"Weaving spiders, come not here; . . ."

Okay, so, I have been reading my Shakespeare, but I'm more behind than I wanted to be by this time. Two weeks ago I took a commenter's advice and read A Midsummer Night's Dream {Act II, Scene 2}, from which comes the quote above. I hadn't read Midsummer in several years, so it was nice to get reacquainted.

Then last week I read the two early narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, the latter being one I'd never read before. I want to write a bit about these two poems; indeed, there are a lot of things I really want to say about them. But right now, it is late, I am sleepy, and I have other things I want to write about first.

For instance, check out the absolutely fabulous sand sculpture of William Shakespeare above, and click here to see other sand sculptures at the Somerset Sand Sculpture Festival a week or so ago in Great Britain. Shakespeare and Wallace and Gromit on the same beach -- Wow!


"Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the collied night."
~~A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act I, Scene 1

Swift describes this summer. I can't remember when a season has flown by so quickly. Just as a catch-up, my brother has been home for two weeks now. He is doing very well, although he isn't on solid food yet. They are still working on his swallowing, but he's making progress. Thomas' leg is almost completely back to its correct size. It took two weeks on the medication for the swelling to significantly go down, but the pain went away pretty quickly. Most days the leg looks normal, but sometimes the calf is still a bit swollen. I suppose if it keeps doing this, he'll go back to the doctor to see if they can come to a more definite diagnosis.

Public schools in our county start next Thursday the 19th, so I was going to start Eler Beth's classes on Monday the 16th. She was supposed to go to King's Island with some friends this week, but they have to postpone till next week. They're visiting the amusement park, The Cincinnati Zoo, and The Newport Aquarium, so it is to be a three-day trip. Since they're now going to be leaving next Thursday, we're going to start school this Thursday, so we don't have to make up two days right from the get-go. I've had her first semester lessons planned for a couple weeks now, so it won't be a problem. I'm ready, 'though I don't know if she is yet. I'd like to write more about my plans for her high school classes later, too, but not tonight.

I'm going to go to bed now. I hope everyone is having a nice summer. I know some schools have already started, even as early as the last week of July in some cases. And I just think that is ridiculous. I can't imagine riding a school bus in this heat! So, until later, my friends, have a nice night, a nice week, and a nice rest-of-summer.

Click for updated List

What shall I read next? I think I'll attempt King John, since I haven't done one of the histories yet, and it's one of only two that I haven't read.

It's all Greek to me!

Ashley posted this list on her blog today, and it made me think of how many little commonplace phrases and "witticisms" we throw into our daily vocabulary, unaware of their origins.

"It's all Greek to me" is one such commonplace saying; everyone knows what it means when they hear it. The first time I read "But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me," from Julius Caesar, I thought "A-ha! So that's where that came from!" But other authors around Shakespeare's time -- Thomas Dekker, for one -- also used similar phrases.

The phrase had been around much earlier than Shakespeare, though. There is a Medieval Latin proverb, "Graecum est; non potest legi", that translates literally as "It is Greek; it cannot be read," attributed to monk scribes. I would think, though, that Shakespeare's use of the metaphor in Julius Caesar is what brought it into modern day usage. I like knowing that it meant the same thing in the Middle Ages as it did in Shakespeare's time and as it does today -- "I don't understand you; you might as well be speaking Greek."

I wonder what Greek-speakers say when they want to accuse someone of being unintelligible?