I need there to be a top post other than the one I left up from last week. So I’ve dragged my stone-passing carcass down to my desk to put something here. That last post had 72 comments, several of which made me feel all warm fuzzy inside. Apparently reading my blog is, to some people, worse than having a root canal from Laurence Olivier. As a writer the knowledge that my blog is a plague-infested cesspage makes me feel…weird. Oh well. I live weird. I’ll die weird.
So last week I was reading The Unquiet Bones by Mel Starr. It’s one of those mysteries, like Brother Caedfel, that is set in “medieval” times. I put that in quotes because every one of these books is pretty anachronistic in their own way. I’m glad I’m only a part-time medieval scholar. As nuts as some of the stuff makes me, I can only imagine how Certain People (nm, I’m looking at you) feel about it. Anyway, in this book the protagonist is a Surgeon who solves murders for his lord. I read it because I’m a nut for anything involving the history of medicine and historical medical practice. I’d prefer to read primary source accounts but on occasion a narrative with some tidbits of historical medicine thrown in is a fun thing. At least I hope so, given that’s what one of my books is about.
I’m going on about this because one of the procedures the guy (I cannot remember his name. This is the curse of first person story telling.) performed was the removal of a large bladder stone. I will not go into details, but trust me when I say that I honestly think that death would be preferable to what he did. I also think that the pain would be so bad that the patient would pass out. So anyway, on these days when my first inclination is to whine about my lot it really helps to think about the myriad ways I’ve actually got it pretty good.
You know what I find really interesting, and what will amuse some of those people who have known me for a very long time? The fact that so many people who read my last two posts think I’m a liberal. Liberal politically, liberal Christianity-wise. And while some of my best friends are liberals (dolphin, that’s one for you 🙂 ) and I truly love the company of my liberal compatriots, I think pretty much all of them will agree that they tolerate Coble in spite of her conservative positions.
Yes. I did just refer to myself in the third person. I think that’s my cue to stop rambling. Anyway. At least there’s something new when I open the page.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
I look forward to your posts, feel bereft when I miss them, and am a little to the Right of you, but not so much that I don’t nod along with your ornery pragmatism. 😉
I’m so sorry, Katherine. For some reason, I left my WordPress acct set to inform me of every comment that came through on that post, and so I keep coming back to it. And you already know how I feel about medical history stuff. It really lights my fire. 🙂
I’m glad you feel up to writing. I think that we have deep compatibilities and superficial differences, so whatever with labels.
I concur with Bridgett. Glad you’re feeling up to writing (I miss it when you aren’t, though I understand), and i think that we (ALL) have more in common than not. It’s nice when we can find each other in our similarities even if/when we sometimes explore our differences.
Oh, Coble, if I weren’t in such a sunny mood today I would direct all my anger at the stones in your path, or in your passages. I’m so sorry you’re feeling poorly. But since you mentioned the Brother Cadfael books, I will tell you that when I was in grad school some of us would sometimes read one of them together to make lists of the gross inaccuracies. But there are worse than that….
Just commenting on the last of your post – Jus’ fer the record – I consider my self politically liberal, personally (meaning just for myself) borderline conservative and economically, somewhere in the middle; a pragmatist if you wish.
And, so you don’t feel alone in that dynamic out there (I’ve read every post from the “I Hate Gays” thread), I know what you mean. Some of my best friends are rabid, tea-bagger, conservatives.
And sometimes they’re not nearly as self-righteous as my Liberal friends, LOL! Guess we all come in different stripes.
Here’s to a Live and Let Live philosophy.
Sorry you are feeling poorly. 😦 As for the number of comments on your other post, I’ll jump up and do the happy dance if I ever get that many on a single post. 🙂