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.

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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)