Not feeling especially placid today. Very tired of this stupid cold, but it’s still here. I have it on good information that I might be contending with it another four or five or seven days, but man!!! Yesterday a friend stopped by for a few minutes on her way from the eastern slope to the western slope. We haven’t seen each other in 3 years. I came out my front door to meet her (no one should come into this house; I’m sure it’s a virus culture) she said, “Two old women.”
It might be true, but good god…
Yesterday I read a post written my blog pal, Colin at Bon Jour from Brittany. He wrote about Abelard and Heloise. I didn’t know anything more about their story than that they were “star-crossed lovers.” The post discusses the mythology around them vs their actual letters to each other. As I read, I tried very hard to summon all my previous knowledge which is only slightly more than nothing.
We like the idea of a “star-crossed” love. It’s so roMANTic (sigh sigh sigh). Star-crossed love makes such a good story, too. All the happy love stories end in marriage; the stories are about courtship, near misses, averted tragedies and ultimate satisfaction — then marriage and the story is over. Maybe humans yearn to YEARN. But seriously; that kind of love never leads to happiness; sometimes to real misery.
Abelard paid a high price — castration — for his love affair. Maybe when the heavy clouds of this stupid cold have lifted from my brain, I’ll learn more.
“Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
Hope you are feeling better soon x the fact you are feeling annoyed with it might mean you are getting some energy back. The star crossed lovers reminded me I watched Shakespeare in Love last night. I used to find it irritating. Less so nowadays…
Hmmm maybe I should watch it. I only saw it once, when it came out.
That’s one way to make sure Abelard’s love is “pure.” 😉
Yep! all in all, it’s a pretty icky story.
That is a lovely painting and I would never have guessed it was by Dali!
Hopefully, your cold is on its last legs!! 🤞🙏🙏
I was surprised it was by Dali. Maybe he thought the story was surreal enough without any embellishment from him… I hope this cold is on its last legs, too. A friend made a wise comment; sometimes colds are just annoying and sometimes they make you sick 🤣
Haha, yes, that is a very good point! 🤣
Both yours and the one made by your friend! 😉🤗🤗
It’s kind of a weird notion star-crossed lovers… I always think star crossed lovers happens only because they can’t be together enough to know if they really are a good match. Kind of like you suggest in your second last paragraph. Romance is hard to sustain, but friendship combined with romance is much longer lasting.
I agree. Friendship all by itself is a pretty strong force. I stayed with the Good X for 12 years basically because we like each other (still) and got along well on the day-to-day. There was no romance which ultimately killed it, I think, and an absence of shared values and we didn’t communicate well (he’s on the spectrum). BUT when it ended he went on a quest to figure out how he could have done better. I honor him for that and his current 20 year marriage, and I like him very much. Between the two of us is friendship love and it has never gone away.
That’s really wonderful, and rare in couples who separate.
I guess I prefer the happy ending over the star crossed lovers where he gets castrated and she ends up in a nunnery… Romeo and Juliet never did anything for me…. I hope you are on the upswing! I’ve got the sniffles and I’m hoping it is just allergies (wishful thinking)!
IMO Romeo and Juliet is dumb. I’ve had a couple of star-crossed loves and they are simply a crucifixion. If you get this cold, give up. I think (fingers crossed) it might be moving on, but only time will tell. I can again smell things…
I hope you are feeling better. Star crossed lovers make a good story. There is hardly any happily ever after if the lovers unite. The mundanity of day to day living kills the romance. At least with the star crossed lovers one can fantasize about a happy ending. 😉
That might be the charm; the unrealized ending. 😀
True that. 😃