I had fun visiting with Elizabeth, Jeremy, and Alex on their recent visit. We saw them off at the airport yesterday. As of this writing they have texted a safe arrival in Vancouver. It was a long trip for them. I’m glad they made it okay. They are intrepid travelers. I admire their fortitude, stamina and general good humor, Alex especially.

Now that I have successfully installed and used the Amazon Associates kickback stuff, rest assured, dear reader, that at this point, I am not planning on cluttering up my blog with ads. Instead, when I put a link in to a book or music or whatever, I can set up the link so that if you end up purchasing anything I would get a very small kickback.

My copy of A.S. Byatt’s dual meditation on William Morris and Mariano Fortuny, Peacock and Vine, arrived at the library yesterday. I was gratified to read in it that Byatt herself had only heard of Fortuny because of Proust’s reference to him. I didn’t even remember that. Byatt weaves an engaging tour of these two lives and their surprising intertwining in her mind. I immediately pulled out my own William Morris books.

My most prized book by Morris is a numbered copy of five hundred limited copies of his Pre-Raphaelit Ballads. The picture above is not my copy. Mine has a bit more wear on it. Also, if you click on it, you will only be taken to the image I uploaded. No copy on Amazon. However, from now on, if you click on an image of a book I am talking about, it should take you to the book’s Amazon page. This should be true of the Peacock and Vine image above. I chose it, instead of a full book pic, because it was clearer than any of the book pics I could find.

If you don’t know William Morris, he was an eccentric artisan from England. He believed in the beauty of made things. He also was a writer.

I have an old paperback two volume copy of his The Well at the World’s End. They look more like this:

I don’t remember reading them. Recently I purchased a copy of Stephen Coote’s William Morris: His Life and Works.

I started reading Byatt’s book yesterday. I’m about 40 pages in (it has about 170 pages). Byatt writes interestingly about her subjects. I find Morris fascinating. I’m not sure how he entered my radar. When I think of him, I think of well made books, beautiful buildings, and beautiful design. He has a lengthy wikipedia article.

‘Botched’ Repair to China’s Great Wall Provokes Outrage – The New York Times

Eileen and I visited the Great Wall on one of our China trips. It’s fun to read about places you’ve been. However, this sounds like a travesty.