What is the sound of one hand clapping?

by chuckofish

My driveway was plowed yesterday morning and the front walk cleared (with a leaf blower!) so I was free to move around the neighborhood. I went to the public library to return some books, including two murder mysteries written by A.B. Guthrie, Jr. in the 1970s, which I enjoyed. The library was closed, like a lot of other places. Officially we got 8.5 inches of snow in Kirkwood. Seems about right. Now we are adjusting to sub-zero temps and continuing to hunker down.

Today we toast two writers who both died on January 27–John Updike in 2009 and J.D. Salinger in 2010.

They are both writers I admire a lot.

In honor of the aforementioned birthdays, I re-read For Esmé–with Love and Squalor. I was pleased that I still regarded it with the same enthusiasm as I did years ago.

They sang without instrumental accompaniment–or, more accurately in their case, without any interference. Their voices were melodious and unsentimental, almost to the point where a somewhat more denominational man than myself might, without straining, have experienced levitation. A couple of the very youngest children dragged the tempo a trifle, but in a way that only the composer’s mother could have found fault with. I had never heard the hymn, but I kept hoping it was one with a dozen or more verses.

Keep warm. Happy Tuesday!