Nine Feet Underground

It's strange how words or phrases that you consider to be commonplace or part of a shared language don't always transfer to your children. After I showered this morning, son #3 was also going to take a shower. In jest, I said I was "done but not brown", which I thought was a good "off-the-cuff" pun. He didn't understand the pun, and so I had to explain (never the best way with puns or jokes) that "dun" is a shade of brown (greyish brown, officially), as used in the phrase "the dun cow". There are lots of pubs called "The Dun Cow" (look it up). There are als myths about them/it. Oh, well. Never mind. Whilst I was out walking, I was musing on this incident amongst other things and thought, 'I guess it's a bit like me reading Shakespeare and not understanding some of the phrases'. Like the line, "...Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo..." which many people believe (myself included, until I dug deeper) ...

Back in 2018, I heard a song that instantly captured my heart. I suppose it's a melancholy tune; several of the lyrics struck a chord and are similarly melancholic.  At the time of hearing the tune, I was beginning to emerge from the storm-tossed sea of melancholia I was immersed in. I still love the song, though I am in a much calmer and comforting sea now, thankfully. ( “God! ... Isn't the sea what Algy calls it: a great sweet mother? The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. Epi oinopa ponton. Ah, Dedalus, the Greeks! I must teach you. You must read them in the original. Thalatta! Thalatta! She is our great sweet mother. Come and look.” ) I've been listening to the song several times recently, and it struck me that it was a bit prophetic by way of both the song title ('Hello') and also its reference to Q in the second line.  I didn't know her at the time, but perhaps this song pointed to a brighter future. [Verse 1] I arrived at two from a thought I had T...