Journal of a Sabbatical

June 2, 2001

planta misterica

Today's Reading: Unbeaten Tracks in Japan by Isabella Bird, Summer from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake

Today's Starting Pitcher: Tim Wakefield

Zsolt finally identified the mystery specimen Rita gave me for Christmas. It's an Australian species of cut-leaf daisy, a common cultivated plant. What's weird is that she claimed to have collected it in the wild in North Conway. It would have to be a garden escapee. Another weird thing is Zsolt found a source that says it's hardy for zones 4 through 8, which would mean it could grow in North Conway, but all the other references say zones 8-11, which I think would make it a desert plant? The desert of North Conway?

Zsolt is headed back to Budapest tomorrow and will not be back here before the China/Tibet/Nepal trip. So I won't see him until Nepal. Assuming I go. He signed off with "see you in Nepal" today so he's making that assumption but he's been assuming that all along. As I was leaving his house the night before the last Budapest trip, he sprung "when I see you in Budapest we'll talk about what you'll do for us in Katmandu" on me. All I could say was "Am I going to Katmandu?" And we never did discuss it either in Budapest or Framingham, but he is quite sure I'm doing this whatever it is.

Nancy wants to know if the Crown Prince's alleged shooting of the royal family is affecting my thinking on whether to go to Katmandu in the fall what with the likely political unrest likely to go on for awhile. I pointed out that the national herbarium is not usually the first place people go to start a coup. Not to make light of a terrible tragedy. The news coverage of the shootings is weird. The Crown Prince is either dead or clinging to life in hospital. The citizens of Nepal either know or don't know their king is dead. And nobody seems to know what really happened. Yikes.

And so it's off to Providence in the pouring rain.

Since both Nancy and I are too weird to want to see any of the movies currently playing in Providence, we rented Beshkempir: The Adopted Son at Acme Video. Great choice. Great movie. Every frame is like an exquisite still photograph. It's the basic "boy comes of age" story but set in Kyrgyzstan with boy who is a foundling but doesn't know he's adopted until one day he gets into a fight with his best buddy and the buddy hurls the truth at him. A death in the family brings the adopted son back to reconciliation with his family and friends and helps him find his place in the village. It's mostly in black and white, which makes for astounding depth of field, with sudden bursts of color. Visually it is just stunning. We rewound it and watched the opening scene all over again immediately. See this movie.

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