A Work in Progress

Colorado Views: Estes, Part 2

Welcome to Estes Park, Colorado!  They are not just famous for the Rocky Mountain National Park.  It is a resort town as well.  I first visited on a family vacation when I was maybe eight.  A trip that I recall very little of, other than we visited the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, which was located there  many years ago.

Don't let this quiet street scene fool you.  I took this on Friday night as we were setting out to have dinner.  A sunny Saturday or Sunday afternoon will find this strip elbow to elbow (almost) with people and bumper to bumper with cars.  Notice the people wearing jackets?  Yes, it was crisp and cool out. 

Here is one of my yearly Estes Park highlights--visiting Macdonald's Bookshop.  It is further up on the main drag (on the other end from the photo above at the top).  Yes, it is as cool as it looks.  Did you take a peek inside?  That entrance houses loads of magazines and their new paperback fiction, where I spent a chunk of time perusing all the new books (deciding on just a couple was as difficult as you imagine it would be!).  It is a wonderful indie bookstore that is literally jam packed with bookish goodness.  They have a most excellent local history section and a wall of postcards.  I could have passed the entire afternoon there.

Can you believe I walked away with only two books (and a bookmark and pin--the other little goodies came from the RMNP visitor center gift shop).  I don't think I had heard of City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg.  How did that happen?  It just came out last month.  It is set in New York City in 1976 (had to have it when I saw the setting).  As you can see it is a big, chunky book that has some interesting elements like photos, drawings as in a graphic novel and what look like handwritten pages pulled from a notebook.  Rolling Stone says it is "a book that is truly that great, rare thing: a wholly inhabitable universe, reflecting back our lives while also offering an exhilarating escape from them."

And a bit of local history.  A writer who spent her childhood summers in Grand Lake, Colorado.  I thought Turquoise Summer by Mary Beth Lagerborg sounded interesting. 

"At the close of World War II, Kansas newspaper editor Frank Hamilton and his wife Jane are taking a long-awaited month's vacation on Grand Lake, Colorado. Frank wants to fly fish. Jane wants to leave her social obligations behind and find a summer passion. They've brought their precocious 11-year-old granddaughter Maggie. A Nancy Drew wannabe, Maggie believes that in a creaky old cabin with a cranky grandmother she must uncover and solve a mystery to make her vacation complete. The Hamilton's capable maid Alma has come to manage Maggie, a task that will take her places she never dreamed she could or ought to go."

It's even signed by the author.  I hope it will be a nice memento for my travels to Colorado and a good story to sink into when I am in need of a little escapism.

Taffy.  I swear there is a taffy store every two doors on that main strip in Estes.  And they almost all give out samples.  I think my favorite is Mexican chocolate, or maybe sea salt caramel.  It certainly is fresh.  I only brought home a very small container of taffy, which I am holding in reserve for moments I really, really need a treat. 

No ice cream in a Danish waffle cone, I'm afraid.  (After all that taffy I couldn't face anymore sugar), but I thought the waffle iron in this window was pretty cool.  If you have a sweet tooth, Estes can be a dangerous place.  I guess the treats come after those long Rocky Mountain hikes perhaps? 

And I discovered this very cool indie coffee shop.  Yes, Raven's Roast Coffee Lounge is a comfy and filled with personality as it looks.  It is tucked away inside a building housing a number of stores and the Estes Park Weaver's Guild (!), which I also visited, but I am saving my weaving news for another day. 

And now back to business as usual for me.  Time to catch up on books.  Back to regular bookishness next time around!

Colorado Views (Finally Fall!), Part 1

Is it just me, or is it a little disorienting to come home after even a very abbreviated vacation?  I had the most picture perfect, beautiful fall day at the Rocky Mountain National Park on Saturday.  It was one of my high points (literally in this photo!) during my semi-long weekend in Estes Park, Colorado.  Of course you probably already know it is the centennial anniversary of the National Parks in the US this year, though RMNP celebrated their centennial in 2015. 

We happened to visit on one of their free entrance weeks, so the park was quite busy.  They obviously did a lot of planning and coordinating, so despite a massive influx of park visitors things ran quite smoothly.  They have a wonderful shuttle system which cuts down on park traffic as visitors are expected (and during the busiest part of the day) park their cars in special lots and then hop on one of the many shuttles. 

The weather was absolutely perfect.  It is crisp and cool in the mornings, when the sun comes out it warms up nicely without being overly hot and there was no humidity.  I could sit in the sunshine and bask and read and enjoy the view.  In the evening it would cool down once again.  I was happy I brought long sleeves and a nice light fleecy jacket as I did a lot of peeling off of layers over the course of the day.  Sadly I left Estes yesterday morning with their wonderful fall weather and arrived back in Omaha to summer--storms, humidity, heat, and oh, did I mention humidity?  I am beginning to despair it ever changing seasons here (it will make a great leap from summer to winter).  I optimistically set out long sleeves to wear to work, but then reassess when I see the forecast and opt for a light tee-shirt instead. 

But you want to see pictures, right, and not hear me moan about the weather.  I promise not to bore you too much with vacation photos, but I seem to have taken quite a few so I will divide them up into two posts (and another to share my weaving later in the week).

My newest RMNP discovery (there are so many trails to explore there and at the end of each one is a gorgeous lake or waterfall) is Nymph Lake.  It is an easy trail to hike and a relatively quick one to get to. 

The photo at the very top is taken overlooking Nymph Lake, which you can get to via this path.  It is possible to continue on to Dream Lake, but as my mom and sister were waiting for me (we split up and planned to meet back after an hour or so), I had to curb my enthusiasm.  I think I am more interested in hiking than the rest of my family, but I was pleased to see something new anyway.

We spent most of the day at Sprague Lake, which was last year's great find.  It's just a very peaceful place to relax.  It sits next to a campground and picnic area (we brought our own picnic and spent the rest of the afternoon there).  Lots of people were fishing, which must have been a great draw in the 1920s when there was a lodge located there.  It catered to guests who wanted a rustic vacation in the mountain and a place to fish for trout.  I especially like the last photo that shows the puffy clouds in the pristine surface.

I actually saw a bit of wildlife this time around, though I only managed to take a very few photos.  The doe we spotted at Sprague Lake happily munching away and not at all bothered by our picnicking.  There were loads of chipmunks in the park and I saw this little guy (I think it is just a squirrel) on one of my morning walks.  We stayed in the same cabins we do every year that sits on the Fall River (you can hear the rushing water from inside!) and there is a tiny museum just down the road perhaps half a mile away that I like to walk to.  I came across my little friend one morning.  Of course the morning I left my camera behind I saw three elk (males butting heads/antlers), a rafter of wild turkeys (I had to look that up . . .), lots of crows, and two coyote pups (though I they could have been wolf pups?) crossing the road.  Well, they seemed more like they were frolicking to be honest.  And birds.  Lots of lots of birds, including bluejays (or whatever the local equivalent is).  So, very picturesque in a variety of ways.

Part two in the next day or two.  I might have to get in a little bookishness first.

Mountain Streams (and Lakes) Beckon!

And I am off to the mountains for the weekend!  So few days away but so much thought and planning--kind of crazy . . . someday I will pack a tiny bag that consists of only one change of clothes and one book . . . but not this weekend apparently.  I am still contemplating whether to swap out one book for another.  Fear of not having just the right reading material.  But then when you have a view like the ones above . . .  anything I choose to read will only be a pleasure to read in such a setting.

I'll be back next week to share all my adventures.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend no matter the view, but always in the hope you have a good book in hand!

August 25: Reading Notes

Potential vacation reading?  Wishful thinking?  Yes, I'd say so, and then some.  I hadn't realized the pile of books "I might take with me on vacation" had grown to such proportions.  The stack on the left is made up of in progress books and the stack on the right are reading possibilities.  The idea is to take two or three (depending on how far along I am in the book and how long I think it will take me to finish them) books I am in the middle of and allow myself one (One!) new book to start while I am away as a little treat.  Sheesh, how am I possibly going to whittle these down now?

So, I've whittled the pile down to a possible eight?  That seems an awful lot--seven with one not as yet chosen book to start while away.  Now a further whittling down to just half that number.  You never know I might buy a book or two while I am there as there is a most wonderful little independent bookstore in Estes Park that I am sure to spend a little time in as well.  And then I have my stitching to take along and my just received mini pin loom to try my hand at.  Oh, yeah, and we'll be doing things there, too.   Part of the fun of a vacation is the anticipation of having nice things to do, and then choosing whether to do them or not.  It's all good and the best part is a change of scenery.

I had such good intentions to write about a few of the books I recently finished, but now I have pushed those plans back for later.  And as my mind is already on the road so to speak I will just share a few interesting links I have come across in the last few days:

You know I love mysteries, and even the occasional true crime (usually the sort with a Victorian or historical slant) as well.  Apparently it is "offically hot" now.

I'm more of a comfort read sort of reader and am just as happy to pick up a low brow novel as a high brow (and probably more of the former than the latter to be honest), well, here you go, in defense of "trash".  I agree that "pleasures should never be guilty".  Thank you.

Epistolary novels?  Yes, I like them and here you go, a list of 100 must-reads.  I see a number of titles I recognize but probably more that I don't!

The very last thing I need to even consider is spending money, but maybe I need to put this cool library tote on my holiday wishlist.

And check out this cool yoga/literary life poster.  You have to love it when all your outside pleasures come together in such a creative way.

Now I guess I better tackle that pile of books and make my choices.   

Weaving in Fiction and Nonfiction

Why do things by halves?  The pleasure of almost any activity can be doubled when you can read about it as well as do it.  So, a new creative path is my learning to weave and now I have to read about it, too.  Actually it was Susan's comment that made the light bulb go off in my head.  Yes, Homer, The Odyssey and Penelope's endless weaving to stave off all those suitors.  She has been rereading the book and I have been wanting to read the book properly.  I read parts of it in school a very long time ago and have wanted to read both the Iliad and Odyssey for several years now.  The idea was to make a project of it, and read nonfiction, retellings, maybe even listen to them on audio as well as read the stories.  Maybe this is the moment when I need to just pick up the book and dive in rather than continually wait until I feel ready . . .

I know Penelope was weaving in The Odyssey, but I think there are weaving references in The Iliad as well.  I know it likely doesn't matter whether I read the books "in order" or if I read them together, but I like to keep things tidy, so I think I have to start with The Iliad.  Now the question, do I read the Robert Fagles translation or the recent new translation by Peter Green?

And then there is Ovid's Metamorphoses (another wannareadthistoo book) who recounts the myth of Philomela and her loom.

I read Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad almost ten years ago and it is definitely time to read it again and with a sharper eye since I didn't seem to particularly like Penelope and failed to even acknowledge how she put off her suitors.  I think I would come at it from a very different frame of reference now.

In thinking of novels with weavers or spinners the first one to come to mind was Anita Amirrezvani's The Blood of Flowers set in 17th-century Persia about a young woman who designs (and weaves, too?) carpets.  Yes, I shake my head at myself, but I have not yet read the book even though I have owned it since it came out in paperback.  (The beauty of a personal library is that you have books on hand that will have their day--their moment in the sun so to speak).  Maybe I will take one of these on vacation . . . yes, I am still thinking about which combination of books appeals most.

And then there are two perfect nonfiction titles that I eagerly bought, but haven't had quite the right mood for them.  I think all of a sudden they are just the right books for the right time--Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years, Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times by Elizabeth Wayland Barber.  I have been learning a little about weaving and cloth and I know what an important commodity it has been through time.  Literally, wars have been fought over it.  It would pair quite nicely with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth.  For some reason Laurel Ulrich Thatcher's works in general have always seemed somewhat daunting, but now looking at the book I am eager to read her.

Great places to start with my reading and so many broad sources.  Of course if any other good books come to mind about weaving or any aspect of cloth--either novels or nonfiction no matter the time period, please do share.  I am also searching for images of weaving, so this will be an exciting literary and creative journey. 

And a little tease--the two balls of yarn you see sitting on top of my books just happens to be the colors I am using for my new weaving project!  Sorry for the poor quality of photo, but you can at least get an idea.  Green and earth tones in general are my very favorite colors!

Adventures in Weaving, Part 1

I've been taking weaving classes at my local museum, which have been offered in conjunction with their current Sheila Hicks exhibit.  Sheila Hicks was born in Hastings, Nebraska but has been living in Paris for the last forty years or so.  She began as a painter but has been working with fiber and thread in her art and it is really amazing--visually stunning pieces that are so gorgeous and tactile you wish you could reach out your hands and run them over the work.   

The museum offers classes to enhance their exhibits, so when I heard they were offering weaving classes I had to sign up.  I have long wanted to work more directly with textiles and weaving has been sort of off-limits as it seems hard to learn and requires equipment that is expensive and must need proper instruction to use. 

I am learning a type of weaving which is done on a backstrap loom, which you can see above as practiced by my teacher who is of an ethnic group known as Karen, now living in the refugee community here in Omaha.  She is originally from Myanmar (Burma) where the longest civil war is still going on.  The museum paired with the Refugee Empowerment Center in Omaha to help spread the women's skills offering them the opportunity to teach and interact with the larger Omaha community.  Many Karen women get together on Saturdays at the center to weave and hopefully will be able to sell their work and make a profit eventually.  Their work is beautiful and they are so very skilled that even with the challenge of communicating we are all learning to weave despite language obstacles.  She and the other ladies can just look at a student's work and fix problems and help with the warping and show us the weaving process.  It has been a wonderful experience and I have enjoyed it so much I am now taking a second session and hope perhaps to be able to spend some Saturdays at the center working on other weaving projects.  In addition to learning something I have long been interested in (a natural progression from needlework) I think it is also really good for the brain to learn something new like this--no doubt all those neural connections (or whatever happens in the brain when you use it in a new and different way) surely must be firing up every time I work on my weaving. 

Here I am.  The loom consists of wooden rods that hold the warp and you tie them around your back (hence backstrap loom) and use your body to adjust tension while weaving.  It seems like such a simplified loom, but it works quite efficiently and you can create really beautiful work.  Sheila Hicks learned backstrap weaving in South America (this type of weaving is also done in Guatemala and you may well be familiar with those designs and patterns).  Rods or the plastic tubing as you see above are used to separate the threads, so you can shift back and forth and weave your thread through creating the weft. 

I must admit it really took some time for me to wrap my head around the process and I am doing on the very, very basic type of weaving as I learn.  One color and no designs, which you can see (a simplified design) on my teacher's loom.  Many of the works woven by the ladies were shown to us when we started the class.  Maybe someday I might be able to branch out to more detailed work.   To be honest when I was first learning I was almost ready to give up as I just could not "see" how those threads were separating and how I had to move my shaft through to weave.  I could understand and mimic, but I had no clue what was happening and feared I would never be able to  just do it on my own without someone guiding me at first.  I am still a complete and total newbie, but I feel like it is slowly making more and more sense and am hoping to keep learning new skills.

For now, however, just the basics.  This is my first piece of woven cloth.  You can see the separation of threads and where the shaft is pulled through.  I ran out of black (I just used the thread that was at hand--this is mercerized cotton thread used for crochet) and so had to pick up some royal blue to continue.  It is really all very intricate and there is so much to learn and think about.  Not only the weaving process but the choice of materials and color and how they all work together.

This is me weaving away.  I have since finished the length of cloth--we'll call it a scarf . . .  And now I am working on making the tassles at the end.  Photos to come of the finished piece.

These are two in progress photos of the weaving.  Can you believe I made this?  It kind of stuns me to think about and this is really, really basic weaving.  I want to do more and learn more patterns and try my hand at more vibrant color combinations or textures.  Now I have to find someone to help me construct the loom.  The museum had a carpenter make the looms we are working with now and they will be donated to the empowerment center when we finish to give the women more looms to work with. 

And how cool is this?  That is my weaving all rolled up and tied into the backstrap.  Not only a simple loom but entirely portable, too.

I am now working on my second project, which I have taken photos of--so I can share the whole process now that it is starting to actually click in my mind.  The warping is a tricky business but almost the most important part since it creates the structure of your weaving.  So, that will be part two, which I will share later.

I also have invested in a pin loom, which is a tiny loom, which is even more portable and is worked in hand.  Remember those tin looms that we used to make pot holders on?  I had one, or rather my grandmother did and I used to mess with it at her house when we visited.  I am hoping it comes before I go to Colorado so I can take it with me.  I even went yesterday and chose some inexpensive acrylic yarn to practice with on my very first loom (maybe someday I will have a big, floor loom--now wouldn't that be cool?).

Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

Molly Bolt is one of the most genuine, funny and delightful heroines in all of literature for me.  She's spirited and sassy and I would be pleased to have her as a friend.  She has then, been added to the official roster of most favorite characters of mine.  If I could snap my fingers and make her appear or if I could sit next to her at a dinner party I would do so in a heart-beat.  The Molly Bolt I speak of is Rita Mae Brown's creation in her, what surely must have reached iconic status by now (or at least the label modern classic), novel Rubyfruit Jungle.  The book was published in 1973 and I wonder what the reading public must have made of it back then.

In Brown's introduction she tells the reader that if her book helped make us feel we are not alone--good, and if she made us laugh, even better.  My story may not be exactly like Molly's, but her wish for a happy and fulfilling life doing the things she loves certainly makes me feel like my own searching is not so unlike others'.  And darn if I didn't laugh out loud reading this book.  Sometimes so much so, that I had to look around and see if people were giving me odd stares.  It's not often that a story brings the sort of tears to my eyes that come hand in hand with a smile. 

I think what I admire so much about Molly Bolt is that she is utterly true to herself and unapologetically so.  That is something we should all strive for.  She was true to herself in a time when it was not much accepted to march to the beat of your own drummer.  In an ignominious moment of argument with her mother, she discovers she is not in fact her blood daughter but a bastard and anytime someone calls someone else a bastard it means the person was bad.  Orphaned and a hoyden on top of it all.  She runs with the boys and can outwit them and outargue them.  This is Molly's response when a classmate tells her she can't be a doctor:

"I got to be the doctor because I'm the smart one and being a girl don't matter."

"You'll see.  You think you can do what boys do but you're going to be a nurse, no two ways about it.  It doesn't matter about brains, brains don't count.  What counts is whether you're a boy or a girl."

And in 1950s America that was probably true, but Molly doesn't buy into it.  Her dreams and her lifestyle are not at all "conventional", but she never tries to be someone she is not.  That surely must even now give readers pause and comfort.  As a matter of fact despite seeming so unconventional she is actually quite normal, however paradoxical that sounds.  She has no hang ups about what she wants or who she wants.  Her cousin Leroy, with whom she has a close relationship growing up tells her he doesn't care how she wants to be (like riding just the sort of motorcycle he most wants), but then he gets confused--"how do I know how to act if you act the same way?"  And she tells him, "what Goddamn difference does it make to you what I do?  You do what you want and I do what I want." 

For a young girl, raised by a stepmother who wishes she would act properly and a stepfather who loves her unconditionally, in a closed-minded and dirt-poor environment, Molly turns out to be well-grounded.  It's not how she sees the world but how the world treats her.  She shows a strength and resilience that can be hard to come by for many of us. 

"I had no mother, no father, no roots, no biological similarities called sisters and brothers.  And for a future I didn't want a split-level home with a station wagon, pastel refrigerator, and a houseful of blonde children evenly spaced through the years. I didn't want to walk into the pages of McCall's magazine and become the model housewife.  I didn't even want a husband or any man for that matter.  I wanted to go my own way.  That's all I think I ever wanted, to go my own way and maybe find some love here and there.  Love, but not the now and forever kind with chains around your vagina and a short circuit in your brain.  I'd rather be alone."

I wonder if not having those close family ties was less a hindrance for Molly and perhaps more a help since she had no context to worry about, no added pressure to be one of a group.  She could invent or reinvent herself in a way most pleasing.  This is a book that should be widely read, maybe everyone should read it.  It's a reminder that what matters is what's inside--intentions and truth.  And that not everyone's story is the same and that is okay.  Life is never neat and tidy and people don't fit into easy categories.  By the end of the story Molly has only made a small step into her future life, confronted almost immediately by obstacles due to her sex.  As characters go, she certainly holds up well over time and I only hope that forty years on her wished for ending and the struggle to achieve her dreams has been overcome and reached.  Something tells me that even if she hadn't by the end of the story she would always be hopeful.

"Leroy bet me I couldn't find a pot of gold at the end, and I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough."

August 18: Reading Notes

 

In the ever changing world of my reading, books and reading phases come and go.  While my enthusiasm has not waned, reality has set in and the realization that poor Forever Amber is just too hefty to carry about with me.  Before I get too far into the story (I made it about three chapters--the King has returned and Amber . . . now a fallen woman . . . has talked one of the King's chevaliers into taking her to London) and before it gets really juicy, I've decided I need to rethink my reading.  My reading you will have already surmised, is constantly shifting.  Forever Amber is the sort of book that requires more attention than I am able to offer it.  It is not hard reading, but the sheer size of the book means I need to give it constant and steady attention if I want to finish it this year.  I've decided I would rather give that attention to my NYRBs and so have quietly set Amber aside for the time being and someday I will return to her adventures.

That said, I think I am ready to wrap up my summer 1970s reading and move on to a new path.  I'll finish the few books I have in progress and will hopefully write soon about a couple of other finishes, but now that summer is coming to a close, I am in the mood for something new.  And for once I think I didn't do too badly, a handful of books read and more potential reads later on.  I'll keep reading books with that setting for a while I imagine, but maybe not make such pointed choices as I go for the rest of this year.

Now, though, I am reading Akhil Sharma's Family Life and am thoroughly engaged with the story and the young narrator, a boy whose brother has had a swimming accident and now lies in the hospital totally unresponsive.  The family are recent immigrants from India, so it is a particularly interesting look into how one family deals with their grief and tries (maybe not very successfully) to stay together.   I read an excerpt from the novel a couple of years ago in the New Yorker and wrote about it here.  I meant to read more by Sharma, or pick up this book, and when I recently noticed it was out in paper I decided now was the moment and indeed it has clicked with me.  I have not read much in the way of Indian/Indian-American literature (Arundhati Roy, Manil Suri being the two writers who come fastest to mind), so this is a new place for me to explore in my reading.  Of course, if you have any favorites, please do share.  I have ordered several books and have found a few more on my shelves, so maybe I will write about them here in the near future.  This is just a new trajectory for me, no special reading plans but I will see where the books take me.

One of my disappointments this year is my feeble attempts at keeping up with my New Yorker stories.  The year I discovered Sharma's writing was a great year for stories but I can't seem to keep up this year.  Short stories are always such a great place to start with a new writer.  My intentions are good, but I just can't seem to keep on track with some aspects of my reading life these days.  I have been reading short stories, but mostly they are in the form of collections and anthologies.  I wonder if it is even possible to catch up on a whole half year's worth of New Yorker stories anyway.  I have access to their digital archives . . . maybe I should count, make a list and then start crossing them off as I go?  Or is that just yet another exercise in list making?  (What would I do, how would I organize my life if I couldn't make lists?!).

One good note, I actually won a book!  I get so many newsletters in my email inbox and there are often giveaways, which I sometimes will enter without any hope of actually winning anything.  However, good luck as not only did I win a book, but it is one I want to read but as it was a library book (and as you might know I am going to focus less on library books than my own TBR piles of books for the remainder of the year), it went back unread.  Now I can read Suzanne Feldman's Absalom's Daughters at my leisure!

I am getting very used to just sharing daily reading notes and might continue this trend for a while . . .

And yes, I must leave you with a new book list to tempt you: Women in Translation-31 Books to Read Now!

Just a Little Bookish Randomness

Serendipity, or it's a sign maybe, but I am back into my daily reading of Teffi's Memories and lo and behold this morning I came across this article about the book!

"What makes Memories so extraordinary is that amid the uncertainty, horror, sorrow, and fear, Teffi still acknowledges and vividly depicts moments of levity, humor, and even pure joy."

Aside from being happy to be back among my NYRBs once again, I am happy to be reading my own books and books in translation.  It sort of feels like my reading is being realigned and I am feeling less scattered.  And as the quote says, there are indeed moments of levity in the reading despite knowing she was fleeing from civil war. Like Eleanor Perenyi's book, this feels like a snapshot of a lost time and place and I can begin to see it in my mind playing out like one of those old B&W movies.   

By the way, despite being several books behind in reading, I did read January-April, so half of what has been sent on subscription was read and enjoyed (though not yet all the books have been written about properly . . . one thing at a time, I guess).

***

Have you come across the literary magazine, Freeman's: The Best New Writing on . . . and this second issue is "Arrival"?  How did I miss it?  The "Arrival" issue is actually the inaugural issue and a new one has just been released, which I also have on my reading pile.  The subject matter of the newest issue is "Family".  I'm thrilled to discover this and not only just discover it, but get in on the ground floor as it would be.  They don't seem to have a website dedicated to the journal, but it is published by Grove Atlantic (so no subscription option now?).   Here's the librarian in me looking at the CIP on the verso page of the title page, but I don't see any publishing information.  It appears it will be a biannual, however.

It's chock full of, yay, short fiction and short stories and essays, and there is even a photo essay.  Lots of new authors to discover and old authors to try or enjoy once again.  This issue has work by a variety of writers from Kamila Shamsie and Helen Simpson to Etgar Keret and Dave Eggers.  I have been dragging it about with me in my bookbag to read pieces here and there.  Really this is the perfect book to carry about on errands and to the gym and on the bus.  Shorter works that are easily consumable in short periods free for reading.  I know short stories are not everyone's cup of tea, but they are really the perfect solution for people who just try and squeeze in a little reading whenever they can!

***

And you know I have to share a book list with you!  Here's another one that I very much like: 25 Books to Read Before You Die: World Edition.  Yes, twenty-five works in translation.  Yikes, I've only read two, but I have several more on my TBR piles.  One of the second-half-of-2016 reading goals is to get in as many more works in translation as I can get (always helped along by those lovely NYRBs). 

***

And I shall end on a happy note . . . just a little over a week to go until I have my mini-vacation to Colorado.  I have not picked up any Colorado-inspired books like I thought and hoped, but maybe there is still time between now and then.  I am taking mostly books from my in progress piles (or something from that little pile of languishing book--that I started this year and have not read in far too long), but I am allowing myself one new book as a treat and you should see my "longlist of vacation reading possibilities"!  I will share my choices sometime between now and then.  Not only do I have vacation anticipation, but reading anticipation, too!

Two Samplers and a Quaker Heart: WiPs

My last regular needlework update was back in early July (it is still warm and humid, but it was hotter and stickier back then).  I am still stitching but I've been taking a little break from my Spring Sampler.  This was my progress last time around.

I was afraid a comparison photo would depress me, but as it turns out there really was a little progress between those stitching sessions.  Now I actually feel like getting back to it after all.

Before my sampler hiatus I thought I might feel reinvigorated by starting my Summer Sampler, and I did get in a few stitches before deciding that I wanted something radically different (colors, size and design) for a little break.

Y voilá.  I decided I wanted to pick up my little long-abandoned Quaker Heart.  This is what it looked like before resuming work, so I have actually made some real progress on it. 

Curiously this is considered the back of the little cushion, and the medallion (above photo--the little motifs on the right side I am now working on) side is the front.  For me the reverse seems the best order.  I've stitched this design before using a red variegated floss finished as a cushion with seed beads around the outer edge. 

My plan this time around is to finish it in a "mattress" style pincushion, which should be interesting with its heart shape, and then have some writing going around the band on the flat outer edge.  I'm not quite sure what yet--maybe a few single words or a line from a poem.  In any case I am very much enjoying working on this.  I love the colors.  This is a cotton variegated floss, which is called "India".  What do you think--does it give a sense of the country?  The colors are fairly close to real in this photo, though the purple shade is a much richer shade that looks more pink in the photo.  

Since I am enjoying working on this "work in progress--or WiP", I might pick up another abandoned project and rescue it as well this year.  The seasonal samplers are waiting patiently in the wings, but I will get back to them this year still (and then there is the Fall Sampler to think about, too). 

I do have photos from my weaving adventures and will share them soon.