Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Unbroken

If you're following me on Twitter, you've already heard me mention Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. This NYT review highlights much of the story and presents an overview in a far better way that I could do so (particularly in 140 characters).  The CBS Sunday Morning segment which aired last Sunday is linked below.

Hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekends and are feeling resilient moving in June.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day

White headstones.
Women's names on the back and men's on the front.
Wars ranging from the Great War to Afghanistan.
Small flags placed one foot from the right.
A POW/MIA flag flying just under the US Flag.

A clear blue sky and a feeling of being lucky and thankful.



Saturday, May 26, 2012

A Moment's Change

Welcome to Memorial Day weekend and the official beginning of summer (for anyone still near the academic arenas).

In memoriam of those lost and of those who will spend time this weekend to honor them, I've taken the first stanza from "The End and the Beginning" from The Poetry Foundation.  (The remainder of the poem can be accessed via the title link.)
The End and the Beginning
    by WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA
After every war
someone has to clean up.
Things won’t
straighten themselves up, after all.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

One Small Step

Breakfast, coffee, Guardian news sweep, Neil Armstrong....wait, what did I read?

"Notoriously reclusive Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong gives video interview to Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia"

My Rocket City locale, math and science brain, and high probability of a plane ticket to Sydney obliges me to share this news.  If you'd like to listen to the full interview (and I'd recommend at a minimum Part #3), the CPA Australia links to the four episodes can be found here.



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Down to the Letter

I give credit to @WendyMonday for discovery of "Letters of Note: Correspondence deserving of a wider audience."  Those of you that know me know I am a fan of letters and have a random collection floating about in shoe boxes, stacks, and one very full Pottery Barn case taken from the Tammy Wynette spelling song (apologies for the inside joke).  The site is a collection of letters, postcards, or any written media which can be authenticated.  I offer a nod to Shaun Usher for his selections.  Later this year, the collection of correspondence will be assembled into a book.  This will sit on my shelf alongside My Faraway One.

My favorites thus far are my discovery post (and intro to the site) "I Love My Wife.  My Wife is Dead.", a letter by Richard Freynman to his wife.  I've lost track of the number of times I've re-read this letter.  I'm also a fan (like many others) of  "I Like Words" a letter to Hollywood from Robert Pirosh.  The opening line includes "buttery".  How can you resist?

Sunday, May 20, 2012

With the Greatest of Ease

This weekend was fully dedicated to finishing Geek Love by Katherine Dunn.  Going into it, I thought (foolishly) that the book would focus on the apparent differences of Nerd v Geek but I quickly learned of the Austrian/Hungarian reference of "Gecken" which gave way to "geek" which loosely translated in the circus world can also encompass people who bite the heads off live chickens.  (I'm a nerd.)

The reader learns quickly that the Binewski family is created, like cultivated roses, to be different, unique, and extraordinary.  Since our narrator's mother was a willing participant in drugs, chemicals, disinfectants (I may be exaggerating with this one but not by far), and the like, the roses by any other name, well...were geeks.  The novel twists a bit through Olympia's tale (pun intended) giving the reader details where sometimes not wanted and leaving other bits to the imagination.

I won't spoil the story for you but I heartily recommend that you add this to your reading list though I can't promise you will think the same of redheads, sideshows, dusting large jars or aquariums.

Hope your weekend was a great one!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Wingspan

This was nearly me Saturday (minus the wings and add a helmet and hiking pants).  Your Friday photo originates from a walk around a sculpture garden post my half-day of hang glider training.  Hope your Friday really takes off.

Chattanooga, TN
May 2012



Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Play Nice. Play Often

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements 
will never do any harm to the world.”
― Voltaire


On this day in 1717, Voltaire was imprisoned in the Bastille.  He never stopped writing and I suspect never stopped dancing.

Monday, May 14, 2012

My Kind of Town II

Enter Monday and the mad dash to complete book club books of the week.  For those of you who are ambitious, ahead of the game and happen to be Chicago lovers (like me though I am still in the mad dash category), consider adding City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by Gary Krist.  NPR reviews here.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Don't Turn this Mother Out

This morning I raise my coffee mug to all the women in my life:  mothers, aunts, sisters, women who have had to make tough choices, and to the single ladies with bright bold dreams.  Cheers and may the rain wash away any doubts or dreary thoughts.  You are fabulous. 

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday

A special shout out to my parents who today have been married longer than the number of years remaining in my life (statistically speaking).   I've admired your laughter, your hugs, and your treating each day like a gift (or a really bad joke).  Happy Anniversary!

                  [cxvi]
            William Shakespeare from
            Sonnets, Songs, and Poems
      edited by Henry W Simon, 1951 edition

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.  Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor man ever loved.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

May Showers Bring New Powers

If you are like me, you're already wondering where May has gone.  In fact, most of the first third of the year has gone by in a blur of swim, run, work, teach with a small amount of knitting, sewing, and reading thrown in.  And if that weren't enough, you're trying to learn a road bike.  I suspect at least a few of you are in the same boat though your oars may be a bit different.

You have about a week to power through the next month's read for the two book clubs you are pacing.  (Or that could be just me.)  Good luck this week and take a moment to pause (or just hideaway, read, and buy a plane ticket somewhere nice).    I'm beginning to advocate the latter.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Train Bound to Nowhere

This is the type of book that I tend to mention only on sunny days, a book that I'm sure would require Kleenex and a few glasses of reading water nearby. A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead has been added to my book list.  Perhaps the only detail the title omits is the Auschwitz location.  This Washington Post review secured its addition.



Friday, May 4, 2012

All Hands on Deck

Idle hands can sometimes be glove molds.

Architectural Artifacts, Chicago
April 2012

Show of hands of anyone else who thinks this display is mildly creepy?

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Come Sail Away

I was feeling a bit more "art" than "book" today so perusing The Guardian led me to Lone Twin which led to The Boat Project.  Inspired by GBC K1m's gift of yarn and GBC T1m's homemade wind chimes, I want to create something.  (Admittedly though, I don't want to build a yacht.)

In just a few days (the 7th), a boat made completely of donated items will be launched from Emsworth.  For a video overview, check out this link.  Art meets science.

Best wishes to the team smooth sailing.