several detailed discussions with my brother on what constitutes acceptable paper for note-books or letters, I felt sympathy...
As insensible as …
Of course, we can't know (yet) how insensible a fungus is, but until we learn otherwise, what a memorable way...
Imply vs express, whole vs part
Again, a wonderful, provocative and pithy comment by Thoreau. I'm now looking at poetry and asking how far it implies...
Like opening tombs
Thoreau voices strong opinions and they can be refreshingly blunt and funny, though it isn't always clear that he means...
Butterflies of all colours
Dorothy Wordsworth's eye for details, and her care in noting them, are a wonder, allowing her to converse with people...
A wilderness of books
This vast languishing resource was first brought home to me in Erik Reinert's How Rich Countries Got Rich ... and...
Stash it in the safe
The business model of publishing doesn't seem to have been very attractive then, whatever you think of it now. Thoreau...
The past as a concertina of time
I collect comments on and perceptions of time. This one is striking and I am as guilty of it as...
Flowering and marking
Dorothy Wordsworth refers to 'flowering and marking', meaning to embroider identification signs on linen. I recently bought some wonderful, secondhand and...
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