Pages

Praetorium Honoris

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Alive


The Wild Swans at Coole
William Butler Yeats

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.
The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings...
But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?


I'm alive.

A bit of Yeats seems in order.

Per Valory's suggestion, I'll be checking in most mornings. (Juvat, Beans, Tuna, et al, don't let that stop you from posting.) I'll avoid reruns, but I'm also going to avoid politics. Think pictures, poetry, music, and the occasional profound observation. (Very occasional on that last bit, and probably accidental.) If I have something else, and it doesn't require a huge effort, you might see it here.

Stay tuned.



36 comments:

  1. Take all the time you need.

    ReplyDelete
  2. My interest was piqued, and I wondered if you were just hitting writer's block. Or maybe it was an economic thing (I have x energy, and x+1 things to do, so +1 must wait). I have hit energy economy before, and it ain't no fun.

    When I was but a yout, the radio blared, "The END is coming!!!!" And it really gave me pause. I remember getting tinglies, and butterflies in my gut when I'd hear that..... Then, finally, "AM 1590, KEND is on the air!!!!" I had no idea up until that moment what they were even talking about. I felt a bit like I did when I found out the secret of Kris Kringle. Let down, embarrassed, and a bit miffed. But I learned a valuable lesson: get the facts, and don't sweat the small stuff. Almost everything is small stuff.

    Rest easy and we'll keep the light on for you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I can imagine what some people listening to "War of the Worlds" on the radio BITD felt like. Some folks actually thought it was real!

      As for me, I just need a bit of a break. Think of it as I'm in the shipyard for refitting and refurbishing for a week or so. I ain't done yet!

      Delete
    2. ...mine was turning on the radio on early one morning to hear an authoritative voice "This is not a test!!!" Living in Grand Forks, ND, it had, shall we say a certain significance in the late 1970's (a quick scan of frequencies to determine other stations were still on the air and normal)...then "This is the voice of XXXX radio"...I had been expecting the next words to be "tune your radio to your CONRAD station" (remember when radios had three civil defense triangles marking them?)

      Delete
    3. I do remember that. Scary times!

      Delete
  3. Hey Old AFSarge;

    Shows where my mind is, when I saw the title of the post, the first thing I was expected to see was an aviator climbing into his flotation device after surviving a mishap of some magnitude, shows what I know, LOL. Take what time you need, if you force the muse, it ain't gonna produce.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, the Muse has been rathered bedraggled as of late. I need to give the poor thing a rest.

      Delete
  4. Sarge- You have no obligation to post daily, or at all. We will be here and be grateful for your deepest inner emotions, historical fiction, whimsical musings, occasional rants, or recycled bits, at your leisure and convenience.
    It really is worth twice the cost of admission, at least!
    Meanwhile, we shall enjoy, or deploy expired vegetables over the efforts of your co-conspirators.
    John Blackshoe

    ReplyDelete
  5. Take the break. Unwind/enjoy/imbibe. We'll still be here when you decide to return.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've always enjoyed your posts of your service days. Perhaps some of the misses herself's impressions of her early years in the USA?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That wouldn't be a bad idea. Except she disavows all knowledge of the blog and she's a very private person. But I suppose I could give my impressions of her impressions, that might work.

      Delete
  7. Oh my, can I ever relate!!!
    I've been edging toward a need to let go of this cyber routine for some time now, and recognizing this place where you're at, Sarge, kinda gives me permission to follow the notion.

    My blog has been a fun outlet for a few years, but daily routines in life have a way of changing, and before I knew it, I was feeling like posting regularly for my blog was like going to another job. I gacked things back from 5 to 2 days a week awhile back, but now even that's becoming too many at times.

    I felt guilty at first for just not posting for some days, (...what's up with that?!?) ...but now I realize I'm changing along with everything going on around me, and I need to make some changes. I've never wanted to do a serious blog, political blog, or one about myself. 'Pickin's' is easy because none of it is actually my work.

    I think this is more about the actual time it all requires, along with the very real distractions caused by what's going on in the world now, and how events are gradually creeping into my personal space.

    I think I need a break like you're needing a break.
    Love ya!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. …BarbaCat, (replying indirectly through AFSarge comments)...your posts are one of my joys (and I pick a few of your pickings to pass on, and others to save and cherish)...Please don't quit entirely...The rarer is the more precious...

      Delete
  8. Shipyard eh? Hope it's not boiler tubes. Anything but boiler tubes...😖

    Stay cheeki-breeki

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PA - Nah, nothing in the engine room - new combat system, new sensor suite and I'll be good as new. 😉

      Delete
    2. I will take water tubes anyday, over fire tubes. Scotch Boilers are nasty.

      Delete
  9. Replies
    1. I think we all feel this way from time to time. Life, it happens.

      Delete
  10. Well, you went and pulled a John Ringo.

    Produce, produce, produce, overproduce, flog the Muse, overproduce and then... the well is dry.

    Zokay, happens to all mere mortals. Even David Weber (of course, he spends more time on minutia in one of his books than some authors spend on a trilogy.)

    Take your time. At worst, I could always keep everyone updated on my plague... (STILL FRIGGIN HURTZZZZ!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!!) that type of thing.

    A periodic nuptuals update would also be acceptable. Give you something positive to post about. And the yearly closing of the pond, etc. Hmmmm... you really haven't posted much about your wife's playground lately. Go outside. Get dirty. Drink a beer. Write it up. We'll gobble that down as much or more than death/doom/destruction/politics/scandals etc.

    Glad you are still with us. Keep cool, carry on. Go wash Big Girl. And read a book or two or four or 12 (subtle hint on a good author that you haven't read yet at top of my comments... or David Drake, or Tom Kratman, or, heck, most any Baen author. They even publish Heinlein now. Can't go wrong with a pre-"Stranger in a Strange Land" Heinlein. Later ones are iffy, though "Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is one of my favorites.

    Have fun inventing boom stuff for the Navy. Do good works. Yadda-yadda. Keep calm and reload. Insert other nice sentiments here...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atkinson's latest book is brilliant. It's gobbling up lots of my time, then I have two Stephen Coonts books in the on-deck circle.

      The nuptials are not far off, expect a couple of posts regarding same in the near future.

      Delete
  11. Sabbaticalizing oneself is a good thing to do.
    I'm finding that I'm doing more mini-sabbaticals now that I'm in my octad of decades plus a few. Adding another soon. DV.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sometimes you just have to step away and decompress. We got this. Heck, all we have to do is hit Beans hot button, and the blog will practically write itself.

    You might take a look my email sent 07/01/2017. There is a story there you might could use someday.

    Here is one of my favorite decompression aids (Red Blend, 4th from the top--

    https://www.radiuswine.com/our-wines

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right, right, somehow I'd forgotten that email. It's a good story.

      That wine literally made my mouth water, or perhaps it was the mention of street tacos...

      😁

      Delete
  13. A break can be a good thing. Go, get some fishing in!

    ReplyDelete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

NOTE: Comments on posts over 5 days old go into moderation, automatically.