Joy and woe are woven fine

Just a very quick blog to set things going again after a couple of weeks break. The reason for this was occasioned by a necessary return to England to conduct both a wedding and a funeral of a member of the congregation, Pat Bateman, of whom I was very fond. The week there was a perfect illustration of the truth that "Joy and woe are woven fine, A clothing for the soul divine, Under every grief and pine runs a joy with silken twine" (Blake).

This, and some further very sad news in my wife's family concerning her sister, has left me very much in the mood to settle down with the Stoics for the remainder of my time here. No radical change this as Spinoza's own thinking has been described as a continuance of that tradition.

Also here are a few photos. The first shows an impromptu concert beside Toto's pool near Orange the week before last. Toto is the guitarist - way to the left of the three of us in the middle - then, continuing to the right is Robert Salles (our host here), me on bass, and then Fabrice Pierrat who teaches at the Academie Guyane. Toto lent me the mountain bike to clim the Ventoux. The second, a close up of the same. The third shows us in the middle of a very serious game of Petanque. Left to right, me, Fabrice, Toto and Susanna.