The Changing of the Guard

[sdi]

Who indeed, I suppose, could give greater voice to the changing of the guard than the Lyrist Himself?

Aye, if ye bear it, if ye endure to know
That Delphi's self with all things gone must go,
Hear with strong heart the unfaltering song divine
Peal from the laurelled porch and shadowy shrine.
High in Jove's home the battling winds are torn,
From battling winds the bolts of Jove are born;
These as he will on trees and towers he flings,
And quells the heart of lions or of kings;
A thousand crags those flying flames confound,
A thousand navies in the deep are drowned,
And ocean's roaring billows, cloven apart,
Bear the bright death to Amphitrite's heart.
And thus, even thus, on some long-destined day,
Shall Delphi's beauty shrivel and burn away,—
Shall Delphi's fame and fane from earth expire
At that bright bidding of celestial fire.

(Apollo, as quoted by Porphyry, as quoted by Eusebius, and as translated Frederic William Henry Myers)

Comments

[temporaryreality]

Wow, that's really lovely. Thanks for sharing it.

[sdi]

You're welcome!

Also, I've been wondering how things are going for you—hope all is well!

[temporaryreality]

Things are good! I had an empty house nearly all of July and so I focused on editing work (a big manuscript) and mimeographs. I'm *this* close to actually producing duplicated material, which is exciting (in contrast to the usual state-of-being in which I intensely mull the options available for resuscitating obsolete tech and discontinued supplies and don't come up with immediate answers).

Also I'm working my way through JMG's Golden Section program (and the OSA work), and gardening sporadically (things kinda go pfffftt in the hot dry summer but cucumbers are producing, and there'll be some tomatoes someday and I've gotta get some seedlings started for fall/winter things (all the things you're allergic to! Aieeee!!).

So, just busy in my usual scattershot way (internet time is a cross between browsing JMG's blogs, now and again my dreamwidth friends', and then sewing and craft sites and random public-domain searches - I am really all over the place).

And you? How've you been? Is there truly another move in the works for you all or are you able to stay put where you are for a bit?

[sdi]

That's good :) Is there anything you're dead set on making lots of copies of, or is it just the technology itself that interests you? I hope that the various dramas that were worrying you over winter are long-quieted.

I had mentioned that this is a Martial year for me, and that's been absolutely correct—no fun, but extremely productive; I just have to remind myself to keep soldiering on! Plotinus has been keeping me sane, though perhaps making my little blog here pretty boring :)

Right now we're in the months of the year where I'm allergic to the entire planet, so I've mostly been locked up for a couple months. My wife and I are expecting early next year—an Aquarius! these airy children are going to be the death of me!—and so we're working to get everything set up for that. I've managed to pick back up my winemaking hobby in a small way, and have a few gallons of wine bubbling away in the corner.

As for the move, we've been seeing lots of hints and whispers about that, but nothing definite yet; so we're still a little mystified—but keeping our eyes and ears open.

[temporaryreality]

A baby!! :) :) :) :)
Congratulations and blessings on your whole family. (I must smile one more time! :))

The dramas... I assume you're referring to my youngest and the vaccines and all that? Well, surprised me but one day out of the blue she started dropping hints that she'd stopped believing all the propaganda, "red pilled" as they say... and since then she seems to have shaken herself awake, dropped out of school and is figuring out what's next and is completely not buying the propaganda about anything any more.

I'm encouraging her to follow her little dream of selling artwork at an impromptu "makers" fair thing that happens in the next town over. In spite of two injections, she's not shown any signs of adverse anything (thank goodness). And we both snicker over the fact that at the point when she was "up to date" was when she gave me covid, and that my husband didn't get it from either of us (also uninjected).

Haha, if that wasn't the drama you meant, sorry for the info dump!

As for the mimeographs... mostly it's the tech - my plan is to do what I can to revive it (maybe hybridized to some degree), which is a huge goal because most supplies are/were the product of some industrial processes that are either kaput or petering out. My little daydream is to make low-tech printing available to stave off the dark ages! When you're bored enough but not totally sick of the internet, you can see what I've done so far: https://www.mimeographrevival.com.

As for the printing - the things I want to duplicate are things that I'd like to see in wider circulation (hence the public-domain browsing). My first offering will be up soon (for free because it's literally an offering and because it's got lots of beginner's "oopses" ... and I'll announce it on MM and on my blog) - and though I know you've read it, it may still be of interest for the novelty of it being mimeographed.

Labors of love and all that (kinda like the winemaking... which reminds me, I never did the Rumtopf post!! Now I've gotta find the recipe again, but instead of a post, I think I'll just send it to you by pm :) )

Anyway...
I haven't found your blog boring - just sometimes (uh. let's try frequently) the writings are way beyond me and I don't have much to add to any conversation.

That's ok. I'm still here and always enjoy coming across your comments in the ecosophia-sphere.

Congratulations again :)

[sdi]

A baby!! :) :) :) :)

Haha, thank you! We are wondering if this baby needed to be born with its ascendant just so, which is why we made a (presumably temporary) stop here in Oklahoma; perhaps we will move again shortly after the birth. (Bizarrely, this happened to my parents: we had always lived in the Northeast except for a ten-month stint during which my younger brother was born.)

Re-reading that sentence, it occurs to me just how strange a line of reasoning it must seem; but then, so many strange things have happened to me over the last few years...


I assume you're referring to my youngest and the vaccines and all that?

Yes, that's what I meant! I'm glad things seem to be going well and that your daughter is learning to choose her own way (and doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects so far)! At this point I'm quite convinced that my own path in life was predestined, but if I could have chosen it for myself, I'd have stayed far, far away from school. I'm sure she'll figure it out: it's hard to make plans with the world the way it is, but as the saying goes, "spring comes and the grass grows by itself."


As for the mimeographs...

That all sounds interesting! I grew up on the (early) internet, so dittos and mimeographs were before my time, and I've never seen either of them.

I'm not surprised a lot of the technology is just petering out... I have been trying to convince my (you know, affluent techno-optimist software engineer) coworkers that we are in a dark age already, and it falls on deaf ears; but what else could it be, when I can't even read things from twenty years ago because the technology—floppy disks? ZIP drives?—is obsolete and copyrighted and illegal to reverse engineer and so on and so on. Paper doesn't last long, but it lasts forever compared to bits, especially when it's easy to copy. So maybe you aren't working to get us through a dark age, but to get us out of one? :)

I'm excited to see what you produce and I'll keep an eye out for your post about it! Even if it's the text is familiar, you shouldn't discount the spiritual value of something handmade!


I never did the Rumtopf post!!

I had forgotten about that! I'd still love the recipe!

[temporaryreality]

"Re-reading that sentence, it occurs to me just how strange a line of reasoning it must seem..."

no, actually, from the "greater scheme of things" standpoint, a soul must gotta do what it's gotta do to get the things it needs each time around, right? I think there's a lot of sense there. It's the only sense I can make of my own premature birth. I must've favored August for some reason :D

and...

re: mimeographs - haha, I'm glad I piqued your interest! I'm just shy of halfway through - so maybe in a two weeks or so I'll mention its availability. As for "you shouldn't discount the spiritual value of something handmade!" I agree! Of course this is going to look VERY handmade - though hopefully not to its detriment.

[sdi]

Okay, so I actually went through your Mimeograph Revival blog, and it's great. I'm now very interested!