the WORDS for Wordless Wednesday

That flower is a Hairy Puccoon (Lithospermum carolinense. Plant family: Borage, Boraginaceae) from The Dunes at the Pinery. It's like a yellow forget-me-not, only much bigger). Does Lithosperma mean sperm (pollen) like a rock?

Wordless Wednesday

Pinery Chipmunk

We're back from the Pinery Camping Trip! YAY Camping! We had fun in spite of the rain--three days of (intermittant) rain! The sun appeared by five on the last full day and the day we left was utterly perfect.

Sitting in the rain: various ways to waste time when I'm supposed to be working

AK. I was sitting in the rain eating lunch and looking at the warblers and goldfinches and squirrels. It wasn't raining hard, just sprinkling, and it was very warm. I ate quickly, had a lot to do, wanted to say a brief word about it and came in and fooled with this picture and I have SO much work to do--I finally gave up--I had forgotten what I originally wanted to say. AK!

At the Pinery

We're headed to the Pinery camping for the long weekend! Obviously, I won't be on-line or posting 'til I get back. Have a great weekend!

My other posts today:
*self portrait
*Polyporous squamosa
*my brain tumom
*Pam laughing

While I was Gone, by Sue Miller

What is it that makes a book good or bad? How do we decide if we like it, and whether to recommend it? It depends, of course, in part, on what we were looking for. On whether the book resonates, whether it engages us. Whether it changes us in some way, makes us think or feel. Every book is different, and even the same book is different which each rereading, and over time, as our experiences and outlooks change.

Last night I told my partner that the book I was currently reading, While I was Gone, by Sue Miller, disturbed me. The grammar checker said to write the last sentence that way, so it I did, but in truth, my original wording might be more accurate. The book did not disturb me; I was disturbed by the book.

I had purchased the book at a used bookstore because, in part, I had met the author when she spoke at my college. (This was not that long ago; I was an “adult” student.) (I should have bought the book new, so she would have gotten her due, her small cut. But I’m unemployed, a paltry excuse. If I were to write a book, I would need an income from it. I would want people to buy it, since I am otherwise unemployed, since writing would be my job and an income is appropriate for a job.)

I was disturbed by the book because it seemed as if a woman, Jo Becker, who loved her husband and was happy in her life was about to begin an affair. I was terrified by this because I want my own marriage to not be blemished by infidelity, and it seems so casual, so easy, and the wounds so deep. My partner suggested I put the book down and “stop reading fiction.” I did not and will not. But I was uncomfortable and unhappy while reading the book. Scared for the protagonists, scared for my partner and myself. The fear came from inside me. And yet, she manufactured that fear, she, Sue Miller. She shaped it. She related it to a universal fear. She disturbed me, with her book.

The back-story was familiar to me: life in a group home, a sort of commune, during the sixties. Things had gone terribly wrong. I enjoyed reading about life in the group home because it brought back memories of my younger days. The intensity, the idealism. And the story was compelling. Spellbinding. I didn’t want to leave it to do the necessary things in my life. (Now there’s a good reason not to read fiction!)

I don’t want to give away the ending. I hate it when reviewers do that. I liked the book. It was “good.” It engaged me, it resonated for me, it terrified me. Would I recommend it? Not for light reading. Not for escapism. Not for the pat kind of happy ending. But for an engaging read, yes. I would. I would definitely recommend it.

More Sue Miller.

Rain?

What do you do when it's raining? Take a walk in the rain? Stay in and paint a picture, write a poem, or write a story? Clean the house?

Tell me about it. Leave a rainy-day comment. Or a sunny-day comment would be nice, too.

I do all of the above, and more. Or less. Read.

Write a new poem. Write a new story. Unpack a box. Hold my sweetie. Take a photograph.

Wordless Wednesday

City of Light

Paula J. Becker made this for me. Thank you, Paula.

I just read the book, City of Light, by Lauren Belfen. I loved it. Watch this spot for a review. Hope I have time to post it soon.

Forget Me Not!

These forget-me-nots were growing in my mother's garden as I was preparing to leave her house for the last time after she died. I felt it was a little request--"Don't forget me!" Don't worry, I won't, Mom! (wahn!). I really miss my mother, and it hasn't subsided at all yet. Grief is a strange being that sits heavy on the heart and is not eager to depart.

They are in a small vase of hers on the front of Biker Buddy's car, which is reflecting the sky.

I posted 4 other flower photos to Photique 3, including trilliums au natural a wild geranium and the mighty lion. If interested in the others, click home while there and scroll to May 14. (I back-posted them for the flower challenge.)

Feeling Crabby

Yes, I know this is a CRAYFISH, but I'm a crab, LOL!

Blogger has gotten so much harder I almost don't want to bother with it at all. And that's just one of my problems. I'm still dealing with my mother's estate and while I was away, I got huge piles of snailmail and email, and I'm not caught up yet. I am feeling crabby about it all, so watch out! (To say nothing of canceled and multiply rescheduled and recanceled doctor's appointments and worse yet, the health issues behind them.)

Why did blogger make blogging harder and less user friendly than it was before? Any ideas?

It will be a while before I can blog regularly again, I'm so so far behind.

I did, however, post some new posts including some juvenalia self portraits and two newer ones, some of my father's paintings. I have written some "real" posts but haven't had time to download them yet.

An interpretation of feeling overwhelmed, On the Street, for Self-portrait challenge, One of the juvenalias (click home while there to see the rest), one of Pa's unfinished paintings (click home while there to see more), one of my new pieces (click home while there to see more--I think there are at least 4 new pieces).

I took the crayfish photo last night at the tiny beach along Lakeshore while walking with Biker Buddy.

Wordless Wednesday