The Hermit Poet

I’ve just returned from a rather relaxing two week housesitting stint up on Mount Baldy, about 45 minutes away from Riverside. In many respects, the place really was a hermitage: wall to wall bookcases whose contents ranged the wide spectrum of poetry, literature, art, cuisine, anthropology, psychology, East Asian mythology, and miscellaneous other esoterica.

I was conveniently outside of cellphone range and limited to a dialup connection for internet use — but on the other hand I did have two dogs to feed, a pond full of trout, and a bear that was rumored to cross the property in the evenings.

Sadly, despite the myriad of fine literature and poetry to read, I must confess the bulk of my time was spent reading the complete Judge Dee mystery series set in Imperial China and written by Robert van Gulik, a rather remarkable Dutch official who spent most of his life absorbed in deep study of classical and popular Chinese literature.

And yes, I did get more work done on my manuscript — although it has certainly shrunk as opposed to grown in size. It was 83 pages and now numbers 50. However, I feel it is much stronger from the pruning.

A few pictures of the “hermitage”

Books here.

Books there.

Books everywhere.

View of the trout pond from the dining room window.