The Bookity Book & Tall Grass Salon

The Almanac link didn't work for me today. It tries to send me to some page within AW.

I knew some people who did Peace Corps in Burkina Faso. All of the West African posts seemed very well run overall. There's something about every country that makes it the best in the world.

I'm settling in okay. I'm not having culture shock so much as weird jet lag. I'm getting dead tired at 8 pm, which is like 5 am in Uganda then waking up around 4 am, which is around noon over there. The only minor culture shock is either thinking people are driving in our lane of that my dad is making the turn wrong (they drive on the left in Uganda). I also have to cut my greetings short with store clerks. Ugandan greetings, no matter how informal, are very involved. "How are you?" "I am fine. How are you?" "I am fine. How is it here?" "Here is fine. How is there?" "There is fine." "Hmmmm." "Hmmmm." Try that at Hardee's. Go on. Try it.

Other than that, just trying to get the essentials of everyday American life sorted out, like needing Secret Form 92A at the driver's license station, getting a phone line ("Sorry, we're out of sim cards. Come back tomorrow") and car shopping. I haven't driven in over two years, but I'm not going to tell the car dealer that when I take his merchandize out for a spin. Fortunately we're in a low traffic rural area.

Chris, maybe this is a better link, the one for today:

The Writer's Almanac for August 21, 2014

Quite possibly I flubbed it yesterday.

Good luck car shopping.

Today's poem is sweet, and two writers are featured whom I don't know but now want to read.

my keyboard is acting up so I'll leave this for now.

I'm a Maxine Kumin fan, although this isn't a poem I know.

If we're talking cars, yes, Toyota. I had one from 1987 until 2005. A great car and easy to park. I now have another (went from Tercel to Corolla.) At the time I asked the salesman if the car came with airbags. He said, "Lady, how long has it been since you bought a car?"

Would also recommend Carmax - we bought a car there and have been very happy. No pressure. No add on costs.

Been looking at your slide show, Chris. 1/3 way through. Like it a lot.

Critique group tomorrow - still have 3 pieces to read. Summer seems to give us more time to write...

I found a Nissan Altima for the right price. A few dings in the doors, but no rust and engine good, quiet and smooth. And it was strangely easy to start driving again once I got behind the wheel. Guess those old muscle memories kick in. The first car I looked at today was a very low priced VW Beetle. I loved the look of it, but when parts of the door handle came loose when the saleswoman opened it I began to suspect why it was priced so low. One turn of the key and the rumbling from what is probably a broken exhaust manifold and cabin filling with exhaust only worsened things. The check engine light started blinking a couple minutes into the test drive, prompting a very worried "we better get back to the lot" from the saleswoman. They promised to look it over and get back to me, but the manager said since it was priced so low they weren't likely to do much to fix it up. "You can spend a lot of money fixing a small problem and only end up with an overpriced car that's no better than you started." Kind of broke my heart because it was a cute little car, but if cute little car pisses me off and drains my bank account dry then no thanks. Although the Nissan cost more I feel like I did well. I love Toyotas myself, but the only ones I could find in this here small town were either newer and cost too much (especially since everyone wants them) or older beaters that I wouldn't trust with the amount of driving I'm likely to do.

Best of luck with the critique group! I'm looking forward to finding one when I get wherever I'm going next.

Good morning. Congrats on finding the right car, Chris.

I just had a little scare; it looked like my computer power cord was no good (and the battery running very low). But moving it to another powerstrip/wall outlet seems to have resolved things. Strange!

Anyway, here's the almanac.

The Writer's Almanac for August 22, 2014

I can relate to this poem! With a gender change it might be spoken by me. Nice.

And, it's Annie Proulx's birthday. She is one of my most favorite authors.

(It's pronounced "proo". No "x". )

And here I was pronouncing it "Pro-lux." Makes her sound like a vacuum cleaner.

*guffaw*

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for August 23, 2014

The poem speaks about watching a mountain and one morning the color is different, for a clumsy paraphrase. I used to live where I watched a mountain from my window -- it was different every day.

It's the anniversary of the lunar orbiter's photo of the Earth from space, that first one ever, about which we had such hope that it might change the heart of humanity away from warring and thuggery and all that, but it didn't.

Star Trek premiered two weeks later.

Hmm.

But K-Belle, The Wall did come down. Think how incredible that feat would have been in the sixties. I believe the photos did make us feel closer-- the kids who saw those photos were the adults who pushed for an end to the wall. We wanted to see the kids on the other side. I believe that the current research in DNA will bring our children closer yet--but only in baby steps. Always baby steps with us.

Remember "Lord of the Flies?" The last beast that we as a species must confront is the beast within. The death of that beast will bring us all together. I have loved "Spoon River" since I first read Fiddler Jones in the 8th grade. I think I love the anthology because it is exactly like small town life. Everyone of us must confront the beast inside, regardless of where we live, but in a small town, everyone knows everyone else and has a personal judgment on that person's struggle. That popular judgment is often very far from the truth. Not that it matters. Some of us will be taken down, others will manage to find some grace, some joy in life, but each of us will have an epitaph to write: word count will be tight, no room for the superfluous or high flown; no room for excuses, no last minute edits because it will be written in stone.--s6

Nicely said, Shakes, very nicely said.

And I agree with you.

Why thank you. Your opinion matters a lot to me. Good to know I have a talent--sure as hell isn't housekeeping! You should see this place! No carpet yet--bare floors, rooms still jammed with furniture, dustballs and junk. Gotta get off my literary butt and DO something--s6

Pro-lux?!! I snorted coffee.

My crit group is awesome. Any of you in the DC area and want to join - Shakey could fly in once a month

Congrats on the Nissan. They rank with the Toyota in my mind.

I may be more sporadic here for a while - I'm working on rewriting a novel I love the story of (thanks Chris for the crit) and starting a new one which is slowly forming. I liken the process to stalactites. At least I have a structure (for now) and I know what I'm writing about. Plus I have another batch of queries to research and send out on the historical. Life is ever full.

*hasn't worn an apron in a coon's age*

Lacy, we'll keep your barstool available.

Good morning.

The Writer's Almanac for August 24, 2014

I find today's poem ruminative and ultimately uninspiring, I'm sorry to say, but maybe it will speak to you?

Ah, today is a sad anniversary of an ancient horror, torture and massacre of the Jewish population of a town struck by the Black Plague, in the 14th century. They were believed to be the cause.

In lighter reflections, Thomas Edison patented the movie camera, Jorge Luis Borges was born, as was Robert Herrick, author of those lines we've all heard "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying." A more uplifting view of time's passing than the featured poem! To me, anyhow.

Wondering how kuwi did with his exams.

Have a good day, friends.

I love that poem by Herrick. It always reminds me of my high school girls--all giggly and on the verge of womanhood. Air headed but out for one last rosebud rodeo before the responsibilities begin.

Swannie-- I so admire your stalactital (Okay, I made the word up.) determination. Nothing puts you off your writing. --s6

Shakes, "rosebud rodeo" is a beautlful phrase, I may have to steal it.

Maryn, I know, I know. It is very sad how this disease has taken such deep root in so many. Race hatred and enemy attitudes of all kinds seem impossible to eradicate.

I see it here, too. We don't have any Jewish kids but even the Hispanics--our minority--spew that stupid filth. It drives the teachers crazy. They teach so many books on the Holocaust and the Sand Creek Massacre and here are our students calling each other Jew and Redskin, while they are managing to get along as white and brown. --s6

Oh, now I've put my foot in it.

After the exchange about aprons, I've been asked to dredge up some apron memories, and I find I do have some.

My good old friend Pat, whom I knew in Santa Cruz CA, was from your region, Shakey, but I believe it was maybe Iowa? (That is your region, I think....) Her family all still lived out there and she had a kind of farm-wife earthiness to her that I so very much adored. She always wore smocks, those aprons that cover like a loose shirt, and usually have pockets and sometimes little cap sleeves. She'd had a stroke - ended up having a series of those at the end -- and one hand was near useless so she needed that pocket to store it in while it wasn't helping the other one.

My own apron experiences all have to do with a time when I got very inspired by cooking -- why, I am not sure! I was living alone in Santa Cruz -- same neighborhood where I knew Pat. I had for my kitchen a double burner hotplate, and a toaster oven. My refrigerator was outside on the deck. It was a student housing hovel in someone's backyard and met no code known to man except that the roof never once leaked, susprisingly!

Anyway. I wanted some of those chefs aprons you see on cooking shows, where they tie around the waist but also have a bib section, and you can stick your cotton towel in that waist tie to grab at need.

I did buy a fancy-ish one, which I seem to have lost, which had a bright print of red tomatoes all over it. But the ones I still have are those made for me as a Christmas gift by my nephews. They are made of heavy unbleached cotton and decorated on the front with the boys' artwork. One has a handprint and scattered "daisies" and the other has a big red flower. Both boys signed their names too. I used to wear those sometimes when I was making a tomato soup I like, that has to be put through a foodmill. Always messy! Nice to have an apron on, for that one.

My 3 grandmothers (one great who lived to be 89 and cooked almost every day) had every day aprons, Sunday aprons and holiday aprons. Sunday dinner at Grandma's, she would start in an everyday apron, before church, switch to a fancy apron after church, as the meal entered its last stages, and then whisk off her fancy apron and put on her earrings. (Kept handily in her apron pocket.)

I remember a poinsettia splashed one with gold pockets that lasted for maybe 20 Christmases, a turkey themed one, flour sack aprons with hand sewn rick rack. I gave my character Connie a Dancing Vegetables apron that was my grandmother's. The smock apron will work for Midge. The chef style but with a tomato print will go to Kie, the Dupee family chef. I love kitchen stuff but hate and fear cooking--s6