Goals

With how crazy the past few weekends have been, is it any surprise that this one is lining up to be just as filled with wacky fun? I have only been in town for one of the past four weekends and will be out of town next weekend as well in Boise for an art show with my dad. Last weekend, we went to Leavenworth (not the prison, the Bavarian village) for a fun day with our friends, the Browns, and emerged pooped but happy. And I bought some lovely alpaca yarn for an even lovelier price, part of which I have been making a scarf for myself from a pattern on knitty.com.

But my sister in law and her best friend are coming down this Saturday for the three day weekend and I am also supposed to wrangle my grandmother’s cat while my brother is gone hiking and my grandmother is gone to a Bible conference on the west side of the state. And there is much much much I need to do – miles to go before I sleep. Here’s hoping that posting will get me more motivated:

1. Pick up the check from the bank for our new car’s title. (I will try and post pictures of Cordie the Accord at month’s end post).
2. Finish putting away our camping supplies which have been utilized repeatedly this month. This job will include…
3. Reorganizing the guest room closet to fit aforementioned camping supplies inside.
4. Washing sheets and towels from guest room.
5. Finish our laundry so I can wash those sheets and towels.
6. Clean up floor of guest room after cat mayhem and vacuum.
7. Clean guest room bathroom, including sweeping and mopping floor.
8. Straighten living room and vacuum.
9. Mop kitchen.
10. Put away plethora of er…crap on the stairs and vacuum.
11. Return library books which are threatening overdue fines…
12. Write reviews of those books so they can be returned.

Fun times ahead for me. Fuuuuuuuun times.

Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Who wrote this book and when?
Katherine Anne Porter published this in 1939.

Has there been a film version?
Not that I am aware of.

Who are the important characters?
There are three novellas in this book:
Old Mortality
Miranda and Maria – two young girls at the turn of the century
Aunt Amy – a beautiful woman who is the girls’ aunt, she is dead but lead a wildly exciting life
Uncle Gabriel – Amy’s husband
Aunt Eva – a suffragette who grew up with Amy

Noon Wine
Mr. Thompson – a dairy farmer
Mrs. Thompson – a sickly woman, mother of two boys, and Mr. Thompson’s wife…obviously
Mr. Helton – the hired hand at the dairy farm, he loves the quiet and his harmonicas, he is a very hard worker with a mysterious past

Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Miranda – a newspaper woman who is a little obsessed with the war and death, also the Miranda from “Old Mortality” now grown up
Adam – a soldier about to leave for the war

What’s it about?
Old Mortality: the story of Amy as she is viewed by her great niece, Miranda. Amy was supposed to be a tragic beauty who married without love and died early from a broken heart. But Miranda discovers there is more to the story.

Noon Wine: The Thompson dairy farm is revitalized when a mysterious man shows up and asks for work. Mr. Helton doesn’t talk much and seems only interested in working and playing the same song on the harmonica. The Thompsons consider him a Godsend until a man shows up who knows all about Mr. Helton’s sketchy past and changes everything.

Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Miranda works for the newspaper and is frustrated with the war and all the senseless death it brings. She has become involved with a young soldier named Adam who is resigned to dying in the war. When Miranda catches influenza in the epidemic of 1918, she details her near death experience for us.

Why is this book a classic/bestseller?
I’m not exactly sure except that it’s powerfully and beautifully written and that it seems to be a treatise on death…which is usually interesting.

Do I recommend you read this book?
*shrug* It’s good but not stellar.

How did this book make my list?
I don’t remember.

Has it won any awards?
I don’t think so…

Favorite quotes:
“Her heart was a stone lying upon her breast outside of her; her pulses lagged and paused, and she knew that something strange was going to happen, even as the early morning winds were cool through the lattice, the streaks of light were dark blue and the whole house was snoring in its sleep.” – p 179

“But she could not consent, still shrinking stiffly against the granite wall that was her childhood dream of safety, breathing slowly for fear of squandering death, saying desperately, Look, don’t be afraid, it is nothing, it is only eternity.” – p 252

Anything else?
I almost wonder if Adam is one of the two boys from the Thompson farm.

Personal thoughts:
This book takes a little reading to understand what’s going on. I gathered by the title that it had something to do with death but the three different takes Porter has on it are magnificent. She looks at deaths that are from suicide, from accident and murder, and from illness and war. She uses these examinations to pose the age-old questions of who are we and where are we going and what does all this mean in relation to eternity. Overall, these stories are gorgeously and painfully written and wonderful to read.

The Lemon Jelly Cake

Who wrote this book and when?
Madeline Babcock Smith published this book in 1997.

Has there been a film version?
No.

Who are the important characters?
Helene – our narrator, a young girl who is the daughter of a doctor
Mama/Kate – Helene’s mother, well educated and beautiful
Frank/Papa – Helene’s father, a doctor
Mr. Wint Fenton – a man who has befriended Helene and her family and is in love with Kate
Antha – their next door neighbor, a woman who loves to cook
Gracie – the preacher’s daughter and Helene’s best friend
Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin – the preacher and his wife
Uncle Will – Antha’s husband

What’s it about?
This story seems to tell simply a set of stories about growing up in the early 1900’s. Helene is the town doctor’s daughter and together with her friend, Gracie, gets into all sorts of trouble from trying her hand at matchmaking to accidentally finding herself in a “hoarhouse.” Underneath the story of Helene’s mishaps, however, is the story of Kate, Mr. Fenton, and Frank. Kate is beautiful and intelligent and when Mr. Fenton comes into their lives, an immediate attraction is lit. Frank is so busy with his patients that he doesn’t seem to notice that his wife is struggling against having an affair. Only when scandal strikes elsewhere in the town does Kate face up to her attraction to Mr. Fenton.

Why is this book a classic/bestseller?
I’m not really sure.

Do I recommend you read this book?
Eh, it was mediocre.

How did this book make my list?
I thought the cover was cute.

Favorite quotes:
“In a town where everyone knew what your grandmother had died from and how many quarts of tomatoes you put up each year, this was irritating. But everyone liked Canary.” – p 75

Anything else?
My favorite story was Helene curing the stomach ailment where a woman got so upset after eating cream that her “stomach churned it into butter.”

Personal thoughts:
This book was a nice easy read that was pleasant on the brain. There was a lot of fluff – little stories that didn’t take much thinking or effort to understand. I was a little frustrated that the author didn’t address the conflict of Wint and Kate until the very last 2 chapters of the book, especially as it was so obvious throughout the rest of it. In her defense, she did have Helene as a narrator. There was a great deal of humor when it came to Helene’s antics. She was a pleasant mixture of Anne Shirley, Laura Ingalls, and any one of the girls from the Betsy Tacy books. Anyone remember those?