When I was 16, my mother was working as a home care nurse. One of her charges was a 104-year-old Scottish woman whom I knew as Auntie Laurie. I would go to see her, she would make us tea, and she would read to me, in her wonderful Scottish accent, poems by Robbie Burns. My favorite of those that she read was the breathtakingly poignant “John Anderson, My Jo.”
Oh the things she had seen! She had grown up in a time before cars, airplanes, the world wars, telephones, television, movies. Almost everyone still worked on small farms. The exciting new technologies of her day–the things that fueled people’s imaginations–were railroads and steamboats. I asked her once what would most surprise the 9-year-old her about life today. “Oh, the way the young woman dress–shorts and halter tops and so on,” she said. I asked whether she disapproved. “Not at all,” she said. “Bless them. I think it’s wonderful. We were so restricted back then!”
Robert Frost wrote in his Letter to the Amherst Student that every generation thinks that it is going down under the greatest blows ever dealt mankind by the gods. LOL
Who could have? Who could possibly have conceived of the depths to which this vile cretin as dragged the country? At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Republican Party decided to run Wilson the Volleyball or a jackal from the Plumpton Park Zoo in Maryland for President. Come to think of it, there would be little difference in the intelligence brought to the job, and both the volleyball and the jackal would behave with greater decorum befitting the office.
Amazing video!
When I was 16, my mother was working as a home care nurse. One of her charges was a 104-year-old Scottish woman whom I knew as Auntie Laurie. I would go to see her, she would make us tea, and she would read to me, in her wonderful Scottish accent, poems by Robbie Burns. My favorite of those that she read was the breathtakingly poignant “John Anderson, My Jo.”
Oh the things she had seen! She had grown up in a time before cars, airplanes, the world wars, telephones, television, movies. Almost everyone still worked on small farms. The exciting new technologies of her day–the things that fueled people’s imaginations–were railroads and steamboats. I asked her once what would most surprise the 9-year-old her about life today. “Oh, the way the young woman dress–shorts and halter tops and so on,” she said. I asked whether she disapproved. “Not at all,” she said. “Bless them. I think it’s wonderful. We were so restricted back then!”
It so happens that The Borders, by Alistair Moffat, has provided some good reading during my Covid Confinement. Great book so far.
Robert Frost wrote in his Letter to the Amherst Student that every generation thinks that it is going down under the greatest blows ever dealt mankind by the gods. LOL
Robert Frost could not even imagine the election of a Trump.
Who could have? Who could possibly have conceived of the depths to which this vile cretin as dragged the country? At this point, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Republican Party decided to run Wilson the Volleyball or a jackal from the Plumpton Park Zoo in Maryland for President. Come to think of it, there would be little difference in the intelligence brought to the job, and both the volleyball and the jackal would behave with greater decorum befitting the office.
Swimwear was very different in 1900. Back then, everyone dressed up for the beach. Men couldn’t be top free. 😐