March 29, 2020 at 5:02 pm (Conversations, Recommended, Relatives, Books, Sundays)
Tags: advice, England, English writers, novel, Oxford, reading lists
Brideshead Revisited, p. 36:
“None of these people you go around with pull any weight in their own colleges, and that’s the real test. They think because they’ve got a lot of money to throw about, they can do anything.
And that’s another thing. I don’t know what allowance my uncle makes you, but I don’t mind betting you’re spending double. All this,” he said, including in a wide sweep of his hand the evidence of profligacy about him. It was true. My room had cast aside its austere winter garments, and by not very slow stages, assumed a richer wardrobe. “Is that paid for?” (the box of a hundred cabinet Partagas on the sideboard) “or those?” (a dozen frivolous, new books on the table) “or those?” (a Lalique decanter and glasses) “or that peculiarly noisome object” (a human skull lately purchased from the School of Medicine, which, resting on a bowl of roses, formed, at the moment, the chief decoration of my table. It bore the motto Et in arcadia ego inscribed on its forehead.)
“Yes,” I said, glad to be clear of one charge. “I had to pay cash for the skull.”
“You can’t be doing any work. Not that that matters particularly if you’re making something of your career elsewhere — but are you? Have you spoken at the Union or at any of the clubs? Are you connected with any of the magazines? And your clothes!”
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January 21, 2020 at 8:57 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Conversations, Personal Bookshelf, Recommended, Relatives, short story collections)
Tags: blurbs, humor, reading lists
Before dashing out to get crispy carnitas from El Taco Grullense on Middlefield Road, self would like to leave dear blog readers with a last image from Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s book:
Still on Story # 1 because it’s hilarious!
“Let’s just look at the silver eggs,” I say, a sentence that immediately vaults to the top of the Dumbest Things I’ve Ever Said chart, barely edging out “Can I get it extra spicy?” and “I liked the way your hair looked before.”
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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January 2, 2020 at 5:58 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Family, Food and Drink, fpj-photo-challenge, Holidays, Links, Lists, Niece, Places, postaday, Recommended, Relatives, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: art, Bacolod, Christmas, Cork, Cornwall, Events, Filipino food, Fowey, Ireland, London, memories, Menlo Park, Oxford, Prague, Redwood City, restaurants, The Philippines, Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Great theme!
In 2019, self traveled the world. Her life triangulated between home in Redwood City, California, to England and Ireland, to the Philippines. Side trip to Prague with her niece, Irene!
Here goes, all the images that mattered most to self in 2019, arranged from most recent — December 2019 — to the earliest, January 2019: Starting with her home in Redwood City in early December; to London’s Blackfriar station; to Manggapuri Villa in Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental, Philippines; to Prague; to Oxford University’s Exam School for Alice Oswald’s first reading as Oxford’s first woman Poet in Residence; to Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park; to the Main House of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig; to the fire pit in Manggapuri Villas; to the Daku Balay in Bacolod City, the Philippines; to self’s bedroom; to the Blue Room in Café Paradiso in Cork, Ireland; to Fowey in Cornwall; to Courthouse Square, Redwood City; to the cover of last winter’s issue of Prairie Schooner, which included her story Things She Can Take
Prague, May 2019
Waiting for the Alice Oswald lecture to begin, 13 November 2019
Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Republic of Ireland, last week of October
Manggapuri Villas: September 2019
Daku Balay, 50 Burgos Street, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, The Philippines
Self’s headboard in Redwood City, CA: Made in the Philippines
Paradiso, Cork, May 2019: She bought the Converse sneakers in London a few weeks earlier. Now they are scuffed and smudged, everywhere.
Stay tuned.
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December 24, 2019 at 5:51 pm (Food and Drink, Holidays, Links, Niece, Places, postaday, Recommended, Relatives, Traveling)
Tags: Cee Neuner, Christmas, England, London, Prague, restaurants
Excited that it’s ALMOST CHRISTMAS!
Excited, too, to be able to participate in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this weeK: ONE BASIC COLOR.
Here are some pictures self took earlier this year, in May. She was in London and then joined her niece Irene in Prague, her first-time ever in that wondrous city:
- The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Field, just off Trafalgar Square, London
- The London Eye
- St. Martin restaurant in the Mala Strada district of Prague, just a few doors away from the American Embassy
Self just realized, looking at her shots and comparing to Cee Neuner’s, that self’s are extremely monochromatic. Ah, well!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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December 14, 2019 at 8:51 pm (Dearest Mum, Family, Holidays, Pianos, Relatives)
Tags: Bacolod, Half Moon Bay, Manila, memories, nostalgia, Redwood City, Saturday, The Philippines, Ying
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November 28, 2019 at 7:39 pm (destinations, Flowers, Holidays, Links, Lists, Relatives, short story collections, Traveling)
Tags: art, Cee Neuner, exhibits, London, museums, Redwood City, Thanksgiving, The Philippines, websites
This week, Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is WHITE.
Self loves having an excuse to go back through her photo archives. Here are her selections:
- Greek antiquities, British Museum
- Self’s Iceberg roses, last summer
- a shell from the Philippines, in a wooden bowl from the Philippines
Love the prompt. Self doesn’t often think of white as a color.
Stay tuned.
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November 28, 2019 at 5:24 pm (Books, destinations, Food and Drink, Holidays, Memoirs, Niece, Personal Bookshelf, Places, Publishers, Recommended, Relatives, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, art, England, Events, Fowey, Fowey Festival, Ireland, Liverpool, London, memories, Oxford, Prague, Thanksgiving, The Philippines, Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Prague, May 2019
Two Handmaidens, London’s Canary Wharf: November 2019
Waiting for the Alice Oswald lecture to begin, 13 November 2019
Currently Reading
Christ Church, Oxford: Remembrance Day
Prague Castle, Last Week of May 2019
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November 18, 2019 at 1:21 pm (Artists and Writers, destinations, Links, Niece, Places, Relatives, short story collections, Traveling, Women Writers)
Tags: England, Events, Mondays, Oxford, poetry, Prague, Readings
It is easy for self to come up with pictures for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #72 this week: WAITING.
Less than a week ago, she and two other friends waited at Oxford University’s Examination Schools for the start of the inaugural lecture by newly appointed Professor of Poetry Alice Oswald, who is the first woman ever to be appointed to that prestigious position.
Self took the second picture while visiting London’s Canary Wharf. Evern since she saw the handmaidens, she’s been wondering what/ who they’re waiting for.
Waiting for the Alice Oswald lecture to begin, 13 November 2019
Two Handmaidens, London’s Canary Wharf: November 2019
The third picture is of self in Prague, where she’d gone in May with her niece. The other woman in the picture is a Filipina; we started chatting.
Prague, May 2019
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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October 20, 2019 at 12:06 pm (Artists and Writers, Family, Filipino Writers, Flowers, Links, Places, Relatives, Sundays, Traveling, Women Writers, Writing)
Tags: Annaghmakerrig, artists residency, birthday, Garden, happiness, Ireland, Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Layered landscape.
“You can include images of buildings, landscapes, seascapes, clouds . . . ”
The prompt was so interesting!
Here are self’s takes on LAYERED.
- Worktable in her writing studio at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre: layered in books and papers
- Layered plantings at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre:
- Layers of purple, her daughter-in-law’s favorite color. Bought her this bouquet on her birthday in September.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
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October 13, 2019 at 9:45 am (destinations, Eavesdropping, Holidays, Links, Niece, Places, Relatives, Sundays, Traveling)
Tags: memories, Prague
HAVE YOUR CAMERA READY AND JUST SHOOT.
— Leya, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 67
Prague, May 2019
Irene (self’s niece) and Martin (tour guide) crossing the Charles Bridge, our first day in Prague.
Street Performers, Prague, Last Week of May 2019
Prague Castle, Last Week of May 2019
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