oh, hans castorp

in this house, we like 'the clash.' that joe strummer outfit is probably one of my favorite bands in the world. 'the clash' have a song that begins with this sneering vocal: "this is a public service announcement...with guitars!" the song continues to list all the things that should be available to people and that, sadly, aren't. things like food and safety.

eve's list of necessary items for survival would likely include a pile of toys. she's a little bit less like 'the clash' and more like hans castorp, the eponymous hero of this post. hans is the main character in thomas mann's 'the magic mountain,' which is probably one of my favorite books of all time ever. in that masterpiece, hans visits his cousin who is staying at a sanatorium in the swiss alps because he has tuberculosis. spending time in a sybaritic mountain retreat was reputed to be the proper--nay, necessary--way to treat the illness. hans develops a small catarrh while spending time with his cousin, which necessitates his seven-year-long stay up in the mountains, collecting theories of time and the world, warm blankets, books and records.

hans castorp and 'the clash' go together, and they both have something to do with eve. in one of ted's better punning moments, he rewrote the first line of that above quoted song so that you could sing it like this: "this is a public service announcement...with catarrhs!" the dogs have long loved this version of the song because it involves big side-slapping pets and shouting and walking in circles.

eve loves puns and the dogs, neither of which you can see evidence in these photos. you can, however, see how she's become a bit like hans castorp of late. when she plays with toys, she collects as many of them around her as possible, and then methodically takes each one up, inspects it, pulls its ears, chews on it and talks to it. if hans were a baby and not a floundering young man, this is probably what he would do, too. i'm sure she's saying something important while she talks to her toys because her actions seem so deliberate and methodical, and yet joyous at the same time. unfortunately, she's also exhibiting that other not-so-fun side of hans: illness. this poor old pups is battling a little ear infection and a little chest infection (a, should i dare say it, catarrh?). in spite of her recent diagnosis, she's mostly up to her usual tricks, as you can see in the final picture of this post, but she's also prone to sad and sleepy moments, like two of the photos in the series.

let's hope in the coming days that she becomes more like those anarchist art school boys and less like good old hans.