Essential Eccentricity

 The book I read yesterday had two female characters who were married but didn't wear wedding rings, for different reasons, neither of which reflected any philosophical or political preference.  That the author made an issue of the absence of the rings was what got my attention.  I did not receive wedding rings from any of my latest three husbands.  It was no big deal with Michael or Charley.  The relationships were what they were without any need for symbolic reinforcement.

Rings became an issue with Greyfox because he offered me the ring his first wife had worn.  It has their initials and wedding date engraved inside.  I declined, and his reaction appeared to be somewhere between bafflement and offense.  I felt that the offer was inappropriate, but he seemed to think that the gold band was the important thing and that its history, and the engraving inside, didn't matter. 

He had already given me a ring, a gaudy thing in silver with a naked woman coiled around it, holding a cornucopia with a jade cabochon at its mouth.  He considered it our "engagement" ring when I didn't even consider us to be engaged, so I later let him slip it on my finger as we stood before the judge in an empty conference room in a Virginia courthouse.   The ring was too big, too showy for my taste and, I thought, not very taseful, so it hasn't been worn much.

So, how do you feel about wedding rings?  Not just whether you are for or against them as symbolic bonds, but, if you think they are appropriate or important for a woman, do you think men should wear them also?  Are you younger women aware that in the 1960s it was very rare for a man to wear a wedding ring, and that rings for grooms became more popular as the women's movement tried to do away with rings for women?  Some sort of compromise, do you think?

That book, Nothing to Lose, is the best so far in the Jack Reacher series, I think.  Reacher has always been somewhat of a mythic hero, and this story takes the mythic status to new heights.  It is the first time Lee Child has taken on politics and religion with such hard-edged feeling.  About halfway through, I paused and looked at the pages remaining and thought for a millisecond about slowing down to make it last longer.  Then I got back into it and finished it.

I'm at the Willow Public Library today, on my way to Wasilla to drop off the computer for repair.  It is possible that I might get another hour at a public computer at the Wasilla library later.  My time here is running short, so... seeya later.

Greyfox here--aka ArmsMerchant.  I am posting this for Kathy from the lib to tell her friends that her comp is down.  Possibly, Doug may be asble to heal it with laying on of hands stuff, but it MIGHT have to go into the shop.

More details as they become available.

When I complained about the library's lack to Greyfox (my Old Fart, husband, soulmate and partner in crime -- just threw that in because several people lately have gotten the impression that Doug, The Kid, my son, hero, and personal caregiver, was my "partner"), Greyfox said he had recently purchased a copy of one of Davies's older books at a library discard sale.   This is even better, owning the book instead of having to return it in a few weeks, but I would think that when they pitched out his old book they would have replaced it with 3 or 4 of his newer works.  He's as awesome as Richard Wolfson, as physicists go.  I have added a different quote from him, and another picture, to my "favorites" module today.

The last few days, some memories from past lives have come up, and then today one of the messages I received had asked me to blog about my past lives.  I pointed the person to the "karmic history" thing in my memoirs, but that involves some lives other than the ones that have been surfacing in my memory this week.  I posted something about them at KaiOaty today.