THE HILLS ~ THE CITY ~ BROMANCE ~ AND MORE!

I finished a great book, and have meant to write about it and recommend it, but now I can't find the reminder scrap of paper among all the scraps with all the reminders on my desk. If my camera weren't malfunctioning I'd take a quick picture to prove to you that my desk has more reminder scraps on it than anyone else's desk.

I have a confession. I think Mtv might be my favorite station. The Hills is over for the season, possibly forever, but The City has begun, and it is great. I've always loved sensible pretty Whitney, but now that she's got her own show, she's really as goofy as all the rest, and better than ever. Anyone can admit that they like The City. Cases could be made for interest in the world of New York fashion, New York scenery, life in New York. However, the fact that Bromance is a don't miss for me is a little scary, even to myself. It's the same premise as Paris Hilton's My New BFF, where the celebrity, (Paris in that case) gives a group of people weekly challenges and missions, and each week chooses a winner (someone who is generally protected from elimination that week) and a loser (the eliminatee). On Bromance, it's Brody Jenner looking for a new BFF to join his posse of guys who go around LA and sometimes to Mexico partying. What a life. Brody is darling and funny and smart. Did I say What a life!? And guess what, it's Monday night, so I get to see a new The City and a new Bromance episode! Yea! Sorry, those purple titles are not links.

Last night I finally took that shrunken Eileen Fisher sweater, cut off the arms, and hand sewed it into a purse shape. Tonight I want to line it and put the shoulder strap on, and tomorrow I want to carry it. Which means maybe I'll go somewhere tomorrow, because I kind of wanted to stay in. Except I have to go somewhere because the ice is all melted and this is a chance to walk on dry sidewalks no matter how cold it is out there. Today I walked to the library and checked out the pattern drafting book again as well as the iPhoto and iTunes how to books. Ooohhh! The scrap with the name of that book just slipped out from underneath my keyboard:

The Red Scarf - by Kate Furnivall Was a wonderful book. Taking place in Siberia and a Russian village in 1917, and then the 1930s, it's a story of human endurance against the background of the Russian Revolution and the ensuing events that occurred in a small village. The main characters, Sofia and Anna are strong compelling women who just lived one day at a time and did what they had to do to survive.

THIS 'N THAT

The snow was deep and messy, then it became slick sheets of ice, and now it's all melted. We had a lovely family Christmas and all went well.
Now it's time to plan for the New Year.
I want to make some lists.

MY TOP TEN FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME:
In no particular order right now.

*Moonstruck - Pop I love 'im
*Casablanca - In all the gin joints
*Dirty Dancing - Baby
*Pulp Fiction - All of it except the french girl
*Zorba the Greek - This french woman I love
*Gone With the Wind - Oh Rhett
*The Big Chill - Every minute of it
*The Shawshank Redemption - Same
*Sixteen Candles - She got her guy and Long Dong
*Sunset Boulevard - Norma's back


Others that could be on the list:
*What a Way to Go - Shirley McClain
*Lilies of the Field - A-a-men, A-men, A-men
*Risky Business - Just take those old records off the shelf
*White Christmas - We'll follow the old man, wherever he wants to go
*To Kill a Mockingbird - Atticus Finch and Scout and Jeb
*Harold and Maude - Ruth Gordon
*Miracle on 34th Street - Court room scene
*Never on Sunday - Ilya and Homer
*Romy and Michelle - Post it notes
*The Green Mile - It's got it all

HOLIDAY RANT

It's all snowy and cold outside today, two days before Christmas...


so I decided to finish wrapping the presents. I started by going to put away a roll of non-Christmas wrap in the wrapping box under the bed. It was really dusty under the bed, so I thought I'd swiffer it and vacuum off the swiffer, and just do a little vac job on our room so that I could wrap in a cleaner environment. Just then I heard the Freecycler who was coming to pick up a silicone potholder, come to the door. Well, this Freecycler offered to bring us homemade Toffee, so I headed to the door to get the toffee so it wouldn't freeze. On the way, I turned on the iron so that I could iron one of the gifts to make it especially pretty when the present was opened. I thought it would be nice to listen to some Christmas music while doing all these tasks, so I came into the office to get the iTunes fired up on the computer, because I never put the Christmas music on my iPod. So I sorted by Genre, and only 1 1/2 of my Christmas CDs was there. So I searched and sorted all kinds of different ways, and it turns out that last year, I had put all of my Christmas CDs on iTunes, but they were all labeled differently. I found each and every tune, and Get Infoed it into the correct catergories and with the correct labels. This took probably an hour, now that I look at the clock. Then I made a special Christmas playlist which I'm listening to now. It's really nice, too, and I figured out how to shuffle within the playlist. All of this only did me half good, though, because guess what, my iPod IS SYNCHED TO MY OLD COMPUTER!!! I'll have to repeat the whole process to come up with a playlist that I can use downstairs with my iPod on Christmas day. I went downstairs and got the toffee, and then put on my coat and boots to get the newspaper, stepped out the door, and that wonderful Freecycler had put the paper right outside the door for us. The toffee was incredible with toffee, pecans and chocolate. I went to the kitchen and ate my leftover Tiropita and a glass of milk for breakfast and read the front page of the Trib. Nothing New. SoS. Straightened up the kitchen, went to the living room and moved my chair out of the way of blocking the Christmas Tree

so that when I put the wrapped presents under the tree I could enjoy seeing the full length of the tree. Now I'll go and wrap those presents. Oh, except I can't because first I have to swiffer under the bed! And iron that gift and the ironing pile. Oh well, the Tiropita was good. And you wonder what I do all day. Oh, and what do I really only want to do today? Finish my red skirt that I made yesterday, custom tailored for me for Christmas and Valentine's day and lined, too. It turned out beautifully. And make a purse out of that felted Eileen sweater that I posted a photo of here months ago. The Christmas Carols are adding some festivity and confusion to the day, but I need them for distraction. I just remembered why I went into the living room that time when I moved the chair. To get the space heater because it's so cold up here. I have extension cords and take the heater around the house with me to try to ward off the cold. I probably have that thing where your extremities are always cold.

BOOKS & THOUGHTS

The Girls Who Went Away by Anne Fessler is "The hidden history of women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade". So here we have another little awful secretive part of history, perpetuated by people worried about what others will think. Story after story about pregnant young girls who were sent away by their parents to have their babies in secret, give those babies away, then come home and "forget this ever happened". Of course, they didn't forget, and the events affected their lives in many many negative ways. Thank God things have changed.

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli is pre-teen reading about a girl who is her own unique self. Narrated by a boy at school, it lets readers come to their own conclusions about the events in the book.

I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe - Tom Wolfe writes and writes and writes each excruciating detail, and gets into his characters' heads, and does a lot of editorializing as a writer. This is a story about a small town girl thrust into the big world of a major university, and more than that, it makes a big deal about college behavior that hasn't changed in 30 or 40 years. Since the beginning of time there have been pretty small town girls, confident wealthy and sorority girls, fraternity boys who drink, and athletes who are not the most academically proficient. Where has this guy been? Still, there were a few times when I couldn't put this one down. Go figure.

Talk To Me - A great little movie about a Washington DC disc jockey in the 1960s who took that city by storm, and became its voice during times of turmoil. Don Cheadle rarely disappoints, and in this movie, he is Petey Greene. Really good.

I've been thinking about what's next for my blog, and for me in the next year. New topics. New doings. New something!

VACATION AND MY VACATION READS

We've just returned from a little road trip to Florida for Thanksgiving. We left on an overcast Saturday morning with CarBunny watching over us as we drove. Here's the intersection of Lake and Locust as it looked that morning. Some people go to AAA and get maps and triptics and all sorts of paper when they go on a trip. Which is what we did until a few years ago when I participated in a market study about Rand McNally Road Atlases. That's when I realized that all we need is our trusty little road atlas and nothing else. Well, maybe the GPS and a few notes on the locations of some of the outlet malls. For a longer trip, such as the one to California, it's nice to have the large Road Atlas because it gives close up detail about the major cities. We hadn't even cleared the city limits of Chicago before Peter fell asleep and Steve wanted to wake him up to tell him that Steve had spotted the first car he was going to buy for Peter when he got his driver's license: Pretty sweet, huh?

We always take along the car pillows, covered in the appropriate fabric for a road trip. At the first stop for cheap gas in Indiana, just over the border, I found a new candy for my lemon loving son.

Two days of driving, and we were in Palm Beach Gardens. Perfect sunny 75 degree weather. Worth the drive. I went on a short beach walk under the pretense of going to the Publix for pumpkin egg nog, whole milk, couscous and some other supplies not commonly stored in my aunt's pantry. Gotta love a beach walk in Juno Beach. There were surfers which is something we don't have on our beach, and which gives a new depth of enjoyment to the walk.
The next afternoon we went to a late lunch at Brio, and I had my favorite which I really think had pesto and sundried tomatoes on it last time, but no matter, it's always delicious: See, I can micro-blog! I suppose I could have taken the photo before I took a bite, but sorry, I was starving.

OK, lets get this show on the road. Then we went to Naples, where all my photos are of the family, but I can dig up a photo of our clams at Steamers from last year if anyone wants to see them. Mmmmm. They are just like the fried clams that Howard Johnsons used to serve in the 60s and 70s. Oh, and in both places, we bought Publix Chocolate Triple Threat Premium Ice Cream. Dark Chocolate Ice Cream with fudge ribbons and little fudge cups. Put some warm marshmallow topping on that and you're good to go. Yes, I gained 5 pounds on this trip. The last highlight was when Steve took my car down to "O MILES TO E" which meant that we supposedly couldn't drive one more mile without running out of gas. He'd taken it to 3 miles to E a couple of trips ago, but it turns out that at "O MILES TO E" there are still at least 10-12 miles left based on about 30 MPG. Good to know, but I wouldn't want to test it in cold weather. Take a look, and this will end our little blog journey, or journal, or whatever.

The Invisible Wall - by Harry Bernstein is about Harry's family when they lived in England in the early part of the 20th century. The invisible wall ran down the middle of the street in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city. The Jewish families lived on one side of the street, and the Christian families lived on the other side of the street. Harry tells such great stories. They stay with you for a long time. He also wrote another book that I've reviewed called The Dream. Who needs the cover of the book.?...There's Harry himself. He's a nonagenarian writer.

Then We Came to the End - by Joshua Ferris ~ Here's a different kind of a read. First of all, it's written in the 5th person which we loved. He writes about life in an advertising office in Chicago and we grow to like and know each of his characters as if they were someone we work with and know in that way that you know people you work with. I didn't want this one to end, but of course, then we came to the end. There is a special dynamic that occurs in offices, and we now have a small regret that we never experienced life in an advertising office. Mad Men is as close as we've gotten. And we actually worked in small offices at University of Michigan, at the Sales Manufacturing Association, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and at Kahn Realty. We've worked in large offices at Ford Motor Company and on Temp Jobs. We'd define small offices as those with two administration people such as receptionists and secretaries, and large offices as those with many secretaries, many floors and maybe even a few receptionists. Yeah, this is a good one. If you decide not to listen to us, and not read this book, then at least go to this website about the book for a laugh. Skip the Intro. We liked the video best.

TWO MOVIES AND A PLAY

August Rush: This is the best movie I've seen in ages. August Rush has it all, and it's a movie for everyone. It's about this boy who hears the music. That's all I'll tell. Just see it and you won't be sorry. It's all there...good story, watchable actors and performances, music, all the emotions down and up. I give it my highest recommendation.

Atonement: With a title like "Atonement", this movie could have been about almost anything. It won some awards at the Oscars a few years ago, so I was excited to finally fire up the DVR and watch the show. All I knew going in was the blurb I read just before it started. Something along the lines of "a 13 year old accuses her sister's lover of a crime". OK, so that doesn't sound too promising, but in light of the awards, etc, I gave it a chance and watched the whole thing. It's very average, not the best story and I never came to care about the characters, although the accused lover seemed to be a great guy.
Save your time and watch August Rush instead!

Grey Gardens: I'd seen the documentary, and was fascinated in a voyeuristic way by the two Edies. Which I guess is how everyone is fascinated if they like and want to get this story. What could it possibly be like as a musical performed on the stage? If you like the story, then it could be great! The musical is in two acts, and act l takes us back to the hey days of Grey Gardens, and provides the background for what we eventually see in the documentary and Act II. Most of the audience was not familiar with this obscure bit of popular culture, but it didn't seem to matter. I think everyone enjoyed it.
Marvelous. I thought I'd type in Grey, just to honor Grey Gardens.

READING ALWAYS READING

Evidence of Things Unseen - By Marianne Wiggins. A love story about Fos and Opal, a couple who lived in the years between the First and Second World Wars. Books set in the 1920s have always been my favorite, and this one does not disappoint. Fos and Opal would be the ages of my grandparents, but they were born in this country, so it's not an immigrant story, but a story about a period in histsory in North Carolina and Kentucky. Like Shadowcatcher, the craft and art of photography is woven loosely and tightly through the story. In Shadowcatcher, we see the pictures, and although I would love to see even one picture of the characters in this book, they come so alive that they'll be locked in my imagination for a very long time. This was so good, that the other night I was up until almost 3 AM unable to stop reading, until I was finally so tired and so near the end of the book, that I finally had to sleep. When I awoke, all I could think about was the story until I came home from dropping off at school and finished it. So now it's done, and there is the inevitable letdown that comes after reading such an intense and amazing book. Day one after the book was very creative. Today is day two; I started another book this morning, by a familiar
author, so reading should be OK as soon as I get into it, but I know that my heart will be in Evidence of Things Unseen for awhile.

GETTING IT ALL DONE

So I've been sewing! I took a class in pattern drafting, which is where you learn how to make your own pattern fit to your body's measurements...this is the basis for making custom clothing. My grandmother knew how to do this, and made beautiful clothes, although by the time I was ready to learn her skills, she had lost most of her vision, and was no longer able to sew. She would crochet afghans using thick yarn and large crochet hooks. She created for as long as she was able.
The class proceeded very very slowly for someone who already knew how to sew. (me). In that class, by the time I had a complete muslin skirt pattern, it would have cost more than $1000!. Yes, I said $1000. I had taken the class with a friend, and she and I decided to teach our selves the rest of what we needed to know in order to draft our custom patterns. I'm pleased to say that after just a few more weeks of getting together and measuring, cutting, fitting and sewing, today we will each have a gorgeous skirt that fits like a dream!

Here's a little pop of color. These flowers were centerpieces at a lovely and fun wedding we recently attended. Don't they make you smile?
The Crowd Sounds Happy A Story of Love, Madness and Baseball by Nicholas Dawidoff - This is the memior of Nick, who grew up in the 1970s in New Haven, Connecticut. It's a great title, and the book honors that title with his story of life as the child of a single mom and somewhat functional mentally ill father. His love of baseball saw him through.

FORGOT A BOOK - OH NO!

I've forgotten many books, I'm sure!
Various Positions: A Life of Leonard Cohen by Ira B. Nadel - The final installment of my Leonard Cohen reading, I read and finished it last August, but forgot to mention it here. This is all you ever wanted to know about Leonard's life and times. At times maybe MORE than you wanted to know, but mostly complete, and possibly accurate. Because how can someone really really write about someone else. All you have is the outside of the subject. The inside would have to come from an autobiography or memior. I liked the parts about Leonard's life on Hydra.

MORE BOOKS -

The Knock at the Door: A Journey Through the Darkness of the Armenian Genocide - Margaret Ajemian Anhert wrote this book to honor her mother and record her story. Every one of these stories is remarkable, and as long as writers keep writing them, I will keep reading them. In 1915, the first Genocide of the 20th centure took place in what is now Turkey. The turks accomplished this under the confusion of the first world war which was occupying the attention of the world powers. "Turkey for the Turks" was the political expression of the day, and under this umbrella, Armenian and some Greek Christians from the inland of the contry were told to leave their homes. They had already
lost the men between the ages of 16 and 60 - they were arrested under false pretenses and then taken outside the villages, made to dig their own graves, and shot to death. So the death marches consisted of women, children and the elderly.
Margaret's mother Ester spent a lifetime telling her daughter these stories, weaving a tale of a childhood interrupted. The stories of life in the village before the Genocide are my favorites, because they tell me what my own grandmother's life might have been like in her village. In my grandmother's case, the catastrophe of 1922 was when the turks came to the coastal areas of Turkey to eradicate the Christian population and literally pushed them into the sea. Today in Smyrna (Izmir) there is a statue of Attaturk on a horse pointing to the sea showing that he wanted all the Christians gone.
To this day, Armenian and Greek Asia-Minor descendants are actively keeping this history alive, and continuning to put pressure on the Turkish government to acknowledge their actions in 1915 and 1922. So far, the Turks say nothing happened.

The Sixteen Pleasures - by Robert Hellenga. A book about a book is usually a good story, and this is no exception. It takes place in the mid 1960s, told in the first person by a young woman who goes to Florence, Italy to help recover and restore books that were damaged by a major flood. The Sixteen Pleasures is the name of a book within a book that she finds in a convent, and may be the only copy in existance. It's a good little read.


I Was Told There'd Be Cake - Essays by Sloane Crosley. The best thing about this book is the title. Unfortunately, I really wanted to read the essay with that title, but there isn't one! The essays are about funny situations in the life of 20-somethings. Honest and clever, these stories are a little too long, but leave me wanting more. Cake, probably. Sloane, when you're up for reprint, put a slice of chocolate cake on the cover.