Thursday, September 07, 2006
I bought LETTING SWIFT RIVER GO for my daughter right after she was born. It's the true story of how several towns in Massachusetts were flooded with water to form a reservoir that would provide drinking water to people in Boston. The only reason I even know about the Quabbin Reservoir is that we used to go there during Mountain Day in college (a day when the school bells ring and classes are cancelled - wish real life had a mountain day). The author of LSRG, Jane Yolen, also happens to be a Smith alum. Well, for the first eight years of my daughter's life I talked about the reservoir and she read about the reservoir and I promised some day I'd take her there for real. And this weekend I did.
It's just about the most beautiful place ever, and it matches the beauty of Barbara Cooney's illustrations (I love Barbara Cooney, another Smithie, especially her book MISS RUMPHIUS- one of my most favorite books ever). If you ever have an opportunity to visit the reservoir, go. It's an odd feeling looking out at this huge body of water with islands popping up where towns once stood and people once lived. My daughter was incredulous that she could dip her toes in the very same reservoir she'd been reading about for years - but don't tell the people of Boston. She was very concerned her feet were smelly.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
A friend sent this to me and I thought it was so funny.
The Hokey Pokey
(As might have been written by W. Shakespeare)
O proud left foot, that ventures quick within, Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke, A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heaven's yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go now, girl.
The Hoke, the Poke -- banish now thy doubt:
The query is answered: Tis what it's all about.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
I swear, I see all these people running with their iPods and I can't help but wonder why my earphones constantly fall out. When I lost the little black foamy covers I tried to find new ones, but apparently they don't make replacements. Well, without those black foamy covers they wouldn't stay in - not that they stayed in before, but it wasn't as bad. So I bought new, non-ipod earphones. Fancy ones that looked like they were made to stay put. No such luck.Those damn things will not stay in my ears no matter how hard I try to wedge them in there. I spend as much time yelling four lettered expletives and trying to put that dangling ear pod in my ear as I do running. People who pass me must think I'm one very pissed off runner (and they'd be right). If anyone has found earphones that are light, sound good and actually stay in your ears, I'd appreciate you letting me know.
I refuse to believe it's my ears that are the problem. It's got to be the damn ear pods.
When my ear pods are not dangling over my shoulder, or near my belly button, I've been listeining to Pete Yorn while I run. My friend Chris turned me onto him, and it was a great call.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Thirsty for a little blood? Then give Anne Frasier's vampire tale, PALE IMMORTAL, a try. With the summer ending and the weather being so rainy, pale definitely describes how I've been feeling lately. And without the nasty bites on my neck.
Welcome to Tuonela, a sleepy Wisconsin town haunted by events of 100 years ago, when a man who may have been a vampire slaughtered the town's citizens and drank their blood. Now, another murderer is killing the most vulnerable...and draining their bodies of blood.Evan Stroud lives in darkness. The pale prisoner of a strange disease that prevents him from ever seeing the light of day, he lives in tragic solitude, taunted for being a "vampire." When troubled teenager Graham Stroud appears on Evan's doorstep, claiming to be his long-lost son, Evan's uneasy solitude is shattered.Having escaped Tuonela's mysterious pull for several years, Rachel Burton is now back in town, filling in as coroner. Even as she seeks to identify the killer, and uncover the source of the evil that seems to pervade the town, she is drawn to Evan by a power she's helpless to understand or resist....As Graham is pulled deeper and deeper into Tuonela's depraved, vampire-obsessed underworld, Rachel and Evan team up to save him. But the force they are fighting is both powerful and elusive...and willing to take them to the very mouth of hell.
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