December 2009
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There is an open six-pound can of roasted red peppers on my kitchen counter at home, and I am at work. Shoot.
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WatchInteresting set of interviews on Flannery O’Connor sent to me by a bookish friend.
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Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage...
This morning, before work, sitting beside the vending machines as snow fell thick outside, I finished Two-Part Invention, a book so sweet and interesting it kept me awake yesterday over the entire state of Georgia last night, despite a hefty dose of Dramamine.
I finished both invigorated and depressed. Some of L’Engle’s passages are just lovely, making me appreciate my own marriage...
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“North Florida is not like Miami or Palm Beach. It has the beautiful and ancient...”
– Madeleine L’Engle, Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage
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“We face an appalling choice of succumbing either to Kraft, makers of the plastic...”
– London Mayor Boris Johnson on the proposed sale of Cadbury’s (NYTimes)
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Is anyone else completely disgusted by that foam you get from rinsing canned black beans? What is that stuff?
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So today, Day 2 of my cold, I was industriously sewing away at a friend’s Christmas present (tutorial here), watching Mulan and crying immoderately, as is my tendency and right on such sick days, when a neighbor came to the door.
He introduced himself, referred to a mutual friend, and acted like a normal amicable being. I sniffled, gripped Bonnie’s halter, and wished I had paused the...
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Bonnie has decided that she prefers plunging her face in the snow to taking the time to pee, and thus has to be shuttled outside multiple times a day (in keeping with her evil plan), while whining at all moments her face is not deliciously snow-covered.
At first this was cute but now, as my cold claims my sinuses as its own and the thawing world means that outside is not just chilly but also...
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letsbeglad:
Rosie Thomas - Christmas Don’t Be...
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“The ‘good-enough marriage’ is characterized by its capacity to allow...”
– Married (Happily) With Issues [NYTimes]
I don’t agree with everything in this, but I think the exploration of what marriage is for and what a good marriage is doesn’t get talked about enough. So, read all ten pages if you dare (Incidentally, why does splitting up news stories on...
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Best Nostalgic TV Homes →
Both Monica’s apartment in Friends and Gilmore Girls made the list. Agreed and agreed.
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This vending machine Hundred Grand bar isn’t doing much to soothe my frustration when I realized a half hour ago that I’d signed up to take a coworker’s 6:30-10:15 pm shift in addition to my own 11:30-3:30 shift tomorrow, as well as a short afternoon one Friday.
Basically, our house will never be unpacked and we will languish without clean clothes or sufficient groceries to...
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“Failing to love somebody is a failure.”
– Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow
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manhattan couple lives in 175 square-foot... →
We live in a luxurious apartment twice that size, but we manage to cook, keep our closets and entertain. So there.
[pointed out to me by our friend Steve, who helped us move to our tiny new digs Saturday]
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“Researchers now say a far better way to assist these bereft children is with...”
– Aid Gives Alternative to African Orphanages
It’s a tricky issue. There were some bad things about the orphanage where I volunteered in western Uganda — children not getting treated for severe malaria as quickly as they should, for example — but at the same, the neighborhood children were...
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Literary Advent Calendar →
52books:
The Guardian has a treat for every single day.
I’m a particular fan of the story of Eric the foreign exchange student (4?) and the Advent lit quiz (1).
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“AFTER TAKE OFF THE PACKAGE, YOU WILL SEE THAT HTE SHAPE OF TREE BODY WILL BE IN...”
– fiber optic Christmas tree directions
(it’s worth reading in the original all-caps)
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found in my uganda journal
our Irish friend Richard [examining a book I'd bound with dental floss]: You're semi-talented. I'm quite impressed. [pause] The Irish don't floss.
John: Good man! [casts me an accusing look]
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Listening to Christmas music with an open window, and reveling in the 60 degree weather. It’s beginning to look a lot like Ugandan Christmas. [pictured: Christmas Day 2008]
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Urbanites Explore the Primal Lure of Hunting
“Anthony Licata, editor of Field & Stream magazine, said he wasn’t surprised that a new generation of eaters was discovering what traditional hunters have known all along: ‘There’s nothing more organic and free range than meat you hunt for yourself and your family,’ he said.” [NYTimes]
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“History overflows time. Love overflows the allowance of the world. All the...”
– Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow
[reading at work, while sipping peppermint tea from my birthday thermos and, unwillingly, listening to the nth iteration of a Taylor Swift album as the tennis instructor’s kids practice]
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