Classical Carousel: Personal Writing

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Thursday, 1 June 2017

June ~ Is Summer Finally Here? .....

Well, it looks like summer has finally arrived. We've had temperatures close to 30C (90F) some days, however the temperature has also dipped into the teens, so it's still somewhat unsettled and colder than normal.

While the month of May was very eventful, it would probably boring for anyone who isn't interested in sports. I'm part of the administrative crew for the largest fastpitch tournament in Canada and we've started to gear up for it, so it's been taking up much of my time. My job includes lots of recruiting, scorekeeping and sending endless emails. It's my first year in this position and I'm prepared for a trial-by-fire. Please keep me in your prayers, ha ha! ;-)

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In mid-May I travelled to scorekeep a softball tournament in the Interior of B.C. where it is usually desert-like conditions. Not this year. They had been having torrential rains and flooding, and we were set to arrive right in the middle of another storm and predicted evacuations. The rains and flooding were said to be an event that would only happen there once every 200 years. Ah, what luck! As it turned out the drive was uneventful except for a snowstorm and fog at the summit of the highway, which lasted only about 10 minutes and the weekend, while overcast, did not bring any further rain. Phew!

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I was able to have a short weekend away to visit the city of Victoria, which is the capital of British Columbia. It's a lovely old-world British-style city with wonderful shops and amazing places to eat, not to mention the Parliament Buildings. If anyone ever visits B.C., don't miss it!

As for reading, as you can imagine, my time has been very limited. Thucydides' The History of the Peloponnesian War seems to be taking forever and (can I be honest?), he is so dry and uninteresting that I'm feeling like falling asleep whenever I read him. On a positive note, I do like the speeches, and in particular, Thucydides' speech on the evils of war. In any case, if I'm not finished this book by the end of this month, I'll cry. And I think Thucydides caused me to lose my mind a little because I went off track and read three totally unplanned un-classics. Seriously, don't faint. I read High Fidelity by Nick Hornsby, a book reminiscent of On the Road by Jack Kerouac, being a memoir of an adolescent adult who refuses to grow up, behaves like a child, and then is completely puzzled that his life is a total mess and he is incapable of having a fulfilling relationship. Duh! Next, I read an Alex Delaware novel, Heartbreak Hotel, which was awful (after 32 Alex Delaware books, perhaps Kellerman should give up), and finally Empire of the Sun which was about a boy trying to survive Japanese occupation of China during WWII. It was mildly interesting but, while two of the books counted for my Guardians 1000 list, I realized that I needed to return to those dependable classics.

June comes with continuing softball responsibilities yet I'm also going to make an escape to the island for a weekend and hopefully recapture some lost reading time. I'd like to be able to pull out the kayaks and go for a good long paddle as well. Biking .....? Yoga .....? Well, hopefully, but of course, as time permits. I've also starting planting in my garden which should have started a month ago but was held up because of the weather. Finally my figs are coming out on my fig tree, my quince is in blossom, my apple tree has just finished blossoming, and my Italian plum tree is destined to be torn out because in spite of having piles of blossoms every year, it never bears plums. I did manage to plant the potatoes I received during my farm trip in April, so it's been fun to see them starting to come up as well.

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As for reading, I'm going to finish Thucydides. Let me say that again, I AM GOING TO FINISH THUCYDIDES! I have a number of buddy reads starting including two on Goodreads where we'll read The Republic and Augustine's City of God (help!). A third will be with Cirtnecce and Helen and we'll start Shadow of the Moon by M.M. Kaye as soon as I get my copy, hopefully in another week. I'm not trying to look farther than that. My cup overfloweth and if I started thinking of any more books, my head would probably explode.

And the food blog? ..... ah, the now dreaded food blog. I'm still waiting for my partner to make a date to get together and compile our bios and mission statement. Both of us are very busy but chasing him down can be a task in itself. I've already drafted a number of recipes and tested a number of them (ha, funny how he seems to be around for the testing but not for the writing!) so I'm really ready to launch except for this one snag. Will we be unsnagged by July? Stay tuned to find out!

“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” ~ Dr. Seuss

Monday, 1 May 2017

May ~ Rain, Rain, Go Away .....

Ugh! I don't know how else to say it. Most of April was rain and not just regular rain, but capricious rain. It would pour and then stop, sprinkle a little and then stop, be sunny for not very long and then stop, because mother nature must know how torturous it is to have fleeing views of that warm golden orb before it is snatched away and the rain continues. I do realize that we live in a rain forest, but seriously, it can become ridiculous! Fortunately the last week has seen less rain and more fleeing glimpses of the orb so I'm going have a positive outlook for May. Work with me, okay ...... ;-)

April was not such an exciting month for me as the last couple, I must admit. I've continued with my yoga classes, which I still enjoy but haven't been going as frequently as I'd like due to time constraints. I am improving, although with some poses I wonder if I'll ever be able to bend my body completely in such unusual shapes. I was able to take one long bike ride, which was very exciting because I wasn't tired at all afterwards. Do you know what that means? Yes! I'm in shape! Softball season has begun and I'm starting to search for scorekeepers for the international tournament in July and practicing my skills. It's nice to be able to be outside more, even though the weather has not been cooperating to make it pleasant. Dratted rain!

I'm behind on my garden prep work too. My potatoes from last months farm visits are chitting and I need to get them into the ground now! It's my plan for this week. And, of course, I still haven't looked very closely at my seeds to see what I need to plant now and what will wait. So disorganized! I'm usually an organized person, honest, but I have so much to do that it becomes not humanly possible to be organized in every task. So I become a little organized in most things, and not so much in others. Anyone have any ideas how to fix me? ;-)

The most dreary part of the year falls in April for me, only because it means taxes, taxes, and more taxes. Sadly, in spite of my cheery determination to stay on top of my bookkeeping during the year, inevitably other things ---- other more pleasant things ---- tend to monopolize my time and every year I'm scrambling come April to put everything together from square one. No, not a relaxing start to spring. Of course, this year was no different so I spent much of April, searching and gathering, finding and entering until the completed tax document was finally on hand. Arduous work, certainly. No wonder I like to put it right out of my mind when it's all over. Can you blame me?

My reading has still been progressing at what seems like a snail's pace but I did have some highlights in April: I finally finished reading Herodotus' The Histories and put up my final review. It was such an enjoyable read but I must admit, I'm happy to move on to Thucydides. My thorough reading of Herodotus has given me a great base for The History of the Peloponnesian War, which I've begun. Thucydides is certainly drier than Herodotus, but more organized. I also was able to read four books for Amanda at Simpler Pastimes' Children's Classic Literature Event: Finn Family Moomintroll, Cyrus the Persian, The Moomins and the Great Flood and Alice in Wonderland, although so far I only have reviews up for the first one. I was happy with my accomplishment. My read of Dead Souls has come to a screeching halt as I absolutely hate my Pevear-Volokhonsky translation. Why do I torture myself with them? This is the third of their translations that I've read and they somehow manage to kill any life that the stories have. I don't know how they do it. Their marketing is superb but their translations are painful. I've ordered a used copy of the Chistopher English translation, which seems simplified (I'd rather the Bernard Guilbert Guerney translation), but at least the satire is apparent.

My plans for May include gardening (someone needs to show up with a cattle prod to keep me focused), scorekeeping, blogging and exercise. I'd like to find some days to take a couple of hikes, but we'll see. I'm leaving for a little scorekeeping get-away mid-May and then at the end of May I was supposed to be off to the island but I might have to cancel. Very unfortunate, as I would have been able to get lots of reading accomplished. And speaking of reading, I'll continue with The History of the Peloponnesian War, Dead Souls and my Deal Me In Challenge and Great Ideas project. I have a few temptations that have come my way from a couple of my Goodreads groups: a re-read for me of the Epic of Gilgamesh and Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain which also would be a re-read. The latter is pretty long, so I probably won't join but I'd like to. I'd also like to begin another Russian novel when I finish Dead Souls, perhaps One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. AND I'm pondering starting Ulysses and reading it very slowly. I did not get on well with it the last time I attempted it, but there is a Ulysses aficionado on Goodreads who assures me that he'll help me out. Ulysses or my good common sense? Who will win?

And the oh-so-elusive food blog? It's coming ...... very slowly. I've been prepping recipes and cooking ...... when I started this blog with my partner, neither of us realized the logistical incompatibility. I cook the recipe and then have to somehow get it to my partner to test it. With two busy people, we've been using drop-and-run/grab and go tactics. Perhaps we should find a hollowed-out log somewhere where I can drop it and he can pick it up later. Ha ha! And we still have to write up our bios in order to get the blog launched, which we've been promising to do for over a month but obviously are rather uninspired. What does one say about oneself? Anything that would appear interesting to others, seems boring to oneself. Sigh. We'll just have to take up the gauntlet ---- or the pen ---- and get writing! But to give you a little foretaste, I'll leave you with a photo of one of our/my creations. Here's to a great May filled with food, books and friends!

Saturday, 1 April 2017

April ~ Showers and Showers and Showers but no Flowers

Well, perhaps I'm exaggerating. I have seen crocuses pressing out of the soil, and the tiny promise of buds on some of the bare trees, but we certainly have seen little sunshine to herald the coming of this spring month. Today it's rainy heavily and rather grey, but nevertheless, this last month brought some new experiences and new adventures!

In March, I experienced my first foray into downhill skiing and I think I'm hooked. The day was very snowy and we actually went cross country skiing at first not realizing (being newbie cross-country skiers) that very snowy weather does not produce ideal conditions for cross country. Tracks get covered which makes for very slow going and then going downhill is also rather boring. When we went back to the base, we discovered that we were the only people out, and they encouraged us to catch a bus to the alpine base. Downhill skiing? I hadn't been in decades, but I wasn't adverse to entertaining the thought. In any case, we soon found ourselves "equipmented" up and ready to go. After some very good coaching from an ace skier, we tried our first run. Eehhh, not good. The hill looked enormous to me as a beginner, but after a few runs I was getting the hang of it and soon didn't want to stop. It was soooo awesome!!! My only complaint was that cross country clothing attire is not good for downhill, where you are sitting on a snowy chairlift for a good amount of the time at the mercy of the wind and cold. When I came home, the next day I immediately went out and bought a warmer jacket. And guess what? I haven't been downhill skiing since. :-( Life takes over and makes one so busy that time for recreation dwindles, and the season is ending making at times for less than ideal conditions. In any case, I do want to make this sport a priority next year!

I also made a trip to visit a friend whom I hadn't seen in about 3 years. She's started a farm in the community consisting of a number of animals as well as a number of acres that produce squash, tomatoes, herbs, potatoes, garlic and other vegetables. The growing season, of course, hadn't begun but it was fun to catch up. I met ducks, chickens, sheep, goats and was even charged by a llama that screeched to a stop in front of me and then kissed me. Rather intimidating! It was lovely to get away and relax for a couple of days even if the weather was somewhat damp and rainy. Each night our dinners consisted of everything off the farm, a journey from garden to table, so to speak. Another trip followed, with both of us visiting an amazing farm on a nearby island. The farmer's business model is to help neighbouring farms as much as possible, allowing them the use of his equipment and selling them some of his seeds at cost. All of his farming consists of organic and/or heirloom varieties, and the excitement and dedication he exhibited when describing his operation was inspiring. I came home with four different varieties of seed potatoes and I can't wait to get planting. Which brings me to my next adventure ---- food blogging. I've started planning a food blog with a friend about which I'm rather excited. In spite of having the imagination to see the finished product in our minds, the reality of the process is work, work and more work. It will be arduous to get it up and running I think, and at the moment it's in the copious-amounts-of-planning stage, but hopefully within the next six months, we'll have it launched. So stay tuned and I promise to keep you updated!

The thought of talking about reading is rather depressing. I've almost finished The Histories and did finish up The Small House at Allington, so all is not gloom and doom. I'm going to be starting The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol, The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope, as well as continuing my Great Ideas Projects and my Deal Me In Challenge. April also brings Amanda at Simpler Pastimes Classic Children's Literature Event, so I plan to read her read-along book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, in addition to Cyrus the Persian by Sherman A. Nagel (to complement my The Histories read), Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson and hopefully one or two other yet unchosen classics. (Why does this person sitting next to me in the coffee shop keep staring at me? ;-) ) I am quite kerfuffled by the lack of reading time I've had lately. I don't know what's wrong. I mean, I know that my reading time is reduced but really I should be getting through more books than I am. For shame on me!

My wishes for April? More reading time, but I know that I have lots of blogging to do so I plan to be realistic. Yet that realism will not keep me from pining for more personal time with my books. I also need more focus, which probably should be my catch-word for the month. However, income taxes are looming and I have pretty much resigned myself to another unproductive month, this time doing chores instead of fun adventurous things. Oh well, perhaps I will surprise myself. Tune in next month to find out.

Best springy April wishes to everyone!

Saturday, 16 April 2016

An Anglo Saxon Riddle for Poetry Month

For April Poetry Month, I've been hunting for a poem, a haiku that I wrote when I was fifteen to post here as a personal poetry selection. Well, so far I've had no luck finding it, but while searching I found a poem written by my daughter,modelled on the epic, Beowulf, so I thought I would post it instead. She wrote it in grade 5.

An Anglo Saxon Riddle

What lives in the cool, clear whale-road

That scuttles, catching slippery sea creatures.

What do the Lords and Ladies of Spain eat

On their full-loaded tea-table.

Although hindered for lack of four feet,

This marvelous Master of the swan-road

Is a wonderful and agile athlete,

With quickness of the heath-stepper

And back like an aged tortoise-house

When the barnacled-prows enter onto

The glassy-dark water and catch this

Magnificent creature, it’s life soon ends

On a platter with a melted-milk churned bath

Of salty cream, and he thinks of his life

In the cool, clear, whale-road.

WHO AM I: ?

Since trying to follow the Anglo Saxon meter (which goes by stress-count [stressed syllables] rather than syllable count, which would be two main stresses in each half of a line) was beyond her at that time, instead she focussed on alliteration and kennings.

Kennings create expressive imagery, using compound words and phrases that identify nouns. They are often colourful to generate evocative images in the mind of the reader. Because of their usual quality, kennings help the listener/reader to remember important happenings or people and also were used to avoid superfluous repetition, making the poem more developed and creative.