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We've just returned from three weeks spent with my brother's family in Connecticut. It was the best trip with lots of every day family time and we'd probably go back and just live there permanently if we could!
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 by Francine Prose - This was a perfect choice for being out of town and having things to do every day. Easy to put down and easy to pick back up. Each chapter is told from a different point of view, and I'm not even sure how many points of view there were. Four or five I think. The characters are not particularly likeable, but they are interesting. Lou Villars features prominently in the story, yet at the end of the book, I still had no idea who she was. Which might have been the idea. It's an OK book to pass the time. Just now as I was Googling for the book cover picture, my image search turned up old photos that looked just like some of the characters and situations. So how much of this story is true, how much fiction and how much speculation on truth?
The Imitation Game - This is the movie about Alan Turing, the mathematician who broke the Nazi's secret codes during World War II. It's a good story with great back story, but as far as it being a great movie, I'm not so sure. Let's not confuse good story with good movie. It's a very brown movie and a good for you movie rather than an entertaining movie. Nuff said, I know I'm in the minority here.
Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth - It turns out that Goodbye, Columbus is a book of short stories, and that Columbus means Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Peter read the title story last year as a high school senior, but I wish the class had read some of the other stories which (to me) were much more entertaining and thought provoking.
The measure of a man is a powerful concept. It's about life and how you'll live it, what you'll give to it and what you will take from it. These two books have the same title, but to me were quite different. One man's thoughts and ideas boil down to how simply one can live a great and powerful life, yet his life was cut short and he died young. The other man watched the world around him carefully as he made his way to fame and success and a long life. One man marched and pushed buttons in reality, the other man pushed buttons in a fictional realm.
The Measure of a Man by Martin Luther King, Jr. - There is so much wisdom and beauty packed into this small volume that I am going to read it again. The part about the length, the breadth and the height of a man's life is especially good. If every person could read these words and live accordingly we wouldn't need commandments and laws, and our world would be peaceful instead of fallen.
The Measure of a Man A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier - Sidney Poitier was born on a small island and raised in natural surroundings with no exposure to electricity, running water inside a house or cars until he was 10 years old. He kept on moving from then on, working and making his way forward, and his intelligence, talent and looks led him to acting and on to success in the movies. I just finished reading Martin Luther King, Jr's The Measure of a Man again. He writes about the vision that St. John had on the island of Patmos about a complete city where "the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." Martin Luther King goes on to apply those three dimensions to the idea of a complete life. He says "The length of life as we shall think of it here is not its duration or its longevity, but it is the push of a life forward to achieve its personal ends and ambitions. It is the inward concern for one's own welfare. The breadth of life is the outward concern for the welfare of others. The height of life is the upward reach for God." He also writes about loving oneself so that one can love others. It's all the self-improvement one needs....I feel like The Secret is here - all the explanations, writing, detailing and exampling in other books by other authors are essentially saying what Martin Luther King said so simply in the 1950s.The Measure of a Man Copyright 1959 by The Christian Education Press and 1968 by the United Church Press. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-8357
Canada by Richard Ford - I've only just this minute finished Canada, a long story that mostly happens in the narrator's mind as he climbs back over the events in his life, beginning when he was 15 and suddenly found himself cast adrift in the world because of the actions of his parents. I can't decide whether to recommend it or not. It's a crazy story that could have had a better title. It's very wordy, and although I like the narrator, Dell, I am irritated at all the thoughts that presume what others are thinking and presume why others are acting. Definitely not one of my favorites, but not unforgettable, so might that make it a better book than I'd thought it to be?It's been really wonderful having Peter home from college for winter break. I've always heard that it's stresssful when your kid comes home from school, but in our case it's really good. I love knowing he's here or that when he goes out, he'll soon be on his way home and I'll get to see him. He's like my dad in that he's quiet and thoughtful, and also a minimalist. Yesterday we bought him new shoes for running and every day, and I wanted to buy him an extra pair and some new clothes or anything he wanted. But as usual, he said no thank you, just the Auntie Anne pretzel and lemonade that is our Old Orchard tradition on these shoe buying expeditions. He's out running in the snowy icy weather now, and then he'll fly back to California, and although I'll miss him like crazy, I'll be happy that he's running in beautiful dry weather, and that he never has to dress super warmly to be warm. What's left will be the old worn out running shoes and the old every day shoes (literally with holes in them) that we replaced yesterday. I love love love that boy!
It's been a long time since I've written about what's going on in my life, and it's because nothing has changed! I'm still always organizing and trying to organize, and purge stuff so that I'll have time to be creative. I must be my own worst enemy in the project, though, because it's so ongoing.
I don't connect my iPad or iPhone to my computer, so it would take some major creative and thoughtful effort to show pictures of the current situation. It's not as bad as it's been in the past, so that's something. I'd like to get my rooms back, and I'd love to see some empty corners.
To my credit, I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff. It's a major challenge and I've been thinking about coping strategies:
1) Only have stuff that I picked out or bought myself.
2) Give away 100 items, then 20 items per week thereafter until it's done.
Those are the only ones I have. The problem with number 1 is that I'm sentimental about so much stuff that I didn't pick out or buy myself.
The problem with number 2 is that so much of the stuff would be great at a yard sale.
The solution is going to be an early spring driveway sale. I'll collect the stuff in boxes in the corner of the living room, and early in the spring I'll haul it all out and sell it. At the same time if it's not deemed sale-able, I'll give it away now.
It's a couple of days later and I've had a new idea. I will give away 1000 things. Last Wednesday I took 30 things to Goodwill, and there are 43 things ready to go in the foyer now. If I can find 28 more today, I'll be up to 100 and on my way to the 1000. Here goes!
I am also going to try to NOT have a spring sale.
