Counting the ways . . .

Thursday, May 7, 2026. It's Thor's day . . . Moderate Southwesterlies return to Green Country today. Sunny skies and mid 70's are in the afternoon forecasts for TulseyTown.

Yesterday was not a banner day for members of the Trump administration. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.

The New Jim Crow. – Joyce Vance in Civil Discourse.

Two giants of classical music were born on this date, seven years apart: German composer Johannes Brahms was born on this day in 1833 Hamburg. And, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 Votkinsk, Russia. The two were rivals with little respect for one another.

Today is also the birthdate for Victorian poet and playwright Robert Browning, born in 1812 Camberwell, England, His relationship with fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett is one of the most famous in English literature.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

– Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43. This poem is in the public domain.