Bloomsbury Dictionary

It’s Etch a Sketch

I am so sorry.  It’s the Etch a Sketch Day, not Etch and Sketch, as I called the last event in the race for the leadership of the Republican Party, US.  Obviously, life is keeping me humble, which is very good.

Art:  Hector Giacomelli  (April 1, 1822 and died in Menton on December 1, 1904)

As some of you know, I have long battled Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the symptoms are: getting lost in mid-sentence, not remembering how to spell a word, you have been able to spell since age 8, difficulty concentrating, constant fatigue, poor balance (one tends to fall).   Poor (short-term) memory causes me to repeat what I have just said.

Such a condition is a burden.  But the mind is otherwise unaffected and, as one of my dearest readers put it so aptly, one needs to put a long night’s sleep between  days.  I do.  The nights will now grower shorter and shorter until the Summer Solstice (about June 24th: St John’s Day).  This year, 2012, the Summer Solstice is on June 20th.   Canadians have long relied on the Old Farmer’s Almanac to know when to plant their vegetables.  

So Etch a Sketch it is and it is making waves.  Personally, I find the whole kerfuffle very sad.  It is possible to be a head-of-state and remain honest and gracious.  When President Obama was elected into office, he did not blame anyone for the difficulties his administration had inherited.  Moreover, he is capable of expressing sorrow when Americans do something very wrong. 

Would you believe President Obama has been criticized for apologizing on behalf of the US for last week’s killing of innocent Afghans?  They are calling him weak. 

It was not weakness.  It was strength, wisdom and good manners.  President Obama did his duty, both as President and a decent human being.  Moreover, he reminded viewers around the world that the US had to get out of Afghanistan.

I have work to do and a post in preparation, so I must go.  A good day to all of you.  Yesterday’s post featured daisies by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, and  today, the painting is featured at Art.com.  It is a coincidence.

Hector Giacomelli, Le Perchoir / The Perch

March 22, 2012