Eager Today

I haven't been taking pictures of Eager lately, but I took a bunch today.

Everyone We Love

Everyone We Love I & II, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. These are an in-progress works. The first is dedicated to Jim Doran, which you can see LARGEr here. The second is dedicated to Mick Mather and you can see that one larger here. These are products of the Moleskine exchanges I am participating in.

A Ton of $#!^

Quote of the day: 

'Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of $#!^.'

Book Review, The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich

The Painted Drum: A Novel by Louise Erdrich


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich 10/10 (5/5)

I know I say this about many of the books I read, but I REALLY liked this book. I liked it so much that I intend to reread it sometime soon, after it has a chance to settle somewhat. Like many of Erdrich's books, this one is about Native Americans, and the voice feels authentic and human. It is divided in four parts. In the first, we meet a mother daughter team who deals with people's estates after they die, or go in a nursing home, etc. We also learn about their personal lives, and the personal and work intertwine in compelling ways. I hate reading reviews that give away the plot of the book or what's going to happen, but it is difficult to write about a book without mentioning an specifics. The daughter steals a painted drum, a Native American ceremonial drum, from an estate. She wants to return it to where it came from, to the Anishinabe people. In the second part, told by a native elder, we learn the story of the drum and all the events that lead up to the making of the drum and what happened to it afterwards. It's a multi-generational story with deep impact. The effect of the drum touches many people and their lives are enriched (or impoverished) as a result. The book is full of pain, tenderness and magic. Erdrich looks calmly at what it means to be human in all our imperfections, and raises our humanity up of few notches. It is melancholy in a bitterweet and somehow joyous way. I want to take nothing away from the telling of the story, all I can say is I hope anyone who might love it as I did will read it.

View all my reviews >>

I started reading Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James. The beginning section was horrid, lots rambling on and on about process. They should put it at the end for anyone interested after reading the book. The story itself seems interesting so far. (I haven't gotten far with the actual sotry after all that crap at the beginning.)

Here is my new book list (though I am fairly certain it is incomplete):

1. The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich, July 26, 2009
   
2. Acorna, by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, July 20, 2009
3. The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbs, by Bill Watterson, July 13, 2009
4. The Actress, by Elizabeth Sims, July 11, 2009
5. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
6. Marley: A Dog Like No Other, John Grogan
7. Goodnight, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
8. Bad Dog, Marley, John Grogan
9. The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
10. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
11. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
12. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
13. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
14. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
15. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
16. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
17. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
18. The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway
19. The River King, Alice Hoffman
20. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
21. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
22. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
23. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
24. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
25. I Claudius, Robert Graves
26. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome

pleasures of the garden

I am very excited because I'm over at the Rolandale Retreat House working on my new novel, Saving Morgan Mountain, and when it was time to break for lunch, I started some mushrooms and spinach frying and dashed out to the garden and picked a baby zucchini and a baby yellow squash and cut them up and tossed them in my stir-fry before they were off the vine more than a minute. I was delighted to be eating fresh, healthy food from my own garden, in season, and as organic as it could be without my knowing the history of that plot of land. (I wrote this on 7/22 over THERE but no internet access there, so couldn't post it.)

shadow

Without having finished any of the books I am currently reading (or writing), I started reading a new book, Robert Bly's A Little Book on the Human Shadow.  This is because I just read, in another book I am currently reading, Ken Wilbur's The Spectrum of Consciousness, his chapter on reclaiming the shadow.

Bly said, "If any help [is] going to arrive to lift me out of my misery, it [will] come from the dark side of my personality."

The threes of me

The threes of me

The 3s of Me
You've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with the 3's of YOU. At the end choose 20 people to be tagged. You have to tag me so really you just need 19 more people. If I tagged you, its because I am interested in learning more about YOU.
(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 3's of Me, tag 20 people - in the right hand corner of the app then click publish. Or just copy this, paste it, and replace my answers with yours.

Three names I go by:
1.Mary
2.Grandma
3.Mom, Aunt Mary

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
1. Naturalist
2. Museum Educator
3. Creative Writing Teacher

Three places I have lived:
1. San Francisco
2. New York City
3. Detroit

Three Favorite Drinks
1. water
2. rice milk
3. apricot juice

Three radio shows I listen to:
1. wait, wait, don't tell me
2. Tell me more
3. The Diane Reems SHow

Three places I have been:
1. Slovenia
2. St. John Virgin Islands
3. Mexico

People that text me regularly: (how about email?)
I don't text, but I do e-mail.
1. Dawn
2. Pam
3. Gail

Three of my favorite foods:
1. spring rolls
2. calamari
3. spinach

Three friends I think will respond:
1. John
2. Brenda
3. Gail

Three pets that I've had:
1. Stink and Grease (cats)
2. George Oshawa (cat)
3. Rocco Hiccup (cockateil) (also Mr. Grim, a monkey--cinnamon capuchin)

Three places I want to visit before I die:
1. Ireland and Scotland
2. New Zealand
3. South America

Three weird things about me:
1. I don't like watermelon but I do like liver and spinach
2. I don't own or watch a television
3. I think the latest fashions are ALWAYS STUPID (I believe in practical, comfortable clothes and shoes)

We went to see the new Harry Potter m...

We went to see the new Harry Potter movie at a theater a half hour from home, sat through the previews, but the voice track didn't work and they gave us a refund.  Drove an hour for nothing and didn't see the movie!

Morgan Mountain

Mary Stebbins Taitt I got the first draft of chapter 11 of Saving Morgan Mountain done! Then read through and penciled in lots of corrections but haven't transcribed them.

Today so far

• 2 new poems on Half formed: Painting Grandma and Breathing Fire in a Vacuum
• New Detroit photo on Mary's Detroit Photoblog: Black-eyed Susans
• One new art piece on IMAGIK ART: Black-eyed Susans (transformed from above)

Acorna, by Anne McCaffrey

Acorna: The Unicorn Girl by Anne McCaffrey


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was prepared to not like this book because it was written in part by someone other than Anne McCaffrey herself and because as soon as I opened it, I realized it was not a Pern book. But I liked it a lot. I was disappointed at the end to realize that there was a sequel to the book and further disappointed to realize that it was a series, but not so disappointed that I didn't order what I hope is the next book! The book was interesting and engaging. I liked Acorna and her three miners and many of the other characters in the book--the characters were very well-developed. There was a little more detail from time to time about drives and the way things worked for my taste, but the plot progressed nicely and held my attention.


View all my reviews >>

Booklist, 2009, revisited

I am in the middle of reading several other books--like about 8-10 or more. Here is my new book list (though I am fairly certain it is incomplete):

1. Acorna, by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, July 20, 2009
   
2. The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbs, by Bill Watterson, July 13, 2009
3. The Actress, by Elizabeth Sims, July 11, 2009
4. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
5. Marley: A Dog Like No Other, John Grogan
6. Goodnight, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
7. Bad Dog, Marley, John Grogan
8. The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
9. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
10. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
11. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
12. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
13. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
14. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
15. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
16. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
17. The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway
18. The River King, Alice Hoffman
19. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
20. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
21. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
22. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
23. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
24. I Claudius, Robert Graves
25. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome

In the Harmony of Dreams

In the Harmony of Dreams, by me. See In the Harmony of Dreams II.

today so far

New poem at Half-formed, Memories and Repercussuions
New Detroit photo at Mary's Detroit Photoblog: Glade at Kensington.
New Art piece at IMAGIK ARTt: In the Harmony of Dreams (Digital composit.)

It's suddenly raining really hard.

all

"All the men up there are clean."  Huh?  (came to me as I was fallinga sleep, but I don't know what ti means.

I'm registered in Maria Mazzotti Gillan's August workshop at the Scarab!

Quote from David Berman

Quote from David Berman:  "I've lied to you so much I can no longer trust you."

My "Detroit" shot for the day:  Japanese Garden at Cranbrook.

quote for the day, from Lake Loop

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in. Forget them as soon as you can.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Book with Every Birthday

We give all the grandkids, even youngest, a book with every
birthday--usually several. And we bring them books often when we
visit.

"Japanese Bridge Revisted"

They've repainted the bridge in the Japanese Garden at Cranbrook.

The Actress by Elizabeth Sims

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a page turner. The action and interest never ceases and I hated to put it down. It's very very well-written. All the pieces fit together and there are some surprising turns. An actress is hired by a lawyer to help a woman accused of murdering her young child to come across as a more sympathetic character. The actress gets deeply involved and so does her family. I really enjoyed it.



The only thing I didn't care for was the constant mention of clothes, purses, furniture (Gucchi purses, Ikea furniture, etc). I just really didn't care--I wanted to know what was going to HAPPEN. But I know other people care about those things (though I'm not sure why.) It made me wonder if the author was getting paid to drop the names of products. Otherwise, the writing was excellent and I only found ONE extra "very."


View all my reviews.

Self-portrait of the Artist as a Camera Lens 4

Self-portrait of the Artist as a Camera Lens 4, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. Part of a series I'm working on. For Mick and Laura. See variation here.

Self-portrait as a Divided Woman III

Variations on a theme.

Detail from "Beer and Chips"

New Digital Smudge Painting (I'm procrastinating doing what I'm
supposed to do.) See whole painting here.

idiomatic idiot

I learned last night that idiom and idiot come from the same root, meaning individual, different.  I thought that was cool. 

Booklist, 2009, revisted

Booklist, 2009, revisited

I just completed A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and three children's books I bought for the grandkids (and enjoyed). I don't have time to write a review, but there are plenty of good ones online. Suffice it to say I loved Dickens. I am in the middle of reading The Actress (and several other books--like about 8). The Actress was written by the wife of the mother of the woman next door. It's VERY GOOD--well--I think so. So far. Here is my new book list (though I am fairly certain it is incomplete):

1. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
2. Marley: A Dog Like No Other, John Grogan
3. Goodnight, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
4. Bad Dog, Marley, John Grogan
5. The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
6. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
7. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
8. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
9. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
10. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
11. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
12. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
13. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
14. The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway
15. The River King, Alice Hoffman
16. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
17. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
18. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
19. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
20. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
21. I Claudius, Robert Graves
22. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome

Pond at Cranbrook (Bog Garden)

I love the way the trees on the other side of the pond are reflected in the pond. (Yesterday). This reminds me of one of the ponds in my novel, Frog Haven.

the finsihed card for Soldier Boy

Here's what the finished card looked like--snapshot, not scan.

First Squash

We got our first squash from the garden today and I'm preparing them
in a garlic wine sauce with shiitakes.

Lucifer Detail

From a birthday card for "Soldier Boy." Read a little about it here.

Whitehall, MI

After leaving NH, we came home and immediately left for Whitehall, MI
to deiliver Piano Boy to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. The rain and
stormy weather that had followed us to Maine and back followed us up
North as well. All three of these pictures are in Whitehall, the
first two at a Marina and the third at a "footbridge" nearby--it used
to be a railroad bridge but was converted to a recreational trail.

Big and Small

Beside Niagara, for Photo Friday Big and Small. Click image to view
larger.

Hancock NH

It rained on the entire trip, off and on, but we still had a great time.

This was day seven of our road trip to Maine. We were on our way home and stopped in Hancock NH to visit friends. The pond was directly across from their house.

The 2nd, third and fourth pictures are the Hancock Meeting House and Congregational Church. The carriage house/horse barn behind it is unusual. There used to be more like that, but most have been lost. It is currently used for fairs. Each "garage unit" houses one "booth."

You can see the earlier pictures from this series at Mary's Detroit Photoblog. (I changed the name from Detroit Daily--Daily is too much for me). Here is the one from yesterday, the Longfellow House. The day before, I posted some from the Portland Old Port. to see more of those, just click "older post" from there.

through a window darkly lightly

Through the window of a rest stop in Michigan on the way home from the
trials of car failure. I'm hoping to make one or more art pieces from
this.

Roadtrip with the kid

What I expected it to be like (Sculpture detail from a Cranbrook Sculpture)

Road Trip with the Kid

I drove Piano Boy up to Whitehall Tuesday. The trip turned into a
disaster when the car broke down, but before that it was a blast from
the past in a way.

We started the trip with a visit to McDonald's. We hadn't had time
for lunch at home because we'd been delayed so we got two
#10s—10-piece nuggets, fries and coke. I haven't eaten anything like
that in years. We ate our meals as we headed West across the state on
I 96. Reminded me of old times. It rained.

PB had uploaded hundreds of my Grateful Dead songs to his iPod he
stuck the ear bud in my right ear so I had Dead tunes—cruising
music—in my ear all the way up to Whitehall for four hours. Reminded
me of old times. It rained.

I'd bought him a new cell phone as we were leaving and he played with
it most of the way up, activating it, charging it, loading it with
minutes and air time, and programming in all his friends phone numbers
from his iPod. It rained.

Outside the window, the rain went by, and the beautiful Michigan
Farmlands. The windshield wipers swept back and for the, and the old
barns, yellow wheat fields, beef and dairy cattle all flew past the
window.

We got temporarily lost twice, by missing exits because 18-wheelers
were blocking our view of the signs. Piano boy attempted to navigate,
a skill he has yet to master.

On the whole trip, PB was amazingly nice, sociable and reasonably
intelligent. We carried on a number of very interesting
conversations. Not once was he his usual intractable, sullen, silent,
mean teenage self. He was quite human and pleasant. He did not
revert to being unpleasant until Biker Buddy arrived to rescue us from
a dead car. I was amazed. Before that, we'd stopped at McDonald's to
get him some supper. I wanted to have something a little healthier.
It rained.

When the car broke down in the left turn lane in the center of
Whitehall, not far from the motel, he was helpful, directing traffic
the piled up behind us. As we were towed to a garage and taken by the
"wrecker" to the motel, he was quiet and pleasant. Then he settled in
the motel to watch South Park. I went to retrieve stuff I needed from
the car and then to dinner. Then I watched some of South Park with
him. I'd never seen it before. It was hilariously funny and socially
and politically pertinent—but very violent. It was an interesting
experience for this non-TV viewer.

Bad News/GOOD NEWS!

Cartoon by Ty Marshal

I was driving PB up to Blue Lake Fine Arts camp and was in Whitehall a couple block from the Motel after driving for 4 hours--I was in the left turn lane getting ready to turn as soon as the light changed, and a puff of smoke came out of the vents and the car died and wouldn't start. PB had to keep jumping out to tell people my car was dead. Someone yelled at me that I should have my 4-ways on--I did! (He couldn't see them, PB said, because he was too close in a tall SUV), anyway he said he'd get help and a cop came and he called a "wrecker" and the guy listened while I tried to start my car and said, "I hope you're ready for a new car" and towed me to a garage for $60 and they said they couldn't even look at it for several days.

The reason I drove PB up was because GM is threatening to lay off 159 more people in BB's department in July and maybe the rest in September so BB wanted to work while he could but now he's on his way up.

We got a ride to the motel with the tow guy but the cab was so small we could only take a little with us. Later I walked a half hour back and forth to get my CPAP and other stuff.

Meanwhile, we need to get PB to camp by 9 tomorrow.

The guy at the garage said it looked and sounded BAD, but then added it could be something simple, like a belt.

After two different "experts" told me my car was "junk" and I needed to be "ready for a new one," and after much discussion on the phone, BB drove up 4 hours and arrived late last night and drove PB to Blue Lake and stood in the rain working on my car in the parking lot of the garage who "wouldn't be able to get to it for several days" and fixed it!

What happened is that the air conditioner seized up and froze and was on the same belt as the alternator which then stopped feeding juice to the battery which then died. Because it was raining, I was running the lights, windshield wipers, blowers etc. This killed the battery and then I had no ignition. BB fixed it, jumped it, and I have driven safely all the way home. I had two stressful days, but I am home safe.

If BB wasn't around, those guys were trying to talk me into another car. $100 for mine!

Were they crooks? Or ignorant? Or? I don't know, but anyway, my car is running again, minus air conditioning and I can DRIVE PLACES!
It was much cheaper than a new car, but not exactly "cheap." The belt was cheap, of course, relatively speaking, BUT BB had to take a day off work (and he just LOSES that pay) and drive 8 hours!

But we are very grateful as it could have been much much worse.

The first cartoon is by Ty Marshall and the second one is by me. If you click on them, you can view them larger.