Oh Canada

 I say farewell for a long weekend and in blog world, maybe a week.  Friday, I head to Quebec City Canada to meet up with friends from PA. I've known two since junior high, one high school, and two from college.  We started a tradition of taking a trip every five years. This year we all turn 55 and we shall celebrate en francais so to speak.

I hope I get there. Air travel these days is a horrific challenge. I booked my trip back in October 2012 and got a great price. Since I leave Friday, I checked my itinerary on Monday only to find that United had dropped a few legs and neglected to tell me. After an hour on the phone, I think I'll get to Quebec City via Toronto on Friday. My return trip on Tuesday 7/2 is a tad precarious. We'll see if I get back across the border. Breathe deep, must stay calm.

It's obnoxious because I know I'm fortunate to get to go on vacation. But trying to prepare at work has been annoying. Trying to coordinate my flights has been annoying. It just should not be so stressful to leave.
Arrggh. Deep breaths.

But hopefully, Friday evening this shall be my new home - Hotel Chateau Frontenac - fabulousness along the St.Lawrence River.

I shall bore you with details once I'm back. Until then, au revoir -  I'm footloose and fancy free. C'est bon!!!

Book Review: Dear Life by Alice Munro

From the cover blurb: Alice Munro's peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but always spacious and timeless stories is once again everywhere apparent in this brilliant new collection.

Indeed, chance encounters, twists of fate, small town gossip vs. big city anonymity, accidents, dangers, departures, and beginnings - all paint a radiant, indelible portrait of how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be.

I enjoyed this collection, Dear Life, and Munro is so graceful in her writing. It seems effortless, but at age 81 she's had quite a lot of practice. Her descriptions, settings, and characters are just so good. Why am I even commenting? I am not worthy. Truly - just not worthy. But I'm delighted to be a reader of her work.

Here are a few samples of her prose:

P. 10  Here nobody was safe. Judgement might be passed behind backs, even on the known and published. An air of cleverness or nerves obtained, no matter who you were.

P. 176  Jumping off the train was supposed to be a cancellation. You roused your body, readied your knees, to enter a different block of air. You looked forward to emptiness.

P. 319  We say of some things that they can't be forgiven, or that we will never forgive ourselves. But we do - we do it all the time.

For those who admire the short story, read Alice Munro's Dear Life and shake your head in awe of great writing.

Slide into Summer

Slide into Summer by Joanne Faries


Wax paper, please?

Mom always had extra rolls

tore sheets for neighborhood kids

everyone chose a section

tall kids covered the top

little kids crowded the end

we rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed wax paper

covering every square inch

backyard metal sliding board

slick and shiny

glint hurt our eyes



Took turns sliding

S

        L

             I

                      P

                           S

                                  T

                                      R

                                            E

                                                     A

                                                            M

                                                                       F

                                                                            A

                                                                                     S

                                                                                                  T



until sheen diminshed
then we rubbed and rubbed and rubbed wax paper again and again

burnished gleam beckoned

we sailed down and popped off airborne

tumbling into sandpit

Armchair Travel

Summertime - Been hanging poolside after work. Dip in and out, read, dip some more. I read a lot in the summer - hence more book reviews. I also peruse magazines and Travel & Leisure has been a new treat. Ray had some kind of points rewards program and told me to use points on a magazine. Okay. Let's travel.

The newly arrived issue (July 2013) of Travel and Leisure is a gem. I enjoyed this writer's style and laughed out loud.

p. 12  Devin Friedman   The biggest difference between Italian and American beach culture is that Italians really know how to do nothing. We Americans are not quite as good at it   (I can believe that, though I can ooze into sloth pretty quick)

p. 40 Vocabulary lesson : Vanity Flair  The creative display of toiletries - a mosaic of toothpaste, lotion, soaps on your hotel bathroom counter, artfully arranged by housekeeping while you were out
Darn creative wordplay.

p. 68 Devin Friedman  But anyone who knows anything about Italy knows they have figured out lifestyle.  Lunch. Naps. Working hours. 

National psychology - Hey guys, no one is ever going to get their act together on a societal level, so let's go small bore and construct our daily lives as perfectly as possible. Let's make sure we have good coffee, never eat a tasteless tomato and throw ourselves with extreme prejudicein the pursuit of vacation. Let's suck out all the marrow of life.

Anyone else packing bags for Italy?  Someday....someday.   
Until then - Ciao, baby.

Book Review: The Burgess Boys

P. 8     But after Susan Burgess' son did what he did - after the story about him had been in the newspapers, even in The New York Times, and on television too - I said on the phone to my mother, "I think I'm going to write the story of the Burgess kids."

"It's a good one," she agreed.

"People will say it's not nice to write about people I know."

My mother was tired that night. She yawned. "Well, you don't know them," she said. "Nobody ever knows anyone."

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout is a well written, very human portrayal of deeply flawed characters.  A freak accident killed their father when they were children. Ultimately, Jim and Bob Burgess left Maine and ended up successful in New York City. Jim's a corporate lawyer. Bob's a legal aid attorney. They were well thought of back home, with almost a glowing mythology. Susan, the loner sister, stayed behind and now her son Zach, a teen, is in trouble. Big trouble - with political and religious ramifications.

The Burgess boys head home, but to what? Are they able to "fix" the situation? Do long buried tensions surface? Life just isn't beautiful and perfect and neatly tied up in a bow.

Indeed, do we ever know anyone? In The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout explores family relationships and digs deep into sibling love/hate/failure/redemption/and life.

Happy Father's Day



 George Crowther    b.July 15, 1931

 Juanita Shutters married George Crowther

 Here I am with my sister Lori and our dad in New York City. Headed to a show

2011 - Asheville, NC.  Dad with my brother David. We all celebrated Dad turning 81.

And Dad's still blowing and going - to the gym, out to lunch with friends, mowing his yard, and zapping his microwave meals - all in the house he's lived in since 1960.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Browse a Book Store

Yes, Amazon is convenient. Barnes & Noble still has brick buildings. But what's more fun than stumbling upon a "creaky-floored bookstore"? If you are headed to New York City, here are stores to visit that aren't named Macy's or Bloomingdales. All info courtesy of the Wall Street Journal contributed by John Lee

The Strand   www.strandbooks.com   opened in 1927, it's slogan is 18 miles of books. Sounds like a dream world to me. Apparently, besides books there are cool literary t-shirts and souvenirs.

McNally Jackson Books   www.mcnallyjackson.com   Lee describes this place as cheery. Fiction is organized by region based on author nationality - "makes for adventurous hunting. "

BookBook   www.bookbooknyc.com   located in Greenwich Village (already cool quotient is high) browsing turns into bargain buying. Save room in your suitcase.

St.Mark's Bookshop  www.stmarksbookshop.com   Lee describes this store as a "serious-minded indie bookstore".  Lots of design and architecture books, plus an array of journals and poetry publications.

I never get tired of New York City and now I have new reasons to plan a trip.

Do you have a favorite indie bookstore in your hometown or found in travels?