Armand took this picture of his wife Mary and daughter Ann (dancing a jig) atop Mt. Vesuvius. This is the photo that Armand mentioned when I spoke to him on Ann's birthday and he went to great lengths to have the photo scanned and sent to me in all its kilobyte splendor.
It is an amazing thing that a photo taken so long ago (sorry, Annie!) can be copied and scrambled into memory bytes, sent thousands of miles away to be reassembled...only to be wadded up again and sent over and over to all of you. Yet in Armand's mind, it remains clear and constant. I guess the aperture to a father's heart never closes.
Mondo's looking forward to his talk in Pittsburgh on the 30th of this month and is also working on a revision of an earlier exposition. I had to stand up on my toes and listen brightly as he mentioned Cam us and Sartre, for they are no longer on my bookshelves, nor did I ever have an intelligible opinion of them. I can only hope that my asking "...and where does Nietzche fit in here", will keep me in good stead with Professor Singer.
Phew! I stand down.
Mt. Vesuvius: live webcam shots.