Monday: Bitterness and Woe

So, a few years ago, I read this great series of books by Sandra Gulland, who is an expert on Josephine Bonaparte, the wife of Napoleon.  The first book in the series is titled "Tales of Bitterness and Woe", and I often use it as an epigram for my darker days.  It is a wildly dramatic metaphor when compared to Josephine.  Her bitterness and woe was that her first husband was killed in the revolution, she was imprisoned, she went into early menopause because of malnourishment in prison, met Napoleon, and became his wife. Then, she struggled with infertility and Napoleon made her have a series of fertility treatments that seemed to entail being dunked in and hosed down with ice water.  When this did not have the intended effect (!!), Napoleon left her for a 17 year old, and she really had no choice but to stand placidly by lest Napoleon punish her terribly or stop supporting her two children from her first marriage.  Then all her teeth fell out.

SO, clearly, when I say "bitterness and woe", I really only mean that I have been further confined by my confinement. I have had to sit on the couch all day needlepointing and watching a very uplifting documentary on Bill Cunningham. I am not even remotely approaching Josephine's problems.

Anyway, Bill Cunningham is the street style photographer for the New York times.  He was born in 1928 and is maybe the most pleasant, humble, principled creature about whom I have ever watched a film.  He is just a lovely man with a little old camera and a bicycle that he rides all over New York.  I loved it!!