One Thousand and One Nights, or you may know them as The Arabian Nights, is a collection of Arabic folk tales conjured up by various authors, translators and scholars in the period from about 750 C.E. to 1,257 C.E. The framing story goes that a Persian king, Shahryar, whacked his beloved wife due to her infidelities. (Without benefit of a bench trial, this was apparently how these people handled irreconcilable differences in those days.) In his grief from this embarrassment (her infidelities, not the whacking), he came to the conclusion that all women are untrustworthy.

But, ya can’t live with ’em and ya can’t live without ’em, I suppose. Therefore, he gets this brilliant idea of marrying a succession of virgins, and then simply executing each one in the morning, following the previous evening’s nuptials and, presumably, a blissful midnight at the oasis before she can run out the front flap of the tent at the crack of dawn and dishonor him with the first UPS delivery man she comes upon. Problem solved. Continue “Seeking magic carpet – new or used”

Not long ago I had the occasion to page through a coloring book that had been completed by the small child of a friend. Not sure of the child’s age, but this youngster had been unusually exacting in her work. She had carefully filled in the empty spaces of each and every cartoon character, tree and flower exactly to the bold black lines of their respective borders.

I think it takes a special kind of person to do this, that is, one who is especially meticulous, patient and attentive to detail. I would be inclined to believe that that this little girl will grow up to be an accountant or maybe an engineer. Continue “Coloring within the lines”

A summer afternoon thunderstorm in Florida is a sight to behold, at least on those rare occasions when our lives slow down long enough for us to view the event as a something other than an annoyance. If you live down here, you know how it goes: Darkening skies and winds whipping ominously through the trees warn of the approaching tempest. Birds fall silent. Then, a brilliant flash of light and a terrifying, teeth-rattling crack of thunder. The lightning bolt has surely split open the very fabric of the sky. Water cascades through the fissure, forming heavy raindrops that bombard everything below. Drainpipes gush. More flashes. More peals of thunder. Dogs and small children seek safety under bed quilts.

Continue “Stormy weather”