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The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
This was just what I needed to get me through these past couple of weeks. It's been hot hot hot here, which I love, and there's so much to do that I never know where to start. Knowing that at the end of the day I can climb into someone's derailing life is somehow comforting. Wally Lamb is great at making a story around derailing and derailed lives. This book is about Caelum Quirk of Three Rivers, Connecticut, his wife, Maureen, a troubled girl named Velvet, the Columbine killings, women's correctional institutions, PTSD, and finally, Caelum's history and his evolution. Maybe it's about hope, too. The fact that a derailed life can get back on track. Or find a new track on which to travel. Hope.
We are having ideal 4th of July weather this weekend, and it's been action packed around here. On Friday I had my annual driveway sale, and 5 friends brought stuff over to sell, so it was also like a fun get together. I didn't know if anyone would come, since there were no other sales in the area, but with the exception of that 10:30 lull, the driveway mall was jumping. The night before Debby and Diane drove me around, and we put up 10 signs and I put three ads on Craigslist. If you build it, they will come. And they did. They shopped with Dianne and Diane, Nancy and Nancy, and Debby and Kelly. A driveway sale mall. I'll have to remember that for next year. With so many of us, it looked like there was a lot left over, but I didn't bring very much back into the house, and am really cleared out. There are two bags left for the Purple Heart pick up in a couple of weeks, and pile of stuff to freecycle. If the freecyclers don't come through, then that stuff will go to Purple Heart, too. After the sale, Nancy L. had Ceasar Salad's at Convito (Nancy's with chicken and no dressing and no olive drizzle, so lettuce and chicken for Nancy, Ceasar for me.) Then we went on a beach walk, then I came home and climbed into bed at 8:30, read and caught up on sleep.
Like a maniac, I actually went to garage sales the next day. It was a loser day to go, except for the first sale where I came across New Trier students selling their books in a big sale to raise money for the Science Olympiad. They knew just which books Peter is going to be reading for English the next two years. One of them is even annotated by a student who (they said) is now going to Princeton. There was another book, annotated, that they preferred not to sell to me. (maybe that kid is going to a party school?) A buck a book is way overpriced for a yard sale, but the mom in charge had me pegged, so I paid up. What she didn't know is that I might have found those books at future sales this summer, (for a quarter). The thing is, that those kids were so sweet and full of info about New Trier, that it was worth it just for their take on the school, and to support their cause. They even tried to recruit Peter sight unseen for the Science Olympiad!
Last night there were 18 of us on the boat - I think that's a record crowd - for the Wilmette Fireworks. It will be an all day process to get the photos to load into the computer, but I'm working on it, and I'll add the photos here later today or tomorrow. It was a fun night and a beautiful show. Peter captained the boat so easily, even with the crowd and more night lake traffic than usual. Steve took over once the fireworks started, and by the finale, we were right under them. We are so lucky to live in a place where we get two spectacular fireworks shows every year. On the lake and on the beach! And Rum and Cherry Coke is a great new drink for me. Is there diet Cherry Coke, I wonder?
And I'm reading a great book. Wally Lamb. The Hour I First Believed. If you ever feel like life is giving you lemons, read this. OK, back to the book for an hour before I get up and tackle that annoying Sunday Tribune. Maybe I'll get on a beach walk today.
A Long Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka - What a great title. This is the best book I'll read this summer. A book group in the weekly Chicago Tribune book group column had noted that this was their current selection. I loved the title and couldn't resist reserving it immediately. If you're like me, you'll fall in love with the Pigeon and with this story. Like many of my favorite stories, this book takes place in two different times. The setting is Poland, in the village called Half-Village, and then in the city of Krakow. Enjoy!
The Daughter Trap by Laurel Kennedy - Wow. If you're a caregiver, or the main sibling on the front lines with an elderly parent, just know that you're not alone, and that nothing you're experiencing is unique or unusual. Laurel Kennedy talks about all aspects of this dilemma which is going to be huge in the coming years with an aging baby boomer population. She offers solutions going forward, but more than anything the book is a support in itself. A must read if you are that daughter or person.
On another note, I am currently gearing up for a driveway sale. I've got a lot of stuff and it's all over the place. The only goal here is to make a little space, since the whole thing is beyond beyond right now. Unless I get really busy and determined, things won't look much different after this sale. I wish there were three clones of me. We'd get it done then. One of me would be the decision maker - the one who goes through the stuff and says "sell this", the next me would get the thing into the sale pile and price it, and the third me would clean up after. All three of them would do the actual sale. The fourth real me would watch all this, go to some other sales that day, and then get the money. Voila. Job done.
I didn't, but the author of
i sold Andy Warhol. (too soon) did. Richard Polsky writes about his life and times as an art rep in the rarefied art world. What a job. It's turned into a business with the art as commodity rather than art. There is so much to think about here. Are the great modern and contemporary artists really good? (some are) Is the art worth that much? (when art is a commodity, it's worth what the buyer will pay and the seller will take) Is this high end art honest? Hmmm....Is this high end art honest.
Richard is a so so writer, and there is something to learn here. He has watched the art world in it's transformation, and he's gone along with it, but knows that something innocent has been lost. Although I like the pink cover, the cover art could have been better.
What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg - This little paperback was in a drawer at my aunt's house, and when I finished Hurry Down Sunshine, it was this or nothing. It's a story about two sisters and their mother. It's told in two stories, thirty-five years apart, and the moral for me is that young people cannot always be blamed forever for their actions in their teens through thirties. If the mature ones can give a break to the immature ones, then we'd all be better off. People can be so mean to other people. When they are older and meaner, it's as unpretty and unpleasant as can be. It's a good book. Some people will cry at the end. I didn't. I'm numb this week.
But I am DETERMINED to get things in order. Once and for all. To go toward minimalism in all the categories where things are readily available otherwise. To not own it is OK if it can be obtained easily. Can this saver of stuff be saved?
It's been a rough couple of months, but I continued to read.
Diamond Ruby - by Joseph Wallace - I loved this story about a girl born with long strong arms at the turn of the century (the last century). Ruby and her sister warmed their way into my heart, and along the way, so did Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey. It's an old time baseball story that rings true like all good baseball stories do.
Hurry Down Sunshine is a small biography/memoir/documentary style book about the author Michael Greenberg's daughter's year of madness when she was 15. Mental Illness is an illness like any other, little understood, and not often acknowledged by families. In some cases, it comes on, is treated and is cured. In other cases, it's chronic, and resurfaces throughout life.
It Was Quite A Ride - Moving Through the Twentieth Century by Bonnie Graham - Something about the title made me want to read this book....probably because it reminded me of something my aunt might say about her life. This is the simply written memoir of an American woman born in 1930. She is a happy and good soul, daughter, wife, mother, working woman, and writes of her life with an upbeat voice. Reading her story and looking at her photos is kind of like meeting someone new and learning all about them, except you feel like you've known them forever.
We are having a Memorial Day weekend with gorgeous warm sunny weather. Everything at home is back upside down again. Lots of clutter, lots to purge out of here and lots of decisions to make, all against the backdrop of planning some out of town time for the summer. I didn't have my May driveway sale, so I have to figure out a date and gear up big for a June weekend. I don't want to do it unless the house will feel different and emptier after it's over. Every day I'm adding to the pile in the corner of the living room.
The above picture shows Peter on the medal stand after he won a gold medal in the 1600m run at the Greek Orthodox Junior Olympics yesterday.
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee - I don't know. This book had me engrossed for a couple of days from the beginning, and through the middle, but then as it wound down, and mysteries were revealed (they weren't really), I fell out of love with it. The cover is very pretty. It takes place in Hong Kong, in the days just before and during the Japanese Occupation in 1941 and 42, and then another story line occurs about 10 years later. Very English, very colonial, and a lot of pip pip cherio.
I've decided. It's good enough to read; you'll just have to let me know if I missed the point with the ending.
