Category: History

Shakespeare Sunday

AI generated image with the prompt: “Prim-rose path with gate”

I was looking through my medicine cabinet this morning when I saw the Prim-rose Oil hiding in the corner. I have not used it in a long time, and I decided to look up “primrose” in my dictionary, even though I knew it to be a yellow flower.

Right below the “prim-rose” entry was the entry “prim-rose path”. This turned out to be far more interesting. This phrase was made famous by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. According to my dictionary, it means “an easy or pleasurable way of life, especially one that leads to disaster.”

I pursued this idea further and discovered a great webpage: https://nosweatshakespeare.com/blog/what-is-the-primrose-path/

At this website I learned that Shakespeare used this metaphor in more than one place. I also learned that Shakespeare’s idea goes hand in hand with the bible verse: Matthew 7:13. So, I looked up this bible verse. It states: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”

I am not a Shakespeare expert nor a Bible expert, so I will leave the comparison for you to explore, and to draw your own conclusions. I do think the lovely primrose should not be maligned for it is those who knowingly walk the wrong path with evil intent that are at fault. It matters not whether the path has flowers or whether the gate is narrow or wide.

 

 

 

The Year 1981

I recently picked up this book at a Goodwill store. I admired Princess Diana, so I bought the book.

As I was reading a little news today I had the thought to look up this day, July 29th in history.

As it turns out Princess Diana and Prince Charles (now King Charles) were married on this day in 1981.

This summer a new thrift shop opened up near where I frequently fill up my car’s gas tank, so I went in to check out the store. I headed straight for the books as is my usual routine, and I found this book about Diana. I am not one to spend too much time reading royal news, however, Princess Diana and I were not that far apart in age, and I had admired her.

Another important event during the year of 1981 was my college graduation. During my senior year in college (1981) I was dating a young man who by coincidence looks a little like one of the sons that Princess Diana and Prince Charles would later have. I will post a picture so that you can judge for yourself.

Here I am my senior year in college at a dance with my red-headed boyfriend at the time.

 

 

The Spin is All that Matters

I ran across a bag of wooden spools the other day. They were in a box of odds and ends that had made it into our garage when we were cleaning out my mother in law’s house of forty years. She has been gone for many years now, and yet her memory is still alive in various things we still have around.

The wooden spools are all bare now. All the thread was used up in antique wares. I’m sure they were saved in hopes of being made into future crafts. They could be used since their simple beauty was still apparent. The wooden spools had been made from dead biological life, and thus they still had value.

Long before the wood was cut and shaped, it pulsed with life and color, and with a continuous exchange of gases from within and without. These spools are cylindrical in shape with a hole that runs from end to end. They can be linked together to form a chain. They can be made into decorations, and strung around a living tree, still breathing and growing. They can be assembled with other materials to make a vehicle since all spools can roll.

There is a big hand in all of this, coordinating, designing, and engineering all of it. A mind is needed to oversee it all. I call this mind, God, and I like to sit and contemplate his intentions. I think God is the original, the first and the ultimate one to recycle and reuse. To him the Blue Planet is a woman, and she is still a work in progress for him. His mind has become entangled with hers, and he cannot let go of her, at least not yet. His death will be her death and vice versa.