Saturday fill-ins

1. The last thing I ate was a blueberry scone and tea. I am so predictable that a stalker would be bored.

2. Cranston (by Mrs. Gaskell) is something I recently bought. How could I not? It was on the 1/2-price table at Barnes & Noble, and I had a gift card to use. (As if I need an excuse to buy books. Sheesh.)

• By the way, I saw something at Barnes & Noble that made me wince very, very much: a table of books and paraphernalia related to the anniversary of Woodstock. Books, ok. But a jigsaw puzzle? no.no.no.no.no.

3. When it rains, it makes my head ache, but it doesn't make me unhappy if I can watch it when I'm home and dry.

4. My husband was the first person I talked to today.

5. Hugs are indispensable.

6. Letters in the mail are extra comfort when I come home from a trying day.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to, tomorrow today my plans include writing two overdue letters and eating a delicious Greek dinner, and Sunday, I want to visit friends!

notes to self

• Audiobooks are much less befuddling when your player is not set to "shuffle."
• A close call with his death does not change a bloody freakin' tyrant into a human being.
• Breath is both precious and fragile.
• When you have to wear a shirt, a vest, and a blazer at your desk in July, it's too darned cold. However, since no one in thirty years has been able to adjust the sixty-year-old HVAC system, think of shivering as exercise, and move on. (Add fingerless mitts to knitting queue.)
• You do not need to pack two books, one knitting project, one magazine, stationery, five fountain pens, your MP3 player, and enough tranquilizers to soothe a rampaging herd of elephants for a half-hour stint in a waiting room. Srsly. Lose the magazine.
• Knitting instructions generally mean what they say, especially when the chart matches. (Thank you, OfTroy.)
• When I think of the perfect Michael Jackson tribute album, I hope with all my heart that someone plays "Beat it" on panflute.
• July 3 advice from the Dalai Lama via his insight-a-day calendar: "Genuine compassion is unbiased." Note: try it on myself.

do I have to bring a note?

I've been absent a lot. I'm sorry. How about a lit survey I just did on Facebook? Pardon the formatting...
1) What author do you own the most books by? Joyce Carol Oates.
2) What book do you own the most copies of? I don't duplicate books on purpose - but my bookshelves are so disorganized that I might have duplicates or triplicates - or I might be the Octomom of books!
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? No - that's not one of the things I'm preoccupied with.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? You mean, today? I'd have to say Mrs. Ramsay from "To the Lighthouse."
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)? "Little Women."
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old? "Jane Eyre."
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year? "The Song of the Lark" by Willa Cather. I was snarling by the end of it.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year? "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. (Not that I actually have a dilemma, since I'm not an omnivore, but when you read that food-industry lunatics are feeding corn to salmon, it's hard to be sanguine about any aspect of our food-chain...)
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be? "The Omnivore's Dilemma."
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? Anne Tyler
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie? Any Maisie Dobbs mystery.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie? It's too late - they already did "Left Behind."
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. When I first read "Crime and Punishment," it infiltrated my dreams. I was seeing through Raskolnikov's eyes. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult? "Da Vinci Code." Oh.dear.God.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read? I'm still reading it - "The Madwoman in the Attic."
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen? I never saw any of the really obscure ones.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians? Salad dressings? Oh, books. Russians.
18) Roth or Updike? Please don't make me choose.... oh, all right, Roth, for "The Plot Against America."
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Sedaris. 20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? Shakespeare
21) Austen or Eliot? Austen
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? I've never read "Moby Dick" - and you can't make me.
23) What is your favourite novel? "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke.
24) Play? (I'll fudge on this one...) Screenplay: "My Dinner with Andre."
25) Poem? One need not be a chamber to be haunted... Emily Dickinson, ever and always Emily.
26) Essay? "Some Memories of the Glorious Bird and an Earlier Self" by Gore Vidal.
27) Short story? Dostoevsky - "White Nights." (or, "The Beast in the Jungle" by Henry James.)
28) Work of nonfiction? "The White Album" - Joan Didion. (Substitute any title by Joan Didion.)
29) Who is your favorite writer? Jane Austen.
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Dan Brown.
31) What is your desert island book? Jane Austen - "Emma."
32) And ... what are you reading right now? "Musicophilia" by Oliver Sacks.

Power and glory

The Power and Glory
Phil Ochs

Come and take a walk with me thru this green and growing land
Walk thru the meadows and the mountains and the sand
Walk thru the valleys and the rivers and the plains
Walk thru the sun and walk thru the rain

Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)

From Colorado, Kansas, and the Carolinas too
Virginia and Alaska, from the old to the new
Texas and Ohio and the California shore
Tell me, who could ask for more?

Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)

Yet she's only as rich as the poorest of her poor
Only as free as the padlocked prison door
Only as strong as our love for this land
Only as tall as we stand

Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)

But our land is still troubled by men who have to hate
They twist away our freedom & they twist away our fate
Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry
We can stop them if we try

Here is a land full of power and glory
Beauty that words cannot recall
Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom
Her glory shall rest on us all (on us all)

song for a grey day

The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood

(written by Richard Farina, sung by Sandy Denny)

As gentle tides go rolling by,
Along the salt sea strand
The colours blend and roll as one
Together in the sand.
And often do the winds entwine
Do send their distant call.
The quiet joys of brotherhood,
And love is lord of all.

The oak and weed together rise,
Along the common ground.
The mare and stallion light and dark
Have thunder in their sound.
The rainbow sign, the blended flower
Still have my heart in thrall.
The quiet joys of brotherhood,
And love is lord of all.

But man has come to plough the tide,
The oak lies on the ground.
I hear their tires in the fields,
They drive the stallion down.
The roses bleed both light and dark,
The winds do seldom call.
The running sands recall the time
When love was lord of all.

The Forest Lover - Emily Carr

Emily Carr was a Canadian painter whose work was radically different from all other Canadian painters of her time. Not only did she choose Native subjects to paint - notably, totem poles - but she travelled alone through forests, Native villages, either on foot or via inland waterways, at a time when women's art was limited to delicate watercolours.

After Ms.Carr studied in France, learning about the post-Impressionists and Fauvist artists, her art changed dramatically as she began to add bold use of colour to her previously-representational style. Initially, critics were hostile, not only to her subject matter, but also her technique. It took many years for her to be recognized for her talent and prescience in selecting subjects that were, already, being destroyed by man and by time.

The Forest Lover is fiction, not biography. As fiction, most of it works well, taking the reader through the ecstasy of creativity and the despair of having one's art and oneself marginalized. As I read, I was swept into the extreme discomfort of Carr's travels and the joy of discovering the ancient meanings of the totem poles and Native rituals. I was happy to discover that some of the characters, especially the Squamish basket maker, Sophie Frank, were real people whose friendship helped to sustain Ms. Carr. The only characters and events in the book that did not work well for me were the parts that were purely imaginary - for example, the love interest, who never existed.

Vreeland herself writes: "...in order to show, and not merely report, certain aspects of Emily's character and history, particularly her difficultly with intimacy, I found it necessary to invent a man. I wish she hadn't.

If you decide to read The Forest Lover (and I hope you do), be prepared to want to know more about the woman, to see more of her paintings, and to search out all of Vreeland's novels about art. This book is that good.

dream on

Has a co-worker ever told you that you were in his dream? Our (amazing, articulate, funny, wizard-like) computer tech said I was in his dream last night. He didn't remember the details, but he know that I was fighting evil in the dream. "You were the good guy." Lovely, yes?

Oh, by the way, this post is green to support the demonstrators in Iran. In case you were wondering. Would that we all were so passionate about democracy.

Thursday tea

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

The tea: Black Pearl from Lipton. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive - just a very delicious black tea from Sri Lanka with a lovely, lingering flavour. I drink it plain, no sugar, especially at work. Lovely stuff.

The book: The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland, a novel about the life of Emily Carr. (See yesterday's post for an example of Carr's painting.) I'm loving this book as much as the other novels she's written about painters (all of which are on my night table to be read, or read again). The prose takes you there, whether it's inside the home of a basket-weaver, or in Paris where she discovers that Fauve and Post-Impressionist art can merge her artistic vision to her artistic technique.

Do they go together? Hmmm. Interesting. The novel takes place in a strict Canadian homestead, Native villages, and Paris. I would say that any tea would "go" with one of those places. Alas, the plain black tea would be most likely found in the most repressive of these, but since I loathe herbal teas and shy away from most flavored black ones, I guess I'll have to say that the novel goes with me, and so does my tea.

Wordless Wednesday

Lori Berenson - the forgotten woman

I will truly be happy if President Obama (via Al Gore, possibly) can secure the release of Lora Ling and Euna Lee, the two journalists who were sentenced to 12 years hard labour by North Korea. I truly was happy when journalist Roxana Saberi, was released from prison in Iran. These women journalists were targeted and convicted by governments more interested in using them for political reasons than in pursuing justice.

Does anyone remember Lori Berenson? Ms. Berenson has been imprisoned in Peru since her arrest in November of 1995. She was charged - falsely - by Peru as a terrorist who belonged to the "Shining Path" organization, and tried twice in court proceedings that have been condemned by human rights organizations around the world for secrecy, lack of due process, and outright lies. Her trials and the presumption of guilt violated Peru's own laws on double jeopardy and presumption of innocence. She was, in fact, a journalist with valid press credentials, whose only crime was working for social justice. From the website of the Committee to Free Lori Berenson:

• In January 1996 Lori was found guilty of treason and sentenced to life in prison by a secret hooded military tribunal while a hooded soldier held a gun to her head. There was no trial. These military tribunals have been condemned by the U.S. Department of State, Amnesty International, The Carter Center for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch: Americas. In December 1998, the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights stated that Lori Berenson was deprived of her liberty arbitrarily and that the government of Perú must take all necessary steps to remedy her wrongful incarceration.

Perhaps this would be a good time to remind the world of this woman's unlawful and disgraceful imprisonment. How can we help? We can write to Lori, write to President Obama, write to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and our congressional representatives. We can even write to Lori - and her parents! - to tell them that she has not been forgotten.

Friday fill-ins (on Friday)

1. I wish my home could clean and paint itself.

2. My favorite thing for dinner lately has been cereal and plain yogurt, with Craisins.

3. Bark! bark! bark! you silly mockingbird. I know you're not a dog.

4. My husband told me about a nice long walk he took in a forest in Australia, where big things were hopping around the paths.

5. I need some good news. Now. Please. Anything.

6. When all is said and done, I can't complain (which would seem to contradict #5, but - oh well).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching Bill Maher, tomorrow my plans include catching up with my journal, and Sunday, I want to get a foot or two of the baby blanket knitted up.

last Friday's fill-ins, an award, and gratitude

1. It's cold and I love it, because summer is my least-favorite season, so the longer it stays cool, the less heat I'll have to endure.

2. I love tomatoes, but they don't love me.

3. My favorite health and beauty product is sleep.

4. I love a nice long ride when I am stressed. Driving has always been a pleasure.

5. Well, first of all I know it's Thursday, but time is relative.

6. People in an elementary school: those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was really scary because I didn't know anyone, I couldn't find my classroom, and for heaven's sake, can't I have a sense of direction in my dreams, even? Bad enough I don't have one when I'm awake. Sheesh.


Leah at The Octagon gave me the Lemonade Award for great attitude and gratitude. Thank you, Leah! I don't feel like a particularly grateful person lately, partly because I haven't thanked anyone for all of the books I've won. Here's a start:


Shattered Reality by Kimberly Cheryl, from Rebecca, Lost in Books.
The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, AND Things I Want My Daughter to Know by Elizabeth Noble - both from Julie, the Booking Mama.
Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern from Jennifer, a/k/a Book Club Girl.
Made in the USA by Billie Letts from Kristi, Books and Needlepoint.
My Little Red Book from Avianschild, She Reads and Reads.

Please go over and visit these excellent and generous bloggers - tell them that teabird sent you!

I know I've left some out... please forgive.

Michael Pollan and Bill Maher - together tonight!

Bliss...

books, in short

• Songs Without Words (Ann Packer) : meh. Good ingredients, potentially-interesting plot elements, but - meh.

• Frida's Bed (Slavenka Drakulic) : fictional biography of Frida Kahlo. Amazing internal dialogues and meditations about her paintings, as well as the pain and heartbreak that her illnesses and streetcar accident caused. I want to read this again someday with a collection of Kahlo's paintings handy.

• In Defense of Food (Michael Pollan) : Pollan has done it again - its the best nonfiction I've read since The Omnivore's Dilemma. (Before that, I read The Botany of Desire, also a gem.) Pollan starts out with simple advice - eat food - and then tells how that simple statement has changed its meaning as the overprocessed and narrow Western diet has devoured the world's concept of food, creating epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Pollan has a way of writing about the business of agriculture and micromanagement of nutrients that makes me wish I could avoid supermarkets for the rest of my life. (However, I'm guilty of at least one of the sins of Western cuisine: impatience with / dislike of cooking, so 'twould be difficult.) The most startling concept in a book full of startling insights: the changes in agriculture, outlined in The Omnivore's Dilemma, have resulted in more food production with less nutrition in the food. Levels of everything from omega-3 fatty acids to vitamin C have been reduced, so you now have to eat more servings of each item (salmon, say, or apples) to get the nutrition you once would have gotten from one serving.

Next in the queue, I think : The Forest Lover (Susan Vreeland) - fictional biography of the Canadian painter, Emily Carr. Have any of you read it? What did you think?

a tea accident a/k/a a spider on acid took over my house

Dear friends who knit at Panera,

I am sorry that I spilled tea all over the table this afternoon. By the grace of the the Mighty Favog, I think I only messed up my own knitting. (Please.)

Anyway, when I took my tea-stained yarn and stuff into the bathroom at Panera and soaked it in cold water, I forgot that water permeates porous matter. I truly was surprised to get home and realize that the inner-deepest-most bits were very, very wet. Sigh.

- So everything is drying now (see? I created a sculpture ), and all will be well. I promise to keep the lid on my tea from now on. Forgive me?

namaste,

teabird

bunny not included

Just to prove I still knit - this is #1 of 2 baby hats I'm knitting for my mother's friend, who is having twin boys. My mother is expecting me to knit plain little caps. HA! This is the "Accordian hat" from Baby Beanies in LionBrand Cotton-Ease. The second hat will be reversed - stockinette in blue, garter bits in green.


The rest of my knitting projects - a stole, socks, etc. - are scattered about, waiting for me to sit with them and play.

Last Sunday, Stanley Newman visited our Ravelry knitting group. I'd just read Crossworld by Marc Romano, a funny book about the author's experiences with Serious Puzzlers at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, so I had lots of questions - but I didn't ask many because Newman himself was so fascinating, and so fascinated by what he was seeing. How does this fluff turn into yarn? How does it change colour? I rarely meet anyone whose curiosity sparkles so. What a delight!

The book inspired me to wonder how many knitters are also fans of crossword puzzles. One important skill for good puzzle-solvers, says Romano, is "pattern recognition," the ability to know what comes next in the grid. Isn't that similar to reading one's knitting? - recognizing the pattern? Romano also writes about "thinking associatively" : "to recognize and sort together within your memory things that belong to the same category or order of things." Memorizing a pattern, or knowing just by looking where the next cable twist belongs is a form of sorting stitches and the sense of the textile, don't you think?

(And,as OfTroy pointed out, "text" and "textile" are etymologically related. If you follow the link and visit her, ignore her little jab. I was not annoyed, only impressed. As always. So there.)

One more thought: Romano discusses the affinity that scientists and musicians have for crossword puzzles. It occurs to me that poets are the ultimate in associative thinkers. Associative thought is a pretty good description of metaphor...