Sunday, May 9, 2021

Ernest


This lily, which I bought on impulse at Waitrose last year, is blooming once again. I have no idea what kind it is, but it's pretty, isn't it? It lives on the dining room windowsill with the orchids, and for some reason it is beset with a persistent case of aphids. I've showered it with water, sprayed it with bug spray, washed down the sticky windowsill and nearby surfaces, and still they return. But I'm getting flowers, so I'm winning.

(I would never use bug spray outdoors, but since this is an indoor plant living where there are no pollinators, I'm not as concerned. When it dies back in the fall the pot goes into the shed, and all I do is keep it mildly damp over winter.)

Dave and I finally watched the new Burns/Novick documentary about Hemingway. I really enjoyed it -- for a long time I called Hemingway my favorite writer and I've read most of his books, so it was interesting to hear how they came to be. His simple, minimalist, journalistic approach to writing always appealed to me. I think a lot of young people like his work because, after parsing Shakespeare and Milton and Dickens all the way through school, they find that he's a breath of fresh air.

Of course, there's also his bullying, his tolerance of animal suffering and his misogyny, among other negatives. The man's personal life was a train wreck. He seems the embodiment of a rather immature tendency to always be grasping for the next best thing, a sort of constant, debilitating hunger. Maybe that hunger helped drive his genius as much as it eventually killed him. I don't know how his wives tolerated him. Some of them didn't, and rightly so -- Martha Gellhorn, his third wife, emerges as a sort of hero in the Hemingway saga for remaining true to herself.

Still, "The Sun Also Rises" remains one of my favorite books. That interwar world of café-hopping expatriates in sun-drenched Spain seems so mythically beautiful -- a reminder that the world is out there, with all its joys and pains, to be lived in and experienced. I never read his nonfiction, though. Hunting in Africa and bullfighting are two topics that do not interest me at all. I couldn't even begin to fake it.

Watching the documentary proved to be a challenge. As far as I can tell it's not streaming here in the UK. We've been meaning for ages to buy a VPN, which basically routes our Internet through any foreign country we choose, and that way we can get access to American streaming services. I finally took the plunge and that's how we watched it. Now I don't have to deal with the frustration of reading reviews of productions that are streaming on American Netflix, for example, but are inaccessible here.


I took Olga to the cemetery in the afternoon. They've finally started removing that dead tree near the chapel. I don't know if this trunk is going to stay or if they just haven't taken it out yet -- I guess it will be good for woodpeckers if it remains.


On the way home we passed a real estate office, and I spotted these throw pillows on their couch -- do you recognize that pattern? It's honesty, which I'm always trying to grow in our garden. I was pretty proud of myself for getting a picture of the pillows and working Olga into the shot!

Dave went to get his second Covid vaccination yesterday afternoon. The doctor's office texted him on schedule to book the appointment. I asked him if he wanted me to go with him, and he said, "I think I can handle it, and besides, they wouldn't let you in anyway." So while he did that I took care of things here at home, and when he came back he was feeling invincible, proclaiming, "I am fucking bullet-proof!" (A very Hemingway attitude.)

43 comments:

Moving with Mitchell said...

Three exceptional photos (as if that's something new for you)! My mother grew Honesty and always had some dried in a vase (sometimes for way too many years). The documentary on Hemingway sounds fascinating; will have to look for it.

The bike shed said...

Beware those bugs on the lily - if they get on your orchids they're as food as gone. Hemingway was clever but rather crude in his life - so too Graeme Greene, a contemporary whose books I love and you may also enjoy. Brighton Rock was the first proper novel I ever read; travels with my aunt is good too and not overly heavy, but there are so many...

Anonymous said...

"(Spain) a reminder that the world is out there, with all its joys and pains, to be lived in and experienced". Yes, well, we can't travel, internationally at least. And then my partner will be too old.

So you are smart young men shopping at the posh Waitrose.

Did Hemmingway write about a book about the Vietnam War? I read that. I've checked, and no. I don't think I've read any Hemmingway. I must remedy that, although I recently read about his approval of bullfighting and that put me off him rather.

Wouldn't the interwar period be a good time to live if you had enough money? To live in Paris or Berlin must have been amazing for some.

Lol, Olga has her front paw on the couch arm. Get down Olga.

Ursula said...

Hemingway: "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at your typewriter and bleed". Indeed. Succinct. To the point. No angst. Just bleed.

Hemingway's prose, in its precision, is stellar. As to the man, the person, his private life - be that as was. I tend to divorce the person from their work. Otherwise, as no doubt I have said many times before, our walls would be empty, our bookshelves would be empty, indeed we'd listen to little music. The Swine! Divine!

U

Ursula said...

Andrew, bullfighting isn't my thing either. Comes with the territory (I am a woman). Yet, Hemingway's "Death in the Afternoon" is a work of art. A fine example of writing where subject matter is NOT important to keep one spell bound. The use of language, chiselling of a sentence, holding our attention.

U

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Ernest could be so earnest. I loved "The Old Man and the Sea" and I think I would enjoy the documentary you mentioned. I admire writers who demonstrably lived life, immersed themselves in it, laughed and had adventures. Disappointingly, there are plenty of writers who only get involved in a cerebral manner - they work at the margins of life, observing, taking notes but not really "doing".

John Going Gently said...

As a younger man he was a looker

Debby said...

I love how Olga's spots blend right in with the sofa! That is so cool that I didn't even notice the pillows!

Bob said...

I can see loving Hemingway for his work, but despising him for his life, and the things he said and did.
Quite the dichotomy.

Ms. Moon said...

When I got to go to Cuba we visited Hemingway's little ranch. I was very moved. His house looked like you'd want his house to look, rather spare but very beautiful. His boat was there too. It was so hot! They sold drinks and had a little gift shop. It was a day I won't forget. One of our group was an older man and he and a Cuban guy started in drinking and began to dance together! It was beautiful. I think Earnest would have approved.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could remember reading The Sun Also Rises. When I think of that title, I know I read it in graduate school for some paper, but that was so long ago. I think I'll google around and see if anything sparks a memory.
Love that photo of Olga and the couch. it's really so beautiful.

My life so far said...

I read your last couple of posts as well as this one. I'm glad that your vision has retored itself and you don't have a brain tumor. I work in cancer care and every single person who works there is convinced at some time or other that they have cancer.

I'm not a fan of Hemmingway. Misogyny puts me off; I can't forgive that. I imagine he was like most of us though, complicated, contradictory and deeply flawed.

Mary said...

They may want to think twice about leaving the trunk of that tree. We did the same thing with a tree we knew held a woodpecker nest. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. It came crashing down in a wind storm here last week and took out two sections of our fence. :( The woodpeckers (Yellow-bellied and Downies) are just fine. They moved on to a nearby tree and are still happily visiting our suet and bird feeders.

Linda Sue said...

https://www.gardenia.net/plant/lunaria-annua-honesty

One of my most favorite plants, so versatile in all stages, I still have dried "coins" from years ago in a vase atop the china hutch.They are magic!
They do take a long time to get going but once they are established they do well.
Dave is bullet proof, hurrah!

Elizabeth said...

I thought the PBS Hemingway documentary was very well done. But then again I think anything Ken Burns produces is worth watching.

Sharon said...

Great photos...a beautiful lily, a dead tree perfect for the cemetery, and a fantastic reflection shot.
I did not watch the Hemingway special. My own little silent 'protest'. I think we would be better served learning about some of the vast number of people who have made serious contributions but are never heard of. There are millions of them and quite a few are black or women or both. It seems to me that every Ken Burns documentary has decidedly masculine point of view. As you can tell, I'm not one of his fans.

Margaret said...

The power and destructiveness of genius cannot be underestimated. I wouldn't say Hemingway was my favorite author, but he's up there.

Edna B said...

Your beautiful pink bloom is an Asiatic Lily. I have them in my garden too. You would think that when the town is doing street and cutting traffic down to just one lane that they would make it a temporary one way and set up a detour for traffic going the other way. Hopefully, they won't take all summer to get their job done. Have a super day, hugs, Edna B.

Catalyst said...

I watched the first episode of the Hemingway series and have been meaning to get back to it but haven't so far. I've been occupying my t.v. watching with "The Great British Baking Show" and now the David Attenborough "Color of Life" series. Honestly, with Netflix and Amazon Prime and "regular" t.v., I could watch it around the clock until my eyes bleed. So I space it out.

The Bug said...

I love the honesty pillows - they would look very nice in my office. Ha!

I never liked Hemingway because I had the hardest time keeping track of the dialogue. Wait, who is talking now? I would get SO CONFUSED. I'd probably like him better now.

Kansas Jen said...

I think that is a stargazer lily

Steve Reed said...

It's streaming on American Amazon, if you have access to that. We had to pay for it, but not much.

Steve Reed said...

Thanks for the warning about the bugs. I have read some Graham Greene -- "The Heart of the Matter," "The End of the Affair," "Our Man in Havana" and some others.

Steve Reed said...

Hemingway was dead by the time Vietnam ramped up, so no, he didn't write about that. I wonder who you're thinking of? Yes, I think those interwar years must have been amazing culturally, though also quite miserable in places like Germany where the economy was a mess.

Steve Reed said...

I don't entirely divorce the person from their work -- I think it's interesting to know something about writers and artists and consider how their backgrounds inform their creativity. That IS a great description of writing, at least good writing! (As opposed to blogging, LOL)

Steve Reed said...

I think you'd like the documentary too. The "doing" unfortunately comes at a high cost for some -- Ernest was a wreck by the time he died.

Steve Reed said...

He was! I read "A Moveable Feast" years ago and it contained pictures of him in his youth -- very handsome!

Steve Reed said...

She is, in a sense, upholstered herself!

Steve Reed said...

And a pretty common one when it comes to artists and creative types.

Steve Reed said...

It's so amazing that you got to go there. I still think of Cuba as an inaccessible place, even though that hasn't been true for many years.

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, maybe if you read a synopsis of the plot it will come back to you! I'm glad you forget book plots. I can never remember them either, beyond only the vaguest generalities.

Steve Reed said...

There was a lot of substance abuse, too, particularly in his later years.

Steve Reed said...

I suppose it's inevitable that even a trunk will fall someday, but I'm sure the birds appreciated it while they had it! (Makes you wonder how often woodpeckers contend with this kind of situation -- it's probably not uncommon!)

Steve Reed said...

We had it in our garden two years ago but as far as I can tell it didn't re-seed at all. So I've got a few new seedlings going.

Steve Reed said...

I agree. I don't think I've watched a boring documentary by him yet. Although -- didn't he do one about baseball? That one I skipped.

Steve Reed said...

That's an interesting take on Ken Burns. He does work with a woman, Lynn Novick, who is also credited on some of his documentaries, but I have no idea what their collaboration is like.

Steve Reed said...

It's true -- we see the same tendencies in many artists, don't we?

Steve Reed said...

THANK YOU for identifying the lily! I wasn't sure I could plant it outside but it sounds like it would be fine there. Maybe we'll do that when it's finished flowering this year. I'd like those bugs to be outdoors! LOL

Steve Reed said...

There is a LOT to watch these days, it's true!

Steve Reed said...

Funny! I never had that problem with him, although I do have trouble with that in some books.

Steve Reed said...

It doesn't smell like a stargazer, though -- they usually have a quite noticeable lily scent, don't they? We have some stargazers in our garden. They're a more uniform pink color, too. I think Edna may be right in identifying this as an Asiatic lily.

Anonymous said...

I was completely off track. I was thinking of Graham Greene.

ellen abbott said...

I don't think I've ever read any Hemingway. and we don't stream anything. we just don't sit and watch TV. plus I rarely have more than 30 minutes to sit in front of the TV and then I'd rather use that time to read. can't remember when I watched a whole movie all the way through.