Sunday Quote

I am alive and I do not conclude. Life does not conclude. And life knows nothing of names. This tree, tremulous pulse of new leaves. I am this tree. Tree, cloud; tomorrow book or wind: the book I read, the wind I drink. All outside, wandering.

— Luigi Pirandello, One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand

On this our father's birthday

I'll meet you in the streets of Edin, beneath the castle on the hill.
Join me for cakes and coffee at Jenners and then
we'll stroll through the park to catch the exhibit at the museum.
Such a fine day in this perfect city, how strange to discover
your heart beating in a country
so far across the sea. Walk with me, we'll be home by dusk,
time to rest, to settle in the chairs and look
out the tall windows to the most perfect view. Let's order in -
I hear the fish and chips are wonderful.
Thank you again for the trip of a lifetime.
"This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas.
A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again."
-Alexander McCall Smith

Off Kilter Friday Vaguely Literary Round-up

Off-kilter, can't be helped. Just family/life events, sad, funerals and family and one ends up in that pensive out of sorts, off-kilter mood. So here is an assortment of things bookmarked of possible interest to share: On keeping a logbook in addition to or instead of a diary, thoughts on..., like series? This is most popular at the library, a way to track series reading called Fictfact. A link to Maria Shriver interviewing the s'wonderful poet, Mary Oliver. Link heaven - the burryman writer's center. The ever fabulous Rumpus suggests a poet's new book that I cannot wait to order. Interview with author Elin Hilderbrand - I just read her book,
Silver Girl, as everone at the library has been reading it and recommending..., and here is a link to a literary site that has republished a short story, Rose, from Dylan Landis' great short story collection, wonderful bit from Scotland - poem found left by an older woman, lovely sentiment and food for thought..., old news about the horror of Twain rewrites, and because I feel sad today, reposting a song I love.

Pinched quote and flowers

Pinched this quote from the word-a-day in a mailbox (the word being the most delightful "anserine", an adjective meaning relating to a goose; stupid, silly). Beneath it was their quote for the day:
Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. -William Butler Yeats. Lovely, yes?
I love the word a day emails but the words remove themselves out of my head the moment the email is closed. My memory has become just terrible in terms of retention. I can still remember looking out our giant screen window on the porch when I was ten, watching a languid summer wind set the leaves in the trees in a slow motion like petticoats under a wide skirt, but I cannot remember anyone's name, new words, old words, how to operate anything technical requiring more than three steps, sigh. As Paul McCartney's album/song says - memory almost full.

Vermont wildlife

Sunday Quote

Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit.

- George Fox

Lake Champlain

Love the first glimpse of Lake Champlain at the bottom of the hill when you are driving into Burlington. Way fun job someone has taking a floating raft around - I'll do that! (It's in the genes, my Mom wanted to be a tugboat Captain - which for a very ladylike elegant woman quite threw me through a loop when she shared that tidbit). We took a boat ride out, lazy afternoon on an open deck with iced tea and cheese and fruit platter to munch as you watch the boaters wave as you pass by - or in my case, look for Champy as you cruise around for an hour and a half, trying to psychically tell him or her to rise to the surface and greet you...yeah, it didn't work for me on Loch Ness either. Champy and Nessie - I'm one of the good guys! Show yourselves!

Swinning! Not.

Too hot to ride the new bike :(

The Last Harry

We saw the last Harry Potter in Vermont at a wonderful funky theatre with old velvet seats and a very come as you are, barefoot kids, popcorn with real butter, we trust that you paid come on in, people in witchy hats costumed fun vibe. My husband slipped out for a soda and came back and asked if there was an underwear-wearing character in HP. Bewildered, I shrugged off his goofy question as the movie was underway...he whispers there are people in the lobby in underwear, boxers and bustiers, and I am all - it's free to be you and me Vermont, whatever, hush and watch the movie...tears for the end of what has been a very satisfying part of our lives (I heart Harry Potter). We go out to the lobby after to see in the other theatre there has been a burlesque show by a group heading off soon to Scotland's Fringe...all bustiers and witch's hats in the lobby, good fun, and good to know the husband is not (too) crazy :)

Sunday Quote

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world.

- Ada Louise Huxtable

Summer skies

Sunday Quote

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

~J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,
spoken by Albus Dumbledore

Feeling very Top Gun

or maybe M.A.S.H. after an afternoon spent on the Intrepid in NYC. Not really into going - we had free library museum passes and the husband was interested - I was pleasantly surprised. Interesting and inspiring, the ship is enormous, the exhibits fascinating - the actual planes, jet fighters, giant anchors, etc. and also the Gemini 3 capsule (replica) that the astronauts landed in (remember them bobbing in the sea waiting for the ships?) - the small size claustraphobic...the inside of the boat made me think of all those movies I have seen over time of World War two ... and down below, hot and quiet, you have to wonder what that is like during wartime, a storm.
The fourth photo is a replica of the Intrepid built out of Legos by artist Ed Diment. 22 feet long and weighing in at 550 pounds, a sight to see. Loved the fighter planes, was feeling quite macho by the end. I like the helicopters (in the movies, I always like the guys who, against all odds, cruise in on the helicopter and rescue the soldiers...my Dad was in the airforce as a radio man and he had some fascinating stories back in the day...a worthwhile visit if you are in NYC, especially with kids.

last of it...out of my system...

for now...I love carnivals but I don't like circuses. The main reason is the animals and the actual clowns. The latter I find creepy (although drawn to the plastic and painted versions at carnivals) and I cannot stand the use of animals in circuses. Carnivals and amusement parks, a visual feast. Never one for the rides but I like the tawdry garish charm, the flip side of humanity, the endless stories behind every barker calling you over to waste your money shooting water pistols to win a prize, every crazed with excitement little kid, the crowds, the workers, a story everywhere.

more carnival snaps

Fourth of July Carnival

If I lived near Coney Island, I would never quit taking photos of carnival life. Fourth of July, the Firemen's festival puts on this carnival. Watching my son and his pal ride all the daring rides, I am content to roam the grounds with a blue raspberry ice turning my tongue chemical blue.