Beast in a Personal Manner

Last night we read about a wolf hunt.  My goodness Tolstoy can right.  Five hundred and fifty pages into “Guerre et Paix” Count Rostov heads out for a hunt.  Natasha accompanies him.  Rostov makes a fool of himself at the outset by releasing his dogs go too early. But later he redeems himself but capturing a large she wolf.  The manner in which the wolf is caught is so disturbingly human one can only feel for the beast in a personal manner as it is trussed and tossed astride a horse to await its fate.

This morning, as she was finishing the pasta left overs, I asked my older one and she concurred, that it was indeed, a memorable vignette.  Tonight she is off at her old school, a purely Chinese program to introduce to them the idea of a club that she wants to promote between their students and where she is now in attendance at an international school.  She prepared a power point and went over it this evening with her friend.  It all seemed so serious and I was proud of her. 

 I made it to the gym today. This was a reasonably big deal.  I haven’t been to a gym since I left Taiwan last weekend.  All last week I was on the road.  Day after day I told myself I’d want to make the gym on the early side.  Morning after morning I woke up tired in a shared hotel room, and took to reading emails in bed until there was no time left and I was forced to shower and head out. 

We have a huge teddy bear.  I ordered this bear for my older daughter a few years back when she specifically mentioned her desire for a massive teddy bear.  Taobao had one that was available.  It’s about three meters tall.  My friend’s two year old who has visited a number of times recently, (Halloween and Thanksgiving) asked to have this bear visit her birthday party and we obliged this morning, stuffing it in to the back of his SUV.  It’s not mine to give away, but with all the space it takes up, I wouldn’t have minded if my buddy kept the enormous teddy.   

Now there is Jorge Ben on.  This is an album from the late sixties called “Forca Bruta” and it sounds lovely.  I’ve known his work for most of my adult life.  But I have never consumed his oeuvre methodically.  If I’d have been asked I would have said, “Oh yeah, I know that album” but in fact it all sounds quite fresh this evening.  My wife has told me to turn it down though, so I retreated to my room to listen to the man in peace. 

Sunday, 12/03/17