Jane Austen

            On Saturday morning I memorized the third verse of “Exercise en forme de Z” by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            In the late morning I went to No Frills where the grapes were cheap but too soft and there were no great deals on meat or anything else. I just bought two bags of navel oranges and a loaf of cinnamon-raisin bread. I think it was the first time in years that I’d spent less than $10 on my Saturday grocery shopping. 

            I read some more of Northanger Abbey until I was down to the last thirteen pages before lunch.

            I had cranberry crackers and cheddar and then took a siesta. 

            After posting my blog I didn’t take a bike ride because I’d already been out to the supermarket.

            I finished reading Northanger Abbey. It was engaging for a while in the middle as circumstances kept getting in Catherine’s way of spending time with Henry. It was also amusing when Catherine was letting her Gothic novel stoked imagination run away with her about Henry’s father. It was not as much like eating dust through my eyes as reading Austen’s Persuasion but it was generally pretty boring. Catherine is a heroine who never does or accomplishes anything. She just tries to be as nice as she can and rides her circumstances to a positive conclusion. The real hero is Henry, who actually has interesting things to say and exerts his will to make things happen. Austen’s message seems to be that all women have to do is be nice and their destinies will be fulfilled by the perfect man. 

            I wanted to finish converting the last four document images to pdf on Cloud Convert but it hadn’t been a full day since I’d reached my quota of ten and so I would have to wait almost three hours. There are other services that I could use for the same purpose but there’s not that much of a hurry and it’s a hassle to go looking. 

            I read "A Curse for a Nation" and "The Cry of the Children" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning; "To India" by Sarojini Naidu; “Our Casuarina Tree” by Toru Dutt and "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold a couple of times each. 

            I made bread pizza with tomato sauce, salsa, french fries and cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching Andy Griffith. 

            Andy has to leave town for eight hours testify in court and leaves Barney in charge alone for the first time. When he returns he finds that Barney has arrested most of the town, including Aunt Bee and the mayor. The charges are all the kinds of things that Andy would have ignored such as Bee standing and talking with other ladies in front of the courthouse. Andy lets everybody go but for days after everyone begins making fun of Barney and he becomes dejected. He stops shaving, looking after his appearance and pretty much gives up. Andy knows that everyone likes Barney and so he decides to let them know that he’s going to fire him because he needs a deputy who commands respect. Since they don’t want to lose Barney they all come back and turn themselves in, saying Barney was right and Andy was wrong to release them. That builds up Barney’s morale again. He then puts Andy in jail for not wearing full uniform. 

            I normally only watch one half hour show during the school term but I hadn’t finished my beer and started dessert by the time this show ended so I watched another episode. In this story a famous crook named Gentleman Dan Caldwell is brought to the Mayberry jail until the stated police can take him on to prison. Barney is very excited and treats Dan like a celebrity, turning his cell into a luxury suite. Dan charms Aunt Bee and Opie and tells everyone exciting stories. He earns Barney’s trust and when they play gin rummy together Barney joins him in the cell. When Dan drops a card and Barney picks it up Dan takes his gun. He puts Barney in the cell and is about to leave when Bee and Opie walk in. He points the gun at them and says they’ll have to get in the cell as well. Opie is excited because it's like Dan's stories. Andy walks in and sees Dan with Barney's gun and smiles. Andy only allows Barney one bullet and makes him keep it in his pocket because he can’t be trusted not to accidentally shoot a loaded gun. Andy advances on Dan. Dan fires but the gun only clicks. Andy takes the gun away from Dan and puts him back in his cell. Later he realizes the gun was loaded after all and he has to sit down.