Wednesday, November 13, 2013


It’s being so cheerful…

 

Autumn hath all the summer’s fruitful treasure;

Gone is our sport, fled is our Corydon’s pleasure!

Short days, sharp days, long nights come on apace:

 Ah, who shall hide us from the winter’s face?

Cold doth increase, the sickness will not cease,

And here we lie, God knows, with little ease,

From winter, plague, and pestilence, good Lord, deliver us!

 

Thomas Nashe 1567-1601


See below photos

30 comments:

Ms Scarlet said...

Misread that as 'Croyden's pleasure'.... and why not? I'm sure Croyden is lovely.
Sx

Pat said...

Scarlet: I had the same problem typing it:)

kenju said...

I certainly agree. We have very cold weather for Nov. now and I am in mental anguish for the poor people of the Philippines.

Pat said...

Judy: all we can do is support such as the Red Cross and hope aid get through swiftly.

About Last Weekend said...

THere is no lines like those from an old poem, long nights come apace, esp depressing when you are carpooling.

About Last Weekend said...

Misread the Croyden too.

Pat said...

AlW: I had to look this up as I wasn't sure of the meaning.
It's probably something we should do.
"The definition of carpooling seems simple but packs a big punch. Carpooling is when two or more people -- typically from different households -- share an automobile journey together. Usually people arrange carpools in order to save money, protect the environment by burning less gasoline or to enjoy each other's company."
Sounds like it isn't much fun?

Unknown said...

Being stuck in a car on a road trip to Croydon with the Scarlet one wouldn't be too much fun either I fear.

How very apt that Nashe also wrote the rather excellent tale of 'The Unfortunate Traveller'.

It is as if he knew....

Mage said...

I love this piece, but I too thought/read Croyden. :)

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

If it rains too often here, and it's dark and grey for too many days, I get gloomy. I can't even begin to think then what winter can do to people. But I know someone who makes jokes about winter and seems to have fun, it's my brother over there, yes, he's a tad odd.

Unknown said...

Had to look Corydon up in Brewster's Dictionary of phrase and fable. It is the name of a shepherd in one of Virgil's eclogues. Brewster also gives it as ' a brainless, lovesick, spooney.'
However we're in good company. Checked Google, and the third entry under 'Corydon' is 'Croydon Council'!

Pat said...

Chef: now that wasn't a very nice thing to say was it?

'The Unfortunate Traveller' sounds like it could be of the 'Ripping yarn' genre.
Ought I to read it?

Mage: a trap we all fell into.

GG: your brother sound a good sort:)

Mike and Anne: thank you. Excellent work.

Unknown said...

I would have to agree Pat, if I was of course serious, but luckily I am writing this in Spanish. Scarlet struggles with basic English, so she will never need to know. Bless her...

Pat said...

Chef: INCORRIGIBLE!

Ms Scarlet said...

It is fine, Pat, I am rising above it in a dignified manner.
All car journeys are difficult with Mr Files due to the amount of stops we have to make owing to his 'little problem'.... but I promise that next time we travel together I will stock up on extra soft Tena gentleman pads to make sure that he is always comfortable. I am thoughtful like that.
Sx

Unknown said...

Aye, rising above it alright, just like mustard gas over a WW1 trench my dear.

Pat said...

Scarlet and Chef: a my first MIL used to say when things looked bad
'Oh dear, dear, dear, dear!'

Ms Scarlet said...

Silly old Chef.
This is just his way of wooing me... a sort of treat 'em mean keep them keen philosophy...
It might work.
*Exits with an enigmatic smile and slightly flushed cheeks*
Sx

Unknown said...

Flushed indeed, I couldn't help but notice her ruckled skirt tucked into the back of her Victoria Secrets knickers.

Ms Scarlet said...

I like a smart man, and Mr Files is very smart.
Sx

Ms Scarlet said...

Excitement, Pat! He has written a post featuring me and talks of himself wearing no underpants whilst trying to ride a bike. The rest of his witterings can be discarded - clear evidence, I believe, that he is putty in my fingertips ( obviously I will do my best with the putty).
Sx

Unknown said...

My dearest Patricia, could I ask you to please explain to the Scarlet one, the difference between wooing and wounding?

I dread to think exactly what the putty and many other oil based substances that lurk beneath her fingernails will do to my crisp white shirts during our forthcoming bicycle adventures.

Pat said...

Chef dear: not to put too fine a point on it - in a word - no.

Unknown said...

I remove my hat at your rather frank forthrightness in this matter Patricia, my dear. I now choose to evoke the inevitable hibernicism that so becomes me and refrain from further comment until I have consumed a large quantity of green tea and partaken of a medium sized red herring and green cucumber salad.

Ms Scarlet said...

He is in denial. A textbook case.
Apologies, Pat, for cluttering your comment box.... but he started it....
:-)
Sx

Pat said...

Chef: that's OK then.
I've been working this afternoon on a profile and inevitably the thought occurred that I have never done anyone remotely like yourself. I'm sure you would shy away like spooked stallion.
However should you ever find yourself South Westwards and learned to differentiate between
Somerset and Devon and brave enough to defy my suspicious grand-daughter and promised to use words of not more than two syllables...
no forget it - it's a crazy idea.

Pat said...

Scarlet: apology accepted.

Unknown said...

Use words with less than two syllables? Good God woman, you will have me wearing xiphoid symbols on my bony protuberances and performing like an appalling grinigog bear suffering from aichmorhabdophobia next!

What an inaniloquent waste of diacritics, surely brought on by an unfortunate bout of oligophrenic reaction.

This profile, will I have to be naked?

Gadjo Dilo said...

Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness, eh what? Nice to read a prayer on a blog :-)

Pat said...

Gadjo: I hadn't thought of it as a prayer but I suppose it is.