No stopping Merwin

Dear Friends and family,

Many of you have written with appreciation for Merwin’s posts, which he has enjoyed writing. He’s not stopping; I am sure you will hear from both of us.

News yesterday of the death of my dear friend and colleague Ken Rothwell. I know that he was approaching, if not having already reached, 90, and had lived a full and rich life in so many ways. This past year alone he edited King Lear for Focus Publications.

We connected in 1976, when the Northeast Modern Language Association was meeting at UVM in his hometown, Burlington, VT., and where he was already a full professor. I had proposed to NEMLA a panel on Shakespeare on film, a new field then, and asked him to participate because he was one of the first to write on the topic. He agreed, and he hosted a gathering at his lovely home there, joined as always by his fascinating wife, Lyn (one of the first nurse practitioners in the state if not in the country). I proposed to him the idea of the Shakespeare on Film Newsletter, and he leaped at the idea. We put out our 1st issue in Dec. 1976 and gave out free copies and gathered subscriptions at the Dec. meeting of the Modern Language Association. We jointly edited the newsletter until 1993, when it merged with the Shakespeare Bulletin, a performance journal. Ken and I shared platforms in many countries, when we each gave papers in the discipline. His valuable publications are too numerous to mention: I constantly refer to his filmography of Shakespearean films and his history of Shakespearean films. So much more to say about Ken: he was a gentleman and a scholar, an athlete, a loving father to four children, each very different from the others. A tall, imposing figure, he always kept his zest for life, for scholarship, for friends and family. His work will go on.

Why a blog: I have the feeling that if I write, I can capture my days, which otherwise would slip away, un-noted and unnoticed. And how many more will there be? Got to hang on to all of them.
Yesterday was a heavy-duty day for me. My cheerful aide Sonia was here, and she put me through all my paces: a walk around the block without a cane, the exercise regimen left by Bill (many require someone to work with me, resisting my movements), the stationary bicycle, and of course kitchen work. We made apple tart again, but I let it bake too long, so it is more like apple sauce. It is delicious, though. Sonia, who does not cook or bake, is full of wonder at my readiness to improvise. We added lemon juice to the 12 or so apples (cut up with skin left on), dried prunes and frozen strawberries. We also prepared Sami’s roasted cauliflower: as she wrote, “addictive”! I couldn't stop nibbling. Next week we'll get another cauliflower from Rothkamp Farm and make Sandy's version, with onion, potato and more spices (but not too many).

Later in the day, realizing that the zucchini I had gotten at the farm needed to be cooked, I peeled and sliced them and gave them the same treatment. Also good, but not quite as delicious because they lack the firmness of cauliflower.

Today dear Kathryn came for lunch, and I presented all these dishes: cauliflower, zucchini, and apple compote (we'll call it). I eat too much! I enjoyed her lively company. She woke me up sufficiently to get me here to the blog.

A demain!

Love,
Bernice