Book Report

My friend and I were talking about books vs. movies, once I finished reading The Soloist, by Steve Lopez, and then the movie came out.....I thought 'how in the world could Jamie Foxx and "Bobby" Downey, Jr. pull that off'. I just could not force myself to see the movie. It was a really good book.

Another book, by the same title, The Soloist, by Mark Salzman is one that a friend, avid reader, and huge personality, Doug, recommended to me. At the time, as we had discussed, I was reading another book on my Kindle, but made the mistake of picking up the book late one night, "just to read a couple of pages." Wrong. Hooked, I had to force myself to put it down. It is another work of fiction, written in 1994.

Not to bore you, but the line that made me laugh out loud is in the very beginning, the author is talking with a friend about how most of the saints from the 16th century, i.e. Saint Theresa of Avila, Spanish mystic, probably suffered from some sort of neurological disorder, causing hallucinations. "They're pretty sure now that Van Gogh had a kind of brain disease that made him see everything as if it were saturated with yellow light." I cracked up.....out loud. It's not that I'm some snobby literature buff, but when a book makes me laugh out loud, it's a pretty good sign that I will love the book.

A couple of years ago I was slugging through an audio course on the great classical musicians, and the author made me laugh out loud, in my truck, barreling down I-10, in the rain. Fabulous! I had to pull over...

So, book talk is so fun, especially when you make a friend who loves it as much as you do.  Recent favorites:

The Life of Edgar Sawtelle
Anything by Geraldine Brooks

Stieg Larsson,who was such a gifted author and had a very interesting life. He died at 50, suddenly, of a heart ailment.  He is one of those guys. I had read his book, 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' and wanted to know more about him. His work in fighting racism, antisemitism, fascism and discrimination, especially against women, made him even more interesting. He was an awesome dude.

Eclipsing Chaos Brings a Friendship

This post is all about an experience I had recently, that has meant so much to me. Several weeks ago, I was involved in an art project called,'Eclipses for Austin' . Participants (volunteers) were to gather at the DKR football stadium in Austin. As I sat in the boiling heat, a woman came and sat down next to me, her name was Joan. Little did I know that Joan and I were to become friends. Here are some excerpts of a conversation via e-mail, we had after going to the opening of our project at the Blanton Art Museum. As you will see, a friendship has blossomed.

Email from me to Joan:

"Well, that was too much fun! I can't tell you the last time I just sat around with someone and never ran out of things to talk about. I think we just barely scratched the surface. Really was special to me. So, if you want to see what my artwork looks like, go to http://www.heartgallery.etsy.com/ If you go to http://www.etsy.com/, you will be hooked on the shopping experience there. It is one of the very few art sites where everything is handmade. I also have a shop at http://www.gillgallery.artfire.com/. There are some very talented folks out there putting their work online. Very creative stuff. I have purchased several items and never been disappointed. Before my granddaughter,Violet Olivia was born, I bought a hand crocheted little bonnet for her. Turned out the artist lived in London. It was very beautiful. So yes, it is a worldwide website. Again, so glad we hooked up and I really look forward to getting together again
Kind regards, Cathy

Joan:

It was a fun afternoon!! I couldn't believe we talked away for the whole afternoon. I really am glad we met in the hot stadium with the crazy percussion stuff going on. And being able to make fun of Austin's own Sarah Bernhart was something special.

I just viewed your work online. You are quite the artist! I do love the margarita on the rocks. The salt on the rim is the perfect touch (and just the way I like my margaritas!). Your painting captures the taste and feel of an icy cold margarita on a hot day.

Sister Love

I just love spending time with my little sister, Birdie . She is such a bright, shiny, light in what can be my dark little world. Just venting with her and listening to her wisdom from her own experience in life is all I really need. Not every day, but often.

Sometimes I get wrapped so tight, she is the one who I let unravel all the little knots and tangles. I had a few going for me today. Birdie called and said she was headed into town and would I like to have coffee with her. Dumb question. I jumped at the opportunity to be with her for a change of pace.

We met at a new coffee place that was close to my house and had a delightful Latte and wonderful problem solving discussions. I tried not to seem too needy, but Birdie has insights that not too many people I know, have. She can use examples of situations that I can relate to. Let me just say that I sure wish there were more people in the world that think like Birdie does. I am a very lucky woman.

Birdie was talking about separating problems out and putting them on a shelf for later examination. It seems like each day, I have been adding stuff to that shelf and it is sort of overloading.
Just for today, I will take one off the shelf and deal with it. Not so easy, but if I examine it closely, maybe I can come up with a solution.

Oh...yes...that is one of my watercolors above. Too much fun making the froth on top all swirly. I have two gratitude's today and a promise.
1. I am grateful for my sister, Birdie.
2. I am grateful for this beautiful day of not sweating.

Promise: I promise to treat myself well today, food, exercise, painting.

Grandmothering

I have been a Grandmother for over 3 years and I can't say it gets any easier. Don't get me wrong, I love my role as the grandmother who is called "Matati". It is just that when it comes to the discipline aspect of my role, lately, I have hit a brick wall...... hard.

My grandson, Archer, is 3 years old and truly such a joy in our lives. However, lately he is a handful! Very independent and that is fine, but also very argumentative and stubborn and that is not fine when the grandparents are exhausted.

I have yet to send him to 'time-out', but I came very close a couple of days ago. When my children were young and would act similarly, there was no 'time-out', just a swat on the butt and sent to their room. Archers' parents use the time-out method.

To give you some idea of how trying it was, this was the scenario: It is 9:00 p.m. on Friday night. Archer's bath has been ready for about 30 minutes and is getting colder by the minute. Archer is playing with his remote controlled tractor and keeps running into the dog. The dog is being extremely patient, mainly because she is a Golden Retriever who is used to these shenanigans, but also because her arthritis is so bad, she will only get up if she absolutely must. After several verbal commands to stop, from me and from Grampaw, Archer is totally ignoring us, and I am ready to take the toy away and prepare myself for the screaming fit. Then out of the blue, he says: "It is my toy, all mine, and I can do whatever I want with it!"

Hmmmm....really. This is not the Archer we have known. This child is some sort of alien in our house. I take the tractor away, and the remote control device and yes, the screaming begins. I go into the bathroom and close the door. Just me, and a tub of lukewarm water. The urge to get in and put my head underwater so I won't hear Archer is strong, but I just sit there, on the edge, literally, almost in tears. Yikes.

Then I hear this little voice on the other side of the door, "Matati, I need to come in and take my bath." I open the door, he struts in, takes his clothes off, gets in the tub and begins playing with his bath toys. It was like nothing ever happened, like we had just survived some sort of time warp. Amazing. Incredible. Almost scary.