Current time: 11:22 a.m. I'm getting a ridiculously late start to things today, because I woke up with a migraine. A dose of Imitrex and a nap later, and I'm now as good as second-hand. :-) Out the window: A daytime thunderstorm. My favourite kind. On the menu: Tomatoes, tomatoes, everywhere tomatoes. My mom claims you can practically see them ripening right in front of you. My parents' neighbours, my neighbours - we're all enjoying the bounty. (My dad may have overdone it just a tad with the number of plants - he doesn't realize the power of his green thumb.) I love the odd shapes of homegrown tomatoes - this one looks like a heart to me. Reading: These Things Happen, by Richard Kramer. I had high hopes for this one, because Kramer was writer, director and producer of two of my favourite shows, Thirtysomething and My So-called Life. In the end though, it was just... good. Not bad, not great. The story is told from several points of view - each new chapter has a different narrator, and I don't think this helps the story at all. Not a lot happens, really, and when I finished the book it felt more like I had just read a long short story. I did mark a few passages though, including this one: "It's awesome, you know," Wesley says, using the word his mother so dislikes. "What is? The sky?" Wesley laughs. "A day. A lot can happen in a day, I mean. If that makes any sense." "It does." The thin, curved moon, like the wandering element of an emoticon, is clear again. "That's what days are for." Watching: Yet another English series - this one is a crime drama exclusive to Netflix called Happy Valley. It stars Sarah Lancashire as a police sergeant in the Yorkshire valleys coming to terms with the death of her daughter and the release from prison of the man she believes drove her to suicide. The jury is out for me on this one, as I've only watched one episode. Parts are pretty grim, and I'm finding it a little disjointed, although I'm notorious for not being able to follow complex plots. I do very much enjoy Lancashire's performance - I've seen her before in Coronation Street, The Paradise, and Last Tango in Halifax, and I'm amazed at her versatility. Listening: Everybody Wants to Be in Love, by Winnipeg band Slow Leaves. The video was filmed as part of Loft Sessions, a series of live music videos presented by Manitoba Music featuring new music from Manitoba artists and filmed in locations throughout Winnipeg's historic Exchange District. You can see more of the videos here.
Learning: This week's Words of the Day:
Out and About:
That's all for this week. Sarah Around here, Wednesdays aren't just Wednesdays. They're Words Days. My Wednesday posts are devoted to all things wordy - grammar, etymology, writing, the works. If it involves language, I'll be talking about it here. ***** EXTRAORDINARY WORDS #3 - PLACE NAMES Longest Place Names
Shortest Place Names There are several one-letter place names in the world, including:
Unusual Place Names - The Animals
There's nothing like a weekly commitment to emphasize just how quickly time flies. Every Friday I wonder if I've collected enough material to share with you here, and every week I'm surprised by the results. So here we go again: Out the window: We received some much-needed rain last night... we just got a bit too much all at once. Some streets and businesses were flooded - and some jokers even Tweeted photos of people canoeing and snorkelling in the middle of the street. When it rains... it pours. On the menu: BLTs, made with my dad's homegrown tomatoes. This is the one time of year when I buy bacon - 'tis the season, and I let myself indulge. Reading: I finally decided to see what the fuss is about and borrowed The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt from the library. It won a Pulitzer last year and was on a slew of top ten lists. I have to admit, I was underwhelmed. At more than 770 pages, this is a book that you have to commit to, and I don't think it's worth it. I did get sucked in for the first half to two-thirds of the story, but the final portion was sadly lacking. There's no doubt that Tartt is a fine story teller, but throughout, the prose would have benefitted from a substantial edit. I didn't bookmark any passages either - a telling sign. Watching: Another English gem (I'm a sucker for them) - Last Tango in Halifax. The premise: childhood sweethearts separated by a misunderstanding, and more than 60 years, reconnect on Facebook. Both now widowed, they decide to meet. They hit it off, and immediately decide to marry, much to the consternation of their daughters, who each have relationship issues of their own and are as different as chalk and cheese. From what I can predict, chaos ensues. (I've only watched the first episode so far. ) Anyone familiar with English dramas will recognize the cast, which includes Derek Jacobi, Anne Reid, Sarah Lancashire, and Nicola Walker. Listening: The band Spoon did a live, in-studio performance at KEXP in Seattle recently. You can check it out here.
Learning: This week's Words of the Day:
Out and About:
That's all for this week. Sarah Around here, Wednesdays aren't just Wednesdays. They're Words Days. My Wednesday posts are devoted to all things wordy - grammar, etymology, writing, the works. If it involves language, I'll be talking about it here. ***** EXTRAORDINARY WORDS #2 - WORD TRIVIA Read up on these extraordinary English words and you'll be ready for any trivia game or cocktail party you might encounter. Words Without Vowels
Words Without Consonants
Words Containing the Five Vowels, in Order
Longest Words
A Sampling of Words Added to the Oxford English Dictionary this year
The Two-Letter Words Included in the 5,000 New Words Added to the Scrabble Dictionary This Year
So, my friends. I've had a bit of a wobble this week. I didn't post on Wednesday, as I usually do, and I wasn't sure if I'd be up to posting today, either. Partly for personal reasons, but also because I, like thousands of others, was hit hard by the news of Robin Williams' suicide. How ridiculous that sentence sounds. Because it's hard to believe that it actually happened, but also because I am surprised by how strongly I have reacted. In some ways I feel like I'm being overly dramatic, and that I should just get over myself - it's not as if I knew him personally. But I also know that my feelings exist for a reason. I am what I call a "recovering" depressive who has contemplated suicide in the past. I am someone who has lived through the experience of someone close to me committing suicide. I am a huge fan of Williams' awesome talent. And, simply, I am a human being capable of empathy and compassion. It baffles me that we live in such an advanced society and yet still know so little about depression and suicide. It scares me too, as I think that if someone as brilliant as Williams' couldn't cope, what chance do the rest of us have? I guess we just have to remember that there are no guarantees in life. No one is immune to illness of any sort, and we can never know what life has in store for us. All we can do is keep fighting, take life day by day and remember that we're all in this together. And on that note, allow me to share some of the good things I experienced this week: A Highlight: My dear blogging friend Deborah Weber held a contest last month to celebrate her birthday (how generous, right? I don't think she got the memo that people are supposed to give her gifts on her birthday, and not vice versa!) and I won one of the prizes - the journals pictured here. Aren't they gorgeous? I was so excited to hear that I had won, and I did a little happy dance when the parcel arrived in my mailbox. I can't wait to start filling these up with words, words, and more words! Thank you again, Deborah!! Reading: The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss. I love this sentence describing a writer's angst about finishing his book: "At times I believed that the last page of my book and the last page of my life were one and the same, that when my book ended I'd end, a great wind would sweep through my rooms carrying the pages away, and when the air cleared of all those fluttering white sheets the room would be silent, the chair where I sat would be empty." And in another passage that stood out to me, one of the characters encounters a blind man taking photographs and when she asks him why, he says that this way, if his eyes ever heal, he will know what it is he has been looking at. Wow. Watching: I was always amazed by Robin Williams' versatility - his humour was his calling card, but in my opinion his efforts as a dramatic actor stand up equally well. Three of my very favourite movies feature Williams in stellar dramatic roles: Dead Poets Society, Goodwill Hunting, and my choice for viewing this week - The Fisher King. I've seen it several times, but not in many years. I recall that Jeff Bridges and Mercedes Ruehl were equally riveting in their roles. I think I need to stock up on Kleenex before I revisit this one. Listening: Feeling nostalgic, so this week it's David Bowie's Greatest Hits, which, in my opinion, never go out of style.
Learning: This week's Words of the Day:
Out and About:
That's all for this week. Take care of yourself, and each other. Sarah The host of the Scattered Life Collective, Cynthia, is taking a break for the month of August, but I plan to keep up with Friday Footnotes during her hiatus. Current time: 8:00 a.m. Out the window: Thunder and lightning. I love a good daytime storm, and we really need the rain. On the menu: The year's first crop of homegrown tomatoes and beans. But they're actually from my parents' garden - I don't have a yard. My dad has a green thumb, and I can't wait to sample the fruits (and vegetables) of his labour. Reading: I'm a fan of crime fiction and I'm always on the lookout for new-to-me writers. I love it when I try out the first book of a series and enjoy it and then know that I have more to look forward to. That happened this week. I follow the English mystery writer Ann Cleeves on Twitter, and when she recommended author Martin Edwards to someone I took her advice and checked out one of his books from the library. (Always the safer bet when you're testing out a new writer.) I've started with The Coffin Trail, the first in a series set in the Lake District of England, and I'm liking it very much. There are a lot of characters involved, and since you never know who might be important to the plot, I decided to write them down to keep them all straight. I do that frequently with mysteries, and the weird thing is, once I've written the list, I often don't need to consult it - it's as if the act of writing it imprints in on my brain. Funny, that. Watching: Oh, I do love Shakespeare, so I was thrilled to discover a series on Netflix called Shakespeare Uncovered. Each of six documentary-style episodes features a famous actor exploring the history of one of Shakespeare's plays and how it has helped shaped modern theatre - Macbeth with Ethan Hawke, the Comedies with Joely Richardson, Richard II with Derek Jacobi, Henry IV and V with Jeremy Irons, Hamlet with David Tennant, and The Tempest with Trevor Nunn. I started with the Comedies episode, and to my delight, discovered that it includes Richardson's mother, Vanessa Redgrave, who is one of my all-time faves. Both Richardson and Redgrave have voices that make me swoon, so for me this was an hour of pure delight. Listening: Brand New Day, by Austin blues singer Ruthie Foster.
Learning: This week's Words of the Day:
Out and About:
That's all for this week. Sarah |