I'm back. Pretty much.
Jan. 6th, 2006 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
averygoodun42Wow. That was quite the experience. I love my family, but God is it good to be home.
Thirteen people. Nine adults and three very loud children, and my son (who occasionally contributed to the noise).
One house.
Fun.
Anyway, I'm back now, and all three of us are very happy to be home. Babe was stumbling around reacquainting himself with his own toys and his own space with a huge grin on his sleepy face. I was happy to make myself a cup of hot tea and relax on the couch, drinking in the luxury of quiet that pervades this place.
It was nice to see everyone. It really was. My brother has gone all shaggy which is really amusing to me. Fortunately, he's lost a lot of the pudge that was developing over the last couple of years (even taking into account that the camera adds ten pounds). My sister is wonderful as always. Still the perfect daughter and sister, you know? How she manages to survive each day with her two wonderful (but super hyper and noisy) daughters is beyond me. I guess it helps that her eldest is mellowing out into a really nice person. When she's not spazzing.
It is actually beyond me why anyone wants more than one child. A few times this trip I was wondering why anyone reproduced at all, and that's with my sweetheart of a baby. I love him dearly, but...
However, between screaming children and frustrated parents, I managed to actually get some book reading done. I think the majority of my pressies were books, which is really amusing because I think I've read two (actual) books in the last 12 months. Sad, I know.
So the first book I read was Shopgirl by Steve Martin. I was disappointed. I'm not a terribly fast reader, and this was one of those books that's best when skimmed. It's not that it has a lot of detail, because it doesn't. The very lack of detail is why it felt like it should be a speed read. My impression was that it was a sketch - an outline of the movie he wanted to make. So much of what was left out were things that could be conveyed on the screen with power and emotion that requires a manner of description that it is very difficult to convey in a minimalist work, and I expect Steve Martin needs another decade of practice before he'll achieve that goal.
I haven't seen Shopgirl the movie yet, but I expect I will like it very much, based on the story laid out, but not fleshed out, in the book.
The second book I started was Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith. So far I'm enjoying this book. I stopped in the middle because my dad took over while I was perusing the third book I read (and completed), Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire.
Portuguese Irregular Verbs is very funny. It's like an episode of Frasier (and how sad is it that I reference a tv show?) based on the arrogance and self-confidence of the protagonist. He is one of those people I would (ahem) dislike in real life, but he makes a great character. He and his cronies. I'm cringing and smiling wondering what's going to happen next in the book, as already, thanks to von Ingelfeld (our hero), the tip of his friend's nose was sliced off in a dueling match, and reattached upside-down. Now von Inglefeld has a toothache, and is patronizing a female dentist. As I said, I'm cringing and smiling at the thought of what's to come. I hope I'll be able to finish that book this week.
Although I was given a Gregory Maguire book, it wasn't Mirror Mirror. It was Lost. I read Mirror Mirror because it was going home with my sister.
It was weird. I enjoyed it, but, well... Incest, even vague, non-explicit references to it, creeps me out. It was an interesting take on Snow White and Lucrezia Borgia, but... It was good though, and, as always, well written. I wasn't moved by it, except in the creep factor. That Borgia family was messed up and continues to be portrayed as completely f***ed up even in fictionalized accounts. I'm thinking I'll have to do a spot of research on them. If I can get past the creep factor.
And that was all I managed to read in two weeks, in between sightseeing and child rearing and family time. Amazing how much I managed to do when not attached to the computer for hours on end.
And then there was the trip back. Fun-ness quadrupled. We left the house at 4:30 this morning, and Babe never got back to sleep. Did I mention that he cut two molars this week, and I believe he's cutting a third? Take off and landing was nightmarish. There wasn't anything DH or I could do to stop the screaming because he was too tired to go to sleep, which meant he was too tired to do anything to cooperate, like suck on his bottle to ease the pain in his ears.
Fun.
And now I can hear DH is back from the doctor. Oh yeah. That was also fun.
Babe came down with a mystery illness on New Year's weekend, you know, when all doctors' offices but the emergency room were closed? He developed a really nasty rash that started at his ankle, then spread all over his body, though in a less vicious form. I thought it might be a reoccurrence of chickenpox based on the nastiness of the rash, but the nastiness was only around his ankles and feet. It wasn't blisterlike anywhere else. Then, Jan 2nd, he developed a fever. That started speculation with diseases such as measles and scarlet fever being brought up.
We took him on a car ride to the pharmacy, to pick up a thermometer, and it was decided before the combined errands were done that it would be a waste of money and time to go to the emergency room because his temp was 97.9 at the highest, even though he felt hot to the touch. By the time we were on our way back home his face had lost a lot of the worrisome pink, and we decided the a/c therapy had worked its wonders. That combined with a few licks of ice cream.
I still wonder if it was just teething combined with his allergy to chlorine (two dips in the pool preceded the rash) and the viral thingy my brother's kid came with, or a parasite. I'm thinking it was the former, because it has almost cleared up and started clearing up when we stopped bathing him in the tub of chlorinated swamp water which comes out of the pipes in Kissimmee. I'm hoping, anyway.
So Babe seems fine now, but DH is sick. That's how vacations work, though, right? You go on them intending to rest up and relax, and end up getting sick. Right?
Sea World was fun, though. I got to pet a dolphin. Made me very, very happy. And the manatees made me weepy. Their gaze is just so... compassionate. Weird phrase to use on big, fat, floating blimps, but there it is. I think I like them very much.
Downtown Disney was also fun. Went there on a date with DH (YAY!!! A date! An actual date!) and saw some really beautiful kitsch. Some really nifty art as well. At a store called Pop Art there was a beautiful and completely awesome glass bust made up of holes. There were also some paintings by the background artist of Disney's, Eyvind Earle (?), who worked on the backdrops for Sleeping Beauty, and the like. Those paintings were good. I liked them immediately, then, upon closer inspection, thought they were a bit kitschy, then saw them from a distance and was impressed again, then saw them again a couple days later and was still impressed. They were nice.
In Hoi Paloi there were beautiful and whimsical glass frogs and fishes, among other work that was teetering on the edge of kitsch, but if it dared to descend into that mire, it mostly dipped down with grace. At first the piece I was most impressed with was a glass bowl positioned atop a strand of glass made to look like roughly hewn ice. Those words don't really do it justice. The bowl itself was simple and elegant, something that would be beautful as a vase for peonies. But placing it on that arc of "ice" made it into something special. It was almost like a flower formed from the "ice", like a cold, translucent blue buttercup. On second viewing (I took my parents back to see the art, since they love glass sculpture), I still loved the ice bowl, but the simple glass bowl with negatively etched koi on the shelf below was even more impressive. Even when I was first looking at that display, I knew that although the ice bowl was beautiful, it wouldn't withstand the passage of time, and changing of taste, as the koi bowl would.
And just to remind myself, I was almost brought to tears by a simple etched metal painting of evergreen needles. The needles were etched, or carved, or pressed into a narrow sheet of metal (steel?), and then the area around the indentation was treated with colorful corrosives. At least, that's what it looked like. So the effect was these gunmetal gray sprays of evergreen were set against a melting, blending backdrop of blues and purples and mauves. Again, very simple, but perfectly done.
Oh, and the Lego store where you can buy legos by the cup full, with lots of bins organized by type and color! That was pretty darn cool too.
Oh, if only DH and I were rich. Then I would buy myself two houses, one modern and sleek where I could display all the modern art and sculpture I like, and the other more traditional, where I'd live most of the time, and surround myself with beautiful objects d'art that aren't as edgy. And then I could go on vacation more often, and with less of an excuse than a family reunion.
Snape's Journal
Feb. 21, 1998
I think Granger is topping my list of those I dislike. She's become more of a pest than Potter.
She left dinner early tonight, and although that's not unusual, I noticed Nott leaving early as well, which is unusual. I, of course, followed Granger. Her reactions have been very slow lately and if she were attacked I imagine she wouldn't have the reflexes necessary to defend herself.
So, anyway, I followed Granger as she meandered around the school, keeping my eye out for Nott. She seemed completely oblivious to everything. She even passed by a couple of fourth years snogging in an alcove without looking at them.
I took a moment to separate the lovebirds and send them on their way, and when I caught up with Granger she was standing at a window staring out onto the grounds.
I have never thought of Granger as someone worth looking at, but that scene was hauntingly beautiful. If I could paint, it's the kind of scene I would render: all shadows with streaks of cold light revealing her face sharply, while making her mess of hair soft and appealing.
It had the same appeal as looking out onto the hills. They seem so velvety and soft, and yet, when you get close, the terrain is rough and full of rocks and twigs to catch on your clothes. But looking at her, watching her, I...
Why the hell am I waxing poetic? I need sleep.
Thirteen people. Nine adults and three very loud children, and my son (who occasionally contributed to the noise).
One house.
Fun.
Anyway, I'm back now, and all three of us are very happy to be home. Babe was stumbling around reacquainting himself with his own toys and his own space with a huge grin on his sleepy face. I was happy to make myself a cup of hot tea and relax on the couch, drinking in the luxury of quiet that pervades this place.
It was nice to see everyone. It really was. My brother has gone all shaggy which is really amusing to me. Fortunately, he's lost a lot of the pudge that was developing over the last couple of years (even taking into account that the camera adds ten pounds). My sister is wonderful as always. Still the perfect daughter and sister, you know? How she manages to survive each day with her two wonderful (but super hyper and noisy) daughters is beyond me. I guess it helps that her eldest is mellowing out into a really nice person. When she's not spazzing.
It is actually beyond me why anyone wants more than one child. A few times this trip I was wondering why anyone reproduced at all, and that's with my sweetheart of a baby. I love him dearly, but...
However, between screaming children and frustrated parents, I managed to actually get some book reading done. I think the majority of my pressies were books, which is really amusing because I think I've read two (actual) books in the last 12 months. Sad, I know.
So the first book I read was Shopgirl by Steve Martin. I was disappointed. I'm not a terribly fast reader, and this was one of those books that's best when skimmed. It's not that it has a lot of detail, because it doesn't. The very lack of detail is why it felt like it should be a speed read. My impression was that it was a sketch - an outline of the movie he wanted to make. So much of what was left out were things that could be conveyed on the screen with power and emotion that requires a manner of description that it is very difficult to convey in a minimalist work, and I expect Steve Martin needs another decade of practice before he'll achieve that goal.
I haven't seen Shopgirl the movie yet, but I expect I will like it very much, based on the story laid out, but not fleshed out, in the book.
The second book I started was Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith. So far I'm enjoying this book. I stopped in the middle because my dad took over while I was perusing the third book I read (and completed), Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire.
Portuguese Irregular Verbs is very funny. It's like an episode of Frasier (and how sad is it that I reference a tv show?) based on the arrogance and self-confidence of the protagonist. He is one of those people I would (ahem) dislike in real life, but he makes a great character. He and his cronies. I'm cringing and smiling wondering what's going to happen next in the book, as already, thanks to von Ingelfeld (our hero), the tip of his friend's nose was sliced off in a dueling match, and reattached upside-down. Now von Inglefeld has a toothache, and is patronizing a female dentist. As I said, I'm cringing and smiling at the thought of what's to come. I hope I'll be able to finish that book this week.
Although I was given a Gregory Maguire book, it wasn't Mirror Mirror. It was Lost. I read Mirror Mirror because it was going home with my sister.
It was weird. I enjoyed it, but, well... Incest, even vague, non-explicit references to it, creeps me out. It was an interesting take on Snow White and Lucrezia Borgia, but... It was good though, and, as always, well written. I wasn't moved by it, except in the creep factor. That Borgia family was messed up and continues to be portrayed as completely f***ed up even in fictionalized accounts. I'm thinking I'll have to do a spot of research on them. If I can get past the creep factor.
And that was all I managed to read in two weeks, in between sightseeing and child rearing and family time. Amazing how much I managed to do when not attached to the computer for hours on end.
And then there was the trip back. Fun-ness quadrupled. We left the house at 4:30 this morning, and Babe never got back to sleep. Did I mention that he cut two molars this week, and I believe he's cutting a third? Take off and landing was nightmarish. There wasn't anything DH or I could do to stop the screaming because he was too tired to go to sleep, which meant he was too tired to do anything to cooperate, like suck on his bottle to ease the pain in his ears.
Fun.
And now I can hear DH is back from the doctor. Oh yeah. That was also fun.
Babe came down with a mystery illness on New Year's weekend, you know, when all doctors' offices but the emergency room were closed? He developed a really nasty rash that started at his ankle, then spread all over his body, though in a less vicious form. I thought it might be a reoccurrence of chickenpox based on the nastiness of the rash, but the nastiness was only around his ankles and feet. It wasn't blisterlike anywhere else. Then, Jan 2nd, he developed a fever. That started speculation with diseases such as measles and scarlet fever being brought up.
We took him on a car ride to the pharmacy, to pick up a thermometer, and it was decided before the combined errands were done that it would be a waste of money and time to go to the emergency room because his temp was 97.9 at the highest, even though he felt hot to the touch. By the time we were on our way back home his face had lost a lot of the worrisome pink, and we decided the a/c therapy had worked its wonders. That combined with a few licks of ice cream.
I still wonder if it was just teething combined with his allergy to chlorine (two dips in the pool preceded the rash) and the viral thingy my brother's kid came with, or a parasite. I'm thinking it was the former, because it has almost cleared up and started clearing up when we stopped bathing him in the tub of chlorinated swamp water which comes out of the pipes in Kissimmee. I'm hoping, anyway.
So Babe seems fine now, but DH is sick. That's how vacations work, though, right? You go on them intending to rest up and relax, and end up getting sick. Right?
Sea World was fun, though. I got to pet a dolphin. Made me very, very happy. And the manatees made me weepy. Their gaze is just so... compassionate. Weird phrase to use on big, fat, floating blimps, but there it is. I think I like them very much.
Downtown Disney was also fun. Went there on a date with DH (YAY!!! A date! An actual date!) and saw some really beautiful kitsch. Some really nifty art as well. At a store called Pop Art there was a beautiful and completely awesome glass bust made up of holes. There were also some paintings by the background artist of Disney's, Eyvind Earle (?), who worked on the backdrops for Sleeping Beauty, and the like. Those paintings were good. I liked them immediately, then, upon closer inspection, thought they were a bit kitschy, then saw them from a distance and was impressed again, then saw them again a couple days later and was still impressed. They were nice.
In Hoi Paloi there were beautiful and whimsical glass frogs and fishes, among other work that was teetering on the edge of kitsch, but if it dared to descend into that mire, it mostly dipped down with grace. At first the piece I was most impressed with was a glass bowl positioned atop a strand of glass made to look like roughly hewn ice. Those words don't really do it justice. The bowl itself was simple and elegant, something that would be beautful as a vase for peonies. But placing it on that arc of "ice" made it into something special. It was almost like a flower formed from the "ice", like a cold, translucent blue buttercup. On second viewing (I took my parents back to see the art, since they love glass sculpture), I still loved the ice bowl, but the simple glass bowl with negatively etched koi on the shelf below was even more impressive. Even when I was first looking at that display, I knew that although the ice bowl was beautiful, it wouldn't withstand the passage of time, and changing of taste, as the koi bowl would.
And just to remind myself, I was almost brought to tears by a simple etched metal painting of evergreen needles. The needles were etched, or carved, or pressed into a narrow sheet of metal (steel?), and then the area around the indentation was treated with colorful corrosives. At least, that's what it looked like. So the effect was these gunmetal gray sprays of evergreen were set against a melting, blending backdrop of blues and purples and mauves. Again, very simple, but perfectly done.
Oh, and the Lego store where you can buy legos by the cup full, with lots of bins organized by type and color! That was pretty darn cool too.
Oh, if only DH and I were rich. Then I would buy myself two houses, one modern and sleek where I could display all the modern art and sculpture I like, and the other more traditional, where I'd live most of the time, and surround myself with beautiful objects d'art that aren't as edgy. And then I could go on vacation more often, and with less of an excuse than a family reunion.
Snape's Journal
Feb. 21, 1998
I think Granger is topping my list of those I dislike. She's become more of a pest than Potter.
She left dinner early tonight, and although that's not unusual, I noticed Nott leaving early as well, which is unusual. I, of course, followed Granger. Her reactions have been very slow lately and if she were attacked I imagine she wouldn't have the reflexes necessary to defend herself.
So, anyway, I followed Granger as she meandered around the school, keeping my eye out for Nott. She seemed completely oblivious to everything. She even passed by a couple of fourth years snogging in an alcove without looking at them.
I took a moment to separate the lovebirds and send them on their way, and when I caught up with Granger she was standing at a window staring out onto the grounds.
I have never thought of Granger as someone worth looking at, but that scene was hauntingly beautiful. If I could paint, it's the kind of scene I would render: all shadows with streaks of cold light revealing her face sharply, while making her mess of hair soft and appealing.
It had the same appeal as looking out onto the hills. They seem so velvety and soft, and yet, when you get close, the terrain is rough and full of rocks and twigs to catch on your clothes. But looking at her, watching her, I...
Why the hell am I waxing poetic? I need sleep.
