Amaryllis sillyramA

I miss Douglas Adams and all the books he would have written. The other night when we had to go to the ER (M. messed up his hand when a piece of the new ceiling tried to fall on our heads – it’s getting better now) I brought Adams’s book Last Chance to See for in case there was a long wait. Even though I’m in the middle of other books. That one was right for the occasion. If you can call it an occasion. Such a great book.

I miss Primo Levi and I’m still mad at him. The Periodic Table is essential reading.

I’ve finished some more books recently but now I don’t know what they are. I’ll have to go home and look at the stack.

But wait! Here are a few (I cheated and looked at the in-progress list).
Blindness (Saramago) — a crazy book.
the pleasure of my company (Martin) — pat but good — I don’t have a big problem with happy endings. Now I’ve got to read Shopgirl.

And! A couple of Augusten Burroughs items. Magical Thinking, which was funny and great and which caused me to immediately seek his other stuff, and so Running with Scissors, which was funny and depressing as all get out. So glad my mom isn’t crazy.

Will hear the rest of Angels and Demons on the next drive to and from the Oregon coast. Lucky we are, we get to go there for Christmas.

Today A. found a postcard tucked in a book that was ready to be shelved. The picture is Francesco Clemente’s “Oblation” and it is very nice to look at. If only I could find a poster of the image.

Definitely the best find of the week — especially when you throw in the sweet note on the back from a mother to her son. Fortunately we think we can track down the owner of the card even though all we have to go on is a first name.

Unbelievable. December 2004. That’s just so weird.

Early in the morning I wake up and look out and it’s just gray gray gray. Almost every day this week. At least that means I get a little more sleep (instead of jumping up and taking dozens of pictures of the sunrise). And seeing as how I am in full hibernation mode, that is a good thing.

M. is in handyman mode. He is putting walls and a ceiling in the laundry room. It is extremely exciting. The rest of the basement is next. Whee!

We went to a party at Cat’s last night and it was fun! Visited with Cat. Met some fine people. One of them amuses himself by driving people around in a Checker cab (a gorgeous one) for free: freeridecabs.com

And another person we met looked like Avery Brooks. I didn’t tell him that though.

Thanksgiving was lovely — a fun time at my folks’ house where there is a NEW PUPPY of all things. And a fun time on the Oregon coast. We went hunting for chanterelles! And then Thomas cooked them up, and they were just like candy. He and Erica sent us home with a bag of them, and I cooked them the way they said to, and they turned out wonderfully. Only they (the chanterelles) made little screaming sounds while they were being sauteed. “eeeeeeeeeeee! don’t hurt us pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!” is what they said. But I had to. I had no choice.