Wednesday, December 23, 2009

books

My favorite books from 2009 -- no particular number of them in no particular order.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
I read a couple chapters in high school and always meant to go back for more.  When a copy of the book turned up under last year's Christmas tree -- thanks sister -- I prepared to tear through the pages in record time, but quickly found that I couldn't appreciate Dillard at high speed.  It took me weeks to read this book because I kept flipping back to favourite passages, then wondering off on my own thought adventures.  Beautiful.  Leisurely.  Provocative.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
I'm the last person I know to read this book.  It's amazing that no one let the end slip.  Of course the end is all important and I can't say much about the book without giving it away.  Read it.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marques
Earlier this year my sister and I formed an exclusive book club -- just us -- and this was our first pick.  We met downtown on several Sunday afternoons to talk about it, but found the design district and the capouccinos more compelling.  Thus ended our book club; but we both agree that this is one of the best stories we've ever read.  You have to suspend belief to read Marques because however real his world may seem at first glance, it's fantasy at the core.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

journal


This year my journal is filled with more doodles than usual.  I use a MoleSkin notebook with blank pages -- simple and elegant.




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Monday, December 14, 2009

advent


December snuck up on me and I didn't realize that advent had begun until it was too late. We're celebrating anyway, just a little behind schedule. Last night -- the third Sunday -- we lit our second candle. The first was lit three nights previous on a Thursday (oh no!) and perhaps this Wednesday or Thursday we'll lite another candle and be caught up for next Sunday.

Being behind doesn't bother me much. Life is busy and I'm pleased to be celebrating advent at all. Last night my husband and I settled on the couch, breathed the smell of a struck match, and took turns reading familiar Christmas passages from Isaiah and the gospels. We conteplated the flickering flames -- light in the darkness.

. . . the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord (Isaiah
11:9)

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her
will be accomplished (Luke 1:45)
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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

tree


I like Charlie Brown style trees -- trees that look like they were cut from a snowy wood.  Reality is less romantic.  This tree was cleared from under a major hydro line.  We selected it from a line up -- trees tossed up against a fence -- in the most desolate corner of the nursery, then lugged it unceremoniously past too-straight rows of cultured, cone-shaped trees and lashed it to the car roof.  For all that, it still has a wild spirit and, I think, wears its new accessories with flare.