1st evening of the club

On May 22nd 2010 ,my youngest son's 35th birthday.

John and I decided to share a poem,a book review or anything else we were inspired by,with each other at 7.00 pm on the balcony at Castlenel.

When we are in Castlenel Castalla Spain, we usually meet on the balcony or in Los Angeles for a glass of wine.

We said we would choose something to read or talk about,and we would say why we chose this before we took our turn.

We think we will do this as much as possible while we are here in Castlenel, and we will do it as much as we can once we are back in the real world.

We are planning on expanding the May 22nd club to include friends and family, and have a meeting once a month on the 22nd where ever we are.

I was first to choose my reading on the balcony that first night. I chose to read this piece from Thomasina by Paul Gallico we are going through a difficult time and I always read Thomasina when things are difficult.

This book is set in Argyll in Scotland and told by Thomasina the much love cat of Mary Ruadh .

First reading

"But there was something else pleasant about Mary Ruadh;
she smelled good,Mrs Mckenzie kept her washed and ironed when she was at home and she always smelled of lavender, for Mrs McKenzie kept lavender bags in with her clothes and underthings.
It seemed as if Mrs Mckenzie was forever washing and ironing and starching and scenting her clothes,because it was the only way she was allowed to show how much she cared for Mary Ruadh.
Mrs Mckenzie was a thin woman who talked and sang through her nose. She would have mothered Mary Ruadh the way we will frequently look after someone's kitten as though it were our own,but Mr Mac Dhui ws jealous and feared that Mary Ruadh would come to love her too much if she were allowed to cuddle her. Oh,Mr Bristle-and - Smelly was allowed to cuddle her all he wished,but nobody else.
I loved the odour of lavender.Smells almost more than noises,seem to bring on the happiness or unhappiness memories.
You might not remember what it was about a smell had made you angry at the time,or afraid, but as soon as you come across it again you are angry or fearful.Like the medicine smell of Mr MacDhui.
But lavender was the happiness smell.It made my claws move in and out and brought the contentment purr to my throat.
Sometimes after putting Mary Ruadh's things away after ironing them,Mrs Mc Kenzie would forget to close all the chest of drawers,and leave one open.Then I would quickly nip indide and lie there full length with my nose up against a lavender bag,smelling smelling,smelling.That was bliss.
That was when I was contented and at peace with the world.

John's first choice on our May 22nd club meeting was this.

He said he was so pleased to be back in Castlenel surrounded by familiar books and this book, The Sea of Faith by Don Cupitt jumped out at him.John thinks this is because things are difficult for us right now.




Second reading

Dover Beach

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Poem by Matthew Arnold

We talked a bit about our choices, and we think that we both chose pieces that are essentially about "LOVE" and we came to the conclusion that at the end of the day when life is really tough Love is really all we have and what helps.