“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald
Photo: Photographer unknown. The publicity photo was distributed by Fitzgerald’s publisher, Scribner’s., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
And I’m thankful for that. There were none of the high winds and flooding in my neighborhood that people were worried about. And today the skies were sunny and blue.
Sure, we got loads of rain yesterday. But that just seems to be the baseline for this summer.
© Tomas Castelazo, http://www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons
This was one of the very first Sherlock Holmes stories I read when I discovered Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works in the 1980’s. I would have been about … 14? 15?
It’s pretty damned cool.
Fun fact — as of January 1 of last year, all of the Holmes books and stories are now in the public domain.
THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND.
By A. Conan Doyle.
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N glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which presented more singular features than that which was associated with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. The events in question occurred in the early days of my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors, in Baker-street. It is possible that I might have placed them upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more terrible than the truth.
It was early in April in the year ’83 that I woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. He was a late riser as a rule, and, as the clock on the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter past seven, I blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits.
“Very sorry to knock you up, Watson,” said he, but it’s the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you.”
“What is it, then? A fire?” [See page 2 below]
I am linking here to ABC 7 Eyewitness News for some clips about Hurricane Gloria hitting Long Island in 1985. I smiled when I heard people talking about the long-defunct “LILCO” (The Long Island Lighting Company). It was the region’s much-maligned electricity provider (and the company behind the doomed Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant.)
Marvel Comics.
“August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
“After the Rain, Gloucester,” by Paul Cornoyer
I am delighted today to see a photo of mine published in Issue 35 of Anti-Heroin Chic. 🙂
You can find it right here at this link. (Or, you can simply link through my name in the issue’s table of contents.)
Anti-Heroin Chic has consistently been the home of some of the most raw and compelling creative work that I’ve found online. I’m honored to see one of my photos featured there, and I’m grateful to Editor Roy Duffield for selecting it.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 