In this blog post I would like to talk about a book that most people are likely to have heard of, or at least have an inkling about the premise behind it. That, of course, is Don Quixote, the title of this blog post. If you are not completely familiar with the book and the main characters, here is how the Bing AI summarizes it. I thought he/it could provide a nice succinct summary.
Don Quixote, written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, is a classic novel published in two parts. The story revolves around Alonso Quijano, a country gentleman from La Mancha, Spain. Alonso becomes so obsessed with reading chivalric romances that he loses his mind. Inspired by these tales, he decides to become a knight-errant (a wandering knight) and takes on the name Don Quixote de la Mancha. His goal is to revive chivalry and serve his nation by performing heroic deeds. Accompanied by his pragmatic squire, Sancho Panza, Don Quixote embarks on a series of adventures, often mistaking windmills for giants and inns for castles. The novel is considered a prototype of the modern novel and remains widely read to this day.
Due to the book, “tilting at windmills” became synonymous with attacking imaginary enemies or wasting time on futile pursuits or engaging in a seemingly pointless endeavor. I am sure we all have personal experiences like this or know of other people that have done so. In this blog post, I want to delve into that a bit more and illustrate how and where Don Quixote has played a role in my life.
To begin with, I once heard that Don Quixote is the second most read book after the bible, but that is simply not true. The Bing AI confirmed that Don Quixote, written by Miguel de Cervantes, holds the distinction of being the second-most-translated book after the Bible, but being translated is not the same thing as being read. According to the Bing AI, the Bible holds the record for being the most read book. I also wonder if that is true. Just because every hotel room has one, it doesn’t mean that they have ever been opened. Perhaps it is the most printed book, but who has really read it cover to cover. No thanks! 😊
I cannot imagine that I actually read the whole of Don Quixote. I remember having the book, I believe the edition shown below, but surely it would have been far beyond my regular reading tastes, even if at the time I was reading some classics.
Don Quixote De La Mancha Book Cover – Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1986
Perhaps I watch the 1972 movie, “The Man from La Manch” with Peter O’Toole as Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote. Isn’t that how we all got through Shakespeare in highschool, by finding a movie and watching it instead. Or at the very least, finding cliff notes at the bookstore. Makes sense to me. 😊 At any rate, note that I just reviewed some clips from the Man from La Mancha movie and although it looked very familiar, I can’t imagine that I spent time watching that either. It looked like what my wife and I call an “AWS,” which stands for Award Winning Show, but which means the complete opposite. Or something I might call a POS (piece of sh..). Maybe I should give it a whirl again and see how I make out. Nah! LOL!
Don Quixote Painting – Pablo Picasso 1955
I first encountered Don Quixote when I was sixteen years old. I was working at Safeway, had my driver’s licence and had befriended a couple who also worked at the same store. Dave and Kathy, as they were known to me, invited me to their townhouse one day and offered me coffee. This was the first time I ever tried coffee and Kathy made it with cream, since I asked how I should take it. I found that it was okay, but I tried a second cup with nothing added, and that suited me better and started me on my twenty+-year love affair with coffee. I know, kind of off the topic, but I thought it was something interesting to note. One other thing that I saw while at Dave and Kathy’s home was the poster print of Don Quixote seen above. I absolutely fell in love with it. It became, and still is, one of my most favorite paintings. It took years, but I eventually came across a copy of it in a store and purchased it myself. It took pride of place in all my homes over the years until Denise and I downsized and moved into our apartment style condo. The picture now resides at my daughter’s house.
Over the years, I revisited my fascination with Don Quixote and would create a drawing based on my own style, or that of someone else.
Don Quixote Pencil Drawing – Created by Don Cheke
Don Quixote Pencil Drawing – Based on Daumier 1868 – Created by Don Cheke
Of course, you saw the wire sculpture feature image too, created when I was well into my wire sculpture phase.
Don Quixote Wire Sculpture – Created by Don Cheke
When I think about Don Quixote, I often think of the line that states that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This is kind of what Don Quixote did when he was “tilting at windmills,” as that saying goes.
Do you have any experience with tilting at windmills? I know that I do and below is a fairly recent example of mine.
One of the things I remember from last spring was trying to get the neighboring area around Saskatoon, Corman Park, to stop burning rubbish or other such combustible stuff such as stubble fields, if that is one of the things they burn. Corman Park is, for the most part, acreages, and the residents, unknown to me at the time, are allowed to have controlled burns with approval by some committee there. Early one day in the spring, the area where I live in Saskatoon was flooded with heavy smoke. To add insult to injury the building I reside in recycles its air many times a day from the outside, so all the stink, and much filtered smoke, permeates the halls. I get an instant headache from this, and I worry that residents, like my wife, with fragile health systems, could be harmed in one way or another. It was terribly harsh this day, and I wondered what was on fire out in the world to have such a strong effect. I know we get fires across western and northern Canada in the spring and summer, but this seemed so much worse and much earlier than usual. As I was complaining to Denise, she offered to drive to the nearby firehall to inquire. I was surprised by the offer, because both of us are usually too chicken to make a fuss about anything. Jokingly, I said sure, sort of daring her to do so. Once back home she said that they were aware of the fire and that it was from a controlled burn in Corman Park. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when she told me this. I thought, what horrid neighbors! It’s one thing to have natural fires out in the world, but to be so backwards as to allow other burning, like these controlled fires, goes against everything I know about progress and pollution. Yes, I understand the necessity of some forms of controlled burns in the forests and things like that, but nobody needs to burn garbage or fields any longer, in my humble opinion. The smoke cleared after a couple days, and the incident was mostly forgotten, except for the ruminating in me that would simmer for who knows how long. That is typically unpredictable, could be hours, months, or years!
Wouldn’t you know it, the very next week, there is another fire somewhere in Corman Park and our area and building are flooded with smoke again. This time I went to the fire hall myself to express my dismay and my anger. I just got a rehash of the controllable burns BS and was told that the local fire department could do nothing about it. I knew going there that it would be a fruitless experience, but I decided that someone was going to listen to me and do something about it, damn it! 😊 The fellow I talked to said that I could perhaps talk to someone in provincial or local political circles that could address it. I decided to go to the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in my area and was pleased that the receptionist listened fully to what I had to say and said that the MLA would look into it when he was in the office. I received a call from the receptionist a day or two latter and she said that she had contacted the Saskatchewan Environmental Agency, or something like that and they would get back to me. I did get a call back from the SEA at one point later on and they said that they don’t monitor things like this and that I should speak to someone at city hall in Saskatoon. I did contact someone at city hall but was simply told that it was out of their jurisdiction so there was nothing they could do. In case you are wondering, I did try to contact the authorities in Corman Park directly, but they could not be reached. I didn’t try more than once, since, by then, I knew it would be pointless and I am not so stupid to think that a continuing effort would produce what I wanted, which was a complete stop to controlled burns in Corman Park and an apology for being such inconsiderate neighbors.
I guess the moral of this story is yet another reminder of the Serenity Prayer. Accept the things you cannot change. Courage to change the things you can. And the wisdom to know the difference. Sometimes, however, the wisdom is slow to come. Right!?
Move forward one year and just prior to writing this part of the blog post, guess what occurs? Yep, the area of the city I live in, as far as I can see, and the halls in the building where I live are filled with stinky smoke. Of course, I go ballistic, having flashbacks to the Corman Park issues from the year before. In typical fashion, poor Denise gets the whole speech about good neighbors, in a fashion not unlike the rantings of a madman. A little while later, as I am contemplating banging my head against the wall, knowing my hands are tied, Denise tells me that there is a severe smoke warning in Saskatchewan due to forest fires out west in Alberta, a whole province over, and the blowing winds are bringing it here. Well, do I ever feel like a fool, having just gone mental about Corman Park, and this wasn’t even their doing. Yep, feeling pretty dumb by them. 👍😊
In my previous blog post called 55 Plus, I mentioned a neighbor we had at the townhouse style condo complex who made it his mission to ensure that train horns were never blown at the controlled intersection behind our complex. He was relentless and I suspect train engineers would occasionally blow their horns there just to rile him up. In that blog post I mentioned my new location and the incessant blowing of the horns at the uncontrolled crossing that is near our new place. I did make one call to the Canadian Pacific railroad company to complain, but as I knew they had to blow the horn by law, much like backup beepers on construction vehicles and so forth. Basically, suck it up and live with it. I was under no illusion but felt I should add my disgust to the calls they must surely get. As you can imagine, I am living with it as best I can. I wear ear buds and headphones most hours of the day, but I have always done that due to the fact that I love to listen to music all day long. I just don’t want to have to do it though.
As I was giving thought to this blog post, I just knew that Loaf would have to make an appearance, so without further ado, here is Loaf Quixote in all his glory. Don’t you just love his helmet and lance!? Poor Rosinante (the horse’s name from the book) is not too pleased with the load. How does that go? Oh right, suck it up, just like the rest of us have too. 😊 No, Loaf feels bad, but not bad enough to do anything about it.
Loaf Quixote – Created by Don Cheke
Not too long ago, Denise was reading a biography by Geena Davis, of “The Fly” movie fame. In it, Geena mentions her pet donkey, who she named Donkey Hody. This just goes to show that thoughts of the infamous Don Quixote are everywhere.
What about you? Do you have any fond memories of Don Quixote, or your own rantings of a madman that are all for not? 😊
Donald B. Cheke – June 17, 2024