Writ & Whimsy

The time has come,’ the Walrus said,

      To talk of many things:

Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —

      Of cabbages — and kings —

And why the sea is boiling hot —

      And whether pigs have wings.’

Lewis Carroll

I’m determined to complete 2 things this week. My art project for my graphic design class, and the book I’ve been slowly hacking away at for the last couple of months.

The art project is “Explorations in Imagemaking” which means I have to “create a range of images of a single household object” using as wide a range of mediums as possible. Thanks to my artistic children, there is no shortage of available mediums, but buckling down to focus with the entire family iced in for most of the week was about as likely as Carroll’s winged pigs.

The book is “Foundation: The History of England From Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors” by Peter Ackroyd. I’ve always loved English literature, but I’ve been trying to fill in the gaps of my knowledge of the actual history. My interest in the older history of England was piqued by this episode of The Rest Is History podcast about Alfred the great and how he defeated the Danes. Its been fun, but its time the library had its book back.

The thing that struck me as I dug back into it today was how human humanity is. The rise and fall of Kings and shift of kingdoms in English history has a similar feel to reading about the kings of ancient Israel in the Bible. Taxes, armies, greed and influence, famine, disease; the stuff of politics and power remains much the same across time and culture. Like the kings of Israel and Judah, few of the English kings look like good men under the stark outlines of their lives recorded.

As for the cabbages, I’d better go grocery shopping. Have a great day!