This is a lick and a promise.....anon, anon

Picked up a few more words in my reading:

squamous adjective: covered with or characterized by scales: a squamous black hide. . Anatomy relating to, consisting of, or denoting a layer of epithelium that consists of very thin flattened cells: squamous cell carcinoma. • [ attrib. ] Anatomy denoting the flat portion of the temporal bone which forms part of the side of the skull. ORIGIN late Middle English: from Latin squamosus, from squama ‘scale’.

imbricate chiefly Zoology & Botany verb with obj. ] (usu. as adj.imbricated) arrange (scales, sepals, plates, etc.) so that they overlap like roof tiles: these moulds have spherical bodies composed of imbricated triangular plates. • [ no obj. ] (usu. as adj.imbricating) overlap: a coating of imbricating scales. adjective: (of scales, sepals, plates, etc.) having adjacent edges overlapping. Compare with valvate. DERIVATIVES imbrication noun ORIGIN early 17th cent. (in the sense ‘shaped like a pantile’): from Latin imbricat-,‘covered with roof tiles’, from the verb imbricare, from imbrex, imbric- ‘roof tile’ (from imber ‘shower of rain’).

nebulizer (also nebuliser) noun: a device for producing a fine spray of liquid, used for example for inhaling a medicinal drug. he needs to use a nebulizer to get drugs and oxygen to his lungs. DERIVATIVES nebulize verb ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Latin nebula ‘mist’ + -izer (see -ize) .

oncology noun [ mass noun ] Medicine the study and treatment of tumours. DERIVATIVES oncological adjective oncologist noun

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH

ontology noun [ mass noun the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being. DERIVATIVES ontological adjective ontologically adverb, ontologist noun ORIGIN early 18th cent.: from modern Latin ontologia, from Greek ōn, ont- ‘being’ + -logy.

necrosis noun [ mass noun ] Medicine the death of most or all of the cells in an organ or tissue due to disease, injury, or failure of the blood supply. DERIVATIVES necrotic |-ˈkrɒtɪk| adjective ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: modern Latin, from Greek nekrōsis (see necro-,-osis) .

neuropathy noun [ mass noun ] Medicine disease or dysfunction of one or more peripheral nerves, typically causing numbness or weakness. DERIVATIVES neuropathic adjective

You will not be surprised to find out what I have been reading lately - actually, re-reading: MORTALiTY by Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011), author, columnist, social critic and a famous atheist - who wrote this last book as he recorded his reactions, both physical and mental/emotional to his terminal illness (esophegeal cancer). I read it for the fourth time and I think I may have looked up some of the medical terms before but they don't seem to stick. They take some learning; so does death.

A writer friend of mine just opted for an assisted death. She was suffering from a sudden and surprising diagnosis of a lethal, swift cancer with a brief, painful prognosis.

Hitchens cites several works that I still want to follow up. He quotes an entire poem by WWI poet Wilfred Owen (1893-1918), "Dulce et Decorum Est", describing reactions to a gas attack - "obscene as cancer". Hitch (as he is called) defines death as a "firm deportation...across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady".

I'll be back in the land of the living tomorrow.

I couldn't resist that old pun (the definition of a clarinet or a tuba - I forget). I saw The Tempest in Stratford last week, and it could be another reason, not only my new mattress, that my back hurt. Too much time sitting in a car gets very painful and I get very stiff.

Anyway, I was looking forward to seeing Martha Henry, one of my very favourite actors, perform as Prospero. I expected to be blown away by her. I'm sorry to say that I wasn't. Her best scene was the Epilogue and that is a great scene and so was she, but for me she will never replace Bill Hutt as Prospero, the second time. By then he had grown past his ego and he was beatific.

One of my prerogatives as a critic in my own blog is that I can be quite biased and personal and selective. I can tell you that I really disliked Miranda, who squeaked and who was ill-served by two dreadful costumes. Speaking of which, it may be interesting to an archivist that Prospero's robe was made of bits and pieces of Robes Past. To me it looked like a crazy quilt bathrobe. And here again I speak like the old-timer I am - for me there was never a Miranda like Martha Henry's. I can name several other definitive parts she played. Her Prospero isn't one of them - not for me.

Three days later I was fortunate enough to see a DVD of the all-male production, directed by Tim Carroll (now with the Shaw Festival), filmed by the BBC, of Twelfth Night, starring Mark Rylance as Olivia, and with several other British actors, heavy-weights all, who made it the best performance of that play that I have ever seen and who made it clear to me what The Tempest was lacking.

Surprisingly - or it was a surprise to me - The Tempest is not as good a play as Twelfth Night. That's all I can say now. I am as shocked as I think you probably are. I have to think about it, and why.

This is why I love theatre.