Pig and farm report
yesterday The Surfer left with his tent and sleeping bag etc as he was going to a huge camping party with his friends most of the day I read Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad the winner of the National Book Award this book flattened me and I cried most of the way through it in parts especially toward the end it reminded me in ways of Stranger in a Strange Land which as many of you know is one of my favorite books in the top five of my favorites though the two books could not be more different (though they are the same in many ways hard to explain if you have not read Stranger) I read until ten last night with only twenty pages to go I finally had to sleep please please please read this book I felt I was inside history wretched and singingly beautiful heartbreaking with breath open and bravery running through this morning I woke and finished the book again in tears I love that Whitehead mentioned both David Bowie and Prince in his acknowledgements it is cliched to say a book is important but this one is and even though it's history what happens in the book is happening still
I woke also to rain so I opened all the windows in my bedroom and breathed the delicious forest salt water air then I noticed the light in the foyer was off I always leave it on when my son is gone it protects me like a small sun and first I thought the power had gone out as it does here then I thought perhaps the lightbulb had burned out which yikes the ceiling there is 59 feet tall so I would have to get my ten foot ladder out of the shed and stand on my tippy toes to change it I walked to the kitchen with Jupiter at my side to make coffee and the coffee was ready to be turned on the paper in the hopper the water in the tank then hmmmm...did my son make coffee for me before he left (he is the prime coffee maker at Summer's End I am as happy drinking the iced tea in my refrigerator) or did I make it and forget I set the grind to going then peeked out into the far room the Spare Oom or the Second Living Room a huge room in which nothing but my old antique folding table and computer live and there was his truck outside so the rain must have set the camping party backward and I have to admit I am thrilled to have him for another day
I turned on the television without sound because I don't know how many people are sleeping here this morning and there was a computer generated polar bear standing on its hind legs and then a small girl was riding the bear then it seemed someone was going to die so I played with Jupiter a while then I went outside and picked some sweet strawberries and now I'm going to roast some potatoes and onion and garlic for breakfast then I will choose my next book such a delicious choosing one of My Favorite Things and then we shall see
I hope Sunday is treating you well Darklings
PAX
I woke also to rain so I opened all the windows in my bedroom and breathed the delicious forest salt water air then I noticed the light in the foyer was off I always leave it on when my son is gone it protects me like a small sun and first I thought the power had gone out as it does here then I thought perhaps the lightbulb had burned out which yikes the ceiling there is 59 feet tall so I would have to get my ten foot ladder out of the shed and stand on my tippy toes to change it I walked to the kitchen with Jupiter at my side to make coffee and the coffee was ready to be turned on the paper in the hopper the water in the tank then hmmmm...did my son make coffee for me before he left (he is the prime coffee maker at Summer's End I am as happy drinking the iced tea in my refrigerator) or did I make it and forget I set the grind to going then peeked out into the far room the Spare Oom or the Second Living Room a huge room in which nothing but my old antique folding table and computer live and there was his truck outside so the rain must have set the camping party backward and I have to admit I am thrilled to have him for another day
I turned on the television without sound because I don't know how many people are sleeping here this morning and there was a computer generated polar bear standing on its hind legs and then a small girl was riding the bear then it seemed someone was going to die so I played with Jupiter a while then I went outside and picked some sweet strawberries and now I'm going to roast some potatoes and onion and garlic for breakfast then I will choose my next book such a delicious choosing one of My Favorite Things and then we shall see
I hope Sunday is treating you well Darklings
PAX
in the library at Summer's End
posted by Radish King at 7:52 AM
5 Comments:
It's almost three o'clock in the afternoon here and all I've done today is make breakfast for the grands and sort-of clean up and talk to May on the phone and laugh a lot. It has just rained here and it's heaven and cooler and I think I'll go pick some more beans. I like thinking that we are experiencing similar things although I will admit that I didn't find anyone in the house this morning whom I wasn't expecting.
Mary I woke to more tha three and less than five unexpected peeps. Thank goodness for sleeping bags roadside fresh eggs potatoes and coffee. I did receive a gift though from one of the grown children -- a fresh bouquet of French lavender. I often think we are living in tandem. It was fun to have a full house this morning. Love.
It's after 9:00 here, and I'm reading through blogs and then will return to the book I've started which is Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy. I've been listening to The Underground Railroad in the car as I drive around the city, and I think it's exquisite. I also just finished Sherman Alexie's memoir which I hope you'll read. I have a feeling that you will like it. I think. Thank you for describing the rain. It's right about now in our hot dry summer that I miss the sound and feel of rain.
Elizabeth I am reading Sherman Alexi's memoir right now. I'm about halfway through. It is raw and emotional one long howl echoing through his history and mine. There are so many places in the book where our lives had to intersect that it's sometimes difficult for me to breathe through it. I love that he contains his most dangerous worrds and stories in poems. Did you read that he quit his tour? xo
I love when the house is full of grown children like that, and everybody is still sleeping, the world is yours, soft and quiet with rain outside. I feel so accompanied on the journey, and yet mistress if my domain. It's a particular kind of peace. I haven't yet read Colson Whithead's new book but I shall next. I expect it will be both painful and transcendent. Sherman Alexi is also on my list. The library looks wonderful.
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