Weekend Wonk
Rollin’ on the River(s) and Other Doings of the Summertime Sheas
Jerome Shea
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The old wonker is back, after a very busy summer of traveling. I think the Long-suffering Diana and I—or at least I—were gone more than we were home, and I appreciate Matt’s having suggested that I take the summer off.* It was a good break, but I look forward now to banging out more wonks, teaching my classical tropes course, and, since Albuquerque persists in turning into Phoenix, getting a break from the summer heat.
So park y’r carcass right here for a bit and I will regale you (if you have lost your gale…hahaha.)
Madison
Jerome Shea
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The other day I discovered a wonderful cache of old letters, and I would like to share some with you. This one has to do with Diana’s family’s place in Madison, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie, where we went every year when the kids were growing up. It seems a wonderful celebration of summer. I hope you enjoy this wonk, and enjoy this other summer that has come round again.
7/2/99
Dear Cos and Bren,
You asked about Madison. That deserves a real letter. What do we do there? What’s it like? Oh dear, oh dear.
Mappa Mundi
Jerome Shea
Sunday, May 30, 2010
“Map” is a strange word. Broad-voweled but abrupt, it rhymes with yap, zap, slap, clap, and so on. It might be an acronym (Mercator Area Projection?) or the call of an ill-tempered tropical bird (“That infernal mapping kept us awake all night!”). In fact, it comes from the medieval Latin mappa, meaning a napkin, a cloth. Mappa Mundi means map of the world.
Pandora
Jerome Shea
Sunday, May 8, 2010
Quite often there is something new at the stump in the bosque. Last week it was that rosary; on tomorrow’s run I’ll probably find something else. About a month ago, I found this note, protected from the elements with plastic:
Letter to the Cross Remover
Stump
Jerome Shea
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Along my current running route in the Rio Grande bosque, not far from where Borghi, our late cat, rests, is a modest little stump. A foot and a half high, perhaps, and maybe seven inches across. It is not even cut cleanly through: though it definitely was sawed, the sawyer seems to have got discouraged at some point and tried again from one angle and again from another. I assume it is the stump of a young cottonwood.
Something Fishy This Way Comes
Jerome Shea
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Lately I have been thinking about fish. Maybe you should too. We pay too little attention, I think, to what goes on in the deep blue sea and even in the aquarium and the fish pond. On the other hand, what goes on may be little more exciting than watching algae grow.
What Mac Brazel Found, or What Would We Do Without Weather Balloons?
Jerome Shea
Sunday, March 14, 2010
