Leaving A Book

November 20, 2013 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Does it sadden you to give up on a book? Frustrate you? It does me, and I find it something very difficult to do.

I’ve finally given up the ghost on The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. This book has received such high praise in so many reviews, and I started it with high hopes. The subject and plot seemed like something I would love, and Wroblewski’s writing is beautiful. So why, after reading about 1/4 of the book, am I putting it aside? It’s just not grabbing me. And it’s a very long book.

Why giving up on a book saddens me, I believe, is that I really look forward to a good story; I want it to take me to another place and enrich my life in some way, even if simply fabulous entertainment. I have nothing against a “quiet story,” but it still has to pull me in. I want to feel, sometime during the day, that I am looking forward to delving back into that novel. Is this your experience as well?

I also realize that there are times in our lives when we want a change, where the subject matter or depth of emotion in a novel may be different than what we’ve sought out in the past. Lately I have been drawn to urban fantasy, thanks to my friend’s husband who introduced me to the genre and who has been kind enough to entrust me with a nice selection from his own library. So now I begin An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire, the third in a series.

The main character, October (Toby) Daye is a private investigator and a changeling, half fae and half human, which brings many of its own problems. The stories are a bit on the dark side, but when they take place in the world of faerie, which is most often, you can see that McGuire has thoroughly researched the entire mythological world of the fae, as all the characters are entirely believable and well-developed. There’s mystery, suspense, and a look into a world invisible to the human eye. Works for me.

So Edgar … I’m sorry. Maybe some other time, but for now I’m off to roam the darker side of San Francisco with Toby Daye.

Still Enjoying Fall

November 15, 2013November 20, 2013 / still a dreamer / 6 Comments

The weather is still crisp and perfect for making the most of enjoying the Fall colors and seasonal fare. A friend and I decided to take a short journey to Oldwick, a town in the eastern part of our county.
Our first stop was breakfast at the Oldwick General Store.

Unassuming from the outside and simply furnished within, this converted house offers a variety of delicious home-style foods. You order your meal off the blackboard behind the counter where staff takes your order, gather your utensils, fetch your beverage, and find a table. They’ll give you a shout when your food is ready.

The selection of hot food is always delicious and cooked right there in plain view. Adjacent to this is a deli counter with standard delicatessen fare and a host of delicious made-on-premises salads. And right next to that, a bakery case of rich homemade treats that is hard to resist. (But I did.) Tasty food, hot coffee, pleasant surroundings and a good friend start the day off right.

Our next stop was right down the road at Melick’s Town Farm, a family owned farm that has been growing fine produce for several generations. Their apple cider can be found almost anywhere in the county, and their main farm stand, where we stopped, carries a great variety of their own fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers, home-baked breads and sweets, and more.

Melick’s has many varieties of apples, and if you don’t want to buy by the bushel or pound, you can buy in 1/2 peck bags.

Only when we were on the way home, did I remember that I’d wanted to buy one of their breads!

What I didn’t photograph at Melick’s Farm, but did succumb to, were a couple of their delicious apple cider doughnuts and one fabulous coffee cake muffin, above. It’s hard to resist homemade.

Once we’d gotten home, we still felt like doing something else, so decided upon a walk. The sky had become a bit overcast, so the autumn hues were not as incandescent as they had been earlier in the sunshine.

Even so, the feel of Fall was in the air.

Along our walk, we passed all kinds of weeds … tiny magenta thistles, miniature daisies of some kind, vines. However, this pod, one of many to be found along the path, was fascinating. Closed, they are soft green, hard-shelled pods, but when open, they push out something akin to cotton. At one point along the way, there was a stand of them, looking to my eye not unlike a landing spot for so many aliens.

They may just be weeds, but even in their texture, they have an interest all their own. Sugar maples are on fire around the next corner.

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. ~Rachel Carson

Journaling

November 6, 2013 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

While I try to blog as often as I can, I truly try to do this every single day … journal. I’d been journaling in the past, but what cinched my greater commitment to it was when I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. She gives her creative readers two assignments, the first of which is to journal daily. I start early and journal first thing before life about me is afoot. Well, right after making coffee and feeding very insistent animals. I curl up and prepare for my day … journal, some spiritual work, enlightening reading … whatever gets me on track.

Journaling and blogging have two entirely different functions. When I blog, I try to bring something enjoyable, enlightening and/or perhaps educational to my visitors. I’d like to make your stopping by worth your while, always knowing not everything I write will appeal to everyone. I enjoy writing and love photography, and hope that what I share appeals in some way.

When I journal? I am doing what Julia Cameron refers to as a “morning dump,” that is, getting rid of all the crap that is running around in my head – whatever needs to be pulled out and gotten rid of. She suggest writing – always by hand, of course – 3 full pages. I have no strict limits, but write until I’m done, when I’ve committed to paper what I don’t want in my head. It’s surprising what a difference it can make to leave our trials and tribulations on the page. It’s quiet when I journal … most are not yet up … this time is mine. And so my day begins.

What do I journal in? That has varied as well, but what I’ve found I prefer most is something with a spiral binding so I can fold it back and write easily while balancing a coffee mug and maybe an earlier-mentioned animal who has their own additions to make to the journaling process. These journals can be had inexpensively at the local supermarket, (see above), or at times I’ve treated myself to a more exotic journal in gold and what looks like silk that I’d gotten from Two Buttons awhile back.

I wholeheartedly recommend journaling for anyone. You don’t have to like writing nor be good at it; you only have to want to clear out your head for the day ahead. It can make a difference. Do I go back and read what I’ve written? Rarely. My journal also isn’t a memoir. Merely a way to make my day a happier and/or more sane one, and who wouldn’t like that?

Halloween

October 31, 2013 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

A little Halloween levity in the neighborhood … Happy Halloween!

The Views

October 29, 2013October 30, 2013 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Driving backroads out my way, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this blog, is a visual feast, but more than that, it is something else. For me, it is nourishment for the soul.

The views I find along my travels feed a part of me that treasures the beauty and peacefulness, and the best part about it is that wherever I go, there they are. The changing of the seasons only adds to the richness of it all.

I wonder, to a fresh set of eyes, do these views appear boring? In our electronic age, where everything moves at the pace of a nanosecond, do they seem stilted or irrelevant? While I commit some of the images to my camera, I am snapping far many more and recording them in my memory. These simple views offset the pace and insistence of the many electronic communications and devices that make up the day.

The wildness of nature or the orderliness of a farmer’s fields … it doesn’t matter … either conspires to awaken in me the knowing that whatever might be happening in life, there is still beauty in my surroundings. It’s in all our surroundings; we only need to stop and look, and take in the view.