Happy Birthday, William Butler Yeats!

Irish poet, 1865-1939.

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

More about Yeats at http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/

What Is So Rare…

The title of this months random thread comes from a famous but unfashionably florid poem by the 19th-century American poet James Russell Lowell…

The title of this month’s random thread comes from a famous but unfashionably florid poem by the 19th-century American poet James Russell Lowell. It starts like this:

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays;
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers…

GAPA Reunion!

Robert was in Northern California last weekend, and he and Rosanne got together with some friends and went to a Chinese restaurant. Photographic proof inside!


Rosanne looking frolicsome, as usual. Note impeccably curly hair, a result of her strict conditioner-without-shampoo regimen.


Robert looking considerably less frolicsome than usual because he had to get up at 3 a.m. Washington time to catch his plane and now has been on the go for 20 hours straight. Don’t be fooled, though: he’s really enjoying himself immensely.

Invisible Thread

An invisibility cloak isn’t necessarily just the stuff of Harry Potter stories. In last week’s Science magazine (where Robert works), theoretical physicists explain how to make invisible cloaks and whatnot — theoretically, at least. You can learn more about invisibility on Professor Ulf Leonhardt’s home page or his page on invisibility.

So, what would you do if you were invisible?

An invisibility cloak isn’t necessarily just the stuff of Harry Potter stories. In last week’s Science magazine (where Robert works), theoretical physicists explain how to make invisible cloaks and whatnot — theoretically, at least. You can learn more about invisibility on Professor Ulf Leonhardt’s home page or his page on invisibility.

So, what would you do if you were invisible?

States and Countries We’ve Lived In: v. 2006.2

In which MuseBloggers describe where they’ve lived in the past, present or future. (Because Darth Yoda asked.)
Remember, though, no names of cities or towns you currently live in. We want MuseBloggers’ identities to remain mysterious. Gigantic cities like Chicago and New York are OK too. If it’s got more than a quarter million people living there, you can give the name.

In which MuseBloggers describe where they’ve lived in the past, present or future. (Because Darth Yoda asked.) Remember, though, no names of cities or towns you currently live in. We want MuseBloggers’ identities to remain mysterious. Gigantic cities like Chicago and New York are OK too. If it’s got more than a quarter million people living there, you can give the name.