Mice, Men, Grapes, Wrath, And A Tree

     

Tucson Weather Today


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WARNING: Today is April 15

Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam

 

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While walking westward on the sidewalk that runs alongside Speedway Boulevard, I noticed one result of the recent high winds here in Tucson. One of the trees near the MaGee School pedestrian crossover had been completely uprooted.

This is my first shot

 

A closer closeup

 

An even closer closeup

 

Nature has its own methods of showing contempt for the planned plantings and other temporary works of puny Man. Or perhaps it is not contempt after all, but is instead, merely a monumental indifference.

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At The Writer's Almanac I read about The Grapes of Wrath. Paraphrased, it says that The Grapes of Wrath is a novel that tells the story of three generations of the Joad family, who lose their farm in Oklahoma and set off across the country for California, only to encounter extreme poverty and corrupt corporations trying to make a profit off them. The author, John Steinbeck, wrote the novel at an incredible rate, about two thousand words a day. He finished it in about five months. When he was done, he wasn't very satisfied with it, writing in his journal, "It's just a run-of-the-mill book, and the awful thing is that it is absolutely the best I can do."

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TWO MAJOR EVENTS IN HISTORY

On April 15, 1865 at 7:22 a.m., Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, died from a bullet wound inflicted the night before by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer. The president's death came only six days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox, effectively ending the American Civil War.


Also on this day, April 15, in 1912, the RMS Titanic, billed as unsinkable, sank into the icy waters of the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage, killing 1,517 people.

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WORD FOR TODAY

Gang aft agley
translation
oft go astray

From: To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS


Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery

(April 15, 1933 – May 18, 1995)

 

Elizabeth Montgomery was an American film and television actress whose career spanned five decades. The daughter of Robert Montgomery, she began her career in the 1950s with a role on her father's television series Robert Montgomery Presents. In the 1960s, she rose to fame as Samantha Stephens on the ABC sitcom Bewitched. After Bewitched ended its run in 1972, Montgomery continued her career with roles in numerous television films. In 1974, she portrayed Ellen Harrod in A Case of Rape and Lizzie Borden in the 1975 television film The Legend of Lizzie Borden. Both roles earned her additional Emmy Award nominations.

Roy Linwood Clark
(born April 15, 1933)

 

Roy Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Roy Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre.

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson
(born 15 April 1990)

 

Emma Watson is an English actress and model. She rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series; she was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having previously acted only in school plays. She starred in all eight Harry Potter films, alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint.

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev
(April 15, 1894 - September 11, 1971)

 

Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964.

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"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley."
--Robert Buns