So fun! Self went to her garden early, early to take the above pictures.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Self did not expect 2020. Neither did any of us. Right?
Nevertheless, today self was checking out viveka’s blog, my guilty pleasures, and she had the most stunning array of Christmas photos. Inspired, self came up with a few Christmas photos of her own.
Here’s a picture from the night of Dec. 15, when Amazon Prime dropped the first 3 episodes of Season 5 of The Expanse! So exciting! Each succeeding episode is on Wednesday, that means the next ‘drop’ is Wednesday, 23 December. And that is the nicest Christmas present she could have asked for.
She did buy a wreath from Trader Joe’s for $10.99, and fastened a few multi-colored Christmas balls to dress it up a little.
And she put out her lighted angel, that she puts out every year. And brought out a tin angel that was made in the Philippines.
So, very simple decorations this year. Not even half of her usual lay-out. Usually, she gets a big, fresh-cut fir, and hangs about 100 ornaments on it. And she scatters greenery on every available surface. Last year, her neighbor Wendy dropped by, and the first thing she said when she crossed the threshhold was: WOW.
But, Christmas is in her heart, even though this year was a very hard one.
Shout-out to Restless Jo for her great Christmas gallery, to don’t hold your breath’s Four Views of Panchgani, and to Bend Branches’s lovely Christmas ornaments.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
I’m not ugly crying, you are!
Grew up in Kenosha, attended Lincoln Middle School.
“He loved skateboarding.” — Tim Kramer, ex-classmate
Became one of two men killed by Kyle Rittenhouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Self is reading an article in the September 5 – 6 issue of wsj. The article, by Chris Kornelis, is about Tony Hawke, skateboarding icon (picture below, she cropped the wsj photo)
In the first reports of the Kenosha shooting, self read that Huber tried to hit Rittenhouse with his skateboard, but was otherwise unarmed. This detail is what fixed the image of Anthony Huber in her mind.
Last year (Self’s doing a lot of sighing over LAST YEAR), self watched an adaptation of Andrea Levy’s Small Island in London’s National Theatre with son, daughter-in-law, and Amy Toland of Miami University Press. After, as the four of us walked towards the Waterloo underground, we passed a skateboarding ramp. It was just before midnight. The skateboarders were out in force. After seeing a play, there is something so mysterious and gripping about the sound of people going up and down a skateboarding ramp — up, down. Up, down. Over and over. The skateboarders’ own private, wordless mantra.
Self remembers finding the sounds almost hypnotic — as expressive, in their own way, as the words she had just been listening to for three hours (It was a long play, she loved every moment)
So there were the four of us, walking. And self remembers being very, very happy in that moment. London is such a great city: who puts a skateboarding ramp next to the National Theatre? Londoners, that’s who!
So she is particularly saddened by the fact that Anthony Huber was a skateboarder. There was no reason for Anthony Huber to go toward the danger of Kyle Rittenhouse. Only something instinctive, maybe a skateboarder’s instinct.
Never forget.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
The Charterhouse of Parma: Five Stars
In terms of her reading life, August was the bomb. All the books she read were library check-outs (YAY! Library’s back, it’s back, it’s back!)
She read, in addition to The Charterhouse of Parma: Colonel Chabert, by Balzac; First: Sandra Day O’Connor, by Evan Thomas; and The Shadow King, by Maaza Mengiste.
Excited to begin a new novel (and discover a new writer). Opening Sentence of In West Mills:
In October of ’41, Azalea Centre’s man told her that he was sick and tired of West Mills and of the love affair she was having with moonshine.
Well! That is some opening.
The author bio on the book jacket says that De’Shawn Charles Winslow is from North Carolina. He is a 2017 graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Whew, where would self’s head be right now if she weren’t doing a Photo Challenge? These Photo Challenges are really helping self stay positive during the pandemic.
The latest Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is: SURPRISE.
Would you like to know your future? If your answer is yes, think again. Not knowing is the greatest life motivator. So enjoy, endure, survive each moment as it comes to you in its proper sequence, a surprise.
Do joing the fun!
Here are self’s recent surprises:
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
— A Quiet Moment, Lens-Artists Photo Challenge # 102, P. A. Moed
Last fall, self was in Ireland. What a different place the world was then!
During her visits to Ireland, she always finds calm and inspiration. These pictures reflect that mood.
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Cee Neuner came up with a fascinating series of challenges: She’d post a picture, and it was up to us to riff on it.
Here’s the link to the picture for this week.
Self’s topic: ROUND.
Self is sheltering in place in California, so everything in this post are pictures she took of her backyard and her house.
Stay tuned.
Love this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge!
This week . . . we’re getting back to basics. Show us what simplicity means to you.
Is it stepping back to a time when luxuries were scarce and people were content with less?
In these times of self-isolation, self turns back to the comforting presence of her old books:
And she’s planting tomatoes:
And she vows that as soon as she can travel to London again, she will visit Chez Mamie on Hanway Place, the place where she’s spent so many hours, enjoying Julie’s fabulous cooking:
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
WHAT FUN! Self loves Glass, Cups, and Saucers. Just in general. Thank you, Cee Neuner!
Good morning, Silay! Hometown of Dear Departed Food Writer Doreen G. Fernandez: Self visited in September.
Hello, Ateneo Classmates! Reunion Dinner
Hello, Prague! At the Globe Bookstore/Coffeeshop. Self was in Prague with her niece, Irene.
What a year 2019 was!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
Kanlaon 