Wordless Wednesday

A Parting Quiz and off to Slovenia

This will probably be my last post until I return from Slovenia. The first picture is the Julian Alps, in Slovenia. I apologize, since some of you have seen it before, but just a little hint of where we're headed.

The rest of the post is a QUIZ. Hpy had a quiz when she left, so I am having one too. I will turn OFF the comments so you can't see what each other wrote until I return and turn them on again. There may be an award for the winner. You still WRITE your comments and guesses, but they won't show up until I turn them back on.

These are enlarged crops from various photos of mine--your job is to guess what they are. The numbering starts with the first one AFTER the Slovenia picture.

I will be back in early July. I am leaving tomorrow, but frantically busy today. I shouldn't be doing this. LOL! But I am.

You can enlarge the pictures, all of them, by clicking on them.

baby woodchucks

The most exciting thing at St. John's Marsh were two baby woodchucks--they were SO cute--they weren't afraid of us on the bikes--they didn't move and we almost ran over them because they were in the middle of the very narrow trail, but when we got off they hissed and spit at us like little kittens and then turned and ran into the tall weeds. It was very cool! :-D Unfortunately it all happened so quickly we didn't get any pictures. Too bad.

Forget-me-not

In a Dream of Remembering, forget-me-nots. These remind me of my Mom, especially after I made that forget-me-not painting of her forget-me-nots after she died. These were from Cranbrook Oriental Garden, and the misty "effect" may have been caused by overheated "dew or perspiration" (otherwise known as sweat) devaporizing on the lens.

I did a new "quick painting" tonight of myself reflected in Biker Buddy's eye. I may do some additional work on it sometime.

I will be out of the country June 14-28, so I will not be blogging for quite a while, probably (at least once I leave and maybe while getting ready).

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.