Peace in Poetry

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 
~ Wendell Berry

Weekending Down by the Water

The photos are neither close-up nor clear, and I think the audio and video are also pretty bad, so you'll just have to take my word for it. This concert was absolutely great and seeing The Decemberists in Ithaca made for the best weekend I've had in a long time!

Across America Part V

Last week we were leaving Yellowstone, and heading to visit some good friends in Lincoln, Montana, former home of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. It's also the home to a whole town of great people who know how to celebrate the Fourth of July. Even though we didn't get there until July 7th, they were still celebrating with fireworks, a rodeo, and plenty of beer.

I don't have a lot of regrets in my life, but there is one that comes to mind - that I don't have a photo of Justin in the greased pig contest at the rodeo. Try to imagine about 20 little boys running around in the mud trying to catch a very fast and very slippery little pig that had been greased with lard, and as silly as the whole idea sounds, you'll have a good mental picture. No one was successful except for the pig who did not get caught.

We spend a wonderful few days with our friends, but there were 2,308 miles that we had to drive back east. Remember all those swimming pool photos we took heading westward? Here are some more on the way home, along with a few others for variety.

A stop in Sidney, Nebraska so the boys could "drive" boats in Cabela's parking lot:

Swimming in North Platte, Nebraska:

Riding a dinosaur in Des Moines, Iowa:

Excitement about catching a fish in Oxford, Iowa:

Swimming in Oberlin, Ohio:

And home, 5,856 miles later.

It really was an epic trip, one that I'm glad we took. John still teases me about buying another RV so the two of us can travel around the country when we retire. I haven't yet told him that this trip was really so wonderful, I might even consider doing it again.

Thanks for sticking with me for five installments of Across America!

Think Write Thursday

The Think Write Thursday topic for today is to tell you about a book I wish I could read again for the first time.

I had to give careful consideration to a few books before I arrived at my final choice. The first one I thought of was The Shell Seekers. I always remember how reading it the first time made me feel. It's a family saga with such gorgeous descriptions of domestic life, food, flowers, gardens, and cottages that I wanted to move to England and buy a thatched cottage with a conservatory. (Plus, it's one of my favorite covers ever.)

The next book I thought about was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. This one is also based on a feeling, the delighted feeling of anticipation I had when my local bookseller put a copy into my hands and said, "You must read this." He knew my reading tastes incredibly well and told me to go home, read it, and come back when I was done and we could talk about it. I was back two days later, and I will always thank Larry for introducing me to the wizarding world. The feeling grew when Ryan was old enough to be interested in the books and we attended lots of midnight release parties together at the book store and read the Harry Potter series side by side. Life was good until Borders moved in and Larry just couldn't compete. His knowledge of books was vast, but sadly that didn't pay the bills and I couldn't afford to buy enough from him to keep him in business. 

But the book that I really wish I could read again for the first time (now that I've told you about three instead of choosing only one) is Still Alice. My mother had brain metastases when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and because of this, she underwent many personality changes and had a whole host of Alzheimer's-like symptoms. I read this book seven years after my mother died, but Lisa Genova's writing was so medically and emotionally descriptive that reading the book gave me an incredible feeling of comprehension. Genova is a neuroscientist and Still Alice made me feel like I finally understood what my mother might have gone through, even if she wasn't able to tell me herself. It was a bittersweet moment, but one I truly value.

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Read other Think ... Write ... Thursday! posts here, and sign up for Carole and Kat's great idea here.

Unraveled Wednesday

What a pleasure it is to sit down to write a post, know what I'm going to write about, and have those things (reading and knitting) be important parts of my life. Join Kat for her Unraveled Wednesday and unravel the stories you are reading and share your crafting inspiration – knitting, crochet, spinning, sewing, quilting, weaving, drawing, watercolors ... 

My reading has been the slow savoring of Katrina Kenison's Moments of Seeing. I've read several of her books before and when I came upon this collection of essays from her blog, I knew it was the right book at the right time for me. Her writing really speaks to me, partly because we're in the same stage of life (our kids grown and gone and we're wondering what now?) but mainly because she is simply an excellent writer. Along with this book, I've also been s l o w l y working on my Serena socks. All things in their own time ...

My main knitting has been my Peace Cowl, and it is doing its job. The past week has been a good news/bad news/worse news kind of week, and I've found myself furiously purling and fiercely slipping stitches. I replaced my beginning-of-round marker with a little heart and by the time I reach it, I'm usually calmed down a bit and feeling more peaceful. This knitting paired with listening to The Shell Seekers (one of my favorite "peaceful" books) has reminded me to relax, breathe, and try not to overreact. Not bad for some yarn, needles, a small heart, and an ipod!

What are you reading and knitting this week?

Beartown

Yesterday I mentioned reading Beartown over the weekend, and quite a few people asked questions about the book. It's only the beginning of April, but I think it will be in serious contention for one of the best books I read in 2017, so I'm going to share my review here.

Whatever happens to the ice hockey team happens to the whole town on the edge of the woods. Jobs have disappeared, and tiny Beartown is gasping its last breath. Years ago a hockey rink was built by the men who worked in the factory, and hockey has become Beartown's salvation, but it may also exact a huge price upon everyone who lives there. The junior ice hockey team is readying to compete in the national semifinals and the hopes of the whole town are tied up with the players and their skates.

I really have almost zero interest in sports, but have loved several of Fredrik Backman's previous novels, so even though I thought it was about hockey, I was anxious to read his newest, Beartown. Hockey does figure largely in this novel, but the genius in Backman's book is how well he writes the stories of the characters that play hockey and live in Beartown. I was amazed that Backman could make me care about hockey enough to be totally immersed in the practices, games, and their outcomes, but what he really made me care about is the characters, their lives, and stories.

People like Peter, the general manager of the hockey club, Kira, his wife, and Maya his daughter. Sune, the coach of Beartown's A-team since Peter was a boy, but who is now on the verge of being fired. Kevin, star hockey player, golden son of a wealthy family whose expectations of Kevin become more important then Kevin himself. Benji, Amat and his mother are part of the whole host of people who live and play hockey in Beartown, and each one of their stories and their interactions is remarkable and well-told.

Hockey is the star in Beartown itself, but Backman’s characters are the stars of Beartown the novel. The story can be dark, but the love, sacrifice, teamwork, friendship, and family that Backman writes so well are what make this such a compelling read. I loved A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie was Here, but with Beartown, Backman has matured and improved upon his successful formula of writing about a quirky character to something even more wonderful. This is his best book yet, and may be one of the best books I read in 2017.

My clumsy use of Google translate has produced this wonderful news from Mr. Backman's blog post of March 24:

"Bear City" came out last fall, it is probably the most personal I have written and definitely the most difficult. It is out there in the big pocket now comes in standard paperback in a few months. In late August, I give out the sequel. It will be called “Vi mot er” (We Are Against You) and set during six months after the "Bear City". 

I can hardly wait!

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book.

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Beartown is due to be published in the US on April 25th, and you can enter the giveaway by Atria books here on Goodreads through April 16. I have preordered a hardcover copy so I can re-read it, underline passages, and dog-ear pages. I haven't felt this way about a book since The Nix and The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, and I hope you get a chance to read Beartown if it sounds like a book that might interest you. 

I'd love to hear your suggestions for what I should read next!

Weekending ... Now With More Bees!

It rained here all day Saturday, but that provided me with a great day for reading,

and baking some chocolate chip cookies.

When the clouds began to clear around sunset, the sky was lovely and dramatic.

A sunny Sunday gave me a great reason to knit on the porch, and wander around the park looking for budding trees to hang my knitting on.

I was admiring my grape hyacinths when I noticed lots of movement ... bees! I got so excited to see them that I took lots of pictures. Some of them are hard to find at first, but every picture has a bee collecting pollen. 

This was certainly not a wild and crazy weekend, but a good book, warm cookies, beautiful skies,

 some knitting, and bees sure made me happy. Hope you had a good one, too!