HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H0103 12/14/00 "SEASONAL MESSAGES" ================================================ Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 10:18:47 -0500 From: Rosemarie Morgan Subject: Re: Season's Greetings Seasonal Greetings everyone! On behalf of the team at TTHA I'd like to wish you the very best for the New Year - may 2001 offer you all the most promising of opportunities for forging ahead with health of body and strength of spirit, onwards and outwards towards "joy illimited"! And may I take this opportunity to thank members and friends the world over for the marvellous support you've been giving the Association -- I don't think any one of us, this past twelvemonth, has put out a call for aid and assistance without being rewarded by generous responses either from within or beyond (or both). Thank you, thank you! May Hardy lovers continue to be enriched by his work, always! Sincerely, Rosemarie Morgan ________ Now here is a "thrush" of a (not so) different kind -- to celebrate the century's turn! "The thrush assured in the garden, sure-footed, sure-eyed, hears earthworms squirming underground, wears yellow leather boots like a gentleman, does not need to raise its dew-laden wings or its peppery plumage, travels over land and grass, traverses Chile's perfume, the smell of dry wheat fields, the shade of oranges, the mint's green air, and when it feels overwhelmed by so many natural gifts the melancholy thrush sighs, takes the sadness to its wings with its vegetable guitar, and cries with a watery voice, sings its liquid song like a drop or a grape or a quivering dart: then the thrush if off again, gently treading Chile's fragrant body. "Austral Thrush," Pablo Neruda ========== From: "J. Houge" Subject: Happy Holidays to everyone. Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2000 06:22:04 -0800 card attached. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Attachment converted: Emma:Christmas.pps (SLD3/PPD3) (00027F8A) ========== From: "Patrick Roper" Subject: 100 years on Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 16:44:55 -0000 Since just before Christmas a 'darkling' thrush has been singing from the branch of an ash tree in our garden just as TH's did in the poem he dated (but may not have written) on 31 December 1900. Well, it is the end of another century and, despite some set backs a decade or so ago, both song and missel thrushes are still going strong. I am told that both, of their nature, do start singing at round about the winter solstice and they are, of course, simply starting on the breeding season, though this might be construed as having some 'blessed hope' for the future. Whatever the case, whenever I hear these thrushes singing in the bleak midwinter countryside of England, my pleasure is doubled by the reminder it brings of Thomas Hardy's poetry and all the wonderful insights it gives into life and nature. Tomorrow really will be the start of the new millennium and may I wish everyone 'joy illimited' for the future. Patrick Roper Sedlescombe, East Sussex 31 December 2000 ========== Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 11:34:26 -0800 From: Betty Cortus Subject: HARDY-L in 2000 Dear list Members, As the year 2000 draws to a close I thought you might like to be given an overview of the HARDY-L Forum's activities over the past year. Even though the list may have seemed rather quiet, as it usually is during the month of December, this was by far our busiest year, overall, since we began operations in October 1997. * 104 topic threads have been archived this year containing a total of 600 separate messages. * Membership averaged around 150, with 17 countries represented for all or part of the year. Many thanks to all of you for your interest in Thomas Hardy, whether you participated in the discussions or simply enjoyed the input of others. A special thanks to those scholars who have shared their expertise to answer difficult questions, or to enlighten us in some of the more recondite areas of Hardy Studies. Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Productive New Year. Betty Cortus ========== From: RPKOAK@aol.com> Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 16:53:02 EST Subject: Re: 100 years on thank you for your reference to the 'darkling thrush' poem that 'Hardy may not have written but that he did date'. (such experiences are a relief at the time or moment from personal stress- ful thoughts and one's muscles relax and one breathes easier or more deeply. like the relief observable from the sussess of the charter idea in British history eventually reducing autocratic political power dramatically in the American Colonies. So we breathe easier and also enjoy the Thrush.) ==========