A moderate bittersweetness

Posted on by Dale

As you probably know, because half of you are in it, this weekend is the Lacuna Group’s all-male production of Coriolanus. It’s going to be entertaining. You should probably see it.

But what most of you don’t know is that this weekend was to have been the international world premiere of A Visit to William Blake’s Inn. In fact, at this very moment, we’d be at the reception honoring the production team, our international guests, and of course Nancy Willard, after what we can only assume would have been the triumphant opening performance.

Back when we were working to engage the community’s interest in the piece, we had to book the Centre for Performing and Visual Arts eighteen months in advance, and Don Nixon was more than willing to do that, so I found out when would be convenient for Nancy to come down, and this weekend was best. (It is Vassar’s fall break.) I marked it in my iCal. When the whole proposal fell through, I decided to leave it there so that I could watch it go by as time slipped away.

And slip away it has, has it not?

A complaint

Posted on by Dale

I wish to register a complaint.

As I posted recently, I got two new books about which I am very excited, Lion among men, by Gregory Maguire, and Octavian Nothing, traitor to the nation: The kingdom on the sea, by M.T. Anderson. Both are sequels, and both are presenting the same problem: it has been over a year since I read the previous volume in the series, and both are so complex in their social settings that I cannot remember all the characters and plotlines. I probably need to go back and read those previous volumes before tackling the new ones, and who has time for that?????

That is all.

Brief labyrinth, 10/20/08

Posted on by Dale

The other afternoon, I sat musing on my handiwork and wondering if I really ought to consider changing the flush/right-angle look back to the curved-end pathways I originally planned.

I moved some stones around:

I think I like it much, much better. For one thing, it will open up that mysterious little place in the middle where the curves can’t quite meet. For another, it makes the traversal a smoother experience, even if only psychologically. (Technically, in this world, one actually has more room to maneuver with the extra space in the square corners.)

Okay. I have a guy coming by this afternoon to talk with me about whacking stones. We’ll chat about this.

Musing

Posted on by Dale

I haven’t blogged in over a week, for several reasons.

First, since I have to wait for the removal of the 1972 Mercedes Benz 250c in the back yard before I can bring in the topsoil with which I shall finish the labyrinth, work on that project is at a standstill. So no blogging there.

Second, we’re in the final throes push for Coriolanus. It’s amazing how trying to get a late Shakespeare play ready for an audience will consume your extra time, energy and thought.

Third, the idea that I could write during all of this about that stupid Quiet Strength stuff is not even worth exploring.

So, I am at loose ends this afternoon, as I sip my liquids in preparation for my first ever colonscopy in the morning. Yes, I’m sharing. And no, “loose ends” was not a pun. That’s later this evening.

I’m about to repair to the back yard where I will warm myself in the sun and do one of two things: a) redefine literacy assessment in the state of Georgia; and/or b) read more of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, a lovely French novel I got last week after reading it reviewed in The Week.

If I finish both of those, then I have two other books that came yesterday that I’m quite excited about. The first is The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume II, The Kingdom on the Waves, by M.T. Anderson. Anderson is one of my favorite writers. He seems to be able to do anything. Feed, a dystopian teen science fiction novel which will change your relationship with internet connectivity forever. Whales on Stilts and its sequels (collectively known as M.T. Anderson’s Thrilling Tales): Whales is a total and hysterical goof on the kids’ adventure series genre, but at the end of The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen it seems that Mr. Anderson is up to something odd. We await The Flame Pits of Delaware: a Jasper Dash Adventure with baited breath.

And of course, the first volume of Octavian Nothing was, as its title says, astonishing. Alternative historical fiction, if you will, set in the American Revolution. Journals, narrative, letters, other kinds of sources, pile up to tell us the story of Octavian Nothing, a young man raised in curious circumstances by philosophers in Philadelphia in the 1760s.

The second book calling my name is Gregory Maguire’s A Lion Among Men, the third of the Wicked series. Now if all you know of Wicked is the insipid and saccharine musical, you are missing an astounding telling of tales. Maguire takes Frank L. Baum’s Oz and reimagines it as the setting of a grim political thriller. Conditioned as we are to see Baum’s characters in terms of the great 1939 movie, it’s more than a little shocking to discover a dark, dangerous, and coherent back story lurking beneath the cheerful map of Munchkinland.

Wicked itself covers the original story, giving us the life of Elpheba, aka the Wicked Witch of the West, and the desperate times she found herself in. The sequel, Son of a Witch, follows Liir, her son, as he finds himself continuing his mother’s journey. In both, and in the first three pages of Lion which I allowed myself to read, Maguire is a master prose stylist, amusing and astounding you in turns with his wit and imaginative power.

If you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, you’ll know where I am.

Labyrinth, 10/11/08

Posted on by Dale

It’s late. I’ve had friends over to dine and drink and walk down to the theatre to see the company’s improv troupe, which was not at all bad. Some real talent there. I’d like to see their “best of” guys do a show.

After Coriolanus rehearsal this morning, I worked on laying out the rest of the labyrinth, always excepting the outer ring on the north side, where I must build up the soil to be more level.

You will notice that I have modified the plan I’ve been working with. Rather than the curved lines I’ve been using, I’ve used the more geometric form usually found in drawings and indeed in my tattoo. Naturally this is easier to lay out than cutting stones to fit curves. However, I’m not sure I like it better. I may try changing the switchbacks to the curved version I’ve been working with.

At any rate, now I have to get many truckloads of topsoil brought in, then fill in the whole pattern with the soil, then plant grass seed, water it, etc. I may actually have a completed labyrinth in time for the Annual Meeting of the Lichtenbergians.

Of course, to get the soil moved in, I have to get rid of the 1972 Mercedes-Benz that has been parked for three years in the only space I have available for dumping of soil.

Labyrinth, 10/10/08

Posted on by Dale

Even in the time it took to move the laptop from its position over by the outdoor speakers to beside my chair in the labyrinth, the light has vanished. It is dark. The fire is warm. How many more nights will I have to sit out here comfortably by the fire?

Anyway, here’s my thought for the day: it’s not finished, it’s not finished.

The astonishingly geometric arcs of the top half of the labyrinth stop short in a field of mud. I have to use a wire brush on my boots every time I want to go into the house. I got the other 3,000 pounds of stone moved this afternoon in record time, but it sits there in a cenotaph, unfinished.

There are only two weeks remaining before an audience sits down in a park to watch Coriolanus. It is not finished.

I keep seeing graphic images of music in my head. None of it is even started, much less finished.

The fire in front of me glows but does not flame. It is not finished.

The Ruby Red vodka tonic next to me shifts its ice in the dark. It is not finished.

My life, though wonderful in many regards, even enviable, is not finished.

Labyrinth, 10/7/08

Posted on by Dale

The Innovation in its finished state:

Here’s a long shot:

Cat is not integral to The Innovation.

Anyway, I laid out the rest of the top half of the path:

I stopped on that outer outline; I’ve decided to build up the ground there so that the whole thing is more level. Ginny of course is appalled that nothing lines up and that it’s not as smooth as a parterre.

And finally, I used what remained of the stones to begin laying out the northeast quadrant:

You can see where I’ve scratched out a successive approximation of the rest of the course in the dirt. You can also see a couple of double-decker stones; that’s where I’m going to have to cut stones in order to make them fit into the curve. Still no solution for that.

And here is more Cat:

So, having used up all my stones, I will now wait patiently until the next pallet is delivered on Friday. Yes, class, this is what a ton and a half of stone looks like.

Labyrinth, 10/5/08

Posted on by Dale

Here’s where I picked up today. Actually, I started by pulling out my new cutting thingie and assembling it, reading the directions more carefully than anything I’ve ever read. This thing will put your eye out, if not cut off your leg.

Alas, it only produces a cut that’s less than half an inch deep. What the hell kind of masonry is only half an inch thick? These paving stones are two inches, so the paltry little slice the fairly expensive device made is worthless. It goes back to Home Depot tomorrow.

And now I’m back to where I began: how do I cut the curves for the center?

I decided to forge ahead and start laying the thing out. I can always come back and cut curves later.

I had already figured out east/west/north/south, but now I staked out the whole circle. I cut a piece of wood exactly three stones wide, and began by laying out the three axes:

And then, something that I have never seen before in all my studies of modern labyrinths. I think it might actually be An Innovation.

All right, class, can you see what I’ve done here? Would anyone like to tell me what I’m up to? What is this Innovation of which I am so inordinately proud?

Along the western axis, I have laid out bricks in the circuit:

They’re kind of hard to see in the photo. They actually extend the idea of the Innovation, if you consider its role as a Tolkien reference.

Finally, I began to lay out the circuit:

Here’s the southwestern quadrant, all laid out. I was gratified/amazed to find that the outer circle exactly touched the brick edging. It was absolutely a perfect fit. Here it is from the picnic table area:

It will probably take most of my remaining pavers to do the northwestern quadrant, the other half of the great semicircles that form the top of the labyrinth. I’ll have to order another pallet, have it delivered Friday. Ginny’s going out of town to Virginia again, so I’ll have all weekend to finish laying out the bottom half, with all the turnarounds and switchbacks. That will be the interesting part.

So, has everyone figured out what I’m doing down the middle there?

Esprit d’escalier

Posted on by Dale

Things Joe Biden might have said after Sarah Palin asked him, “Can I call you Joe?”

  • “That would be fine, Governor Palin.”
  • “Whatever you like, sweetcheeks.”
  • “Say, that’s pretty cute. Isn’t she cute, ladies and gentlemen?”
  • “Really??”
  • “Did John put you up to that? It sounds like his lame sense of humor.”
  • “Sure, Sarah. Cute shoes.”
  • “No.”

And winked at her.

Labyrinth, 10/4/08

Posted on by Dale

So I went and rented this:

Self-powered, huge, mama-jama rototiller. And it still couldn’t cut through the dry, hard-packed soil. I had to park it for a couple of hours while I watered the yard. That worked. I still was having problems getting it to dig in, instead of running away from me, until I figured out there was this little extendible bar between the rotoblades that I needed to lower so that it would actually drag through the soil and slow the machine down and get the blades to catch.

Then it was tutti all the way, as Prof. Peter Schickele says. By supper time, I had tilled the whole circle and raked it flat. It’s still a bit dicey on the far edge, where it dips down the slope, because when you rake tilled soil, all the vegetable matter ends up at the end of your raking, so that whole outside path on the northern side is for the moment a mite spongy.

Anyway, here’s what it looks like:

Those who saw it in person may be able to tell how much more of a plane the surface is now. My main goal was to even out the bone-jarring dip in the southwestern quadrant (to the left in the photo above). That has been accomplished. I’ll decide whether to build up that northern arc to be level with the rest of the yard as I go along.

Next: the excitement of using my new cutting tool thingie to begin cutting the stones for the center circle. Actually, the next exciting thing is to get that huge tiller loaded back into my van. A big thank you to Marc and Galen for providing the extra muscle necessary for that.