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Friday Fill-ins 12-26-08



Janet is our friendly host for this weekly event. My responses are in italics.


1. I must live to a ripe old age in good health before I die.

2. You can't stop aging. Well, you can stop it by dying. (See Number 1.)

3. I wish I never had to buy a car again.

4. Sobriety has helped me change my life.

5. I know the song _____ by heart. Hmm. I can’t remember the title. (See Number 2.)


6. If I weren't so afraid, I would ride a scooter around town, but they’re too much like motorcycles.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to our annual Hanukah party, tomorrow my plans include finally getting out of the house after being snowbound for a week and Sunday, I want to go to that concert that was postponed last week due to snow!

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Booking Through Thursday - Wintry Books

Deb at Booking Through Thursday asks:

What are the most “wintry” books you can think of? The ones that almost embody Winter?

Books I've read recently that fit this category are The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney and Away by Amy Bloom. Both books spent a fair amount of time in bitter cold wilderness and did a fine job of describing it.

To Build a Fire by Jack London is far and away the story that to me embodies winter most effectively. It's a short story about a man traveling on foot across the Yukon Territory accompanied only by a dog.

Perhaps my personal experience reading this story years ago lent a realistic atmosphere to it, as I was literally trying to get a fire going in the woodstove with wet wood in our very cold house.

An excerpt:
The frozen moisture of [the dog's] breathing had settled on its fur in a fine powder of frost, and especially were its jowls, muzzle, and eyelashes whitened by its crystalled breath. The man's red beard and mustache were likewise frosted, but more solidly, the deposit taking the form of ice and increasing with every warm, moist breath he exhaled. Also, the man was chewing tobacco, and the muzzle of ice held his lips so rigidly that he was unable to clear his chin when he expelled the juice. The result was that a crystal beard of the color and solidity of amber was increasing its length on his chin. If he fell down it would shatter itself, like glass, into brittle fragments.

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Wordless Wednesday 12-24-08 The baking of the bread


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Teaser Tuesday 12-23-08 : At Swim, Two Boys


Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read to entice you to read the book, without spoilers of course.


This week's book: At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill, page 105:


A darker ardor charged his face and briefly she heard his shuffling, coughing congregation. Nothing would do but she must utter the dread word. "Bazaar."

This novel has gotten some very high ratings and excellent reviews at LibraryThing. I'm having to work at it a bit here at the beginning, the idioms and phrasing are very unique. But since I'm snowed in, I have nothing else to do! Read More!

Let it Snow

I've posted a bunch of snow photos on my photo blog here, if you're inclined to look at them. Thanks for indulging me, it's so rare for Portland to get this kind of snow for this long.

This is one of my favorites:



Enjoy!
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The Sunday Salon - Winter Solstice

The Sunday Salon.com

Happy Solstice everyone! The Sunday Salon logo is perfect for the coming of the light. Those of us in the northern hemisphere will start seeing longer days after today. For you in the southern, your nights will lengthen (think of it as more reading time). And for you equatorians - I guess not much changes, does it?

Last night we went to a Solstice gathering, walked there and back through drifts of snow and biting wind. One part of the celebration that I loved was the storytelling. We each brought and shared a short story or poem about winter. This kind of event happens far too seldom these days I think. Consider the families and villages pre-TV and how storytelling was an inherent part of culture and a way of passing wisdom down through the generations. Yes, stories get told on TV, in movies, on the internet but it's a more passive activity and the goal is primarily to entertain. I wonder if blogging could be our modern equivalent of story circles? We come here regularly and share pieces of our lives, our wisdom, our daily activities and our major events. But you don't have the benefit of tone of voice or dramatic pause on a blog.

One guest last night read The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service with quite a dramatic flare. It was delightful. And these are the moments that bring a group together in a circle rather than all the little pockets of conversation that tend to form at parties. We have a shared experience. Laurie and I are planning to have a storytelling gathering on New Years Day. We did this a few years ago and invited our guests to come in their pajamas, join us for brunch and share a story or poem or song. We may just make this an annual tradition.
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Happy Holidays to you all. May you be fed and sheltered and loved and may we all know peace in the coming year.
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Friday Fill-ins: 12-19-08



Janet is our jolly host for this weekly event. My totally irreverent responses are in italics. Ho Ho Ho.


1. Said the night wind to the little lamb, "Hey! Little Lamb! Blow me! Ha Ha! Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m fulla hot air, I get that all the time. Such a comedian. Get the flock outta here."

2. The first Noel, the angel did say, "Damn, this halo weighs a friggin' ton! Wardrobe!”

3. Clearcuts, toxic dumps, mountaintop removal, unemployment, foreclosures, Over the hills and everywhere.

4. It came upon the midnight clear, Santa! and eight tiny reindeer!

5. 31 days until Bush is out of office!!!!!! Let your heart be light!

6. The Bell Choir is standing outside your bathroom door. And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing when you’re naked in the shower.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to doing penance for irreverent answers, above, tomorrow my plans include baking challah and taking it to a heathen Solstice celebration and Sunday, I want to play in the (so far non-existent) snow, take photos, read and go to a concert!

This exercise reminds me of some carols I wrote new words to a couple of years ago. This one is dated but the sentiment still remains!

The Christmas Song – Chestnuts Roasting...

George Bush roasting at a war crimes trial
With Cheney, Rumsfeld Rice and Rove

Jailhouse blues being sung by Delay
And all dressed up in prison clothes

Everybody knows they lied to get us into war
And stole those two elections too

CEOs with their eyes all aglow
Are lining up to get their loot


They know that Cheney’s on their side
He promised lots of cash and goodies to provide

And every mother’s child will fight their war
If they are black or brown or desperate or poor
And so I’m offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety eight

Although it’s been said many times, many ways,
Bush impeachment, today!



And to all a good night!

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Winter Cheer

This is one persistent pooch!

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Booking Through Thursday - Books as Gifts

Deb at Booking Through Thursday has a two-parter for us this week:

Part One:
What is the best book you ever bought for yourself?
And, why? What made it the best? What made it so special?



I'm not sure if 'best' means quality of the writing or of the actual book. I guess I'd have to say the recent Pevear-Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace. It's aesthetically beautiful and, well, darn good literature. I'd never read W and P, so it felt like a big plunge to buy a hard cover of it. It was my major read of 2008.

Part Two:
Do you give books as gifts?
To everyone? Or only to select people?
How do you feel about receiving books as gifts?
I love to give and receive books - though I have to know the recipient pretty well before I feel confident enough to know what they like in books. Unless, of course, they have a current wish list; that makes it so easy.

I've noticed that, even though I read mostly fiction these days, when people gift me with books, it's usually nonfiction. I guess they feel more confident in knowing my political or spiritual reading tastes than they do my fiction taste. News flash people! I have a wish list! Actually, I'm not fussy; if someone buys me a good book I know I'll love it regardless of whether it's on my wish list or not.

So when in doubt, buy me books! or Powell's gift cards!

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Wordless Wednesday 12-17-08 Yogi Squirrel


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