One new quote and one old one . . .

I just read this on a review in the New York Times, from a new book coming out on August 4th from Knopf, titled The Slippery Year by Melanie Gideon.

"Marriage changes passion. Suddenly you're in bed with a relative."

Another quote that's been showing up in several things I've read lately is by Helena Rubenstein. "There are no ugly women, only lazy ones."

I should know better.

I pulled another "all nighter" . . . actually 2am again . . . doing high school reunion things. Then I go to bed and toss and turn for another hour or so. The moral of this story is that I should drink warm milk and eat crackers before sleeping (my Aunt Emily used to make me do that when I visited her as a little girl) and do nothing more exciting than read. I should know this, as old as I am, but I ignore it.

Dickie Damron

I stayed up until 2am setting up another blog for my 50th high school reunion which will occur in 2011. I did that and sent emails to some of my classmates' addresses. Consequently, I was wired when I went to bed. I heard the clock strike 3am before I wafted off to dreamland. I then wore myself out all day, checking the blog (louisahighschool61.blogspot.com) to see if anyone had replied. I know it was too early, but I did it anyway.

I finally heard from Dickie Damron (John R., as I'm sure he's known now)--one of my favorites in the class. Dickie and I were always together if the class was seated alphabetically (I was Vicki Cheek, he was Dickie Damron). We could never tell which of us the teacher was talking to . . . our names sounded alike.

I am quite scatter-brained today (love that idiom). I went on a "girl-trip" with two of my friends (I usually limit myself to one friend at a time). Four of us are thinking about getting together every so often and creating STUFF . . . (we refuse to call it art lest that make it too important) . . . and my mind has just been SCREAMING with ideas about what we might create. I've already thought of about 4 things which would be more than my share, undoubtedly. And then . . . along came jones and broke my garage door. The car is trapped. I'll be like Scarlet and think about that tomorrow. WHEW. Strange little day.

Aunt Lola . . .

I was just looking through some of the old fashioned embroidery on the Indigo Junction website and immediately thought of my Aunt Lola (Yoyo). For those of you who remember The Andy Griffith Show, she was much like Aunt Bee (didn't look like her, just used her mouth like her). She often did needlework since her husband sold thread. She taught me to embroider, wrap packages, make bows, and never corrected anyone who thought I was her daughter. I loved her

a great deal.

Wandering through word origins.

I'm reading a book about England just after Henry VIII closed church properties. That caused a problem with the "doles" that the church gave to the poor. Once the Catholic churches were gone, individuals with money began to distribute pittances to poor people. That set me to wondering just when doles started. I found one reference that said they began in ancient Rome and referred to the fixed amount of grain given to each Roman. Sooooooo, being "on the dole" is definitely not a new thing.

I also found out that the word "gerrymandering" comes from a former VP of the United States, Elbridge Gerry. Vice President under Madison, he was a former governor of Massachusetts and redrew congressional districts to suit himself.

Banbury

This is Banbury, from Ride a white horse to Banbury Cross. The old verse I found goes "with birds as her halo and bells on her toes, she shall have music wherever she goes." Her eyes look real . . . they are "oiled marbles" and I ordered them from a place on the web called Rainbow Turtle.

As you can see from the sketch at the right, I planned to have a bird halo and rings on her "toes" . . . but I never quite found anything that looked satisfactory. I loved the way her sculpted head turned out and couldn't bear to add something that didn't begin to match it.

Big Foot Bird

I've found an online class with Marlaine Verhelst that starts this fall. It's all about "Making a Bigfoot Bird".

That will be THIS fall. I'm already enrolled in a Dutch Touch class (taught by Marlaine and Ankie Daanen) at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville, September 20-24th, NEXT fall. I made my Banbury Horse with an online Verhelst class in '07.

Frank McCourt

Frank McCourt died Sunday and, among other things, he must have been a helluva teacher according to the posts put up by former students. I read Angela's Ashes and 'tis, but never got around to Teacher Man. That's now on my list.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I'm trying to finish The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I'm on page 451 out of 536. Not much time left (no pun intended) for a plot twist that will make the effort worthwhile. This is only the second time I've read about time travel--(if you don't count H. G. Well's The Time Machine--which I probably SAW instead of read, anyway).

I was able to break a 3-year "reader's block" with time travel fiction after hearing Diana Gabaldon speak at a book fair in Edinburgh during the Festival (1999). I bought the first book of the Outlander series (published in Britain as Cross Stitch) while I was there. The book fit the atmosphere which was comprised of: the Military Tattoo; bag pipes playing day and night (we were housed at the University of Edinburgh during a bagpipe contest); Rizzio's blood on the floor at Holyrood House; and Scottish thistles grabbing my pant's legs as I climbed Arthur's Seat--from whence King Arthur will come whenever Britain needs him.

Worth Noting

Descriptive sentences from The Time Traveler's Wife. "A crow flies across the grass. Its shadow flies under it, and meets it as it lands under the window . . ."

Also a good phrase from The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society loaned to me by my friend Lydia a few weeks ago. Something about feeling like a tuba among the flutes. Nice.

Colin's "postage stamp"

I stayed up really late making prototypical art for postage stamps. My subjects were two of my husband's (Gary's) great nephews.

This is Colin, who is seven years old and in second grade. You would assume he was at least nine or older. It's easy to forget he's so young when you talk with him. He, too, was an artist last summer. Unfortunately, he tells me he no longer has time for art.

Patrick

This "postage stamp"prototype is of Colin's oldest brother Patrick, who's a mean banjo picker, just like his grandpa (Gary's brother Phillip). Patrick's near sixteen and going to be a heartbreaker.

Dick Cavett and The Strange Report

I just watched a clip from an old Dick Cavett show and am thinking how very much I liked the show back in early ‘70s when we lived in base housing on Otis AFB on Cap Cod. The other TV show we watched religiously was The Strange Report with Anthony Quayle as Adam Strange. The latter had been in the can for a couple of years before it aired stateside so there was no chance of it showing for more than one season. I remember the leather Chesterfield couches in Strange’s home and that his girl assistant (Evlyn) was pronounced EVE LYNN.

Pat Conroy

I’ve reached the age where everything I DO reminds me of something I've already DONE. I just read an excerpt of Pat Conroy’s new book and remember my father regretfully saying . . . about EACH Conroy book he read . . . “I’ve just read the book about that crazy southern family”. It always surprised me, as it did him, that he liked them enough to continue. He read some good stuff but was also a great fan of Zane Grey westerns. I stayed in Zane Grey’s house on Santa Catalina Island with David in the year before David died. Santa Catalina itself was interesting and Grey was a great fisherman.

Reading about Pat Conroy's newest book (after a 14 year hiatus) makes me want to visit Beaufort, SC.