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Revisiting the Past: The Road Trip
Because I’m feeling lazy inspired by one of the prompts in this week’s Writers’ Workshop AND because I’m leaving on vacation early Sunday morning, feeling grateful that it is near impossible for us to do a 15 hour (one way) road trip here in Wales, I’m bringing you a post from July 2009. At the time, people questioned the wisdom of traveling cross-country alone with a 3 & 5-year-old, but since shortly after this trip I started flying overseas alone with said 3 & 5 year olds, I guess it was good practice. Oh, and Ox? She’s Boo’s favorite stuffy. ‘Cause traveling with a real ox would be silly. And…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: Shadow of Night
I’ve just finished “Shadow of Night” by Deborah Harkness and already I’m impatient for the third book in the All Souls Trilogy to be released – I want to know what happens next with historian Diana and scientist (and vampire) Matthew. I’m impatient like that. Shadow of Night picks up right where “A Discovery of Witches” leaves off (and if you haven’t read the first book, stop right here and go read it – I don’t want to spoil anything for you) with Diana and Matthew ready to time walk elsewhere in history so that Diana can find a witch to teach her (she’s avoided using her powers and so…
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It’s Good To Be a Kid….
Some days, I don’t want to be the adult. I want to be the kid. Why, you ask? Let me tell you: ONE: Grocery Shopping As a kid, you ask mom if you can have something, and if you’re lucky, it magically appears in the cupboard/refrigerator (or you get to go with her to the store where you can try to sneak things into the cart). Now I know how all that food must get there, and it’s not so “magical”. *sighs* TWO: Cleaning toilets As a child, you might have to set the table, or take out the trash or make your bed, but my mom never made me…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday (on Thursday*): The Land Of Decoration
Grace McCleen’s “The Land of Decoration” was a compelling read – not one that was to be consumed in one sitting, but instead one that forced me to slow down and contemplate and absorb. It’s also one that is difficult to review without giving away too much of the story. McCleen was brought up in a Christian Fundamentalist sect herself, which lends an authenticity to the story and leaves you wondering how much was drawn from her own experiences. Hearing her speak at the Hay Festival last month, she confessed that the process of writing was physically challenging – it literally made her ill. The book resonates with such loneliness…
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Independence Day
As one might imagine, here in the UK the “4th of July” is merely the day that follows the 3rd of July, a fact that still continues to mystify my children. Go figure. So while we would historically be watching a parade in our hometown and then heading to my Aunt Merrie’s for a party in her pool and maybe a drink or two….(gone are the days of Mom’s cousin Gary’s sideline-style drinks cooler of Long Island Iced Teas, thankyouverymuch, as I’ve got my kids with me now), we play it low-key now. Very low-key. Since it’s a work/school day for us here. Still, we gave it our best attempt.…
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Fill the The Blank Friday
I was shocked to discover that the week has come and gone. My mind has been a total blank and the week’s posts (and lack thereof) reflects this, so it is appropriate, in a way, that I fill in a blank. (It’s Lauren’s from The Little Things We Do, to be specific.) Today’s prompt is: “If I could get away for the day I would go ________” To the Beach. In the South of France, preferably. (Although anywhere dry and sunny will do.) Since I just heard on the radio that we in the UK will be getting a MONTH’s worth of rain in the next 24 hours, after what…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: Port Mortuary and Red Mist
Let me preface these reviews with the statement that I am a long-time Patricia Cornwell fan. I read and re-read her Kay Scarpetta novels. Heck, I eschewed product samples (you know, the ones you get in the Sunday paper or in magazines or in the mail) for years after reading Unnatural Exposure for fear of product tampering. When I was supposed to be moving to Richmond, Virginia in the late ’90s, my mom was freaking out because all her knowledge of Richmond came from Kay Scarpetta novels. But somewhere along the line, the writing in the series changed as did the characters’ personalities, and…
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Fill in the Blank Friday
There is still a few minutes left in the day here in the UK so I can technically still say “Happy Friday!” It’s time to fill in a blank! This week’s prompt is: COLOR If you follow my blog at all, you will know that photography is one of my first loves, however amateur my status. So it would only follow that when I think of color, I think photographs. Red When I hear “Green“, I think “grass” Blue Is anything a Yellow as a Daffodil? The fruit would be too obvious, so I went for a vivid, floral Orange Pink is one of Pea’s favorite…
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On Childhood Rhymes, Beans and the Loss of Innocence
In very much the same way that applesauce is a vegetable at my parents’ house (in that it may make an appearance at nearly every meal, unlike an actual vegetable), baked beans are a common item at our evening meals, particularly since we have moved to the UK. It is a staple in my daughter’s diet (the reduced-sugar type as often as I can find it) as it is a decent source of protein for my mostly non-meat-eating girl. She really should be a spokesperson for Heinz. And of course, where you have bean-eaters, you have poetry rhymes: Beans, beans the musical fruit The more you eat, the more you…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: Angelmaker
I’ve just finished reading Nick Harkaway’s second novel, Angelmaker, and I don’t know how to begin to describe it. Let’s start by saying it was a fantastically entertaining read. Normally, I’m a bit hesitant when I see a book described as “absurdist” as quite often this is a misnomer, and what you actually get is something a bit surreal. This is not true for this book, albeit the cast of characters includes an octogenarian secret agent (retired), an evil dictator (who surely must be older than dirt), a serial killer, a community of Undertakers, a monastic society of former-creator/inventors-now-turned-evil-bodyguards (or something) called the “Ruskinites”, and a gnarly, near-toothless pug with…
