Miscellany

It's Monday, I'm too tired to string together cohesively the half dozen or so things I've thought about posting so here you have the inner workings of the mind of a slightly frazzled working Maine mummy

1. Dr Who Season 5 did not arrive at the Library in time today so it's back to X-Files season one for me. Only slightly bummed.

2. Hoping to finish Husby's crocheted Minion tonight but very much doubt it because my brain is already in Bed.

3. Listened to Toby loving his daddy tonight while I scrapbooked on the other side of the wall, blissful (I wasn't in the room because Husby wasn't getting hugs when I was there and was when I wasn't - now that's a hideous sentence)

4. Finished reading "An Education" by Lynn Barber, interesting read, un-sympathetic woman.

5. Contemplating what book to read next - Dickens, Fitzgerald or Atwood.

6. Husby is redoing the grout on the bath tub for the second time, hopefully this stuff behaves in the manner it is supposed to.

7. Snow tomorrow, snow on Wednesday, winter plows on ;-)

8. Doughnuts

9. Mulder

10. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Crying of Eve's Unconsolable Tattoo

In my entire life I have only read one book that I hated. I have only put aside two books that I was unable to bring myself to continue with.

I hated Eve's Tattoo by Emily Prager. I read it as part of a post modernist class in which I discovered the joys of Don DeLillo and Thomas Pynchon. But I hated Eve's Tattoo. I tried very hard not to. I tried to read it from the perspective that I disliked the protagonist not the writer, I tried to read it from the perspective that I disliked the story not the writing, I tried to read it from the perspective that we were supposed to dislike the protagonist and her story, I even tried to read it from the perspective of a world judging the actions of the Nazi's whilst forgetting the horrors that still resonate in the lives of those whose families suffered. But I hated Eve's Tattoo. The protagonist was an annoying, self involved narcissist with no clear perspective on anything but her own inanity and the writing was bad. It was a bad story about unlikeable people written badly. I still have it on my book shelf though I will never read it again. Something that inspires this much emotion should not be taken lightly. I keep it for the same reason some people keep pictures of their formerly fat selves taped up on the fridge. It reminds me of who I am as a reader (chuckle) and who I don't want to be as a writer.

At the same time I encountered Eve's Tattoo I encountered The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. You may want a stiff drink before commencing this work, it's a rollercoaster but oh so hilarious and well timed. Each word trips from Pynchon's pen like Charlie Chaplin stumbling across the stage - artfully without art. So when I found a first edition of Mason and Dixon quite cheaply I snapped it up and looked forward to succumbing to his words once more. When I got married and was an unemployed, nation-less wife I pulled it off the bookshelf, it being one of the few belongings that had as yet made it from my world to Husby's. It's probably 7 or 8 times the size of The Crying of Lot 49 and could quite happily serve as a butcher block should you have the need. It wasn't bad writing but I struggled to find a motivation to continue reading with every word on every page. It was the first book I ever put aside unread that I actually cared about. The first I put aside barely warrants mentioning - it was a book someone loaned to me "You have to read this" - but really, really I didn't. I hate borrowing books from people, don't loan me one, I won't read it and you'll never get it back because I'll still feel that I have to read it. So I laid aside Mason and Dixon and it lives in perpetual storage at my in-laws house. As post modernism was a brief flirtation of mine I have very little regret.

The book I lay aside today I will regret. It will gnaw at me. It will stare at me from my shelves and mock me. The book I lay aside today is the second novel of one of my favourite authors and I just can't face it anymore. The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro has not been a fun read or an interesting read. I can see what he's trying to do, in fact it is very similar to ideas that I have had and been unable to effectively convey on paper (yes I use a typewriter on occasion), I just don't think it works. It's kind of like that itch that you can't scratch on the bottom of your foot. Nothing quite does it and so it sits there irritating you but not injuring you. This book is an itch on the bottom of my foot. So I am going to chop it off. The story follows a world famous pianist, a bachelor, coming to a small European Hamlet to give a concert. He has never been there before except that his "wife" and child live there. He seems to have some kind of memory less, forgetting and remembering long past events and daily occurrences equally. This might be exciting except that Ishiguro's protagonist has no personality and no appeal. He is consistently confused and I come away from the novel feeling like I've had a bad dream in which I was trying to get somewhere but was inexplicably stuck in invisible quicksand. I have to let it go or January will pass, February will pass and I will still be stuck in this book having indulged myself in nothing else.

This book is by no means my white whale but it will gnaw at me every time I glance at it. State of the Union time...

Picture Perfect

If I had a camera that took wonderful pictures this is what I would have taken this morning:

one The light filling my hall way and illuminating the dark wooden floors as an almost full moon cast it's light through my tall window

two The light from the full moon peeking over the pine tree forest behind my house

three The dark tree line shadow cast on two feet of bright white snow by the light from the full moon peeking over the pine tree forest behind my house.

four My baby with a mouthful of waffle smiling at me as I drank my tea

Okay so that last one could have been taken with my little Polaroid but I was too busy drinking in the wonderfulness of my baby to run and get it from the living room.

Husby may have the sniffles, we may be getting another foot of snow on Wednesday and we may have been running very late this morning but I got some sweet Toby kisses, a hot cup of tea, a bowl of real Frosted Flakes and was able to dry my hair before leaving the house for once.

Not a bad start to the week I think.

It's a funny old life

It's funny how life catches up with you. A peaceful perfect day leads into two, leads into three and despite the cold in my nose and the scratch in my throat I still feel very much at peace. Persistent snow all week has left my world clean and crisp instead of muddy and gray while a cute smile and a pom pom hat warm my heart.

With Husby sick in bed Toby and I had the morning to ourselves. We snuggled up with a new toy from Nanny as we made our way down to breakfast where we had oatmeal and bananas with a big cup of tea for mummy. A few snatched moments with the Tupperware Shape-O-Toy that is his latest obsession and we are dressed and ready for the day. We bundle up and head out into the cold where he wonders at the winter wonderland falling all around him. He really does love the snow so much. A quick pull over to the side of the road on the drive in as someone discovers what a pom pom is actually made of and starts picking it apart for second breakfast then we are on our way.

Unfortunately it was all downhill from there and I left him with friends and cried all the way to work. But I refuse to let sadness and despair take over and I thank my God for good friends who will play with Toby while daycare is closed, for a decent kettle at work where I can have that extra cup of tea (albeit Liptons) and for a wonderful Dad who emails me and tells me to read a blog he knows of where someone just managed to have a perfect moment this week.

So I will sit at work paying bills that are not my own, interviewing people for a job we need to fill thinking about picking up my baby boy and seeing the mess he has made at Catherine's house. Then I will go home kiss Husby, whip up a fabulous pasta dinner (for fabulous read easy) before hunkering down with baby boy's bubble bath and Curious George Flies a Kite. Maybe I'll even crochet some more of that blanket that Toby decided tasted wonderful last night.

A Souleful moment

Every so often I have a peek at the kind of life that I want to lead. Sometimes this is through the blogs I read, fellow Mainer Amanda Soule for one, sometimes it is through a good book and sometimes (most often) it is through perfect moments in my own life that crop up when I'm least expecting it.

So I present to you Monday night.

Having read The Tiger who came to Tea Toby is safely tucked up in bed with his Panda bear. I have shortbread cooking in the oven, cauliflower soup has been digested and the wood stove is blazing. The laundry is hung up to dry in my kitchen and we sit down to a boardgame with Husby's sister. Her pooch asleep by the stove and a cup of hot honey and lemon to ease my sore throat, we play. The laundry room (aka the basement) is humming away and the dishwasher waits to begin. I contemplate a bag of knitting by my side waiting to grow into a beautiful blanket and think that I am very blessed.

There may be many things I would change in our lives if I could but every so often that perfect life just happens in on us unawares.

It's a funny old life.

Weekly round up

This week has been interesting. It started with everyone in full health and has ended with a snoozy snotty baby and a mummy with swollen glands. Luckily Husby is well enough now to take the reins so Toby and I both got to sleep today while the homestead ticked along nicely. After Toby's morning nap - three hours instead of his usual 30 minutes - we went to Toys R Us to buy Toby a ride along toy as he has been sitting on his Trucks and pushing himself along. It turns out that what I actually wanted to do was go to Toys R Us in the eighties since they had nothing resembling the things he enjoys riding on at Church. Ah well LL Bean for the Radio Flyer Fire Engine it is! He did enjoy running around the toy store though so that was a lot of fun. Husby even came with me to two craft stores, I think he was pleasantly surprised when I only spent $2

Thanks to a friend reading my copy in advance for me I have decided that the next book to read after Ishiguro's The Unconsoled will be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies I think the picture from the cover of the book is sufficiently out of my sub conscious now so that I can read it without wanting to vomit. Pride and Prejudice is perhaps my favourite book and so I am interested to see what has been done to it. Funnily enough I have hated every sequel I have ever read and I can't quite believe how many people have attempted to map out the course of Darcy and Elizabeth's marriage. Most of it is bad writing, a good deal of it uses ridiculous storylines but much of it just plain misses the point of the original and completely discards Austen's character traits. Funnily enough the only sequels I have enjoyed have been the humorous follow ups by Carrie Bebris, Pride and Prescience, Suspense and Sensibility etc, that is if you ignore the supernatural overtones.

I finished a baby blanket last month for my best friend in England and it arrived with them today so I can finally post a picture of the finished project.

A bit wonky in places perhaps but stitched with much love.

Managed to squeeze in some scrapbooking time with my friend Casey on Friday night. Up until recently Friday night was date night and we would trade in Toby and his friend Finnegan so that each set of parents could get a night out. Finances being what they are however we have reached a compromise and I think I'm actually enjoying this more (shhh don't tell Husby!) AJ and Husby play video games while Casey and I scrapbook in the kitchen. At the moment my travel bag is full of pictures from our camping trip to Acadia in 2009 when I resembled the Goodyear blimp (Good Year? Good year? I have no idea). I can move onto the 2010 trip in just a few more pages.

Husby is busy designing another new board game for a competition. He hopes to win $1000 by inventing a game that will still be wildly played in 3011. I have to say that it looks pretty neat so far and certainly less complicated than his last game. Along with that he is working on setting up a woodworking business, at the moment we are merely in collection of wood and ideas, his router arrives at the end of February and when the garage defrosts he can get properly to work. First on the list, scrapbooking shelves for wifey!

An 18 inch blizzard this week made for fun times in the snow with Toby when both Husby and I were given the day off due to inclement weather!

Tomorrow night we prepare to watch our beloved Patriots crush the heathen Jets - in Brady we trust.

Have a blessed week.

Sorely lacking

There are some things in this wonderful country I live in that are sorely lacking. No Fish N Chip shops for a quick dinner on the way home. No cafe to grab an Egg Sarnie and cup of tea while strolling through town. No sidewalks for the most part.

One of the places where I notice the most difference is at the grocery store. It took me years to adapt my digestive system and recipes to Hannafords or Shaws. I order teabags and baked beans from Amazon. Every so often I pick up custard powder and some decent stuffing at a specialty store in Freeport.

On my last visit home there was a particular cereal I had been craving and managed to devour several boxes of. So imagine my joy when I received an email today informing me of a new cereal available in my local grocery store this month. The first person to comment will win a lifetime supply.


Only joking! I have neither the power nor the cereal to make that happen. But I highly recommend that you try a delicious bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes this month.



And, no, I did not get paid in money or cereal for "endorsing" this product.

My Creative Space

Finding time is precious

I grab a minute here and there

My Scrapbook space is right outside Toby's room so I often stick a picture down while waiting for him to wake up in the morning. It does make it hard to do at night though, he still doesn't have a door on his room!

Who ya gonna call?

When Google just won't cut it and you need information fast try The Encyclopedia Brittanica - available for only $26 a letter in 26 easy installments.

Only joking but they do have a remarkably informative website for those moments when Google is too vague and Wikipedia is lying.

http://www.britannica.com/

I just discovered this and am loving it, though I doubt it will give me an episode guide for Grey's Anatomy. When I was younger I would create extra-curricular work for myself - sad I know - I would read and copy non-fiction on anything I could find, mostly Dinosaurs and Sharks which I was fascinated with. I have never owned a set of Encyclopedias and doubt I ever will but I love the way they look and feel.

Interestingly enough while typing this I typed "information fact" instead of "information fast" - I thought it a rather interesting typo for the post this is.

So how's that year going?

One week into the New Year and some of those "resolutions" have faded fast, others just haven't got their momentum going yet.

Pilates has been done, cholesterol is being lowered, a book has been read, three letters have been mailed (five have been written) and I am seven days behind on my daily Bible reading!

My favourite part so far has been picking up a book that has more than one rhyming sentence on each page. This week I finally got around to reading Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro. After reading Remains of the Day at university I was pretty much hooked on his work but hadn't picked one up in a while. When I saw they were making this into a movie with one of my favourite actresses (Carey Mulligan) I realised I had to read the book quickly if I wanted to see the movie anytime soon. Yes I am one of those people.

It was wonderful and read a lot more like Remains of the Day, for which he earned the bulk of his fame, than any of his other books. What I like about Ishiguro is that he tells a story without actually telling you that story, you suddenly pause and realise that in all his little sidenotes and stories within stories, he has actually been taking you deep into the heart of the matter at hand. Husby is a story teller, it's one of the things I fell in love with, so there's something comforting about reading Ishiguro. I won't give you any spoilers, after my horrific spoiler experience while reading Anna Karenina I shy away from reviews. The issues of humanity and the soul raised here are often disturbing but read this book, you won't be disappointed.

The joys of language

When I was in school my history teacher would chastise me for using capital letters with neither care nor caution. I was consistently in the habit of making things far more important than they were. It was in this manner that the most important thing in my study of Mecca was not the prayer but the Mat, that the Holocaust took place over Many Years and that Henry VIII had many Wives. By the time I got to college I had managed to get that into check (ahem) but quickly adopted the habit of creating new words out of old ones which I was reminded of yesterday when we voted in a new Pastor with unanimity - the pronunciation of which sent me into a tizzy over whether the word existed.

Now it may just be that my vocabulary has decreased over the years simply by virtue of no longer being in college. Or it could be Maine. Or it could be both. Nevertheless I find myself on most days wondering where the words have gone and re-reading The Phantom Tollbooth in the hopes of discovering them. Perhaps my resolve to read more, part of that being to read well and avoid the next Twilight plague that 2011 might bring, may aid the recovery of my vocabulary.

I have spent many years lamenting the fact that my children would grow up with an American accent and not the cute twang of the Mary Poppins kids, I am after all the only Brit they will hear most of the time. As Toby develops his own vocabulary I have come to realize that this no longer matters to me. I love his little voice no matter the emphasis or tone.

At the moment he is rather mono-syllabic. With the exception of "juice" "car" "truck" and "dad" he is king of the one-time-only word. He finds a word, uses it, realises he now possesses the word and then doesn't use it again, choosing instead to play with other sounds. Last week he ate a banana and looked for Grandma quite clearly but nary a peep of either since. Then the creme de la creme that sent me into minor heart failure on Friday evening. I had just finished reading yet another installment of Curious George for him, turned on his Ipod to Maxwell's Silver Hammer, gave him a goodnight squeeze and hug while uttering the ever loving "Goodnight Toby, I love you" when to my surprise he responded. A confluence of sound and syllable combined with a mother's ear produced "I love you too" from the lips of my sweet fifteen month old boy. I don't expect to hear it again but my goodness this mother's heart jumped into her throat.

I hope that enough showings of British Cartoons and 70s sitcoms will imbibe Toby with the vernacular that he will not grow up with. As for me I will return to my couch and take in the comedic stylings of Penelope Keith and Richard Briers rediscovering words seldom used and long forgotten.

New Year's Resolutions

Thanks Lulu - I needed some prompting to get thinking about this. There are definitely things that I have been avoiding since Toby was born (15 months ago ahem) and things that have been added to my avoidance list since then. I'm not big on New Year celebrations or resolutions but it is a nice point to stop, think and redress so I do enjoy playing along.

1. Pilates - 3-5 times a week should once more reduce my baby belly, a few pounds lost in the process might be nice but I seek the tone and flexibility I had when I was doing this regularly.

2. Cholesterol - lower it again. I picked up some bad habits while pregnant and never really dropped the snacking from my diet. I need to lower my cholesterol for Toby if not for myself.

3. Read - Yes I want to scrapbook, crochet, play Trucks with Toby, hike with Husby, keep a clean house, bake more, make a dress, fit a new bathtub and dozens of other things but this year I resolve to restore reading to my life. I've done a pretty good job so far starting with Anna Karenina, now I just need to continue with it.

4. Correspond. I will revive the ancient art of letter writing, ensuring that far flung relatives who do not enjoy the interwebs will have news and pictures of Toby on a more regular basis. There's something about putting a stamp on an envelope that I just love. I may pull out the typewriter for this, my handwriting tends to scrawl after a while! If I manage one a week I will be amazed, one a fortnight I will be happy and one a month I will be satisfied!

5. Read the Bible - our church is doing weekly readins in 2011 so we are all reading the same things at the same time. It will get us through the Bible in a year. It will be nice to be literally on the same page as everyone else.

Happy Saturday!