Grass widow

I am listening to the audiobook version of Robertson Davies’ novel Fifth Business, and he used the term ‘grass widow’. I’d never heard this expression before, so paused to look it up. 

According to Mirriam-Webster, a grass widow can mean:

- a discarded mistress

- a woman who has had an illegitimate child

- a woman whose husband is temporarily away from her

- a woman divorced or separated from her husband

It feels very archaic... and it is. The first known use was in 1699 (the illegitimate child). 

I’ve also seen more modern definitions in which the grass is a metaphor for a golf green, where one’s spouse might disappear to. 

Indigenous Storymap

Cool project.

Douglas College Geography Department Lab Technician Sasha Djakovic spent over 4 years mapping Indigenous territories for the Province of British Columbia and presented his work as a StoryMap.

View the story map here

Apocrypha

It’s a good day: I learned a new word. A CBC radio interview about a new podcast, The Apocrypha Chronicles, introduced me to the word.

Apocrypha refers to something hidden or secret. It comes from Greek and is formed from the combination of apo (away) and kryptein (hide or conceal). 

The word was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered too profound or too sacred to be disclosed to anyone other than the initiated. Today apocrypha refers to works of unknown authorship or doubtful origin.

Alice Koller

 An Unknown Woman by Alice Koller became best seller, but to me it was just a pivotal book that I enjoyed immensely. 

Interestingly, I ‘discovered’ it when it was sitting atop a stack of books in a bedroom in a decorating magazine. I liked the room, and became curious about occupant, so pulled out my magnifying glass and copied down the title and author. Bizarre but true. 

Her story of selling everything, getting a dog and hiking up in a cabin on the beach in Maine in the winter appealed. *

I was thinking of the book today, on International Women’s Day, and looked to see if it was on Audible, sadly not. Though I probably have a copy around here somewhere ...,

In the process,I discovered that she passed away in 2020. Alice Koller dead at 94 - New York Times

*As a side note, I also enjoyed May Sarton’s Journal of Solitude, penned in a similar setting.

Canada Reads 5/5

I am all ready for Canada Reads 2021. It was only a week or so ago when I realized that I wanted to read all five books prior to the debates this year ... and I finished the last one last night. I listened, via Audible, and that’s what made it possible (otherwise I’m a slow reader),

Which is my favourite? It’s hard to say, as I enjoyed them all. They were all so different! I could see any one of them winning. I confess my heart lies with Johnny Appleseed. Not only is it a truly great book, at this time of Truth and Reconciliation it gave me a greater understanding of the indigenous experience in Canada, which is important to me. As the Canada Reads 2021 is a book to transport you, I am not sure it will win, if the panelists take that theme literally. If that’s the case, Butter, Honey, Pig, Bread really did that for me, as I really left Canada. I could make a case for the others too. 

Should be more fun to lister to the debates this year. 

Legend of a Mind

Tonight I am listening to an especially good concert recording, the Moody Blues at Red Rocks. Recorded in 1992, the band was accompanied by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. I’m listening for free on Apple Music. It’s worth a listen if you haven’t heard it. 

What drew me to post was the Timothy Leary’s dead lyrics. The psychologist and 60’s LSD advocate was actually alive at the time the song was first recorded in 1968 on the In Search of the Lost Chord album. 

There’s a good backgrounder on pophistorydig.com.