The cherry now

"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough,

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide"

Today is the birthday of A.E. Housman (1859-1936).  Housman was one of the greatest classical scholars of all time, but he's best remembered for those beautiful "cherry blossom" lines from a set of poems called A Shropshire Lad.

A fellow don described Housman as being "descended from a long line of maiden aunts."  He would intimidate his students to the point of tears and didn't even try to remember their names, claiming that "he had burdened his memory by the distinction between Miss Jones and Miss Robinson." Here's another Houseman quote:

Knowledge is good, method is good, but one thing beyond all others is necessary; and that is to have a head, not a pumpkin, on your shoulders and brains, not pudding, in your head.

You get the picture. A Shropshire Lad was a favorite poem of Inspector Morse on the fictional TV series, which makes perfect sense because Morse was another brilliant but fusty old curmudgeon.

A.E, Housman

I always think about those cherry tree lines when I'm driving around our neighborhood this time of year. Someone at a nursery once told us we live in the "banana belt" of Seattle, which may be true.  The streets around here are lined with pink and white flowering trees that good people planted years ago.

It feels like spring, although the rest of the country is still freezing cold. The temperature this morning is 15 degrees warmer than it was this time yesterday.  Window-washing day is here.