We've been at our favorite spot in Tofino for the last week - home on Monday. The weather has been alternately very stormy and beautifully sunny. Today has been sort of grey and foggy, but there have been a ton of surfers out there in the water - I bet somewhere between 150-200. Amazing little black heads bobbing above the waves everywhere. We have had our share of excellent food, and have enjoyed our routine of various projects, walks on the beach, and reading.
I finished Border Songs by Jim Lynch and enjoyed it very much. It's always fun to read about a place with which you have more than a passing acquaintance. The ending is a little too pat, perhaps, but the book is worth reading. I read that on my Kindle, which I am also enjoying a lot. It is a good reading experience. Now I'm reading the first of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novels, Whose Body?, which I also have on my Kindle. Every couple years I read all eleven novels again. They are full of so many wonderful things! I've been doing that from time to time over almost 40 years, and I'm not tired of it yet!
In between the e-book reads, I held a real book in my hands and raced through the latest Inspector Montalbano book by Andrea Camilleri, The Track in the Sand. I love these books! This one is worth it for the chapter about the charity horse race, and especially for the almost full-page description of Salvo Montalbano tasting a very bad soup!
The other projects have been knitting ones and computer clean-up tasks. Ugh to the latter, but it has to be done. We also had some Netflix discs with us, catching up on some TV we missed when we lived at Holden. So we watched some of last season's NCIS, and now we're doing Season 4 of Doc Martin. What a great show that is!
Since I mentioned the amazon Kindle, some comments about the current amazon boycott are in order. The book causing the protest is appalling in every regard. But any kind of censorship is also a slippery slope. I'm sure any of us could come up with novels and essays (Anais Nin comes to mind) where such territory is explored. So I'm not sure that boycotts or censorship are the solutions. I'll look forward to hearing your comments.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Reading Novels
We're in Salt Lake City on our way home - hope to be there on Sunday night. I'll write some more about our travels and post some pictures after we get back. In the meantime, here are a couple things about reading novels.
I mentioned A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé in my last post. I am finally about finished with it. It is a terrific read. It's about a bookstore called The Good Novel, and part of the plot is figuring out who their detractors are. At one point the owner writes a letter to a newspaper describing why there should be good novels. It is worth sharing. Her name is Francesca, and you should know that she had a little daughter who was killed in an accident. Here is the piece:
For as long as literature has existed, suffering, joy, horror, grace, and everything that is great in humankind has produced great novels. These exceptional books are often not very well known, and are in constant danger of being forgotten, and in today’s world, where the number of books being published is considerable, the power of marketing and the cynicism of business have joined forces to keep those extraordinary books indistinguishable form millions of insignificant, not to say pointless, books.
But those masterful novels are life-giving. They enchant us. They help us to live. They teach us. It has become necessary to come to their defense and promote them relentlessly, because it is an illusion to think that they have the power to radiate it all by themselves. That alone is our ambition.
We want necessary books, books we can read the day after a funeral, when we have no tears left for all our crying, when we can hardly stand the pain; books that will be there like loves ones when we have tidied a dead child’s room and copied out her secret notes to have them with us, always, and breathed in her clothes hanging in the wardrobe a thousand time, and there is nothing left to do; books for those nights when no matter how exhausted we are we cannot sleep, and all we want is to tear ourselves away from obsessive visions; books that have heft and do not let us down when all we can hear, over and over, is the policeman saying gently, You will not ever see your daughter alive; we you can no longer stand looking all over the house, all over the garden, in a mad frenzy for little John, when fifteen times a night you find him again in the little pond lying on his stomach in ten inches of water; books you can take to your friend whose son hanged himself in his room, two months ago, two months that seem like an hour; books you can take to a brother who is so sick you no longer recognize him.
Every day, Adrien opens his veins, Maria gets drunk, Anand is knocked down by a truck, a twelve-year old Chechen or Turkoman or Darfurian is raped. Every day, Véronique dries the eyes of a condemned man, an old woman holds the hand of a horribly disfigured dying man, a man takes in his arms a dazed little child from among the corpses.
We have no time to waste on insignificant books, hollow books, books that are here to please.
We have no time for those sloppy, hurried books of the “Go on, I need it for July, and in September we’ll give you a proper launch and sell one hundred thousand copies, it’s in the bag” variety.
We want books that cost their authors a great deal, books where you can feel the years of work, the backache, the writer’s block, the author’s panic that he might be lost, his discouragement, his courage, his anguish, his stubbornness, the risk of failure he has taken.
We want splendid books, books that immerse us in the splendor of reality and keep up there; books that prove to us that love is at work in the world next to evil, right up against it, at times indistinctly, and that it always will be, just the way that suffering will always ravage hearts. We want good novels.
We want books that leave nothing out: neither human tragedy nor everyday wonders, books that bring fresh air into our lungs.
I mentioned A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé in my last post. I am finally about finished with it. It is a terrific read. It's about a bookstore called The Good Novel, and part of the plot is figuring out who their detractors are. At one point the owner writes a letter to a newspaper describing why there should be good novels. It is worth sharing. Her name is Francesca, and you should know that she had a little daughter who was killed in an accident. Here is the piece:
For as long as literature has existed, suffering, joy, horror, grace, and everything that is great in humankind has produced great novels. These exceptional books are often not very well known, and are in constant danger of being forgotten, and in today’s world, where the number of books being published is considerable, the power of marketing and the cynicism of business have joined forces to keep those extraordinary books indistinguishable form millions of insignificant, not to say pointless, books.
But those masterful novels are life-giving. They enchant us. They help us to live. They teach us. It has become necessary to come to their defense and promote them relentlessly, because it is an illusion to think that they have the power to radiate it all by themselves. That alone is our ambition.
We want necessary books, books we can read the day after a funeral, when we have no tears left for all our crying, when we can hardly stand the pain; books that will be there like loves ones when we have tidied a dead child’s room and copied out her secret notes to have them with us, always, and breathed in her clothes hanging in the wardrobe a thousand time, and there is nothing left to do; books for those nights when no matter how exhausted we are we cannot sleep, and all we want is to tear ourselves away from obsessive visions; books that have heft and do not let us down when all we can hear, over and over, is the policeman saying gently, You will not ever see your daughter alive; we you can no longer stand looking all over the house, all over the garden, in a mad frenzy for little John, when fifteen times a night you find him again in the little pond lying on his stomach in ten inches of water; books you can take to your friend whose son hanged himself in his room, two months ago, two months that seem like an hour; books you can take to a brother who is so sick you no longer recognize him.
Every day, Adrien opens his veins, Maria gets drunk, Anand is knocked down by a truck, a twelve-year old Chechen or Turkoman or Darfurian is raped. Every day, Véronique dries the eyes of a condemned man, an old woman holds the hand of a horribly disfigured dying man, a man takes in his arms a dazed little child from among the corpses.
We have no time to waste on insignificant books, hollow books, books that are here to please.
We have no time for those sloppy, hurried books of the “Go on, I need it for July, and in September we’ll give you a proper launch and sell one hundred thousand copies, it’s in the bag” variety.
We want books that cost their authors a great deal, books where you can feel the years of work, the backache, the writer’s block, the author’s panic that he might be lost, his discouragement, his courage, his anguish, his stubbornness, the risk of failure he has taken.
We want splendid books, books that immerse us in the splendor of reality and keep up there; books that prove to us that love is at work in the world next to evil, right up against it, at times indistinctly, and that it always will be, just the way that suffering will always ravage hearts. We want good novels.
We want books that leave nothing out: neither human tragedy nor everyday wonders, books that bring fresh air into our lungs.
From A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé, pp. 278-280
In a similar vein, see Richard Powers' (The Time of Our Singing) fiction piece in the October 18 New Yorker.
Re-read a favorite novel!
Re-read a favorite novel!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
New Orleans
We'll be leaving New Orleans this morning after a quick two-night stay. I had never been here before, but had certainly heard many rave reviews from friends.
On our first night, I wasn't sure if I would like it here. We're in a nice hotel in a quiet corner of the French Quarter, but we had a bit of a rocky beginning at the hotel with some misunderstandings about the room. Then we walked around a bit, and I didn't really take to it all. Really noisy, not very clear as to where you were, way too touristy. But we had a wonderful dinner at Brigtsen's in the Garden District.
On Saturday we went to Croissant d'Or for breakfast and had really good fruit, quiche, and good coffee and just hung out in a neighborhood place. We'll go there again this morning before we leave. Then we went on a two-hour walking tour of the French Quarter with a tour guide from the the Cabildo, which is a volunteer organization that supports the Louisiana State Museum (which is in a building called the Cabildo). It was fabulous. We learned so much about the history and the architecture. The guide was a retired dentist, a native of New Orleans (a Cajun - we learned what all those words mean), and really excellent at telling the story of this place. He lives in the Quarter, and we even got to sit for a while in the courtyard of the building in which he lives. He lost his house in another neighborhood in Katrina, and it was very interesting to hear him talk about that whole disaster.
After the tour we walked around some more and did some shopping. I felt much different about the city, and I am sure I would enjoy returning here some time. We had another excellent meal at Mr. B's Bistro, walked around a little more, and then just relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Now we're off to West Monroe, LA, to visit Larry's brother and family, then on Monday to Texas to visit various people. I'm not sure what kind of internet options I'll have for the next three or four days, so I'm getting this one in for now.
Happy 10/10/10!
On our first night, I wasn't sure if I would like it here. We're in a nice hotel in a quiet corner of the French Quarter, but we had a bit of a rocky beginning at the hotel with some misunderstandings about the room. Then we walked around a bit, and I didn't really take to it all. Really noisy, not very clear as to where you were, way too touristy. But we had a wonderful dinner at Brigtsen's in the Garden District.
On Saturday we went to Croissant d'Or for breakfast and had really good fruit, quiche, and good coffee and just hung out in a neighborhood place. We'll go there again this morning before we leave. Then we went on a two-hour walking tour of the French Quarter with a tour guide from the the Cabildo, which is a volunteer organization that supports the Louisiana State Museum (which is in a building called the Cabildo). It was fabulous. We learned so much about the history and the architecture. The guide was a retired dentist, a native of New Orleans (a Cajun - we learned what all those words mean), and really excellent at telling the story of this place. He lives in the Quarter, and we even got to sit for a while in the courtyard of the building in which he lives. He lost his house in another neighborhood in Katrina, and it was very interesting to hear him talk about that whole disaster.
After the tour we walked around some more and did some shopping. I felt much different about the city, and I am sure I would enjoy returning here some time. We had another excellent meal at Mr. B's Bistro, walked around a little more, and then just relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Now we're off to West Monroe, LA, to visit Larry's brother and family, then on Monday to Texas to visit various people. I'm not sure what kind of internet options I'll have for the next three or four days, so I'm getting this one in for now.
Happy 10/10/10!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
On the Mississippi
This is a picture of Larry from yesterday at Meriwether Lewis' grave at Grinder's Inn on the Natchez Trace Parkway.Tonight we're right on the Mississippi River in Vidalia, Louisiana, right across the river from Natchez. We had a great meal in Natchez tonight at a place called Cock in the Walk - catfish, cornbread, hush puppies, slaw, marinated onions, fried shrimp. Very good stuff.
We finished the Natchez Trace Parkway today. There was a lot more traffic, as it seemed more people used the Parkway as part of their regular daily route. This Parkway is very popular with bicyclists (not much up and down at all) and we saw many of them today. It has been very interesting to learn more about the Native Americans of this area - Chickasaw, Choctaw, Natchez, Cherokee, and others. We saw many burial mounds and the remains of villages, and learned too much about the sad history of how they were removed from their lands.
Tomorrow we'll head down the river to New Orleans. We have the Paul and Carol Hinderlie self-guided eating tour in hand, and are looking forward to it! Larry has been there briefly, and I never have. So it will be fun to explore and see as much as we can in about 36 hours. (Nice that the New York Times travel section publishes those little "New Orleans in 36 hour" pieces - a good guide!)
Tomorrow's blog will be from New Orleans!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
On the Road
Well, it's been almost four months since I've written this blog, so it's time to start again.
Tonight I'm writing from Tupelo, Mississippi, where Larry and I are staying during our drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway. We left this afternoon from the north end just south of Nashville, and we'll complete the 444 mile drive tomorrow afternoon in Natchez, Mississippi. It is very beautiful, and amazing driving. There are absolutely no cars, no commercial vehicles, and, unless you choose to turn off the Parkway, no stops. We have stopped along the way to see the historical sites, which today included the grave of Meriwether Lewis, who committed suicide on October 11, 1809, at Grinder's Inn, one of the stands, or inns, along the original Trace. The original Trace was basically an indented path worn over the decades that was used for personal and commercial travel in the 19th century.
On Monday we started driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was equally beautiful in Virginia and North Carolina. It was amazing to drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains at about 3500 feet the whole way. Another wonderful drive, and again, not many cars or anything else!
Before that we visited friends and family in Virginia, Chicago, and St. Louis. Larry's been on the road since September 12, and I joined him on the 24th in St. Louis.
On Friday we go to New Orleans for two nights, then to West Monroe, Louisiana to visit Larry's brother and family, and then to Texas for a few visits with friends.
Right now I'm reading a wonderful novel - A Novel Bookstore, by Laurence Cosse (that last "e" has an accent - anybody know how to get to symbols in blogspot?) Anyway, it is a wonderful story and I highly recommend it. The other thing I have to report on the reading front is that I bought a Kindle. I've subscribed to the New Yorker and am enjoying that access. It does all work very seamlessly. I haven't actually read a book yet, and that will be the real test. But, so far I'm impressed. It certainly is easier than carting around a pile of books while traveling - although there is a pile in the car!
That's all for today. More travel and reading observations tomorrow - really.
Tonight I'm writing from Tupelo, Mississippi, where Larry and I are staying during our drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway. We left this afternoon from the north end just south of Nashville, and we'll complete the 444 mile drive tomorrow afternoon in Natchez, Mississippi. It is very beautiful, and amazing driving. There are absolutely no cars, no commercial vehicles, and, unless you choose to turn off the Parkway, no stops. We have stopped along the way to see the historical sites, which today included the grave of Meriwether Lewis, who committed suicide on October 11, 1809, at Grinder's Inn, one of the stands, or inns, along the original Trace. The original Trace was basically an indented path worn over the decades that was used for personal and commercial travel in the 19th century.
On Monday we started driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was equally beautiful in Virginia and North Carolina. It was amazing to drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains at about 3500 feet the whole way. Another wonderful drive, and again, not many cars or anything else!
Before that we visited friends and family in Virginia, Chicago, and St. Louis. Larry's been on the road since September 12, and I joined him on the 24th in St. Louis.
On Friday we go to New Orleans for two nights, then to West Monroe, Louisiana to visit Larry's brother and family, and then to Texas for a few visits with friends.
Right now I'm reading a wonderful novel - A Novel Bookstore, by Laurence Cosse (that last "e" has an accent - anybody know how to get to symbols in blogspot?) Anyway, it is a wonderful story and I highly recommend it. The other thing I have to report on the reading front is that I bought a Kindle. I've subscribed to the New Yorker and am enjoying that access. It does all work very seamlessly. I haven't actually read a book yet, and that will be the real test. But, so far I'm impressed. It certainly is easier than carting around a pile of books while traveling - although there is a pile in the car!
That's all for today. More travel and reading observations tomorrow - really.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Back Again!
Well, it has been 9 weeks since I've written anything. I've been reminded about that more than once, so I'll do my best to write updates and all.
Today the summer program at Holden got going in full swing. We have a really good Teaching Staff so early in the summer, and the conversation should be lively indeed. Fred Niedner, who teaches theology at Valparaiso University is the Bible Study leader. This happens at 9 a.m. every morning Monday-Friday. He's very good, and today he got us thinking about biblical promises. The summer theme is All the Promises of God. He came up with a really good phrase:"the grammar of promise," which already appeared in Carol Hinderlie's excellent Vespers this evening.
We're into the summer worship schedule as well, with everything in the Village Center and a start time of 7:30 p.m., a half hour later than Fall-Winter-Spring. It makes for a late night, especially when there's a session after Vespers. Tonight David Wee, a retired St. Olaf College English professor, simply read poems by Billy Collins. They are wonderful and hilarious, and we had a great time listening. Today we also had sessions on American movies with Sam Graber who teaches American Studies at Valparaiso, and Melissa McBain who teaches theater and English at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. After dinner there was a writing workshop with poet Rebecca Wee, who also teaches at Augustana Rock Island, and is the daughter of David Wee. They are all very good, and it's hard to have to work and try to dash in and hear a whole session or even part of one. It's handy that our offices are right off the Koinonia balcony, as we can just slip in and out when we have a chance. We all try to go to the sessions, as it encourages the whole conversation of the Village.
For those of you following the ankle drama, things are really improving. Just in the last couple of days I've noticed a pretty significant change for the better. I've abandoned my hiking boots for trainers, and that seems to be going pretty well. This week I hope to get in some walks on the road to increase my exercise regime. It's still a long haul, but I'm encouraged each day.
I have been reading mostly mysteries (what a shock) especially because some new volumes from favorite authors appeared. Alexander McCall Smith's The Double Comfort Safari Club is really good, following new adventures of Precious Ramotswe and company. I really enjoy his gentle prose. There was one thing missing in this book. In each of the previous books, there is a little word picture that appears either on a front or back page. It looks like this:
Today the summer program at Holden got going in full swing. We have a really good Teaching Staff so early in the summer, and the conversation should be lively indeed. Fred Niedner, who teaches theology at Valparaiso University is the Bible Study leader. This happens at 9 a.m. every morning Monday-Friday. He's very good, and today he got us thinking about biblical promises. The summer theme is All the Promises of God. He came up with a really good phrase:"the grammar of promise," which already appeared in Carol Hinderlie's excellent Vespers this evening.
We're into the summer worship schedule as well, with everything in the Village Center and a start time of 7:30 p.m., a half hour later than Fall-Winter-Spring. It makes for a late night, especially when there's a session after Vespers. Tonight David Wee, a retired St. Olaf College English professor, simply read poems by Billy Collins. They are wonderful and hilarious, and we had a great time listening. Today we also had sessions on American movies with Sam Graber who teaches American Studies at Valparaiso, and Melissa McBain who teaches theater and English at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. After dinner there was a writing workshop with poet Rebecca Wee, who also teaches at Augustana Rock Island, and is the daughter of David Wee. They are all very good, and it's hard to have to work and try to dash in and hear a whole session or even part of one. It's handy that our offices are right off the Koinonia balcony, as we can just slip in and out when we have a chance. We all try to go to the sessions, as it encourages the whole conversation of the Village.
For those of you following the ankle drama, things are really improving. Just in the last couple of days I've noticed a pretty significant change for the better. I've abandoned my hiking boots for trainers, and that seems to be going pretty well. This week I hope to get in some walks on the road to increase my exercise regime. It's still a long haul, but I'm encouraged each day.
I have been reading mostly mysteries (what a shock) especially because some new volumes from favorite authors appeared. Alexander McCall Smith's The Double Comfort Safari Club is really good, following new adventures of Precious Ramotswe and company. I really enjoy his gentle prose. There was one thing missing in this book. In each of the previous books, there is a little word picture that appears either on a front or back page. It looks like this:
africa
africa africa
africa africa africa
africa africaafrica
I've always enjoyed that, particularly after traveling to Tanzania. But it's not in this one. I discovered that his website has an actual pathway to ask him questions. I asked this about a month ago and have yet to receive an answer. I'll try again.
I read the latest Laurie King Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book, The God of the Hive. It's a sequel to The Language of Bees. They are both very good, but you need to read them both in order. She's done an excellent job of creating this female counterpart to Sherlock Holmes.
I just finished the latest Elizabeth George, This Body of Death. At 726 pages, it's quite a tome. I have enjoyed these Inspector Lynley books from the beginning, but I think her usual adept characterizations failed in this one. Lynley seems a bit out of pattern in his choices, and some of the development of a new female officer doesn't ring quite true for me. But it is, as always, a great plot, and, when you come to the end, the title from Romans 7:24 is dead on. (So to speak.)
So there you have it for tonight. Now I get to go pick a new book to read. Yippee!
I read the latest Laurie King Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book, The God of the Hive. It's a sequel to The Language of Bees. They are both very good, but you need to read them both in order. She's done an excellent job of creating this female counterpart to Sherlock Holmes.
I just finished the latest Elizabeth George, This Body of Death. At 726 pages, it's quite a tome. I have enjoyed these Inspector Lynley books from the beginning, but I think her usual adept characterizations failed in this one. Lynley seems a bit out of pattern in his choices, and some of the development of a new female officer doesn't ring quite true for me. But it is, as always, a great plot, and, when you come to the end, the title from Romans 7:24 is dead on. (So to speak.)
So there you have it for tonight. Now I get to go pick a new book to read. Yippee!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday Books
Well, the blog is back. I'm calling this Wednesday Books - plural - because I've had a lot of reading time over the last five weeks. On the morning of February 17 - Ash Wednesday - I stepped on some ice on the Chalet Hill outside our place. My left leg shot out at 60 mph, bringing my right ankle under and in. Although we did not know this until later in the day at the Lake Chelan Community Hospital when doctors and x-rays got involved, I badly broke my right ankle. I had 3.5 hours of surgery the next afternoon, and I now have 14 titanium screws and a plate in that ankle. So the last five weeks - and more weeks to come - have been about trauma, surgery, and ankle recovery. Finally this week I am feeling normal - with my ankle in a big cast. I cannot put any weight on it, so I get around in our apartment on a nifty wheeled "crutch substitute," as it's called it the medical world. They take me down the hill in a 1950's snow vehicle called the Imp (its real vehicle name - not a Holden nickname!). Until Tuesday, I was only going down on Sunday afternoons for dinner and church. Yesterday I spent all afternoon through dinner in the Village, getting up and down stairs with muscle (mine) and help, and with the assistance of a nifty stair-climber one of the carpenters made. So things are improving, but it is a long haul. Larry is fabulous in every regard with all this. I call him St. Larry.
So I've been reading lots of books. I finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (spoken of with reverence in previous blogs) and it is indeed stunning from beginning to end. I read In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif, which was the March selection of the Faith Women's Book Group which paid a lovely visit up here the first weekend of the month. I liked the novel very much, especially in its look into the cultural struggles of educated Egyptian women in the 1970's. Then I read the latest Karin Fossum, a Norwegian mystery writer. Her detective is Inspecter Sejer. This one is titled The Water's Edge. They all make you wonder about the effect of dark nights and deep fjords, but she's good at her craft, and the translations are excellent. I read Laurie King's The Language of Bees, the latest in her Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell series. I've enjoyed this series all along. I think she has convincingly found a female partner for Sherlock. She nicely weaves in Conan Doyle's character threads and Holmesian history to make it all compelling and believable. And she writes well. And now I have just finished catching up on The #1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith - I read five in a row! They are good. They are all the same length (about 200 pages) and his writing style is such that you just whip through them. But it's nice writing, and the musings and humor make them highly enjoyable reads. Today I started a novel called The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil. Seems pretty good so far - a nice story line that should be interesting, interlinking generations in a small English town along with some very high-flying journalistic types.
In the meantime there is Holy Week and Easter. They are well in hand. Just have to get down there to get it all organized! Holden is a great place for help in time of need, and I am very grateful for that.
That's all for this Wednesday. Now that I have some energy and focus back, I may blog more often. (I know, I know, I've said that before...)
So I've been reading lots of books. I finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (spoken of with reverence in previous blogs) and it is indeed stunning from beginning to end. I read In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif, which was the March selection of the Faith Women's Book Group which paid a lovely visit up here the first weekend of the month. I liked the novel very much, especially in its look into the cultural struggles of educated Egyptian women in the 1970's. Then I read the latest Karin Fossum, a Norwegian mystery writer. Her detective is Inspecter Sejer. This one is titled The Water's Edge. They all make you wonder about the effect of dark nights and deep fjords, but she's good at her craft, and the translations are excellent. I read Laurie King's The Language of Bees, the latest in her Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell series. I've enjoyed this series all along. I think she has convincingly found a female partner for Sherlock. She nicely weaves in Conan Doyle's character threads and Holmesian history to make it all compelling and believable. And she writes well. And now I have just finished catching up on The #1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith - I read five in a row! They are good. They are all the same length (about 200 pages) and his writing style is such that you just whip through them. But it's nice writing, and the musings and humor make them highly enjoyable reads. Today I started a novel called The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil. Seems pretty good so far - a nice story line that should be interesting, interlinking generations in a small English town along with some very high-flying journalistic types.
In the meantime there is Holy Week and Easter. They are well in hand. Just have to get down there to get it all organized! Holden is a great place for help in time of need, and I am very grateful for that.
That's all for this Wednesday. Now that I have some energy and focus back, I may blog more often. (I know, I know, I've said that before...)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday Book on Thursday
Lots of people in the Village are trying to finish The Brothers Karamozov in time for the discussions we'll have this weekend on the book. Doug Thorpe, who teaches English at SPU, will be here to lead those discussions. Doug, a member at St. Mark's Cathedral, is a long-time Holden person, most recently a regular on the Teaching Staff. There are few Spark notes around, and yesterday Carol Hinderlie downloaded the Wikipedia synopsis! It is a long book, but what a good one! I read it 35+ years ago, and I don't remember enjoying it so much. This is a newer translation - 1999 - which received rave reviews as making Dostoevsky's style really come out in English. So maybe that's the whole thing. But it is a great book. I'm especially impressed with the dialog. He is clearly one of those authors - Iris Murdoch being another - who can write pages of conversation and you never lose track of who is talking. Amazing.
Some non-book notes: it's been snowing today, which will be nice for all the people coming in for the week-end and for next week. The Village will more than double in size. It will put quite a strain on the power supply, so we're all cutting back on any unnecessary electrical use - even more than we've cut back already. It's very interesting to live so close to all the things that make our little town work. In the city, the sweep in so broad you lose track of the infrastructure. Here, it's part of your dinner conversation!
Back to the vile Karamozov and his screwy sons!
Some non-book notes: it's been snowing today, which will be nice for all the people coming in for the week-end and for next week. The Village will more than double in size. It will put quite a strain on the power supply, so we're all cutting back on any unnecessary electrical use - even more than we've cut back already. It's very interesting to live so close to all the things that make our little town work. In the city, the sweep in so broad you lose track of the infrastructure. Here, it's part of your dinner conversation!
Back to the vile Karamozov and his screwy sons!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A Beautiful Mountain Day
Although the weather has been unseasonably warm, with forecasts for more temperatures in the 40's, we awoke today to a beautiful cold, clear day here in the Railroad Creek Valley. Here's a picture of Copper and Fernow this morning:
We had a wonderful Woman's Retreat over the weekend with an excellent group of women, mostly from Western Washington, with a few from Minnesota. Now we have the "Spinning Sisters" from St. Placid Priory in Lacey. They come up with their spinning wheels and all and teach anyone who wants to wander into the Dining Hall. This all started in 1998 when Sister Monika met Pastor Jim Christiansen at a spiritual directors' retreat at the priory. He raises sheep, they were learning to spin, and the rest is history. They have become quite famous for their felted sheep, many of which are sold in the Holden store. (See blog Post 1 for a picture of our welcome sheep!) One of the nuns at the Priory is just knitting sheep #900! Jim gets all the centennial sheep, so this one will add to his collection. They also lead worship for us while they are here, which is very nice. They have adapted the Benedictine hours into a lovely set of very inclusive liturgies that work well here at Holden. Jim also brought fresh lamb for us, which will be lovely for dinner one day.
Tuesday evening is craft night after dinner (we've had our worship for the day at breakfast) and tonight the St. Placid folk will teach how to needle-felt hearts for Valentine's Day. Fun!
We had a wonderful Woman's Retreat over the weekend with an excellent group of women, mostly from Western Washington, with a few from Minnesota. Now we have the "Spinning Sisters" from St. Placid Priory in Lacey. They come up with their spinning wheels and all and teach anyone who wants to wander into the Dining Hall. This all started in 1998 when Sister Monika met Pastor Jim Christiansen at a spiritual directors' retreat at the priory. He raises sheep, they were learning to spin, and the rest is history. They have become quite famous for their felted sheep, many of which are sold in the Holden store. (See blog Post 1 for a picture of our welcome sheep!) One of the nuns at the Priory is just knitting sheep #900! Jim gets all the centennial sheep, so this one will add to his collection. They also lead worship for us while they are here, which is very nice. They have adapted the Benedictine hours into a lovely set of very inclusive liturgies that work well here at Holden. Jim also brought fresh lamb for us, which will be lovely for dinner one day.
Tuesday evening is craft night after dinner (we've had our worship for the day at breakfast) and tonight the St. Placid folk will teach how to needle-felt hearts for Valentine's Day. Fun!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wednesday Book
After the weirdness of Merrily Watkins in cider-coated Herefordshire, I went back to Scandinavia and read K. O. Dahl's The Fourth Man. It is a very good read. I almost suspected I had read it before when someone's hytta (Norwegian "chalet" they say in the book) burned down, but I think that happens often in these Norwegian/Swedish/Icelandic mysteries. (Anybody know a Danish one?) It is a nice complex plot, clearly nicely written and good in translation.
I moved on from there to my next Andrea Camilleri Inspector Montalbano book, Rounding the Mark. This one is laugh-out-loud funny. I love these books! They are so real and such good stories, full of all the joys, sorrows - and, being Sicily, crime - of human life. Salvo Montalbano is a terrific character. In this book his very favorite restaurant closes when the owner retires, but he quickly finds another as good. The descriptions of him eating and savoring his food are worth the books. I want to go to Sicily for pasta in squid ink! Please, read these books! Here they are in order, and in order they should be read:
The Shape of Water (La forma dell’acqua, 1994)
The Terracotta Dog (Il cane di terracotta, 1996)
The Snack Thief (Il ladro di merendine, 1996)
The Voice of the Violin (La voce del violino, 1997)
Excursion to Tindari (La gita a Tindari, 2000)
The Scent of the Night (L’odore della notte, 2001)
Rounding the Mark (Il giro di boa, 2003)
The Patience of the Spider - 2007 (La pazienza del ragno - 2004)
The Paper Moon - 2008 (La Luna di Carta - 2005)
August Heat - 2009 (La Vampa d'Agosto - 2006)
The Sphinx's Wings - 2009 (Le Ali della Sfinge - 2006)
The Sand Path - 2010 (La pista di Sabbia - 2007)
The Potter's Field - 2010 (Il campo del vasaio - 2008)
The Age of Doubt - 2010 (L'età del dubbio) - 2008
There are two more, but they aren't translated yet. There's TV, too, and two episodes were aired in England in 2008. They don't seem to be appearing here yet.
Now I finally gave in and started Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize winning novel about Thomas Cromwell. What a book. It is amazing writing and story/history telling. It is a reading feast. We have a stop day here tomorrow, and it's a good thing or there might not be a sermon on Sunday! I will have to take a break though as we have the annual Women's Retreat this weekend and I have to do Bible Study. (The Bible - I recommend that one, too!) But we also have Doug Thorpe, who teaches English at SPU, coming up over Valentine's weekend to do sessions on The Brothers Karamozov, and I'm going to take a shot at getting through a lot of the newer translation that came out in 1999 - supposedly way better than the one I read in college! So Wolf Hall will have to wait until the week after next. That's ok. It's the kind of book you don't want to finish in a hurry because it will be over.
Happy reading!
I moved on from there to my next Andrea Camilleri Inspector Montalbano book, Rounding the Mark. This one is laugh-out-loud funny. I love these books! They are so real and such good stories, full of all the joys, sorrows - and, being Sicily, crime - of human life. Salvo Montalbano is a terrific character. In this book his very favorite restaurant closes when the owner retires, but he quickly finds another as good. The descriptions of him eating and savoring his food are worth the books. I want to go to Sicily for pasta in squid ink! Please, read these books! Here they are in order, and in order they should be read:
The Shape of Water (La forma dell’acqua, 1994)
The Terracotta Dog (Il cane di terracotta, 1996)
The Snack Thief (Il ladro di merendine, 1996)
The Voice of the Violin (La voce del violino, 1997)
Excursion to Tindari (La gita a Tindari, 2000)
The Scent of the Night (L’odore della notte, 2001)
Rounding the Mark (Il giro di boa, 2003)
The Patience of the Spider - 2007 (La pazienza del ragno - 2004)
The Paper Moon - 2008 (La Luna di Carta - 2005)
August Heat - 2009 (La Vampa d'Agosto - 2006)
The Sphinx's Wings - 2009 (Le Ali della Sfinge - 2006)
The Sand Path - 2010 (La pista di Sabbia - 2007)
The Potter's Field - 2010 (Il campo del vasaio - 2008)
The Age of Doubt - 2010 (L'età del dubbio) - 2008
There are two more, but they aren't translated yet. There's TV, too, and two episodes were aired in England in 2008. They don't seem to be appearing here yet.
Now I finally gave in and started Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize winning novel about Thomas Cromwell. What a book. It is amazing writing and story/history telling. It is a reading feast. We have a stop day here tomorrow, and it's a good thing or there might not be a sermon on Sunday! I will have to take a break though as we have the annual Women's Retreat this weekend and I have to do Bible Study. (The Bible - I recommend that one, too!) But we also have Doug Thorpe, who teaches English at SPU, coming up over Valentine's weekend to do sessions on The Brothers Karamozov, and I'm going to take a shot at getting through a lot of the newer translation that came out in 1999 - supposedly way better than the one I read in college! So Wolf Hall will have to wait until the week after next. That's ok. It's the kind of book you don't want to finish in a hurry because it will be over.
Happy reading!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Texas! Part 2
The Hispanic Theology Conference in San Antonio was the program for the regular January gathering of ELCA pastors in Texas. The three synods in that state join forces each year for their pastors' conferences. Carol and Nancy learned a lot not only about Hispanic Theology, but also about Texas Lutherans and pastors. We had a very good time. I felt just as much at home among those folk as I do here in the Pacific Northwest. Very nice indeed.
The speakers were quite different in many ways, but each good in her/his own regard. Probably the star of the show was Dr. Justo Gonzalez, a Methodist pastor and theologian. His main presentation was a very poignant (and very funny!) assessment of what it's like to be an "in-between" person in the United States. One of the interesting features of him and one other speaker was that they both came from educated, doing-fine families before coming to the US, and then were surprised at being regarded as neither here - in fact, not being regarded at all. Gonzalez also did a Bible Study on Acts 6 which was very good - a new view.
Another speaker spoke about the love for the Virgin Mary in Hispanic culture, likening it to other ancient observances, and even to the huge esteem still showered on the late young rock star Selena. Others included an ELCA pastor who works at churchwide, and a seminary professor from PLTS. As noted above, each brought a different perspective to the blessings and challenges of being Christian and Latina/o. We learned a lot.
Two of my dearest friends from my seminary days are pastors in Texas, and I was very happy to be able to visit with David Henry, a soon-to-be-retired pastor in Marble Falls (he and I have these almost exactly parallel careers!), and Don Carlson, on the staff of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. It was really fun to see them. For all you Faith folk, I also had a great visit with Charles and Phoebe Meyer. Charles is Rich Meyer's brother, and part of that host of people from Faith who have gone into ordained ministry. His whole career has been in Texas. Carol and I also made good Holden connections with Ann Hafften and Franz Schemmel, as well as recent staff member Mindy Roll.
In between the lectures and the visiting, we walked the Riverwalk and enjoyed ourselves. Here's a picture of Carol on the Riverwalk:
On Monday night we walked to an interesting-sounding restaurant in Southtown that was a Latin American fusion place. The name is Azuca. We again made a meal of appetizers, and a very good one it was. Tuesday night dinner was part of the conference after a Eucharist at St. John's Lutheran Church.
On our way to the Eucharist with Mindy Roll, we stopped at a shop we'd seen the night before and bought hats! These were used to great effect when we returned to Holden, both getting off the boat and getting off the bus. Lots of fun! Here we are in our hats:
We returned to Seattle on Wednesday evening. Nancy had a Candidacy Committee meeting on Thursday, then picked up Carol in Mukilteo and we headed for Leavenworth and another great meal at South - a really fine Mexican restaurant right there in everyone's favorite Bavarian Village.
So now we're back at Holden and it's February. Lent is not too far away, and the warm temperatures give us a hint of the Spring to come. But we'll remember January 2010!
The speakers were quite different in many ways, but each good in her/his own regard. Probably the star of the show was Dr. Justo Gonzalez, a Methodist pastor and theologian. His main presentation was a very poignant (and very funny!) assessment of what it's like to be an "in-between" person in the United States. One of the interesting features of him and one other speaker was that they both came from educated, doing-fine families before coming to the US, and then were surprised at being regarded as neither here - in fact, not being regarded at all. Gonzalez also did a Bible Study on Acts 6 which was very good - a new view.
Another speaker spoke about the love for the Virgin Mary in Hispanic culture, likening it to other ancient observances, and even to the huge esteem still showered on the late young rock star Selena. Others included an ELCA pastor who works at churchwide, and a seminary professor from PLTS. As noted above, each brought a different perspective to the blessings and challenges of being Christian and Latina/o. We learned a lot.
Two of my dearest friends from my seminary days are pastors in Texas, and I was very happy to be able to visit with David Henry, a soon-to-be-retired pastor in Marble Falls (he and I have these almost exactly parallel careers!), and Don Carlson, on the staff of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. It was really fun to see them. For all you Faith folk, I also had a great visit with Charles and Phoebe Meyer. Charles is Rich Meyer's brother, and part of that host of people from Faith who have gone into ordained ministry. His whole career has been in Texas. Carol and I also made good Holden connections with Ann Hafften and Franz Schemmel, as well as recent staff member Mindy Roll.
In between the lectures and the visiting, we walked the Riverwalk and enjoyed ourselves. Here's a picture of Carol on the Riverwalk:
On Monday night we walked to an interesting-sounding restaurant in Southtown that was a Latin American fusion place. The name is Azuca. We again made a meal of appetizers, and a very good one it was. Tuesday night dinner was part of the conference after a Eucharist at St. John's Lutheran Church.
On our way to the Eucharist with Mindy Roll, we stopped at a shop we'd seen the night before and bought hats! These were used to great effect when we returned to Holden, both getting off the boat and getting off the bus. Lots of fun! Here we are in our hats:
We returned to Seattle on Wednesday evening. Nancy had a Candidacy Committee meeting on Thursday, then picked up Carol in Mukilteo and we headed for Leavenworth and another great meal at South - a really fine Mexican restaurant right there in everyone's favorite Bavarian Village.So now we're back at Holden and it's February. Lent is not too far away, and the warm temperatures give us a hint of the Spring to come. But we'll remember January 2010!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Texas!
The second trip in January was to Texas. Holden Director Carol Hinderlie and Nancy signed up in the Fall to attend the Tri-Synodical Pastors' Conference in San Antonio January 25-27. We had heard about it because the program title was Hispanic Theology. At Holden each August there's a Spanish-speaking week called Abriendo Caminos, and Carol thought it would be helpful to hear the perspectives of the speakers at the January conference. Nancy went because of her role as chair of the Candidacy Committee in the Northwest Washington Synod. There are two Latino candidates in Mt. Vernon who are doing their seminary work in what's called TEEM: Theological Education in Emergent Ministries. The candidates are raised up and work in their own communities, and work with specific seminaries for their theological education. These two do their education at Lutheran Seminary Program of the Southwest in Austin. TEEM was going to be a major part of the conference.
The conference was in San Antonio. But, since we both enjoy good music - especially Texas-style bluesy stuff - we flew into San Antonio on Saturday afternoon, rented a car and drove north to Austin. We had a great hotel to stay in - the Hotel San Jose - on South Congress Street right across from the Continental Club, a fairly famous funky Austin music club. Here's a picture of the hotel:
We started out with a dinner of appetizers at an Italian restaurant down the street called Vespaio. Go there if you're ever in Austin. Terrific. We got the recommendation from someone on the Holden staff who has friends who run an organic farm in Austin called Boggy Creek Farm. They supply organic vegetables to this and other Austin restaurants.
After that we set off on foot across the river and checked out 6th and 4th streets. We were a little early, but things cranked up eventually. We heard great blues in two venues. We really liked a woman named Tish Lancaster and her Mizzbehavin' Band. Great stuff. We walked and walked and listened and looked and just took it all in. We took a cab back to the hotel and then walked across the street to the Continental Club for the 10 p.m. show. We heard a Texas Roadhouse Blues singer who's been doing this a long time and was fabulous. Her name is Lou Ann Barton. Her guitar player was amazing. After all the walking, and then standing for over an hour in the club, we were ready to go to sleep!
The next morning we didn't do church (boo), but we knew we'd be doing it for three days at the conference, so with no guilt at all we got great coffees and delicious home-made jalapeño scones at the funky coffee place next to the hotel. It was a beautiful day, so after we got organized and checked out, we headed west for Johnson City for the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and the Johnson Ranch. It was very interesting and a beautiful spot. Here's a picture from the ranch - Lyndon, the Bull:
We headed to San Antonio from there, stopping on the way at a wine-tasting room of Texas wines and found a couple pretty nice bottles for Larry and Paul.
On our way into San Antonio we stopped for an early dinner at a Luby's cafeteria. The Hinderlies have enjoyed these for years when they came down to South Padre Island for a winter break. It was pretty good. We learned it had actually started in San Antonio. We returned our car, went to the airport, and then took a cab to our hotel. After checking in, we watched the Vikings and the Saints football game, checked out the Riverwalk, had a glass of wine in the bar, and retired. We had another nice walk in the morning before the conference.
This is part 1. Part 2, with more pictures, tomorrow!
The conference was in San Antonio. But, since we both enjoy good music - especially Texas-style bluesy stuff - we flew into San Antonio on Saturday afternoon, rented a car and drove north to Austin. We had a great hotel to stay in - the Hotel San Jose - on South Congress Street right across from the Continental Club, a fairly famous funky Austin music club. Here's a picture of the hotel:
We started out with a dinner of appetizers at an Italian restaurant down the street called Vespaio. Go there if you're ever in Austin. Terrific. We got the recommendation from someone on the Holden staff who has friends who run an organic farm in Austin called Boggy Creek Farm. They supply organic vegetables to this and other Austin restaurants.After that we set off on foot across the river and checked out 6th and 4th streets. We were a little early, but things cranked up eventually. We heard great blues in two venues. We really liked a woman named Tish Lancaster and her Mizzbehavin' Band. Great stuff. We walked and walked and listened and looked and just took it all in. We took a cab back to the hotel and then walked across the street to the Continental Club for the 10 p.m. show. We heard a Texas Roadhouse Blues singer who's been doing this a long time and was fabulous. Her name is Lou Ann Barton. Her guitar player was amazing. After all the walking, and then standing for over an hour in the club, we were ready to go to sleep!
The next morning we didn't do church (boo), but we knew we'd be doing it for three days at the conference, so with no guilt at all we got great coffees and delicious home-made jalapeño scones at the funky coffee place next to the hotel. It was a beautiful day, so after we got organized and checked out, we headed west for Johnson City for the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park and the Johnson Ranch. It was very interesting and a beautiful spot. Here's a picture from the ranch - Lyndon, the Bull:
We headed to San Antonio from there, stopping on the way at a wine-tasting room of Texas wines and found a couple pretty nice bottles for Larry and Paul.On our way into San Antonio we stopped for an early dinner at a Luby's cafeteria. The Hinderlies have enjoyed these for years when they came down to South Padre Island for a winter break. It was pretty good. We learned it had actually started in San Antonio. We returned our car, went to the airport, and then took a cab to our hotel. After checking in, we watched the Vikings and the Saints football game, checked out the Riverwalk, had a glass of wine in the bar, and retired. We had another nice walk in the morning before the conference.
This is part 1. Part 2, with more pictures, tomorrow!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The End of January
January has been an eventful month! Here at Holden (where it is warm and sunny today) the college students are half gone and we're looking forward to a couple quiet days after the bus goes with the rest on Wednesday morning. Thursday will be a Stop Day, which means everyone eats on their own (kitchen gives people food) and there's no work. A very nice thing to do for a very hard-working staff. We still do Vespers in the late afternoon. We had one other Stop Day in the Fall, but this is probably the last opportunity. We do them when there's no boat and the numbers are low.
The first event of January (alluded to in the first 2010 post) was a trip to St. Paul and Luther Seminary where Nancy received the Faithfulness in Ministry Cross, which is like a distinguished alumna award. When we got news of the award in the Fall, we made train reservations right away, which sounded like good fun to us. The train picks up passengers in Wenatchee, which makes it an easy travel option here in North Central Washington. But then came the deep freeze in the Midwest. Amtrak suspended the Empire Builder for three days, which ran right into our departure time. Everything was just too cold for the trains to work! So we put a second mortgage on the farm and bought last minute air tickets. We flew in and out of Wenatchee. Weird to fly into Seattle without going home. (Amtrak was superb in every regard about this, and we'll get a full refund.)
The time in St. Paul was wonderful, made extra special by the presence of so many from the West! Sheryl Schmeling, Wally and Eileen Powelson, and Pam Russell came from Seattle, John and Joan Beck from Portland, Mary Rowe and Mert Johnson from Oakland. Heather Spears was there from Iowa, and Meridith and Jay Wardle tag-teamed it from Edina, MN. Larry and I stayed with Greg and Mary Steeber, and they hosted most of us for dinner on Wednesday night. Larry and I took the whole bunch out to dinner at The Signature Cafe on Thursday (award day). The award ceremony itself was followed by a luncheon. All in all it was a grand time, and I am so thankful for and humbled by all who came all that way for it. Here's a picture of the group in the Chapel of the Incarnation after the award ceremony:
Besides the transportation change, there were some apparel glitches as well. Nancy had ordered a dress. We finally tracked down the late package at the Chelan Post Office the day we left. When we stopped at our friends' apartment in Leavenworth, to which we would return after St. Paul, she tried it on and Larry about fell over he was laughing so hard. It's been returned. But Larry discovered that his black shoes, which he thought were in the green car and were probably in the red car or maybe in Leavenworth, were nowhere that we could ascertain. So, faced with wearing his size 15 Sorel boots with his slacks and sport coat at the award event (it would have been SO mountain), the first thing we did when we landed at MSP was to go to Nordstrom at the egregious Mall of America and find him some shoes. He, being shoe challenged on many fronts, actually found a really nice pair of shoes that are very comfortable to wear. The uses of adversity.
After St. Paul we flew back to Wenatchee on Friday and stayed in Leavenworth a couple nights. (The boat up Lake Chelan only goes on M-W-F in the winter.) On Sunday night we stayed at Campbell's Resort in Chelan, our local historic lake inn, and had a very nice room and meal. This was a gift to us from some Faith members when Nancy left there in August. We'd recommend Campbell's for a nice night's stay on your way in to Holden.
Tomorrow you'll hear about Nancy and Carol Hinderlie's splendid trip to Texas.
Here's a picture from outside The Signature Cafe after dinner on January 14:
The first event of January (alluded to in the first 2010 post) was a trip to St. Paul and Luther Seminary where Nancy received the Faithfulness in Ministry Cross, which is like a distinguished alumna award. When we got news of the award in the Fall, we made train reservations right away, which sounded like good fun to us. The train picks up passengers in Wenatchee, which makes it an easy travel option here in North Central Washington. But then came the deep freeze in the Midwest. Amtrak suspended the Empire Builder for three days, which ran right into our departure time. Everything was just too cold for the trains to work! So we put a second mortgage on the farm and bought last minute air tickets. We flew in and out of Wenatchee. Weird to fly into Seattle without going home. (Amtrak was superb in every regard about this, and we'll get a full refund.)
The time in St. Paul was wonderful, made extra special by the presence of so many from the West! Sheryl Schmeling, Wally and Eileen Powelson, and Pam Russell came from Seattle, John and Joan Beck from Portland, Mary Rowe and Mert Johnson from Oakland. Heather Spears was there from Iowa, and Meridith and Jay Wardle tag-teamed it from Edina, MN. Larry and I stayed with Greg and Mary Steeber, and they hosted most of us for dinner on Wednesday night. Larry and I took the whole bunch out to dinner at The Signature Cafe on Thursday (award day). The award ceremony itself was followed by a luncheon. All in all it was a grand time, and I am so thankful for and humbled by all who came all that way for it. Here's a picture of the group in the Chapel of the Incarnation after the award ceremony:
Besides the transportation change, there were some apparel glitches as well. Nancy had ordered a dress. We finally tracked down the late package at the Chelan Post Office the day we left. When we stopped at our friends' apartment in Leavenworth, to which we would return after St. Paul, she tried it on and Larry about fell over he was laughing so hard. It's been returned. But Larry discovered that his black shoes, which he thought were in the green car and were probably in the red car or maybe in Leavenworth, were nowhere that we could ascertain. So, faced with wearing his size 15 Sorel boots with his slacks and sport coat at the award event (it would have been SO mountain), the first thing we did when we landed at MSP was to go to Nordstrom at the egregious Mall of America and find him some shoes. He, being shoe challenged on many fronts, actually found a really nice pair of shoes that are very comfortable to wear. The uses of adversity.
After St. Paul we flew back to Wenatchee on Friday and stayed in Leavenworth a couple nights. (The boat up Lake Chelan only goes on M-W-F in the winter.) On Sunday night we stayed at Campbell's Resort in Chelan, our local historic lake inn, and had a very nice room and meal. This was a gift to us from some Faith members when Nancy left there in August. We'd recommend Campbell's for a nice night's stay on your way in to Holden.
Tomorrow you'll hear about Nancy and Carol Hinderlie's splendid trip to Texas.
Here's a picture from outside The Signature Cafe after dinner on January 14:
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wednesday Book
Last night I finished the first volume in the series about Anglican priest Merrily Watkins by Phil Rickman. The title is Wine of Angels. It's been quite popular here at Holden and, although the books are generally only available in the UK and Canada, they keep them stocked in the bookstore. Rickman is more known for his rather dark suspense books - lots of ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night. This book brings in the not-so-savory past of a small English village in Herefordshire, a place famous for its cider. He bases his story on some real history that he documents nicely at the end.
It's a long song - 600+ pages. I stuck it out to the end to see what happened. The plot is pretty good, but the character development is weak - some of the evil exposed at the end doesn't seem to be showing up until then - and the characters do things that seem, well, out of character. I'd read something, and then find myself flipping back to see how this action ended up in this person. It just didn't make sense.
Merrily Watkins is rather annoying. She is the priest-in-charge at this village church, but she is just too, as the English would say, "wet." She has angst coming out of every pore, and she messes up so often I can't imagine they'll keep her on after this story. She has an uncle who is part of the the congregation, and he abandons her early on for no good reason that I could ascertain.
So I don't think I'll be reading the next installment. The author says there's no need to read in order, so if you see one around, you might want to give it a shot. Perhaps the others are better, but it seems to me a whole lot of pages for not much fiction.
It's a long song - 600+ pages. I stuck it out to the end to see what happened. The plot is pretty good, but the character development is weak - some of the evil exposed at the end doesn't seem to be showing up until then - and the characters do things that seem, well, out of character. I'd read something, and then find myself flipping back to see how this action ended up in this person. It just didn't make sense.
Merrily Watkins is rather annoying. She is the priest-in-charge at this village church, but she is just too, as the English would say, "wet." She has angst coming out of every pore, and she messes up so often I can't imagine they'll keep her on after this story. She has an uncle who is part of the the congregation, and he abandons her early on for no good reason that I could ascertain.
So I don't think I'll be reading the next installment. The author says there's no need to read in order, so if you see one around, you might want to give it a shot. Perhaps the others are better, but it seems to me a whole lot of pages for not much fiction.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
First Wednesday Book of 2010
I just returned from an Epiphany bonfire. For those of you who know Holden, it was up on the second level almost directly across the river from Koinonia. So it was quite a trudge up across the footbridge then on a newly tracked road along the top of the tailings to the fire. Nice exercise on a winter night! It was lots of fun. We welcomed two J-term groups from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. The Luther group is doing a course on Environmental Ethics. The Augustana group is doing two literature classes. Each student also is assigned to work 5 hours plus dish team, garbo, and stoking the furnaces. They're a very pleasant group of students. It will be fun to have them here.
Now to the books. I just finished the other book Marilyn Anderson gave me in August at the Women's Book Group farewell bash. It's called The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford. It's about Charles Dickens' writing A Christmas Carol. It certainly isn't in a league with Evening in the Palace of Reason as it's not very well written, I don't think. It's a kind of cut-and-paste book with lots of bits and pieces from here and there. I also don't think he made his case very well about Dickens "inventing" Christmas. It would seem more that Dickens had the right idea at the right time just when the Victorians were really upping the Christmas celebration ante. Some of the most interesting parts of the book were the descriptions of the copyright law discussions on both sides of the Atlantic. I enjoyed those parts very much. Anyway, it was interesting. Thanks, Marilyn.
Now I've started another book to add to my list of novels about clergy. Phil Rickman - who writes sort of other-worldly ghosty kinds of books - has a series about a C of E clergywoman named Merrily Watkins. I've started the first one - Wine of Angels - as it's been recommended by some reliable sources, it was available in the Holden library, and it's a nice, long read - 550+ pages! It seems like the perfect book to start and take with me when we get on the train next Monday evening to go to St. Paul for this award thing at Luther Seminary. I've been putting off, with great difficulty, reading Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's Booker winning novel. Bev Christensen just sent a note saying she's reading it and enjoying it, and Paul Hinderlie devoured it. I'll save it for my return from St. Paul.
Going to the bonfire was worth it for the walk back. It's quite beautiful at night to walk into our snow-covered Village in the middle of nowhere.
Now to the books. I just finished the other book Marilyn Anderson gave me in August at the Women's Book Group farewell bash. It's called The Man Who Invented Christmas by Les Standiford. It's about Charles Dickens' writing A Christmas Carol. It certainly isn't in a league with Evening in the Palace of Reason as it's not very well written, I don't think. It's a kind of cut-and-paste book with lots of bits and pieces from here and there. I also don't think he made his case very well about Dickens "inventing" Christmas. It would seem more that Dickens had the right idea at the right time just when the Victorians were really upping the Christmas celebration ante. Some of the most interesting parts of the book were the descriptions of the copyright law discussions on both sides of the Atlantic. I enjoyed those parts very much. Anyway, it was interesting. Thanks, Marilyn.
Now I've started another book to add to my list of novels about clergy. Phil Rickman - who writes sort of other-worldly ghosty kinds of books - has a series about a C of E clergywoman named Merrily Watkins. I've started the first one - Wine of Angels - as it's been recommended by some reliable sources, it was available in the Holden library, and it's a nice, long read - 550+ pages! It seems like the perfect book to start and take with me when we get on the train next Monday evening to go to St. Paul for this award thing at Luther Seminary. I've been putting off, with great difficulty, reading Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel's Booker winning novel. Bev Christensen just sent a note saying she's reading it and enjoying it, and Paul Hinderlie devoured it. I'll save it for my return from St. Paul.
Going to the bonfire was worth it for the walk back. It's quite beautiful at night to walk into our snow-covered Village in the middle of nowhere.
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