Allen Rickman, farewell.

WTF?! Now Allen Rickman dies? I'm not prepared for all this. David Bowie now him? Damn. Meanwhile, out in the Bird Park, the Flicker eagerly pummeled one apple to a husk and is now working on another. Her day is off to a good start anyway.

So, Allen Rickman. I loved that guy. They say his irrepressible glimmer redefined Hollywood's idea of villainy. Whatever the role, he was a great actor and, as I read, a wonderfully intelligent, kind man. This clip even brought a tear to my eye. What more can I say?

As Joshua Madoc wrote, "By Grabthar's Hammer, Sir, by the suns of Warvan... you shall be dearly missed."

Breakfast at 07:54

Well we're home and, as per, Maggie the 7 o'clock Magpie just dropped in for breakfast. First day, as usual. That's my girl. So far it's just her. She took one peanut and flew off but she must have gone off to tell the rest of the tidings because they all just arrived plus a few grackles, the Dove couple and a beautiful Northern Flicker with red underwings. Home again.

And, now that we're home, I'm hoping to get some writing done. It seems impossible when we're in Portland. Kids consume the time. I don't even have have the energy to do a blog post when we're there, yet I goad the Deconstructionist for letting her blog go dormant. It's been 10 months since her last post. However, I hear mumbling coming from her direction. I suspect a new entry is in the works.

Morning update 09:16

"The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before."
- Neil Gaiman

This morning, being gray as yesterday, calls for another log on the fire and a hot cup of coffee to get things kicked off or, if you have neither, perhaps the Neil Gaiman quote would do. It got me going. Also along with my lukewarm morning cup of coffee, I read a good article at The Atlantic by Colleen Gillard titled "Why the British Tell Better Children’s Stories". It's worth reading if you have young kids or if you're any kind of storyteller.

So, that's it for the moment. I've been away from my post here in the borderlands, tending grandchildren for awhile. It was wonderful but now we're back in the swirl, moving south and, by next week, we'll be back in Nevada though M. Lee is already planning a next adventure.

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Note: There is a good discussion of Gillard's article on Metafilter. On the whole, seems the Mefites are quite critical of it. Lots of good points.