Wednesday, January 30, 2013

SWM Like a FSH


As a fairly rookie swimmer, I'm not certain that reading a book about a murky pool is the best idea. 

"Do one thing every day that scares you" has become my underlying 2013 mantra, and so I did.

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy is disorienting, disarming. [It was also a Man Booker Shortlist which put it on my list.]  With but a few quirky (broken) characters to follow, I was readily taken in seeing the day through the eyes of a lonely child, a seldom present wife, a cranky neighbor. 

Love lost. Love never had. Love pined. 

Words. Rain. Color.

Poetry.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Love Them and Leaf Them

I came across this story yesterday and found it to be fascinating.  I also enjoyed the photography/video of the plant transitions.  Courtesy of NPR:  "Nature Has a Formula That Tells Us When It's Time to Die" by Robert Krulwich.

A few notes:

  • It's not as depressing as it sounds.
  • Warning, this story contains math.
  • The opening line of the story happens to remind me of Waxing Wayne, a song an old boyfriend once wrote about the moon and a guy named Wayne who worked at a wax factory.  (You can't live in Nashville without having dated a songwriter.  Well, you can, but you're missing out on the opportunity to pay for a lot of dates.)  
Happy Monday!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

We Each Have a Story

I'm taking a pass from books today (mainly because I'm a bit tired after a long run).

While traveling this week, I finished Dear Life:  Stories by Alice Monro.  They intrigued me; they saddened me.  They made me think.   [I'm waiting to see if GBC P@1ge likes it as well.]

I hope your weekend is delightful and that you have a bit of sunshine to fall on your shoulders.  I hope your story is a good one.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

I Heart Hearts

If I managed to get this right after an evening of reading water and philosophical conversation, this is an author we should add to our lists...particularly if we can read the original Italian.  GBC, may I introduce Susanna TamaroFollow Your Heart has been added to my list as for some strange reason at least one meal a day has had a "heart" influence. 

Hope you have had a good week.  Mine has been a blur but I found a city to which I'd return when I had a bit more time. 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Big ole jet lag liner

Snow Falling on Cedars.

(A book title which describes my day.)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The (m)unique approach

Hope you are reading this weekend.

Hope you get to taste new cuisines (that may or may not involve beer and sausage for a late breakfast).

Hope you can make your TV into a fireplace. (It makes the living box a bit bigger.)

Cheers and happy Sunday!

Friday, January 18, 2013

I am an Opera Singer

Sydney Opera House
August 2012

Today's Friday photo to remind me of a sunny day and music.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Satay Sashay

From the book description at the Oxford University Press:
Seasoned generously with literary wit, The Diner's Dictionary is a veritable feast, tracing the origins and history of over 2,300 gastronomical words and phrases. John Ayto spreads across our table a veritable cornucopia, from common fruits and vegetables (apples, cherries, apricots, and broccoli, to name a few), to exotic foreign dishes such as gado-gado, nasi goreng, satay, and dashi, and even junk foods such as doughnuts, brownies, and candy. Thoroughly revised, the second edition boasts 1,000 new entries, including the word origins of affogato, bento, cava, goji berry, jalfrezi, mocktail, rugelach, vache qui rit, and zigni. In addition, Ayto has expanded the coverage of vocabulary from foreign cuisines, such as Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, and parts of South America.
How's that for an intro to The Diner's Dictionary:  Word Origins of Food and Drink by John Ayto?  Ayto's other contributions to literature include The Dictionary of Slang and the Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms.

Quirky word references, food, wit?  How could this be bad?

Monday, January 14, 2013

A Piece of the Pi

History of Pi
History of pi
Petr Beckman

You probably don't know me very well if you don't know I have a fascination with π (pi).  It started when I was a child enduring (reveling in, actually) my Dad's rhymes about cake and pi when we would cut dessert and continued on though my minor in Mathematics to my present day self, owner of numerous π themed items and of course, books (like this one).

I was pretty excited last night to discover 2Pi:  Rhymes and Radii via NPR.  Jake Scott is a teacher and he's aware that math can appear to some to be quite (I know this is shocking)  dull.  He also knows that kids' attention spans are short.  (Scott is obviously a realist.)  His solution, a math-rapping alter-ego 2 Pi.  The videos were brilliant and I love his statement that "...if there's no connection, then there's no response."  True for teaching.  True for life.

Mr. Scott, I salute your decision to education children, and I adore that you are finding ways to show that math can be fun.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Small Wins

With a little bit of luck, I will finally get to see The Hobbit this weekend.  The schedule has been a bit more intense than normal with flu recovery followed by the 2013 day to day obligations (i.e., a full time job and a new training routine).  Looking at my calendar, things will settle out by, well, you probably don't want to look at my calendar.

Here's hoping that you get to knock a small (or a large!) goal off your list this weekend.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

To Infinity and Beyond Bridget

Sometimes you think you're going to write about one thing, then you click a link and your morning outlook changes.  GBC Kate posted a link to a LemonDrop article "What Dying of Breast Cancer (at 26) is Teaching Me About How to Live".  It's a good article.

Not content with this snippet (with my root cause background), I clicked to Bridget's blog and started reading.  (Going back to GBC Kate's comments to the link, I wasn't the only one tearing up over an electronic reading device.)

So, this morning, if things seem a little rough, remember Bridget.  Also revisit your calendars and as my Uncle once advised me, spend your free time with the people you love, not those that you like only a little.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Beguiling a Stone

Tuesday, post stay-up-late to watch a sporting event that did not exactly go my way.  I have a gigantic mug of coffee to combat weariness and the melody for "Irish Eyes Are Smiling" stuck in my head.  As a small nod to my alma mater, I wanted a bit of Irish inspiration (and a new song to hum please, but I'll deal with that next).  Frank McCourt was on my mind so we'll use his words from Angela's Ashes as a bit of a mantra:

“Sing your song. Dance your dance. Tell your tale."

Hope your day is a great one!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Lionel Trains of Thought

If you find yourself always ahead of the reading curve or if you'd like a preview into what's in store for the rest of 2013, The Guardian has this nice monthly list of happenings for books and the arts.  A new Bond novel?  Most certainly.

For now, I want to take GBC K1m's suggestion on Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan before diving into the book which puts the song in my head from the countless weddings for which I played the piano in my youth:  Endless Love by Scott Spencer.

Hope you've had a most delightful of weekends and that if you were under the weather, you're feeling more like yourself.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Do You Have To? Do You Have to?

Today's Friday pic one last nod to the winter season from the comfort of my stainless steel pot.

Cranberries
Thanksgiving 2012
"If you could return, don't let it burn, don't let it fade." 
- The Cranberries "Linger"

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

What's in a Name?

I think it was fitting that the last book I read in 2012 was WILD by Cheryl Strayed.  [Special thanks to GBC P@1ge for this selection.]  I've long believed that I tend to "find" books when I'm ready for them, and I think in this case I was ready to admit that I could well identify with some aspects of Ms. Strayed's memoir.  Life as normal, chaos, loss, chaos, crazy thread of an idea to regroup.  In her case, she opted to regroup via hiking the Pacific Crest Trail solo.

I've done a number of crazy things solo (volunteer in France?) but hiking for any length of time would likely scare me out of skin.  My most memorable experience back-packing in one run-on sentence:  an external frame, lopsidedly-loaded pack, a fall into a creek on day one, a complete soaking by cold spring water when I couldn't lift out because of the weight of the pack, overnight freezing (night two), and the most adamant determination to hike two days work of miles (14) in one day just to get out (and eat something not pre-packaged in foil).  This connected me with Strayed's pack "Monster."   I could also identify with those moments when one expected tears because it IS hard and none come, and then the surprise "grab you" moment when emotion surfaces unexpected, unplanned...the regrouping bits.

I'd recommend this read in your 2013 list (or when you're ready).