Sept. 30 | The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

The Sleeping Gypsy (1897) by French artist Henri Rosseau.

Purchased yesterday and on their way via Amazon, new copies of The Snow Leopard and The Cloud Forest!

Cucumber pilgrimages devoured,
by flocks of night gypsies and unread books

Snow leopard taste: cucumbers and guavas
At home: Elysian Night Owl Pumpkin Ale, cloves
Snow leopard sight: sun in the wings of dragonflies, an enigmatic smile
At home: The Sleeping Gypsy, La Bohémienne endormie, 1897 oil painting by Rousseau
Snow leopard sound: shrill of a single cicada, as fierce as a sword blade shrieking on a lathe
At home: the shrill of the morning tea kettle
Snow leopard touch: crisp air, dripping trees
Snow leopard smell: orchids
Snow leopard word of the day: gnaskor, "going around places," pilgrimages
Snow leopard notable: "In 1950, the westernmost summit, known as Annapurna One became the first peak of 25,000 feet or more that man had climbed."
Snow leopard extra: mysterium tremendum; Kali the Black, female Time/Death, Devourer of All Things
At home: low flying green, blue and red hot air balloons carrying away a beloved pet
Snow leopard gratitude: untamed wilderness
At home: stormy Sundays for staying in, reading and finishing books

Panthera progress: Have never been to South America, writing about it, feel like Henri Rosseau who had not visited Africa, only the zoo and imagined it. Matthiessen also wrote: The Cloud Forest: A Chronicle of the South American Wilderness (1987). Not on Kindle? Not at the library. Must get a hold of this book! (See above: It's on its way.)

What is this? Blogging The Snow Leopard project.

Comments

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Why it springs to mind: Relevant thoughts about how we view aging and how we treat the aged in our society. In this story, young people protest the existence of old people in an assisted living facility for taking up resources. Not far from the callous viewpoint of people sometimes expressed in the national news. Where read: The last story in Stone Mattress: Nine Tales (2014) a collection by Margaret Atwood Summary: Wilma and her boyfriend Tobias escape an assisted living facility, Ambrosia Manor, that has come under attack by protestors carrying signs that say "Time to Go" and "Our Turn" who think the old people are just taking up space and resources. Memorable: the delightful use of Charles Bonnet Syndrome as a character trait for Wilma Quotes: "We have to be kind to one another in here, she tells herself. We're all we have left." "According to Tobias, women hang around longer because they're less capable of indignation and...

Shel Graves' Sensorium

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