Took my nephew to the park yesterday. It’s quite possible that children have evolved into a new species of human. I don’t remember running in gangs of three, throwing and chasing balls, twisting up the swings till I fell over dizzy. I don’t remember the easy laughter, the games of one-upmanship. Did I forget these things as an adult? Did they ever happen for me? Reading a couple of psychology books about bullying among girls. Perhaps I’m trying to understand my growing years. Odd Girl Out claims that the biggest fear girls have is one of isolation, and that this …
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Started reading The Perks Of Being A Wallflower the other day at lunch. Finished it before bedtime, and no, I wasn’t reading non-stop and ignoring everything else. Sort of what one would expect for a book published by MTV. The story was surprisingly good. Very evocative and honest. Charlie is awkward, introverted, bookish, and friends with a group of outsiders: punks, gays, and potheads – people who are portrayed as being honest with themselves about who they are and where they want to be. The part I didn’t like was the revelation that Charlie did indeed have “something wrong with …
Finished Terry Pratchett‘s The Wee Free Men yesterday. Fun adventure story for kids, with some complicated what is a dream versus what is reality discussions thrown in for spice. I completely understood the heroines’ tendency to correct the pronunciation of and provide definitions for people around her. It seems to be a habit among introverted bookworms. Now I’m wondering where some of the books I had as a kid have gotten off to. Hopefully, they’re all in Mom’s attic. The Wee Free Men will be fun to read aloud some day, but so will The Light Princess. I’m going to …
Saw Step Into Liquid at the NuArt the other evening. Gorgeous pictures of amazing waves, shot from incredible angles. Confirms my opinion of surfers as the most insane and simultaneously the most courageous people on the planet. And not just the big wave surfers and the wet-suited mammals in Santa Cruz, but the guys who surf the Great Lakes, the wakes of oil tankers in Texas, and the coast of Ireland. Who knew you could surf in Ireland? The evening also included an authentic celebrity sighting. Helen Hunt saw the same screening we did. I think she may be our …
I moved the avocado that was rooting in a jar of water in the kitchen window to a pot the other day, making first time introductions between roots and soil. I’ve trimmed the top of the tree to encourage branching, but I need to pay attention to all forms of growth to keep it a manageable size. Can you banzai avocado trees? If you do, what size avocados do you get? Also had to severely prune the philodendron. I like the trailing leaves effect, but all attempts to root in the carpet must be curbed immediately. Finally finished Shogun. I …
All my fine words last week, and I’m still not writing very regularly. . . Rereading Shogun. I originally bought the book more than 10 years ago, as plane and coach reading while traveling in Spain. No one else on the trip understood why I was reading a book about medieval Japan while traveling in Spain. Somehow I never managed to adequately explain that it wasn’t the subject matter but the fact that it’s an 1100 page paperback. Yesterday, I found a little card marking page 758; the card offers a Fiesta Americana on the 4th of July, “Tu segunda …