Books Books Books

I read sweet memoir by Bich Minh Nguyen, Stealing Buddah's Dinner. She wrote about when she was young and quiet, always reading. I love this quote because it can be read or said in either the past or present tense:

"I read to be alone. I read so as not to be alone".

So here's what I've been alone and not alone with lately.

The Dream of the Stone: by Christina Askounis. This is a book written for young readers; It's rich with characters and language and story. It's fantasyand science fiction, and I couldn't put it down. There is also love vs. evil and another planet and time travel and it's woven together smoothly and seamlessly. Each character is very special and essential to the story. My favorite characters were Miladras, the tree, and the aunts. Christina Askounis writes in a very visual way, so throughout the book, I had pictures in my mind of what was happening. Aren't those the very best books? The ones that you can see like dreams?

Beautiful Losers: By Leonard Cohen. I've been listening to The Essentail Cohen pretty much exclusively since discovering it a few weeks ago. So I'd love the book, right? Inside the jacket cover of this well worn library book with the original date due slip with dates back to 1976

Remember? REMEMBER?

Anyway, on the inside flyleaf of the dust jacket, it says

"BEAUTIFUL LOSERS
is ....
a love story
a psalm
a black mass
a monument
a satire
a prayer
a shriek
a road map through the wilderness
a joke
a tasteless affront
an hallucination
a bore
an irrelevant display of diseased virtuosity
a Jesuitical tract
an Orange sneer
a scatological Lutheran extravagance
in
short
a
disagreeable
religious
epic
of
incomparable

beauty"

For me that was the best part of the book. I read in a few chapters then went through the whole book, but I couldn't do it. I still love his music.

The Middle-Class Millionaire: Since I generally don't enjoy non-fiction outside of a daily Chicago Tribune thing, I regard this type of book as sort of a trashy beach read, non-fiction version. Here's what I learned: that concierge medicine exists, the new rich love to have life coaches, fractional ownership is replacing time share ownership for people with a few more bucks than the rest of us, and some of them (the middle-class millinaires) like to become coaches themselves. Here's my favorite line from the book; it wasn't even written by the authors. I already knew it, too, just like Dorothy and the red slippers.
"You can have everything you love in life if you give up everything you hate."
This was a quote from strategic coach Dan Sullivan.

As I'm typing this morning, I'm listening to Leonard Cohen singing Tower of Song. I wish my Uncle Peter were alive; he would have loved this one. Hmmmm....I wonder if he ever heard it?
Let's find out. Open a new tab and do some research. Nope. It looks like Tower of Song was written in 1988, and Uncle Peter died in 1984. Maybe they play Leonard Cohen in heaven. He'll be singing in my heaven. (But unless it's his lyrics, I'll be reading a differentauthor!)

SUMMER READING

The Shadow Catcher: by Marianne Wiggins A novel about Edward S. Curtis, who photographed American Indians in the early part of the 20th century. It's also told in the first person in the present, and the story held my attention in two furious days of reading so that I could find out what happened. I couldn't put it down.

Celebutantes: Here's a beach read. Takes place in Hollywood and environs. The title says it all! The review is that it's cute, not really sweet, and it took me days to read!

BEACH WALK

There is nothing like a beach walk on a warm day. It is one of the best things about living close to the lake. Sunday afternoon, my good friends Nancy and Rob came over and the three of us walked over to the beach for a nice long walk at the water's edge.

It doesn't get much better than this.....

This is the view as we walked north toward the condo buildings across from Plaza Del Lago. Just look at that magnificent sky. Can you see the skywriting against the deep blue sky?





There was a helicopter writing SkyMan.
I didn't see the pilot wave to us, but Rob did. The next day I read an article that said the helicopter pilot was a woman, and she is one of the best skywriters around.








Something was very attractive about this detrius that I spotted on the beach. It looked as if someone had shaped it. Was it a nest? Did an artist put it there to look sort of bird-like? Does it know secrets?
Is the word really detritus? Even though for my entire life of reading the word and never hearing it spoken, I have pronounced it to myself: detrius. Thanks to Susan and Kathy for bursting my pronunciation bubble a few months ago.



When we reached the condo buildings, we decided not to work our way through the rocks, but rather to symbolically touch a rock with both hands, (actually I'm the only one who does this) and then turn around to
head south on the sailing beach, past the regular beach, past the public beach, and on to the harbor.





As we were walking toward the boats in
the last photo, we turned toward the lake
and saw this guy. Rob was totally impressed by how much fun that sailor was having on his hobie. It was pretty windy, although
the lake was beautiful and flat.





Not all beach walks go the distance. This is one of the very best, because at the end of it, you round a little corner, come through a small stand of trees, and our lovely harbor comes into view. It is one of my favorite scenes.






My favorite photo
of the day. The puffy white clouds in the
summer sky. When I was little I used to
be bored all the time, or maybe I wasn't,
because it was nice to look at the clouds
and to see shapes and imagine that it
was heaven. It certainly looked heavenly
on Sunday.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE - AT HOME

This post is Happy and Orange because last Thursday was such a fun and inspiring day. Aunt Lu was taking her neice to Ragdale, an artists' retreat in Lake Forest, Illinois, and they invited me to join them for lunch at Convito and the drive up to Ragdale.
Our al fresco lunch was wonderful with a friend of many many years, and a brand new friend, the food was yummy and we laughed and told stories and caught up and got to know each other. Then we took the scenic drive up Sheridan Road to Lake Forest. Turning into the Ragdale driveway, I was struck by the serenity of the natural gardens, open spaces and old fashioned buildings.
So...how does one get to be a Resident Artist? You go to a place, and all you do for two weeks is to create your art in solitude and simplicity. This sounds really really good!
I couldn't stop thinking about it. I decided that for the next two weeks I am going to be an Artist in Residence right here at home. It's starting tomorrow. I might even turn off the computer. Might even not answer the phone. Might even not read the newspaper. There will be no rules. What I am determined to do is create some things. Out of what is already right here. While listening to my newfound favorite tunes by Leonard Cohen.

There is Nothing Like a Good Book

I just finished a great little story called:
Girl Meets Boy - The Myth of Iphis: This little read is wonderful. It's a modern day interpretation of a Myth about a girl raised as a boy and who she will marry. So it's about girls and boys and girls and girls and it takes place in Inverness, Scotland. The author is Ali Smith and I love her fresh voice. It's also about the world and life being big and small.

HOW TO GIVE A GARDEN PARTY

I decided to give a "Garden Gathering" and invite all the old and new friends who have shared their gardens into my garden.
The first thing to do, is to get the garden into shape. This means get everything planted, do a little edging along the beds and sidewalks, pull as many weeds as you can, and trim all the plants to their best looks. The Ginger from Gaylon a few summers ago looks beautiful.......


This is the Verigated Hosta from Helen new this year to my garden, and adding bright spots throughout.

I made a couple of CDs of music about gardens and sunny days. (Elton John In Your Empty Garden, Beatles Strawberry Fields, Stones Daisy Jane and Poison Ivy, etc). The menu was Lemon Bars, Cookies from Tags bakery contributed by Michele, and some wonderful flourless chocolate cookies baked by Michelle. (It's nice when your Michelle friends spell their names differently!) No one drank the ice tea, so Lemonade and a Pitcher of Water is all you need. A colorful flowery table cloth, depression glass and old fashioned glasses and platters, and the party was set:



12:30 - 2 PM, 8 guests, and a lovely time was had by all:

IT'S A BIG LIFE

It's a Big Life

There is so much to think about all the time. From the time I could think, my mind never stopped. Nowadays people meditate to get their minds to stop, but I can't do it, and the more I think about it, I don't want to do it! I need to think. I like to think. And lately, whatever I think comes back to this

It's a Big Life