hope in the rough

It's not been the easiest year, and we don't live in the easiest of places.


I like this picture of Felix sitting on a dirty old bench in a negligible, neglected, fenced-off public space on the way to Soli's school. It summarizes how I feel about the time and place in which it was taken. It's quite rough, plenty worn out, used (and maybe even appreciated by some, but not particularly well-cared for); yet the background ediface is potentially holy, if broken, and fronted by hope. hope. hope.

Stated thus (thrice), it is most hopeful. (In the Hebrew in which much of the Bible was originally written, comparative and superlative adjectival forms are lacking. So, the adjective is repeated: for example, good= good; better= good good; best=good good good.)


So sit down, eat your crisps, and trust the holy, holy, holy for the hope, hope, hope.

the fish

Oh, and we musn't forget to mention that our household now includes fish. David found the tank at Deptford second-hand market and decked it out with a new filter. We have enjoyed gradually adding to the tank's population since April. Here we see the men of the family outside the family-owned local pet supply store.


Soli has the very responsible job of holding the fish carefully on the way home. Felix gets to carry the aquatic plants and other assorted accoutrements. He doesn't believe this to be a fair deal, but I'm fairly sure the fish would not thrive under his handling.

my darling buds of May

These verses celebrate and continually recall a young life. Yet like the youth to whom this sonnet was written by William Shakespeare, all of us will be outlasted by these lines. While we're here, though, what fun we can have!

Sonnet XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou are more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.











The next 2 pictures include one of Sol's best friends, Reuben, whose Mummy takes Soli home with them after nursery school on Mondays and Thursdays, when I work at Pecan. The boy in the front of the last picture is Reuben's little brother Ezra, with whom Felix gets along very well.





So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.