Giving Up the Gun

One of my new favorite songs, by Vampire Weekend.

I like the video a lot, too:







And now I'm very curious about this book, it sounds interesting:

In the words of Jack Carter

-"Hey mom.  Did you know that Henry Vee's father's mother is the queen you see on playing cards?"

{Huh? I have him repeat this sentence}

-"Ohhhhh" I say.  "Do you mean King Henry VIII?"

- "No. Henry Vee.  V -I -I -I". 

{Discussion about Roman Numerals}

 Jack loves to read.  And I love to hear about it, precisely for reasons like Henry Vee. I hear stuff like 'Henry Vee', or 'soo-ing' (instead of sewing) all the time from my cute little guy and it always cracks me up!  He loves words and loves to use them.


Like this morning when Jack was so frustrated because Ada wouldn't get out of bed and get ready for school.

"She's just so....sedentary in the morning."

Ha!

The picture above is Jackie writing Thank You notes (sometime after Christmas).  He had a lot of Thank-You's to write.  He was so bugged that I was taking a picture!  What I didn't realize is that he was writing a Thank You card to me and Sam and he wanted it to be a surprise.  He hid it under my pillow.

Cute, huh.

Sometimes I Don't Want to Share

In eagerness, in longing, in hunger, in haste

A clean snap! I cracked your spine -

Knowing the best is to be chaste

Yet a miser am I, wanting to keep you only mine

I did send your epiphany, reluctantly, in the mail

I broke you open, then cast my secret love away -

I hope those sentiments of nature will

Be used and shared most carefully.

~Painting: A Woman Reading 
by Jean-Baptiste Carot, 1845

Valentine Goodie, Day #12: A True Valentine.

I am married to a man that does not like to be told when to be romantic and sweet and give presents.

He firmly resists it. But before you start to pity me, let me explain the consequences of being married to such a man...

I get gifts and cards and tokens of affection at random. And quite often. It's always been this way, and I love it - for example:

• One summer afternoon I came downstairs and found an ipod on my chair. An ipod. Out of the blue! It's been attached to my arm ever since (he regrets this gift, I think).

• Making the bed or rummaging through a bag or opening a book, I will often find cards and notes of appreciation.

• He has this way of massaging my neck that releases all the tension in my head, and without even having to ask, he does this for me almost every day.

Sometimes it's fancy and sometimes it's simple, but it's always thoughtful.

Oh man, he would DIE if he read all this sappy stuff (he's not a fan of effusive public doting)...good thing he hardly reads my blog ;).

So today for example, I got a "random" gift. And it's so, so perfect. I am so excited!

It is NOT a valentines day gift.
But he IS my Valentine.
Which is why I got my gift today.
Make sense?

(I do love him so)

Want to see what I got?

It's "The New Desert Reader" edited by Peter Wild.

This anthology includes selections from the writings of John Wesley Powell, Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, Mary Austin, Tony Hillerman and Ann Zwinger, just to name a few.

Perfect.

I'm going to go read now.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Waiting For Me...

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation is on the hold shelf at the library, with my name on it.

Because I need it so badly.

I also need some suggestions on a really good grammar book. And by good, I mean user-friendly. And by user-friendly, I mean a book with bold print one-liners and great pictures/cartoons.

I take a ridiculous amount of time formulating a sentence. I struggle and fret, trying to translate my thoughts into something that is somewhat comprehendable. At which point, I discover that I've once again made up a word. (Comprehensible, comprehensible, comprehensible...sheesh!)

In Little Women, Amy used to frequently make up words by mistake. But making up words is only cute when you're 9 or so - Not when you're 30...or so.

Anyway.

I don't need to be a brilliant writer like my husband. I'd just like to have better command of the English language and be able to deliver my ideas with greater clarity, without having to second guess every comma (and I use those commas, Boy...). I think I would enjoy blogging more. It's just too time consuming right now.

And so I have a new resolution: I RESOLVE TO LEARN ENGLISH. Focusing (for now) on punctuation and grammar. I will worry about vocabulary later. I just can't deal with that right now. :)


(Grammar suggestions requested, in the form of book titles, websites, or general tips/complaints.)

Edward Cullen is a Crock...

Following, is an example of a real man, (and a good one at that).

aRealman:"Thanks for the spaghetti Hun. That was actually pretty good."

Marital Bliss Lesson #1:

THIS, is a compliment. Take it. Imprint on your mind only the words, 'thanks', 'Hun', and 'good'.

aRealman: "There was something rubbery and seedy in the sauce though. Probably from our garden?"

Marital Bliss Lesson #2:

Assume the best of intentions. Just do. Because the LAST thing the poor guy wants is to tick you off. But, should you be offended -

Marital Bliss Lesson #3:

Communicate your feelings in a (ahem) constructive way.

devotedWife: "Oh, nice. NICE!"

aRealman: "What?" "What? Didn't you use stuff from your garden?"

devotedWife: "oh, that was ACTUALLY pretty good? Actually. Pretty good? Amazing that, FOR ONCE, you have something good..."

aRealman: "I didn't mean..."

devotedWife: "And what? Like I'm growing crap-on-a-vine out there? (okay, I didn't actually say that. I thought of it just now and thought it was funny).


WHAT I DID DO, was threaten to make his charming antics public ---via Blog.
To which he replied with a snicker. A mocking snicker!

Marital Bliss.

No vampires with diamond-sparkly skin and every word silvery and perfectly timed.
Which is good for my gag reflex.
Other bonuses: My man is handsome AND warm blooded.
The End.

P.S. My garden really isn't producing very well. He's right about that.

One Of My Favorite Things..

Is to open a book and discover a really great first line or paragraph.

and

I love it when a writer is able to construct descriptions that so clearly define it's objective in a way I've never heard before.

My husband is very good at this. He seldom resorts to the cliché and he's able to describe the everyday things in a beautiful and completely brand new way. Just ask anyone who's received a Thank You card from SCC.

Here is a wonderful example from Crossing To Safety, by the Pulitzer Prize winning author, Wallace Stegner.

The first paragraph:

"Floating upward through a confusion of dreams and memory, curving like a trout through the rings of previous risings, I surface. My eyes open. I am awake."

Lovely. I think I've discovered a new favorite author.

Here's a picture of W.S.

Oh, and did you know he was a professor at the University of Utah for a while? Here's an interesting link; www.law.utah.edu/stegner.

Just Finished (a little review)...

The Enchanted April
by Elizabeth von Arnim (© 1922)


To Those who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine. Small mediaeval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be Let Furnished for the month of April. Necessary servants remain...
That was its conception; yet, as in the case of many another, the conceiver was unaware of it at the moment.
øøø

I saw the movie back in high school. It is probably one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time.

I just discovered that it WAS a book several weeks ago. Yea! Loved it. Recommend it.

Beautiful book. Beautiful scenery (an Italian castle effusive in it's flora and beauty). A story showing how faith and love can heal one's self, one's relationships - even when met with less than noble intentions. It's great.

It's not a page turner like Twilight, or The DaVinci Code. It reads more like an Austen novel, except it doesn't take sooooooo long to get to the crux of everything. (I love Austen, but I do get impatient sometimes when reading her stuff).

The movie followed very closely, with one huge exception. But the exception didn't change the story, and I can see why BBC (or whomever) thought the change might be necessary.

So that's it. I recommend both the movie and the book. :) (Just in case someone out there is looking for something to watch/read).

Happy Day!

Currently Reading...

"Catch the Wind" -Robert McIntosh, Muskagee (Creek) Nation- Date??


DESERT NOTES. RIVER NOTES.
By Barry Lopez

I am enjoying this book, because it's not like a novel you can just plow through in a couple of days. It's full of great imagery, and poetic, but I don't think it classifies as poetry...it's just a compilation of random chapters, or notes. I would describe it as "abstract", but I'm not exactly sure how to use that word correctly. :)

My favorite chapter so far is called, "The Wind". I have always loved windy days (except when biking). Watching the trees sway - the sensation of everything being stirred by an invisible flow. I love how Barry Lopez describes it in this book. The chapter begins with a woman...

"She is lying on her side in the dust; she is sightseeing along the curve of the desert floor."

She is watching an ant, when the wind comes and,

"she can feel the air bending like water around the soles of her feet...flowing up over her ears like hands burying in her hair; coming up the side of her leg, around below her hip under her back where there is space between her and the earth, back across her chest and gone, over her arm, tingle, finger, stretch, gone. Tongues of air roping like coils, water brushing dry leaving all the pores of her flesh puckered. With her head to one side she can see it touch out on the desert floor, gone."

***

I had so much fun looking for wind artwork to post on the blog. I found many that I really liked. I also stumbled across this wonderful Emily Dickinson poem:

XXIV

Of all the sounds despatched abroad,
There's not a charge to me
Like that old measure in the boughs,
That phraseless melody

The wind does, working like a hand
Whose fingers brush the sky,
Then quiver down, with tufts of tune
Permitted gods and me.

When winds go round and round in bands,
And thrum upon the door,
And birds take places overhead,
To bear them orchestra,

I crave him grace, of summer boughs,
If such an outcast be,
He never heard that fleshless chant
Rise solemn in the tree,

As if some caravan of sound
On deserts, in the sky,
Had broken rank,
Then knit, and passed
In seamless company.

"Undine in the Wind" -Arthur Rackham- '69??


***

I probably should write about the beautiful snowy day we're having here in Salt Lake... It's really coming down! Maybe tomorrow.