Things I’ve done since last I wrote
1) Spent a lovely weekend with my parents, who were visiting from Colorado. It’s the first time I’ve spent Mother’s Day with my mom since my sophomore year in college (May’s a busy month and their spring visits are typically in March, April, or June). So that was very nice indeed. 🙂 Scott made brunch for all of us.
2) I ate a lot of bacon. (See #1.)
3) On Monday, my folks kept the kids while Scott and I headed off to the hills for an early anniversary dinner in the beautiful town of Julian, CA. Perfect weather, perfect food, perfect company, perfect day.
4) Except for the teeny tiny hiccup of my having to visit the podiatrist before we left town. Two needles, three sticks, RIGHT INTO THE TOE, which I’m pretty sure is a violation of the Geneva Convention.
5) I finished Turn of the Screw and made Scott read it right away because IT HAD TO BE TALKED ABOUT IMMEDIATELY. (More on that later.) Then I read The Rosie Project and made Scott read it right away because DITTO. I think sometimes it must be hard to be my spouse.
6) And yet he’s managed it for twenty (!) years now and shows no signs of handing in his notice.
7) I didn’t blog about our anniversary on the day (yesterday) because (weep for me) my computer was in the shop. Had to have a fan replaced. It’s back home now (obviously) and no longer sounds like a jumbo jet taking off.
8) Now you know how I got so much reading done this week.
9) Because I also had to follow Turn of the Screw with a couple hours’ worth of online perusal of literary criticism on the book. Because I MEAN COME ON. Chilled to the bone, the whole time. Hats off to Mr. James. I’m still making my way through this site, which is a dissertation on the history of critical reaction to the book. Internet (and long-toiling PhD candidates), I heart you.
10) My Friday poetry group discussed meter (an introduction to scansion) and metaphor, and we did close readings of three Frost poems. I need to prep for tomorrow’s meeting, when we’ll dive into iambic meter and personification. Poet of the Week yet to be determined. (Give me an hour.)
11) Meanwhile, we’re hiding from the shocking heat in dim rooms, worrying about our North County friends who are dangerously affected by the fires. Stay safe, friends.
Melanie B says:
I remember doing some sort of video project related to Turn of the Screw. I keep thinking it was in junior high but that can’t be right can it? Must have been high school. Complete with silly camera tricks of people appearing and disappearing. I should probably re-read it at some point because I think I missed the point.
On May 15, 2014 at 6:08 pm
Charlotte says:
I was just re-reading the notes I had my junior year high school English teacher send me (because I loved his class and wanted to reproduce it for my oldest). The theme of his course was “American Pastoral” the search for the Garden of Eden in the New World and his comments on Turn of the Screw (an example of anti-pastoralism)… “the idyllic countryside conceals ghosts or a neurotic governess (take your pick)”. 🙂 See why I loved this class?
On May 15, 2014 at 6:20 pm
Erin says:
So far so good here-our fortress holds. Lotsa smoke but no fire where we can see it. Fingers crossed, prayers going up, evacuation kit being checked and restocked. We do, after all, live right in the chaparral, and chaparral is designed to burn periodically. Whose bright idea was this??
I am sorry about the toe, and jealous that Scott will read what you tell him to. Congratulations on 20 years, that is a milestone indeed!
On May 16, 2014 at 5:04 am
Ellie says:
Blessings on 20 years! Happiness 🙂
SO sorry about your toe!! Why?!? (Seriously: ouchie, but why the needles in the toe?).
We had maybe two days of 82F, and so my trilliums emerged (joy!), but now it has been so cold we’ve had the heat turned on!
Thinking of you all in parched times and fires. {{hugs}}
On May 16, 2014 at 5:51 am
Melissa Wiley says:
Erin, I SO appreciate the update! Been biting my nails for you North County folks.
Ellie, after two rounds of antibiotics (sigh), the doc’s best guess is a ganglion cyst. Which I have learned, to my amusement, is known colloquially as a “Bible bump” or “Gideon’s disease” because of the folk remedy of giving the lump a good hard whack with the heaviest book in the house. (Looking at my shelves, I think the name would have to be Riverside Shakespeare Bump. Um, no thanks!) (The needles were for a cortisone shot. Ugh. First two sticks: numbing medicine. Let’s just ponder the logic in that for a moment. Third stick, the cortisone. Guess what? The numbing medicine didn’t work! Felt the whole thing. And the part where he removed most of my toenail? Came BEFORE the Lidocaine. Words can’t even.)
On May 16, 2014 at 6:19 am
Scott says:
“Words can’t even.”
Which is why I took photos, if anyone’s interested.
On May 16, 2014 at 6:26 am
Ellie says:
Lissa. Sweet. Bibbity. Babbity. You poor thing!!! How did you **not** kick??? (Or did you?).
On May 16, 2014 at 8:25 am
jep says:
Sympathizing with you about your toe, hope it is better soon.
I read The Rosie Project and could not put it down. Such interesting characters!
On May 16, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Melissa Wiley says:
Toe is much improved. Ellie, I didn’t kick, but I squealed! And marveled that I was able to deliver six babies with no drugs, but a couple of needles in the toe had me yelling for mercy. And THEN the doctor said ‘don’t go yet, I have a present for you,’ and I had a total Ramona Quimby moment; I thought there really was going to be a present, like maybe a tote bag? What can I say, I was addled with pain. It was a TOE SLEEVE. A stupid little bandage thingie like an Ace bandage custom-shaped for a toe. Present, my eye. I do not think that word means what he thinks it means.
😉
On May 16, 2014 at 7:51 pm
Melanie B says:
Oh ouchie ouchie ouch.
Like Erin I’m jealous that Scott will read what you tell him to. Dom will read maybe 1 out of 10 books I rave about. Maybe. But he does listen sympathetically, which is something. Even if it means I have to go elsewhere for the stimulating book discussion.
On May 16, 2014 at 8:17 pm
Ellie says:
A toe sleeve. A TOE SLEEVE?? Sure, sure that’s a real gift right there. **giggle snort**
xoxox
On May 17, 2014 at 4:47 am