Category: general

18
Apr
2008

PUBLIC APOLOGY

I was kind of yanking my brother’s chain when I wrote yesterday’s post, and obviously, since he’s one of the few that hears the tone of my voice in his head when he reads my words, simply BECAUSE he knows me (too) well, I figured he would get that. See, it wasn’t really him (he?) that sparked the post I wrote, but it was he (him?) that sent me the link to the essay that DID spark it, so he got sort of associated sideways and took the brunt of the blame, quite unfairly. Robin Hobb thinks what I do...

17
Apr
2008

THE WOODS WOULD BE VERY SILENT IF NO BIRDS SANG THERE EXCEPT THOSE THAT SANG BEST*

My brother thinks what I do here isn’t Writing (with a capital W). But what he doesn’t realize is that I’m not really a writer and if I wasn’t writing here, I wouldn’t be writing at all. I started this journal SPECIFICALLY to kick start my writing again, and it worked, and as a big fat bonus I also got a round of awesome people to become friends with and the whole Internet to ask questions of and get recognition and applause from. Score! There simply isn’t enough time in the day to do all the things I’d like to...

16
Apr
2008

PEOPLE SAY THAT LIFE IS THE THING, BUT I PREFER READING*

Torture! It’s torture, I tell you. I have tonight, tomorrow night, Friday night and Saturday night. Looking at the not-yet-read books I have piled on the shelf, none of them seem short enough that I could start them now and be done with them by Saturday night when I simply must be done with it because I can’t take a book that I’m nearly finished with all the way to the States if it turns out to be one I want to keep, thus meaning I must bring it back again! (Especially one my mother already mailed to me ONCE...

14
Apr
2008

NOT A GOOD START

I walked around the house in the late evening, turning off lights and checking the locks on the doors. Then I went and brushed my teeth and put on my nightgown and took my book into bed with me. I set the alarm, thinking, “Have to get up at a quarter to 7” in order to get the kids up and dressed and breakfasted, so that we would all be on time for school and work. I read for awhile and then I turned out the light and went to sleep. I slept really hard and when I woke I...

12
Apr
2008

GOOD THINGS ON A SATURDAY IN SPRING

Eating blueberry cake hot out of the oven Sitting on a sun-warmed bench at a playground with my face turned up to the light and the heat Watching Martin patiently play with a little 4-year-old girl who had attached herself like a limpet, and marveling over how GROWN-UP he suddenly looked Rocking out to great old 90s tunes in the car Listening to blackbirds sing Getting a backrub by shoulderblade from my daughter (very weird, though) Seeing a stork stalk gawkily along the edge of a field Walking outside in the clear cold night air, where the paving stones sparkle...

10
Apr
2008

I WOVE MY WEBS FOR YOU BECAUSE I LIKED YOU

How much do you think your friends define you? Are you cool because of the people you hang out with or are they cool because of YOU? What I love most about book group is not actually the books we read. Most of the books are not books I would have chosen to read at all, and while sometimes that’s okay and they turn out to be worth it; that’s not always the case. It’s not the discussions about the books either, though I like those a lot, especially when there are majorly mixed feelings about the book or in...

07
Apr
2008

GROWING OLD IS MANDATORY, GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL*

I have, and have had, so much to do that I keep forgetting I’ve done things. I’ve always been proud of my memory but it seems to be failing me more and more lately. Or rather, I suppose it’s I who have overburdened it so badly that it’s staggered and fallen to its knees (beneath my hairline). My memory has fallen and it can’t get up! When do I start worrying about Alzheimers? When does the Part-heimers cross the line? When I can’t remember who I am? Where I’m supposed to be? Which of my children has a birthday in...

06
Apr
2008

:(

Oh my god, I am so sad. I just heard the horrible news that our good friends had to put their dog, Chimay, to sleep last weekend, after he suffered a slipped disk in his spine. He was the most wonderful sweetheart of a dog. We had the signal honor of having Chimay at our house for a week about a year and a half ago and have greeted him with proprietary affection every time we’ve seen him since. This sure put a damper on the good mood post below. I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes wondering how...

06
Apr
2008

LET THE SUN SHINE IN

What determines your mood? Is it already preset when you wake up? Does the sunshine factor in? Is it based on how many things you have to do during the day or worries you have about the week ahead? Despite the cloud cover, we have had intermittent sunshine all day. Right now it is beaming through the house like a great big global smile. It’s lighting up everything—the floor, the fish tank, the dirty windows. I still have to get out and go for a walk, but am guessing I will end up going after dinner which I need to...

04
Apr
2008

SPROING!

The lungwort in the front garden is in full bloom. What an ugly name for a pretty plant. It was fun just now to look up the origin of the name, however I like the other colloquial names for it much better: Spotted dog, Jerusalem cowslip, Soldiers & Sailors. I like it because it has such fun polka-dotted leaves and it flowers for a really long time, and then it flowers again, and also it just keeps coming up year after year without my having to do anything much. I like low-maintenance plants, since I’m the world’s most indifferent gardener....

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