Aliment

Aliment

"In the Propontis, as far as I can learn, none of that peculiar substance called brit is to be found, the aliment of the right whale." — From Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby Dick

Well, that makes the whole thing much more clear, doesn't it? My main question is, when Mr. Melville says "the right whale," is he talking about white whales in general, or THE White Whale? All that verbosity and we're just left hanging with more questions.

Speaking of authors, the 'sband recently turned me on to Amanda McKittrick Ros. She is fabulous! I wish I knew enough people that would dig getting together and reading aloud to each other from her tomes. What a delightful way to spend a quiet evening. Hmmmmm, winter is coming, and there's no better time to discover new passions than in the winter! (The sun set for the first time before 8.00 pm here....yecch - we are not amused.)

And just so you know, I realize that I mentioned Ms Ros directly after a discussion on Herman Melville. Please know that this does not mean that there is a correlation between the two. I mean, please, it's not like I had started out the entry discussing William Faulkner...oooohhhh, ouch!

Back to aliment - did you recognize it from its more technical form "alimentary canal"? For some reasons the wires in myne grey matter are registering a cross between the digestive tract and Venice. I think from here on out I'll refer to my digestive system as the alimentary canal. For some reason, referring to that extense of tubes down there as a 'canal' is making me very happy. I really want to link to a canal photo which shows the visions playing in my head, but I think I'll let it go.