The Bauer Confidential

It was once again my turn to select the book club reading for the month, after a bit of research I chose The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton.  Set in the 1960’s, five women meet at the neighborhood play ground, form a writing group and become life-long friends and confidants.  Told though one of the group members, Frankie, the women explore their identities in the midst of the women’s liberation movement.  They share personal tragedies and professional triumphs.  Yet the relationships are not always easy, there are racial, religious, and even sexual tensions brewing for all the women, some of which test their bonds and threaten their connections.  They push the boundaries of not only what others think they should/can do but also their own assumptions of their abilities and self worth.

A fair amount of time is spent on the process of writing, editing, and publishing, which I found particularly interesting.  From short stories to novels, from revising a manuscript to being an editor, the whole spectrum of the writing experience is explored.  Some write for personal fulfillment and others for an audience.  I found Frankie’s description of her interactions with her agent and the experience of getting published enlightening, especially when contrasted with those of another group member, Brett.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was a quick read.  There are some very moving and emotional passages, both sad and joyous.  I would recommend this book especially for those who have ever entertained the notion of writing.

Part of what drew me to this book was the writing aspect, like a lot of people, I’ve got an idea for a novel kicking around in my mind.  It sounds so easy to write a book, a romantic notion.  The Wednesday Sisters made me realize that literary writing is not so different from scientific writing.  Putting things together in a coherent and engaging way is no small feat, revisions can feel daunting, and in the end there’s always editors changing your work.  I’d still like to take a stab at my story, but after reading this, my expectations for that experience are far more pragmatic.

Possible captions:  “I didn’t do anything naughty, I swear”  or “I know what B-A-T-H spells, why are you so mean to me?”

A random picture of our cute baby.

Fresh out of the bath, showing off her new teeth.

Hope this brightened your day ever so slightly.

Through a twist of serendipity, a couple of weeks ago I started reading the blog Dry as Toast (through a link on a blog I found because the owner fo said blog had commented on this blog, it’s like the blog-o-sphere’s version of 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon).  Anywho, the author of Dry as Toast wanted to know if anyone would like to do an on-line book club and read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.  It just so happened that I was reading that very book at that very time.  I thought why the heck not, I like to post reviews of books anyway.  This one is going to be a little different, in two parts, because of the on-line format.

Reading this book can be a little discombobulating.  Not your typical novel, The Guernsey Literary etc., is told through the exchange of letters, chiefly between the main character Juliette, an author, and her friends and publisher.  World War II has just ended and though London is still deep in rubble and destruction, normalcy is slowly creeping in to Juliette’s world.  By an unusual twist of fate, a book belonging to Juliette has made its way into the hands of man residing on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands.  This stranger is so enamored with the book, finding Juliette’s name-plate in it, he writes to her to know more about the author.   A series of events are set in motion that drive Juliette to learn more about the lives of the residents of Guernsey through the letters they send her concerning their experiences in the war, as Guernsey was occupied by the Germans for several years.  Juliette’s life is full with touring for her book, insidious reporters trying to smear her good name, and a dashing American trying to sweep her off her feet.  And yet nothing in her life seems as interesting as the stories told by the people of Guernsey.  Their trials and adventures capture Juliette’s imagination and she decides to base a series of articles on their lives during the war.

The first half of the book introduces the many characters and sets the scene for a world we’re quite accustomed to reading about and seeing portrayed in movies.  World War II is so often the subject of cinema and novels, so frequently fictionalized that I had to remind myself that the events so central to this book are real, not just made up for a great story.  The things that happened are so incredible and horrible, it would be easy to believe they were the work of an over-active imaginations.  The author does a good job of getting you to imagine what London was like after being decimated by German bombing, the feelings people experienced, the mixed euphoria and sadness at the war’s end are palpable on the page.  The book is interesting enough and the characters engaging enough to pull you in and compel you to follow their lives.  I was anxious to keep reading this book….more to come next week.

We’re a book lovin’ family, that’s just the way it is.  Every night we read a short book to Jocelyn (one of those made of stiff cardboard or cloth).  She really enjoys it, but as we have a limited number of these books, it gets a bit tedious for Mom and Dad.  So we decided to get some more books to expand our selections and reduce our boredom.  Yesterday, while shopping at Costco, I found a cool looking cloth book I thought Jocelyn would enjoy.

When we got it home, and started to play with it, Matthew and I noticed something strange.  It’s one of those books where you push a little button and it makes a sound corresponding to the barnyard animal on the page, or at least that’s what it was supposed to do.  Instead, when you pushed the button on the front for the horse, it sounded like turkeys gobbling.

And that wasn’t all, every one of the sounds was wrong, the goats sounded like chickens, the sheep like, well I’m not sure what that sound was supposed to be actually.  Briefly concerned that Jocelyn would grow up confused as to the proper sounds made by animals we pondered returning the book (we had to go back to Costco anyway because they’d forgotten to put one of the items we purchased into our cart).  When activating the battery, I noticed two sets of wires feeding into the battery compartment from the book pages.  I unplugged them and put them back in the opposite orientation to the way I found them.  Sure enough, the horse now “neighs” and the chickens now “cluck.”  Now the only issue is that the buttons are very sensitive and when Jocelyn throws the book around, or plops down on it, the sounds of the barn yard fill our living room.

This is the back of a door in my grandmother’s house.  Unfortunately the room is very small so I couldn’t get a shot that included the whole door.  Three generations of family members have had their heights marked against this door starting in the 50’s.  I tried to capture a couple of my early measurements in this photo.  I hope once Jocelyn can stand on her own we’ll be able to add her, and other members of the fourth generation, to the door.

More about Wordless Wednesday here.

Some of you may remember that back in mid-July I planted a garden.  I thought I’d give a little update on the garden’s progress.

This is what we started with:

Now we’ve got some of these:

And these (cherry tomatoes):

It’s hard to get a good shot because of the lay-out of the garden, but the tomatoes are about three feet high now, we have peas, carrots, and lettuce from seeds.  Potatoes are growing, there are herbs and kale taking it slow but definitely getting there.

I also started from seed three planters full of herbs that are growing on our back porch, parsley, oregano, and two kinds of basil (on of which is supposed to be purple, but I think I was misled as it’s more like green with a few purple spots).

We’ve got a couple heirloom apple trees in our “yard”, only one has any apples this year, it’s a pippen, and makes really tasty, crunch apples.

Our land-lord recently planted a magenta bougainvillea, which has such a vibrant color it makes me happy just to look at it.

Soon we shall harvest our first food, we’ll be having a salad from our garden in the next couple of days!

Matthew took these pictures around my Grandma’s Ranch when we were visiting earlier this month!

O’Neill, NE.  August 3rd, 2009.

More about Wordless Wednesday here.

As a little girl, I used to play on this sit and spin all the time.  Now, Jocelyn wasn’t quite big enough to enjoy this dizzying toy, but she looked cute trying!

O’Neill, NE.  August, 2009.

More about Wordless Wednesday here.

Up to this point parenting Jocelyn has mostly consisted of keeping her alive and making sure she’s happy. Now that she’s mobile, even if it is still on all fours, I keep thinking ahead to what it’s going to be like when she’s running, talking, and getting into all kinds of trouble. This has all got me pondering what I know about parenting (which is, admittedly, not much) and what sort of parent I want to be.
I have no intention of going into any sort of diatribe about all the different philosophies about parenting, I’m no expert and don’t even know yet how I’ll handle it.  People are as touchy about parenting philosophies as they are about their deepest insecurities, in my experience. I’m just trying to figure out what will work for us, or at least where to start.  I do believe the wise advice I was once given, that “you can only parent the child you have now.”
No matter what, parenting children takes patience. Lots of patience, bucket loads of patience, maybe even canyons full of patience. That’s where I start to worry, you see, I’m not that sure I’m patient enough. Even now there are times where Jocelyn can be trying, and I feel my patience stretched to its limits. I’m sure this is a feeling every parent must experience. So while there’s still time, before I’m harried from chasing her around the house, and burned out from hearing her scream, I want to work on improving my patience. Patience is just a form of self-control, of reigning in one’s impulses. But how do you improve it? Put yourself in situations where you have to use it? Is patience like a muscle that when exercised grows stronger? More and more that’s the view I’m starting to take, since lots of parents have told me how much more patient they are now that they have kids. And I think I can feel it happening a little with me already. Not getting so upset when the house is less than perfect, not feeling the need to rush so much. Sometimes I’m impatient for Jocelyn to grow up, to be able to tell me what she needs, but this is what I’m working hardest to quell. I want to be here with her now, enjoy her as she is, I’m already looking back with nostalgia on six months ago when she was so tiny. I don’t want to rush this, so I need to cultivate patience.  And I’m gonna need a lot of washcloths.