Monday, July 27, 2009

Big brown mix with black shading again

Up a bit late. The cat was glad to see me. Had to spray some ants--Syd left the can out, with the request to use it if necessary. There were more this afternoon, this time focussing on the food dish rather than the counter. Sprayed those too. Syd's coming home tomorrow--and everything's still alive....(To "everything's" Spellcheck says: "Are you sure about that?" Yes, thank you.)

An uneventful morning walk. It was sunny out, although not, technically, hot, and nobody else was out. Phooey. I'd been hoping for the lady and the Golden, at least. I like 'em. Lark disapproves of Jackson, though. "Get away from her!" she says when I pet him. Sigh. I'm not sure whether to call this an advance in our relationship or not, but either way I disapprove. Gonna have to figure out what to do about it--she can't just tell me not to pet other dogs; I mean, she talks to other people.....I'm sorry, dear, petting is not an exclusive part of a relationship any more than conversation. Live with it.

Ended up not getting on the comp 'til after three, with one thing and another. I regretted the delay once I got on--Doug had been on all morning, talking into thin air. Oops. He seems to be into Russian Novelists at the moment: having cut a swathe through Solzhenitsyn, he's now reading Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. None of these names are acknowledged as legit by Spellcheck--so helpful....

Clouded up by dinnertime, with rain threatening by the time we larked. We met the iPod-bearing jogger with the big brown mix again; he doesn't leash his dog, but always reaches for his collar when he sees us. Last time we ran into him, we were in his blind spot, coming down the creek bed as he came down the main path; he stopped and grabbed for his (obediently heeling) dog as soon as he was aware. I think I disapprove of earbuds while out: there's so much else to pay attention to, and in the end it's rather a liability. Perhaps a sturdy man in good shape, accompanied by a large dog, doesn't need to be quite so alert as a woman whose dog is as petite as she is, but it's always good to be aware of what's going on around you. We also met the Asian/Caucasian couple, who I begin to suspect go on walks for Serious Discussions. That's what it's always sounded like as I approach, although I'm glad to say not too serious. It may just be the natural tendency of his voice to sound like he's talking about something important, though. I don't know. I have every expectation that this will remain the case, nor would I want it otherwise. One family's problems are enough.

Reading Three Came Home. I wasn't at all sure I wanted to read a prison camp book just now, but Keith has a terrific style of her own, amusing and serious in turns, and very sympathetic. I can't find Mom's other recommendation, Christ Stopped at Eboli, but I did find Wuthering Heights. It's on the table for consideration, while I read Three Came Home. I am not at all sure I want to start reading the darker/crazier English classics--Grandma and I were talking about Thomas Hardy at dinner--but I've been thinking about it, and will no doubt continue to do so. A book about three men making sheep's eyes at an ice queen fails to attract me, large supporting cast of actual sheep notwithstanding.

15 pushups, form improving; 16 situps, having realized how pointless it is to continue after my abs have quit and left all the work to back and (somehow) shoulders; 5 standing elbow-to-knees; 3......a bit like an arabesque but I'm holding the outstretched leg at the ankle. All of which are no doubt very good for me, but they don't seem to do much for the Incline-afflicted muscles. Hm.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I know I read Gma's copy of Eboli, but I can't say I've seen it on the shelves lately. Hmmmm.

I've sort of fixated on that wedding video. It was, ironically on so many levels, Dad who first showed it to me (I resisted Yahoo's attempts to spread it), saying I'd want to show it to my class. I poohpoohed that idea, but now, of course, I'm writing in my head the Sum/resp paper on a video about it.

The thing I like best about it, and why I think it is so viral, is how serendipitously it all came out. No wedding is ever perfect, that aisle is soooo long, and yet, it all came out so well. Timing. Faces. Camera angles. Outfits. Flowers (what ARE those, anyway?) Worthy, indeed, of 8 million plus of us looking at it. A moment in time of grace.

And I found that the Today Show's best idea was to have them re-enact it for them and their cameras. How BAD an idea is that?!? Do I need to rant? Do they not understand? (Of course they don't.) But do they have to so obviously DEMONSTRATE THEIR COMPLETE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING FOR ALL TIME? well, yes, I guess so.

Too bad our wedding party couldn't just say no, but that's too much to expect of polite and affable Minnesotans. (I really want to hear Garrison on all this.)

So, enough. You really do need to get the English classics under your belt just for the sake of allusions!

Anna said...

Lol. It's true--it's amazing that nobody messed up. I watched it because Jmeadows posted a link, having likewise resisted Yahoo.

Miss Snark said once that Minnesotans are congenitally nice (one reason she doesn't live there.) :p

I know, but....*Wuthering Heights*? Dickens would be substantially more useful in that direction.....

Oh, I just remembered how Grandma and I ended up talking about Hardy: the sheep. Specifically, my sheep, Tess and Judy. We were discussing the name Tess, and Grandma mentioned Tess of the d'Urbervilles (sp?). Then I brought up Far From the Madding Crowd, and the excerpts therefrom in Ron Parker's The Sheep Book, mainly in the section on bloat. XD

Are the boys being obnoxious about the song, the wedding, or both?

Anonymous said...

The boys are a bit in shock over it I think. They've had very little to say == even when I revealed that that silly, fluffy, but oh-so-somehow-appropriate music is sung by a twenty-year-old in trouble for beating up his girl friend ("Girl I'll never let you fall", huh?)_

Anna said...

.......I wasn't aware of much about the song.......=_=;