tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58883312007-12-29T00:01:06.090-05:00Musings from Redwing MarshJudithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comBlogger308125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1132272576285726262005-11-17T18:57:00.000-05:002007-04-07T01:52:21.046-04:00On Tuesday, November 15, Ken and I moved into our new home in the southern section of the Central Adirondacks. The final move is scheduled for December 14 or thereabouts, so time is drawing near for me to lay "Musings from Redwing Marsh" to bed for that eternal nap. I believe one more entry may be called for here, but, until then, please visit me at my new blog "Adirondack High" for tales of our Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1130971724139393942005-11-02T17:25:00.000-05:002007-04-16T03:53:02.300-04:00As of November 15, Ken and I will be residents of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. In early October we found the home of our dreams--all 27 acres of it. We're out bordering wilderness, bordering state land that cannot be built on. I have been so overwhelmingly occupied preparing for this move that I've not had a spare second to do anything but focus on the transition. Actually, we move our Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1126977567888401092005-09-17T12:58:00.000-04:002007-03-04T12:37:01.346-05:00We're spinning plans of a move to the North country. Every year we talk about it, but in the past the ideas have been whimsies or wish we coulds. This September, somehow or other, we may have turned a corner. Our discussions have become much more serious and we've moved into making hard-core plans of how two people should approach such a change. Research, research, I say. Ken takes note of the Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1126719605408785812005-09-14T13:25:00.000-04:002006-11-09T02:54:28.943-05:00We've been vacationing by Minerva Lake since Saturday, and thus far we've stayed close to camp, enjoying the unbeatable weather. We've had plenty of time to read. In the evenings we've been listening to the new thriller/mystery Entombed by Linda Fairstein. We're three quarters of the way through now, and although the first third of the book moved beautifully, we've been slogged down since in a Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1125836301840976372005-09-04T08:22:00.000-04:002006-11-09T02:55:19.370-05:00The end of summer whirlwind is upon me and I'm involved in more than tying up summer's loose ends. Labor Day weekend marks the time Ken and I start to prepare for our annual journey to Minerva, New York, in the heart of the Adirondacks. The last few days have seen me de-cluttering my office and the bedroom as well as cleaning out my file cabinets and the closets in both rooms, all as part of the Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1125004461326119122005-08-25T17:08:00.000-04:002006-12-29T12:52:11.523-05:0010:55 am
I’m blogging from the Starbucks at the corner of Berkeley and Boylston St. in Boston’s Back Bay. It’s a gorgeous day—clear blue sky, low humidity, coolish. Where’s my camera? The ride in took an hour instead of the usual 15-20 minutes. “Switching problems,” we were told. We were stuck in the midst of a beautiful freshwater marsh, surrounded by cattails, for about twenty minutes.
This Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1124921735137932382005-08-24T18:04:00.000-04:002006-05-12T06:15:02.606-04:00I'm already starting to stage a plan for gathering some terrific audiobooks for our vacation. Once again, we're returning to Minerva Lake in the Adirondacks for two weeks in September. There we'll retire to our chalet nestled high above the lake. The audiobooks are for the long evenings by the fire (it can be downright chilly there by September). Audiobooks I'm attempting to get from local Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1124709776369202872005-08-22T07:10:00.000-04:002005-08-22T07:33:10.850-04:00
Roland Merullo appears at a Brookline Booksmith event tomorrow evening.
To continue the thread of new hardcover novels that I'm dying to read, I thumbed through A Little Love Story by Roland Merullo, author of the acclaimed Revere Beach Boulevard on my last visit to Borders. His latest has received outstanding reviews, including one from the Washington Post. (Although a link won't get you there,Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1124580335776961832005-08-20T19:24:00.000-04:002006-09-02T12:34:14.400-04:00Last week I dropped into Borders Bookstore while I was waiting for Sophie to be finished having "the works" at the doggie beauty palace. (Not my favorite bookstore, but it was across the street.) I scoured my way through the new hardcover fiction and found a few that made me itch to read them.
First off, New York novelist Cheryl Mendelson's second work of fiction is out. Love, Work, Children, Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1124404546702763162005-08-18T18:15:00.000-04:002005-08-18T18:35:46.773-04:00
Last night I started reading User ID by Jenefer Shute, author of Life-Size and the bestselling Sex Crimes. I could not stop reading this utterly believable tale of the theft of one woman's identity. Shute tells the story by writing alternate chapters about the victim and the thief (also a woman). The details of how the theft is accomplished scared me to death and compelled me to read more. Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1124275679147212122005-08-17T06:30:00.000-04:002005-08-17T06:47:59.153-04:00The Quills Award nominees have finally been announced. The fiction finalists include A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, The Plot against America by Philip Roth, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kid, and Zorro by Isabel Allende. As I'm sure you know, the public votes for their choice online and in Borders bookstores.
When the idea for the Quills Awards was first announcedJudithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1124191359674927222005-08-16T06:44:00.000-04:002006-03-18T11:23:15.503-05:00
Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust and, more recently, More Book Lust, recently admitted in a Christian Science Monitor interview that she finishes only about one book of every five she starts. She's a strict believer in the 50-page rule, noting that life is too short to spend time reading books one doesn't enjoy.Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1123861245038366672005-08-12T11:38:00.000-04:002005-08-15T11:54:18.720-04:00Work is going by fits and starts, or should I say fits and stops? I'm finding it incredibly hard to be motivated this summer. Last summer I kept my nose to the computer screen all summer without a break, and due to Bookbuilders (the company I was freelancing for at the time) going bust this spring, I was paid only $100 of the $1,245 owed me for that summer slavery. I have tried and tried to Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1123797149776652912005-08-11T17:32:00.000-04:002005-08-11T17:52:29.783-04:00By three o'clock, the heat and humidity are more than I can bear. My brain refuses to think clear thoughts and all I want to do is find a comfy locale and put my feet up. Now that I have a laptop, I can find these things easily, but I also suffer from a late afternoon desire to be lazy. Take today, for example. I've had a strong cup of tea, but all I want to do is nod off.
So, I have a book in Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1123500848792864362005-08-08T06:53:00.000-04:002005-08-08T07:39:11.960-04:00A Sunday Morning Respite in Tom and Lek's Garden
Although I've been distracted by adventures of the palate, I'm momentarily inspired to post an entry about Nick Hornby. I missed him when he was in Boston promoting A Long Way Down, his most recent novel, about four people, each intent on their mission to jump off a building on New Year's Eve. The story of how they emerge from their isolation Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1123451037107372202005-08-07T17:41:00.000-04:002005-08-07T17:45:15.096-04:00I'm sorry there's no book news today, but if you're at all curious about my recent culinary adventure, visit La Cuisine Massachusetts.Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1123107000246498722005-08-03T17:45:00.000-04:002005-08-03T18:10:00.266-04:00I'm doing really well after the minor surgery I had Monday. I'm walking Sophie, working at my desk, back to the routine with the exception of an afternoon nap that I can't seem to live without.
Oddly enough, the past week or more has seen me in a reading slump. I can't explain it, I don't know why, but I just haven't felt like reading fiction. Nothing entices me. I've been watching television inJudithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1122678640517013862005-07-29T18:28:00.000-04:002007-04-19T19:57:46.703-04:00Tracy Kidder has a new book coming in the next month or so, just in time for the birthday of one of his fans. I'm always perplexed when it comes time for Ken's birthday. As he puts it, "I have everything that I want that's under $3000." Ken is not usually a fan of nonfiction, but he's been a devote of Kidder from the time he read his first book. Kidder's newest, My Detachment: A Memoir, should beJudithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1122414470690105462005-07-26T17:29:00.000-04:002005-07-26T17:47:50.696-04:00Last evening I enjoyed delving into Dorothy Gaiter's and John Brecher's Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion; Red, White, and Bubbly to Celebrate the Joy of Living. Gaiter and Brecher write the Wall Street Journal's "Tastings" column. The book is kind of a hoot for me because 1) I know nothing but the absolute basics about wine and 2)I don't have the budget to learn by experimentation. That saidJudithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1122156755161840372005-07-23T18:11:00.000-04:002006-06-16T01:55:41.916-04:00
After rollicking our way through Sideways this week (I confess I watched it twice), Ken and I decided to take a mini-road trip to the Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton, Massachusetts. The weather was so spectacular today; granted, it was in the low eighties, but the air was so dry. The improvement in my mood has been amazing to experience!
Although the tour of the winery was bland (they need to Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1121811682640113532005-07-19T18:07:00.000-04:002007-03-15T04:19:00.330-04:00My mother has a theory that when the weather is oppressively humid, as it is today, the brain swells, which causes difficulty with thought processes. I can assure you that her theory is not based on any science that I know of, but I've always found it a helpful metaphor to describe what goes wrong in my head when we're drowning in humid air.
As far as reading goes, when I have a few moments, I Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1121382185983685552005-07-14T19:00:00.000-04:002005-07-14T19:42:27.806-04:00What's the matter with me? It doesn't seem as if it's been three days since I last posted. I'll blame it on the neighborhood swimming pool. Five to six o'clock, a time when I'm often pulling together an entry, finds me doing laps and then sitting with the hood's mothers. I'm not a mother myself, but I enjoy exchanging tips about the best brand of taco shells and I raise my eyebrows at their Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1121122023683021472005-07-11T18:30:00.000-04:002005-07-11T18:51:16.356-04:00Imagine living as the sole inhabitant of a small island off the coast of Maine. Then picture a big, furry dog washing ashore to disturb your peace. This is the predicament facing Hannah, an artist who has settled on Ten Acre No Nine Island because it's a place where she can fully focus on her art without the endless praise and criticism of the people drawn to her work. Pocketful of Names by Joe Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1120863869740311632005-07-08T18:40:00.000-04:002005-07-08T19:04:29.746-04:00July is a hell of a time to be getting rain from tropical storms and hurricanes. And after Cindy or whatever her name is, I suppose Dennis will be next. I thought not even an essential trip to the library could brighten my mood, but when the librarian said, "That Paul Auster book you've been waiting for came in," my heart soared.
Collected Prose is now in paperback and includes autobiographical Judithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5888331.post-1120748666750002442005-07-07T10:34:00.000-04:002006-04-11T22:18:18.383-04:00
I'm enamored of Poets & Writers magazine these days. I rediscovered it last year, and was happy to see that its prior, overriding emphasis on poetry has subsided. By far, it's the most intelligent publication about creative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that's available today, and it's the only magazine that I enjoy from cover to cover. I'm stunned that so few libraries subscribe. Instead theyJudithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10207409392698711580noreply@blogger.com