Author Archives: ron

Pu-erh Tea

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There comes a time in the life of every tea geek when he or she will become curious about pu-er. This is because there are tea geeks out there who seem to think that pu-er is just about the only … Continued

Sage RSS Reader

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A while back I wrote a post called A Few of My Favorite Things, detailing a few products that I thought made the web a more interesting place. I’m afraid today I’m going to have to complain about a product … Continued

Tallis Scholars

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Last night I attended a performance by the Tallis Scholars at Ithaca College. I’ve been a fan of theirs for some years. I became interested in Renaissance sacred music sometime in the early ’90s and if I remember correctly, the … Continued

The Turkeys are Restless

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Behind my apartment there is a wooded area in which I frequently observe wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo). Most of the time, their activity is unremarkable. I just see them hurrying back on forth on their little turkey errands, presumably foraging … Continued

Enduring Love

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I actually finished this Ian McEwan novel a couple weeks ago and have been putting off writing about it because I’m just not sure what to say. When writing about Trollope novels there is always so much material. I can … Continued

The Eustace Diamonds

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Ever since encountering the fearsome Mrs. Hurtle in The Way We Live Now, I have had a special affection for Trollope’s “bad girl” characters. Of course I haven’t read everything by Trollope, but I find it hard to imagine anyone … Continued

Harney & Sons

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This post will introduce a new theme to this blog, namely tea. I have been a tea enthusiast for some years but have been reluctant to blog about it because there are so many perfectly good tea blogs out there … Continued

A Few of My Favorite Things

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In the past, I’ve thought that the catch phrase “Web 2.0” was terribly silly, but the fact remains that there is some really cool stuff out there that makes the web more interesting than it was a few years ago. … Continued

Vacationing in Kukuanaland

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A few weeks ago I rented a really wretched movie called The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It is essentially a superhero movie, except that the superheros are 19th century literary characters. The characters include Tom Sawyer, Mina Harker (from Dracula), … Continued

Phineas Finn

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I have just finished reading Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope. This was written in 1869 and is the second of his six “Palliser” novels (although the role of the Palliser family in this novel is trivial). Essentially, the story is … Continued