Notes - how good

         Close to noon, orndorff. You did your forty minutes but only fifteen yesterday to keep the record straight. – Amorella

         1200 hours. I was going to make up the minutes but we had things to do. We watched “Wolf Hall” last night. It is very well done. The acting and the set are wonderfully put – quite realistic to me from what I know of the history – which is mostly through books. We met several characters seen before – Cromwell, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, King Henry, Anne and Mary, a good line, “I spent last night in Spain” – Prince Arthur referring to his wedding night with Catherine of Aragon. (the line heard by guards the next morning supposedly).

         In the late eighties and early nineties you had a Renaissance Festival at Mason during school hours. You put yourself in costume. Students and faculty wanted you to be Henry VIII. A couple of other teachers of English represented two of your wives. A fun time was had. You had to sign Henry’s name for autographs. You studied up on it and attempted to make the signature look authentic. – Amorella

         2212 hours.  We had the left over Easter dinner for supper; still excellent. We also watched last Sunday’s “Battle Creek” and tonight’s “NCIS”. Thanks for bringing the Renaissance Festival up. I had forgotten about that. It was a good time. Everyone seemed to enjoy having a different sort of morning. Later, in the nineties Laney organized a Halloween parade and the seniors in our classes dressed up as did Laney, myself and other English faculty. I forget who we dressed as, but they were literary characters. I think I was a Dane a couple of times, representing the time of Beowulf (sixth century). Laney was Queen Elizabeth once and she kept asking for her lover “Robert”. Robert Dudley was his full name. I just now had to look up Dudley. I used to know all these people in my lectures by heart. I lived British history/literature for most of those 37 years teaching. When I gave the lectures I was there in my head. I would like to have met Chaucer, Edward DeVere, Milton, Swift, Blake, and Coleridge in real life. I don’t know what I would have actually said to them, but I admire their character and their works. I am assuming DeVere was the writer of Shakespeare.

         You are in heart’s memory, boy. Post. – Amorella

         2238 hours. I actually earned money by showing and telling about some of the greatest writers (and their works) in the English language. How good a life is that.