cheerfulmonk.com

I took a little walk yesterday. In a nearby neighborhood:

And over to the pond:

I’m lucky to have them so close.

October 26, 2025

I can understand the appeal.

B.C.

October 25, 2025

I decided to look around for other poems like Camus’s and Oliver’s, and found Invictus. I had read the last four lines years ago,

I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

But I hadn’t read the whole poem,

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
—William Ernest Henley (1849-1903), Victorian poet

And I hadn’t read about the story behind it. The poem came from Henley’s personal experience — his reaction to being diagnosed with tuberculosis of the bone when he was twelve years old, having a leg amputated below the knee in his late teens, and suffering many bouts of extreme pain. He wrote Invictus and other poems while being hospitalized for a couple of years in his mid-20s.

According to Wikipedia, after Henley’s death in 1903 an acquaintance in Boston wrote a piece about her impression of Henley,

There was in him something more than the patient resignation of the religious sufferer, who had bowed himself to the uses of adversity. Deep in his nature lay an inner well of cheerfulness, and a spontaneous joy of living, that nothing could drain dry, though it dwindled sadly after the crowning affliction of his little daughter’s death.

Wow! I’m glad I looked.

October 24, 2025

of pushing back.

Don’t Hesitate

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are
plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed
or about to be. We are not wise, and not very
often kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left.
Perhaps this is its way of fighting back,
that sometimes something happens better than
all the riches or power in the world.
It could be anything, but very likely you notice it
in the instant when love begins.
Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

What brings you joy? How do you fight, push back, against all the nastiness and bad news? How do you affirm that experiences like kindness, love, laughter, beauty, peace are more important than all the power and riches in the world?

October 23, 2025

Sunday’s post, about Kipling’s If, reminds me of a poem I like even better. It’s Camus’s Invincible, which I have written about before:

In the midst of hate, I found there was,
within me, an invincible love.

In the midst of tears, I found there was,
within me, an invincible smile.

In the midst of chaos, I found there was,
within me, an invincible calm…

I realized, through it all, that…

In the midst of winter, I found there was,
within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that
no matter how hard the world pushes against me,
within me, there’s something stronger –
something better, pushing right back.

I find Kipling’s poem focused, youthful, and energetic, and Camus’s quieter, deeper, and equally as powerful. What do you think?

October 22, 2025

Hurray for October and falling leaves! The past few days have been glorious here, and this cover of The New Yorker expresses that joy and exuberance.

About accessing a higher resolution of yesterday’s Calvin and Hobbes cartoon — I accidentally published a draft, not the final version. Clicking on it now should work.

Calvin and Hobbes

Happy October!

October 21, 2025

Calvin and Hobbes

(For higher resolution, click on the picture.)

Hurray for autumn! That’s where Andy and I are in our lives, and we don’t take anything for granted. We try to savor what we have while we still have it.

October 20, 2025

After all these years a few of the lines from Kipling’s poem If have suddenly popped up and have been going through my head. Here’s the poem:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

We memorized the poem in grammar school. The sexism didn’t bother me — the sentiment resonated and stuck. The lines

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

are especially relevant today. Yes, things are getting scary, and there are no guarantees. But that’s no reason to get discouraged and beaten down.

October 19, 2025

First some commenters said the crane should have parked somewhere else Wednesday night so people could have parked in those spaces.

Actually, they needed room to work Thursday. I watched as they parked the crane and extended it to keep that area free of cars.

Also Ginny said she thought the stairs would be safer now because before there was too much open space between the steps.

Yes, we had to be careful before. The steps were about the same width, but the inside of each step was slightly under the step above it so it was easy to trip if we didn’t pay attention. Now we can use the whole width of the step without having to worry. Also the old steps were unevenly spaced so we had to pay attention to that too.

We may have more trouble removing snow from the steps now. Before we could kick or brush it through the open spaces. Those open spaces are a lot smaller now.

We’ll have to see. I’ll let you know! In the meantime, we’re very pleased.

October 18, 2025

Old:

New:

Yes, it’s a big improvement!

We had no way of getting down while they were working, so Andy got up at 6 a.m. so he could be out before 8 and go up to the land. He made the right choice. They didn’t start working until about 9:30 and weren’t done until about 2:30. He would have had to stay down here all day. I was happy to stay in and watch how they did it.

October 17, 2025