Petrarch's Love is having a birthday!

[andave_ya]

Happiest of days to you!

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[kiz_paws]

Hope you have a very happy birthday, Petrarch's Love!

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s122/kiz_paws/birthday%20LitNet/catswavinginwindow.gif
~K♥zzo

[downing]

Happy Bthday!

[papayahed]

Happy Birthday!!!

[mono]

:bday_2:

Happy Birthday, Petrarch's Love! I hope you have a great one!


Here stands Petrarch himself, to sing you a 'Happy Birthday' ballad, I suppose in the form of an Italian sonnet. In rehearsal, he put Marilyn Monroe's singing the birthday song to JFK to shame! --

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[dramasnot6]

Happy,happy birthday to a brilliant poet!

Hope you get lotsa good books!

[Amundsen]

!!!!!!!!!!Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!

[manolia]

Happy birthday :)

[Virgil]

Happy Birthday my dear friend. :bday_2::bday_2: Another year older? You're catching up to me. :D Some presents for you.

http://www.cathedralcatholic.org/academics/homework/johnson/Chaucer%20on%20horse.jpg


http://coolest-birthday-cakes.shippony.com/images/theme/fantasy/castles/castle-birthday-cakes-105.jpg

[motherhubbard]

Happy Birthday!

[JBI]

Buon Compleanno!

[subterranean]

Ay, happy birthday!:bday_2:

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[Janine]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETRARCH! Many Happy Returns:)

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p70/sealace/FlowersForBirthdays/PinkRoses.jpg

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[kratsayra]

Happy Birthday Petrarch! I hope your work is going well! :)

[LostPrincess13]

Feliz compleaÑos!:d

[subterranean]

Happy Birthday my dear friend. :bday_2::bday_2: Another year older? You're catching up to me. :D Some presents for you.

http://coolest-birthday-cakes.shippony.com/images/theme/fantasy/castles/castle-birthday-cakes-105.jpg



So you must be 6 or 7 yo... :D :D

[Petrarch's Love]

Thank you everyone! I did indeed have a lovely birthday. I held a Charles Dickens themed party, since it was his birthday yesterday too, and a good time was had by all.

Kiz Paws--I love the little animated kitties. How cute.

Mono--Oh my goodness! Seldom have I laughed so hard. I may have to make Petrarch playing the guitar my avatar for a little while.

Virg.--Hoorah! Chaucer and a castle. Since I'm writing a chapter on Chaucer and architecture right now, I think I should just turn in those pictures and say the job's done. A picture says a thousand words, right?

Sub--What a pretty pen set. Thanks!

Janine--Oh, I like all the pink flowers. That cake is gorgeous. Thanks!

And thank you to everyone else for the Birthday wishes!


So you must be 6 or 7 yo... Just turning 5, according to Virg's cake. I'm the youngest person in my PhD program. It's a little hard exerting class control when you're about 15 years younger than your students, but I do my best. :D

[subterranean]

Thank you everyone! I did indeed have a lovely birthday. I held a Charles Dickens themed party, since it was his birthday yesterday too, and a good time was had by all.


What's Charles Dickens themed party like?

[SleepyWitch]

Happy Birthday, PL!

http://www.britishshakespeare.ws/images/uploads/shakesbday.jpg

[Wilde woman]

Belated happy birthday! Any fan of Italian poets is a friend of mine. :D

[Pensive]

Happy Belated Birthday, Petrarch! Hope you had a wonderful time. :)

[eyemaker]

Bekated Happy Birthday! :D I hope party's not yet over :)

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn108/favafava/20.gif

[Petrarch's Love]

Thanks again to everyone else who's posted. I love the festive bard, Sleepy, and the happy animated mouse with cake, eyemaker!

Sub--The Dickens party consisted of several phiz illustrations from the novels hung from my ceiling fan as decor, and little signs all over the place with pictures of the characters identifying "Mr. Pickwick's Punch," Mr. Micawber's Brews," "David Copperfield's Cake" etc. I also gave away party gifts to the people who guessed the right answers in the Dickens quote contest, and we played some Victorian era songs on the piano. The martinis and cosmos may not have been strictly Dickensian, but I'm sure Mr. Dickens would have approved. :)

[Scheherazade]

Hope you had a great day, PL! :)

An interview with Petrarch's Love:

1. How did you come about this site and what makes you keep coming back?
It was the first place online I found with a searchable text of Shakespeare’s complete works. One day while searching for a quote I decided to check out the forums. I’ve kept coming back because I enjoy the conversations I have with the people here. Reading the posts from the large number of students on this site also helps me think through how to go about teaching my own students.

2. Are you happy with the way things are here?
Can’t think of any complaints. Though I’ve been too busy of late to spend much time around here.

3. Have you visited other countries than your own and what did you like about it or not like? If you could live somewhere different from where you live now, where would it be and why?
I’ve been to Canada, England, France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. I loved seeing all the places I visited. Meeting new people, sampling wonderful food and drink, all the art! I adore travel. My favorite trip had to be my term abroad when I lived for a little over three months in Siena Italy, right near Florence. I loved every minute of it. I stayed with a lady who only spoke Italian, so I had to learn the language fast, and living in a little Medieval hill town like Siena was a dream come true. I didn’t think I would especially miss anything about the US, but by the end of the stay I did find that I missed the diversity of people that we have in many places of the United States. Even things like the huge choice of international cuisine we have in the states because of all the different immigrant groups in the country was something I took for granted while I lived here, but started to miss a little while in Tuscany (although I wasn’t exactly starving as I consumed one sublime Italian meal after another). Not, of course, that the US is the only place you can find a diverse international culture, but it is one feature of my homeland that I hadn’t fully appreciated before I spent time elsewhere.

In terms of living somewhere other than where I do now, I would go live in California again in a heartbeat to escape the frozen winters of Chicago (though we actually got up to freezing today, so things are looking a wee bit warmer). If I was to live someplace internationally? I think I would go back to Italy again. Warm climate, breathtakingly beautiful places, great food, and I can get by speaking the language.

4. Do you have any pets?
Yes, I have a pet bird named Spenser. He’s a green cheek conure, which is a small kind of parrot.

5. What makes you happy?
Lots of things make me happy. This last Saturday on my birthday I was very happy eating chocolate mousse cake topped with raspberries from the French bakery. I was also very happy to be surrounded by congenial friends. Reading Spenser’s Muiopotmos or Tolkien’s The Hobbit also make me absurdly happy.

6. What is mankind's biggest achievement, and its greatest downfall?
Our biggest achievement is the ability of a person to imagine and to empathize with what it is to be a person outside him or herself. Our greatest downfall is that we are too easily able to turn off that ability in favor of self interest.

7. If you had a long day of hard work ahead of you what music would you be playing on your mp3, while working?
Vivaldi or Bach.

8. If you could take one book, music album and one video with you to a desert island, what would they be?
The book would be Shakespeare’s complete works. The music is a tough one, but I suppose I would go with my CD of Beethoven’s 5th and 6th symphonies conducted by Von Karajan. Video, maybe I’d go with a collection of Charlie Chaplin films (if I had to choose just one, it would be City Lights). That would give me a nice mix of comedy and tragedy to suit many moods.

9. Do you feel comfortable in your walk with God?
We’re strolling along amicably.

10. Which actor should play you in a movie based on your life?
Ingrid Bergman, if I get to pick from actors no longer with us. If I have to be realistic and pick someone living maybe I would go with Gwyneth Paltrow. She did a pretty good job playing a blonde intellectual at the University of Chicago in Proof (though hopefully my life is just a tad less messed up than the character in that film).

11.Given the option, what animal would you choose to be?
It’s a tough choice between being a bird and being a dolphin.

12. What were your favorite things to do the past? What about now?
I must be relatively boring and consistent. Reading and writing have topped the list from about age six. I’ve always loved classical music, art etc. I did love to swim and walk on the beach every day when I lived in California and can’t do that anymore while I’m in Chicago. I suppose it’s some comfort to get to attend concerts at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and take walks to admire the architecture of this amazing city though. When the weather’s nice I can walk along the lake, too, which is lovely, but not quite the same as the ocean.

13. What activities make you lose track of time?
Too many. I have a habit when I study of listening to music and knitting while I’m reading, which pretty effectively drowns out the outside world, sometimes to a fault. Yesterday, for example, I was sitting in my office with the IPod playing Haydn and working on a pair of gloves while completely absorbed in a book on the history of architectural metaphor and completely lost track of the fact that the period for my office hours had started. A student came in who was apparently too shy to tap me on the shoulder and make his presence known, so he sat there for severl minutes before I realized he was there!

14. What makes you feel great about yourself?
Seeing that “aha!” moment when a student gets it. Knowing I’ve helped someone with a problem they have, or helped them learn something that has added to their life in a positive way.

15. Who inspires you most? (Anyone you know or not. Family, friends, authors, artists, leaders, etc.) Which qualities inspire you, in each person?
My parents have taught me more than I could ever put down here, but mostly about how to love others and to value family and friendship above everything. My grandmother was a tremendous inspiration to me: lit. professor, published author, hostess of wonderful parties, world traveler well into her 80’s…she was a model of how to live your life happily and successfully. A former college professor of mine was also a great inspiration to me in both my life and career. He modeled for me how to be a judicious and open minded scholar and taught me never to dismiss another person’s thoughts and opinions out of hand, but to think them through and to find what is reasonable and true in that opinion, only then dismissing what is wrong or unacceptable. It was from him that I first began to understand, on a conscious level, the idea that maintaining the integrity of your convictions does not mean being inflexible, but indeed must mean entertaining even ideas that challenge these convictions, and sometimes, after careful consideration, being open to shifting your own ideas accordingly. The ability to keep a truly open mind to others is valuable, not only in approaching scholarly ideas, but in understanding and interacting with people in life, and this same professor taught me a great deal about personal kindness, patience and respect.

16. What are you naturally good at? (Skills, abilities, gifts etc.)
I have a talent for writing and for helping others learn. I’ve also been told by a lot of people that I’m a good listener, and I’m not a bad knitter either, which probably helps with the listening.

17. What do people typically ask you for help in?
Understanding poetry and writing essays have to top the list. A lot of friends tend to come to me for help for all sorts of problems, though, probably because of the aforementioned listening skills.

18. If you had to teach something, what would you teach?
I do teach Renaissance Literature, which is a wonderful thing to teach. If I wasn’t teaching lit., I would love to teach Art History. In fact, my class in the fall was partly Art History based, so I suppose I do teach that to some extent too. I've sometimes taught people how to knit or how to play a little piano, too, and I think it would be fun to teach something artistic like music or handicrafts on a more formal basis.

19. What would you regret not fully doing, being or having in your life?
The biggest things I can imagine regretting, if they did not happen for some reason, would be not having found my true love someday (he’s out there somewhere, I know!) and not having children with said true love.

20. What song is in your head at the moment?
“Va Pensiero,” the big chorus from Verdi’s opera, Nabucco

people want to know about my nerdy reading habits.

21. The last book you bought/borrowed from the library?
I borrow so many books from the library (I have over 80 out at the moment) that I’m not sure I can remember. I think it was a volume on Boethius.

22. Which book are you reading at the moment?
Several. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Chaucer’s “House of Fame” for my dissertation chapter, and reading a lot of crit. The critical book I’ve been mostly reading the past couple days is one called Castles of the Mind about the history of architectural metaphor and allegory from the classical period through the middle ages. I’m also re-reading Camoes’ Os Lusiadas for the class I’m course assistant for. That’s probably as much as people want to know about my nerdy reading habits.

23. The last book you finished reading?
Sometimes I feel like I never actually finish reading books anymore, because so much of what I read is stuff I keep coming back to and going over again and again for my work as a lit. scholar. That’s not a very fun answer, though. The most recent book I finished reading and hadn’t read before was, I think, Leonard Barkan’s Unearthing the Past, which is a fascinating study of archeology and culture in the Renaissance.

24. Favorite food?/ Comfort food?
Anything that involves chocolate and fruit together is good in my book. I’m very fond of Fettucine Alfredo and of good Mexican food. Homemade baked macaroni and cheese the way my grandmother made it fits the comfort food bill.

25. What time of day do you most often find yourself on the LitNet?
Not sure that there’s a specific time. Usually when I have a spare moment. I sometimes just check in right after I check my e-mail in the late morning, but usually don’t have time to post anything then. Probably I participate most in the evening when I’ve gotten back from campus.

26. What are you wearing at the moment?
Grey pants and the new blue sweater I got for my birthday.

27. Favorite poem?
Egads, what a question! It’s like having a few thousand children and being asked to play favorites. If I have to choose, I guess I’ll go for Spenser’s Faerie Queene, though it seems a shame to leave out Shakespeare’s sonnets or the works of John Keats, and a sin to leave out Paradise Lost.

28. First novel you remember reading on your own?
The first non “picture” book I remember reading was Raggedy Ann and the Golden Butterfly. I was six, and it was a complete revelation to me. I’ll never forget sitting in the hallway of my childhood home where I thought I would just sit down and just try to make my way through a difficult book, and the way I got so completely absorbed in a story for the first time that when I finally looked up I realized it had grown dark outside. I was wholly unprepared that reading could do that! Not sure if Raggedy Ann counts as a novel or not, though. I suppose A Little Princess or Little Women might count more in that category.

29. Favorite TV shows?
I like the show Monk. I’m also a pretty regular Daily Show watcher. I love the American Experience and American Masters series on PBS. We also have a couple of stations here in Chicago that play lots of old TV, so I’ve been enjoying watching The Jack Benny Show, Burns and Allen, The Honeymooners, and The Dick Van Dyke Show.

30. Which LitNet members would you like to meet in person if you could?
I’d be happy to meet any of my friends here on Lit. Net.

31. Favorite post on the Forum?
Goodness, I can’t think of a particular post that I favor above all others. I enjoy learning from many of the people here.

32. Favorite thread?
Threads in the poetry section tend to be good. The Larry the Leprechaun thread is also a favorite, though Larry doesn’t seem to have been up to much lately. I also like these groups, like the music appreciation group that have been established recently.

33. Last food did you have?
A cheese sandwich for lunch.

34. Last words you said out loud?
“See you tomorrow” to a friend on the phone.

35. Last person you hugged/kissed?
I hugged all my friends goodbye as they left my party Saturday. No bf at the moment, so no romantic kissing of late.

36. What do you do (for a living) to be able to keep your LitNet addiction going? And are you happy with your chosen profession?
I’m a grad. student and also teach part time while writing the dissertation. I am exceedingly happy with my chosen profession, but will be more happy when it finally involves full time employment and steady pay as a professor one of these days.

37. What question would you like to ask yourself?
Why would I possibly need to ask myself any more questions than this?:p

38. What would you like to be if you could change your profession?
First of all, I wouldn’t change my profession. If I was going to be something else though, I would probably write professionally. I don’t know how well I’d do with the pace of newspaper journalism, so I’d probably try doing freelance work for magazines, maybe some ghostwriting and such things (tech writing only if desperate) for bread and butter while writing fiction on the side in hopes it would one day take off. I could also see myself going into archival or research work for a library. If I were to choose something unrelated to my current field, and if I were able to imagine a new set of skills for myself, I think I would love to be a professional musician, but that’s very clearly not going to happen with my current level of musical ability.

39. Least favorite book/song/movie?
I don’t think in terms of least favorite a lot. In terms of books, the only one I never actually made it through after starting was the Da Vinci Code, though I feel like I should have read the whole thing before marking it as least favorite. The first song that comes to mind is that one that goes, “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?” They used to play it over and over on a Heineken commercial and I stopped drinking the beer. I didn’t have a problem with the song until that commercial for some reason, though. That film As Good as it Gets, in which Jack Nicholson plays a hateful person with OCD pops into my head for one of the least favorite films.

40. The most generous thing you have done?
Matthew 6:3

41. What is your most outstanding feature?
As with most, people, I think my nose stands out a bit more than the rest of me. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Physically the thing people notice the most about me is my hair, which is long and blonde. Otherwise people most often remark on either my patience of my intellectual curiosity.

42. If you could change one thing about the way you look, what would that be?
I don’t think I would change anything. I’m happy with the way I look right now.

43. Which book do you wish you had written?
How about Hamlet. I’d like to have the ability to write nearly flawless blank verse that also conveys complex psychological portraits and philosophical ideas while retaining the ability to make a profound emotional impact on the reader.

44. What is your favorite book cover?
Hmm…good question. I’ll go with the first edition cover of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

45. Most and least favorite characters from books?
I was just thinking of Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing, who’s one of my favorite female Shakespeare characters. I suppose it depends upon what criteria you think of characters as favorite. There are characters I like, such as Mr. Harding from Trollope’s Barchester series, or Bilbo Baggins from Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and then there are characters that one can’t really like, but are fabulously entertaining, like Lady Macbeth or Satan from Paradise Lost. Least favorite characters? Putting aside badly written characters, I have a dislike for some of the characters in Faulkner, who can be repulsive and self absorbed to the point of annoyance.

46. What would your biography be titled?
How about In Realms of Gold. It’s taken from the first line of Keats’ sonnet “On Chapman’s Homer,” “Much have I travelled in realms of gold…” which is a metaphor for the experience of reading. I think it would be the perfect title for the life of an academic, and could do double duty as an allusion to the land of my birth, the golden state of California.

47. What should you be doing at the moment instead of answering these questions?
Writing a dissertation.

48. Wonderful Superman or depressing Batman?
Wonderful Superman.

49. The most embarrassing moment in your life?
I’m not sure I can come up with the most embarrassing moment off the bat, but I was pretty embarrassed a few months ago in the fall when the back of my skirt somehow got tucked into the waistband of my tights and I managed to walk around campus for about a half hour without noticing (I was wearing pretty thick tights, so it didn’t feel too breezy back there). Luckily someone let me know that I’d better cover my behind just before I went in to teach a class on amorous poetry in the Renaissance, or I definitely would have had most embarrassing story of a lifetime right there.

50. Which literary character (s) have you been told to resemble the most?
In the past I was told I was like Emma from Austen’s eponymous novel. I think I’m also much like Elinor in Sense and Sensibility. When I was younger I wanted to be a writer like Jo in Little Women.

51. List some of the things that annoy you immensely.
Students who come into office hours, purportedly for help, but end up yelling at you that you’ve somehow missed the fact that they are indeed a great writer and clearly deserve to receive an A without putting any additional effort into the course. People who are consistently intolerant of others. Weather below 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

52. Anything that you want to forget but you never can?
There are things I wish had just never happened, but I’m not sure that’s the same thing as wanting to forget. All of my memories, good and bad, have contributed to who I am, so I have mixed feelings about the idea of erasing any of them. Still, I think I could live without a few, like the months while my Mom was in a coma, or my own times in hospital.

53. Tell us about some amusing translation mistake you have heard or made yourself.
My funniest translation mistake was literally miraculous. While I was studying abroad in Italy I stayed with a woman who only spoke Italian, so I had to pick the language up pretty quickly. I happened to be staying there while Padre Pio was being made a Saint, and it was on the news one night. I was trying to tell her that my grandfather was familiar with the life of Padre Pio and had been talking to me about him, and I somehow said something that made her think that my grandfather had been visited by the blessed saint! She started laughing and praying and talking about how great it was to know someone in such close connection to a miracle. I tried for a little while to explain that something had been added in the translation, but I finally gave up and figured it wasn’t doing any harm if she believed she had a personal connection to one of the saint’s miracles. I figured I had better improve my language skills quickly, though, before I said something that had her taking me off on a train to the Vatican to talk to the Pope.

54. If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you choose and why?
What a horrible question. I guess my sense of smell would be most expendable, but I wouldn’t be happy about giving it up.

55. What’s the first thing you’ll do in an embarrassing situation?
If I’m the one embarrassed I’ll try to laugh at myself. If it’s someone else, I’ll try to tell a similar type of embarrassing story about myself so they know they’re not alone.

56. Are you mostly happy with life or are you still in pursuit?
Both. I’m very happy with life right now, but also have a lot yet to do and achieve in the future.

57. Are you male or female?
female

58. What gives your life meaning?
The people I love, and the beautiful things of this world.

59. What type of Faerie would you like to be and why?
I would like to be a Faerie of the water, because I think it would be beautiful to live under the sea or to glide in the depths of a river. I’ve always felt very at home in water.

60. One final word of wisdom for LitNet users?
Though you may travel the world to find the beautiful, you must have it within you or you will find it not. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

61. What would you like to ask to the person to be interviewed after you?
What makes you laugh?

[bluevictim]

Happy belated birthday, Petrarch's Love!

I happen to be down in HB visiting my folks, so here are some photos of home you and your friends here might enjoy. These are some sights that should be familiar from Petrarch's Love's childhood (except a lot has probably changed):

Here's Huntington Beach Pier. The building at the end is a Ruby's (the Ruby's is somewhat recent, it might not have been there when Petrarch's Love was growing up)
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/bluevictim/IMG_1117.jpg

Here's a view of Main Street from the pier (Ruby's is behind the camera).
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/bluevictim/IMG_1080.jpg

Here's a Pelican hoping to score some food off the the people fishing from the pier.
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/bluevictim/IMG_1084.jpg

The only thing missing is a shirtless David Hasselhoff!
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/bluevictim/IMG_1107.jpg

And, of course, the Huntington Beach Public Library, which on the outside probably looks way different than when Petrarch's Love was growing up, but the inside has changed remarkably little.
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l11/bluevictim/IMG_1053.jpg

[Virgil]

Great interview Petrarch!! You're such an interesting person. This part of the interview caught my eye:

51. List some of the things that annoy you immensely.
Students who come into office hours, purportedly for help, but end up yelling at you that you’ve somehow missed the fact that they are ...
Now I've disagreed with a teacher or two in lmy ife but I could never, ever imagine yelling at a teacher. If I were you I would make it clear that if any student ever dared to yell at you, he would automatically fail. Perhaps you should put a sign on your door to that effect.

You need to get back to Tuscany and find that perfect Italian man to make your husband. ;)

Oh and my mother is a Padre Pio devotee. I can't quite understand why him, but I guess he struck a chord with certain people, especially it seems those of my mother's generation.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

20. What song is in your head at the moment?
“Va Pensiero,” the big chorus from Verdi’s opera, NabuccoYou too, eh? That just happens to be one of my all time favourites. :thumbs_up

/Claes

[stlukesguild]

Chaucer and architecture, eh? Now that sparks some intriguing images to my mind:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k255/Stlukesguild/ChaucerandArchitecturesm.jpg

Happy Birthday, Petrarch. We are counting the days until your return and we can begin our Chaucer discussion proper. :bday_2:

[Petrarch's Love]

Thanks for the additional birthday greetings!

Blue--Ah, home sweet home. You're clearly trying to make me wistful and homesick with those sunny HB pictures as I sit here contemplating Chicago's fresh new dusting of snow. Nice pictures, especially the one of the Pelican. They're not always easy to get. I still live in HB about a quarter of the year, since I'm there all summer and a couple weeks around Christmas, so everything looks familiar, but I suppose a lot of things have changed since I was a kid. The downtown has really changed a lot in the past decade or more, hasn't it? The old pier blew down when I was in about second grade, but the Ruby's adorned one was definitely in place by the time I was in highschool, since some of my friends worked there and we used to hang out and laugh about those short candy cane looking dresses the waitresses wear. Good old library hasn't changed a lot, as you say. I'm there most Tuesday nights when I'm in town helping my mom as a volunteer at the Friends of the Library gift shop inside. For a slightly different mood, here's a few sunset shots I took on that same beach around the pier before I left in early January:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/LeonardoD/010.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/LeonardoD/024.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/LeonardoD/039.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/LeonardoD/042.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/LeonardoD/063.jpg

[Petrarch's Love]

Now I've disagreed with a teacher or two in lmy ife but I could never, ever imagine yelling at a teacher. If I were you I would make it clear that if any student ever dared to yell at you, he would automatically fail. Perhaps you should put a sign on your door to that effect.

Yeah, I'm not too keen on students yelling at teachers either. Fortunately the kid dropped the class before I had a chance to hit the "F" button. I was greatly relieved, because he was already sinking into the D range and hurtling toward failing as he yelled at the teacher, but I was dreading having to give him a low grade because he was just the type to file some sort of appeal and try to make my life unpleasant. :sick:


You need to get back to Tuscany and find that perfect Italian man to make your husband.

Not a bad idea. You got any good looking young cousins over there for me? :D


You too, eh? That jst happens to be one of my all time favourites.

Yep. Always been a Verdi fan. I'm sitting in on a course on Shakespeare and the Opera right now, co-taught by a famous Shakespeare scholar and a famous Verdi scholar, so I've had lots of Verdi on the brain lately. We aren't covering Nabucco in the class, obviously, since it's not Shakespeare related, but it's been stuck in my head a lot anyway lately. My trip to see Tristan und Isolde thursday night seems to have knocked it out of my head, though. Now I've got the liebestod stuck in there. :)


Chaucer and architecture, eh? Now that sparks some intriguing images to my mind:



Happy Birthday, Petrarch. We are counting the days until your return and we can begin our Chaucer discussion proper.

:lol:Chaucer and Gehry! That's fabulous, Saint Luke's. I should put that up in my office as motivation. You've also clarified for me that I'm going about this chapter the completely wrong way. Why am I researching gothic structures when I should clearly be analyzing the obvious parallels between Chaucer's prosody and the Gehry pavillion down at Millenium Park. Maybe I could find ways to incorporate Disney Hall when I'm back in L.A.

I had been almost thinking I might have more time soon, but I dare not start committing myself to proper conversations again when I've just hit a bit of a snag in the research and am anticipating a round of student papers early next week. Hoping I can carve out some time soon to get some Chaucer talk going around here, though...for now it's just in for a brief hello now and again.

[Pendragon]

A birthday, huh? Well what do you know,
Time passes like a lightning train,
The seasons come and the seasons go
Musical notes in life's sweet refrain
Another year with its triumphs and woes,
Blessings counted and obstacles overcome
Life is like the wind that shivers and blows
What will count in the end are the things that you've done
So blow out the candles and cut the cake,
Enjoy your time with family and friends.
Laughter and joy for make no mistake
Life goes on, on and on until it ends
Wishing you the very best on your day of days
And many happy returns to further birthdays...

Pendragon

:bday_2:

[hoope]

Many Happy Returns .. Petrarch's Love
Hope you have a great year full of wishes of what you want..
And may you enjoy it with all those who loves u around :-)

[Petrarch's Love]

Oh boy, one of Pen's thoughtful sonnets! Thank you my friend. :)

And thank you for the good wishes, Hoope!

[Niamh]

Happy Birthday Petra! Soooo sorry i'm late!