Archive - October 2005

I started reading a new book last night. This is not an unusual occurrence by' any means. My bed is rather surrounded by books I’ve started. Some of them I finish. But the one I started last night is Elizabeth Costello, by JM Coetzee, I will finish for sure. Occasionally when I crack open a book, and start to read, a feel a frisson of excitement. (Sorry about frisson: it’s a word that is suddenly popular, and having only recently found it, I may have to retire it soon.) Anyway, odd person that I am, it is good writing that gives me this shiver. What a treat, and I’ve only read one ‘chapter’ (in the contents as ‘lessons’).

Another reason for the frisson, is that the story is written as meta-story, another term I’ve only recently heard; telling a story in a way that is conscious of the storytelling, so that you slip in and out of the story, and hear the author discussing how to tell the story. It’s what I am trying to do in a story that I’ve been procrastinating on finishing, and I think I better get at it. Writing I mean, not procrastinating.

It’s amazing how many things a person can find to do that can keep her from writing. And all of the things are useful or necessary. I’m not the first person to discover this, but maybe it’s getting a little old. Or I’m getting a little old to have not figured out how to organize my life to leave time in it for the things I think important.

So what have I been doing? Hiking (I’ve made it up the Grind in 70 minutes, once). Working on the magazine, which is now at final draft stage, and I hope will go to the printer tomorrow, or Thursday at the latest. I went to the Laundromat one day, something I haven’t done for many years. It’s good to remember small irritations once in awhile, like having to take your laundry out. I am spoiled.

I went out and took pictures one day, with my new digital camera. This I find I enjoy very much. Here are a few examples (click on the descriptions for a larger view):


The Grouse Grind trail.	Cap Reservoir from the trail.	The view from on top.

Housekeeping today: getting a car to the shop, getting a magazine to the printer. Getting a file to upload properly to the Internet. So today was mostly about fighting with technology. I haven't got the right program on my new laptop, so plugged in the old one to get the pictures to display properly. I guess I'll go shopping for another bit of software soon.

Changes. My 'little' guy (not so little at all) has flown off to South East Asia . I think it put me into some kind of shock. After I left the airport, I came home and started cleaning up my house, as I was making Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Originally my son was to fly off a day or so after, but had to change his plans, and I'd promised the returning child, my daughter, that she'd get off the plane (from Europe for five weeks) and come to turkey dinner. So I cleaned this and that, and fussed around, and chopped bread for stuffing, and went to bed, and tossed and turned, and finally at 3:30 am got up and went back to cleaning and this and that. I thought, well, Yvonne usually gets up around 4:30 or 5, so what's the big deal? Made the cranberry sauce at 4:30. Cleaned the bathrooms before 9, when I went down to the market to get last minute stuff. Then I came home and vacuumed, chopped up some vegies, stuffed the turkey and got it in the oven, had a bath, and a nap at 2 pm. I gave myself a vicarious case of jet lag. We had a good family dinner though, and my daughter arrived in time, and was glad to eat home-cooked food. Which I don't crank out as much as I used to.

My father boycots family gatherings, but my sister delivered him some leftovers the next day. He called me to see if I'd weathered my weekend, so even though he wasn't here, he was thinking about us. This is actually quite something. He hates to use the telephone, and he even left me a message, and then called back later again! He thought I was having a difficult weekend, but I expect for not quite the reasons I was, given his intense dislike of both social situations and trips to the airport.

I've been a bit torpored this week, because besides getting over separation anxiety with the youngest of my brood, I've now got the place to myself, and no excuse left to not get down to my writing. But I'm going to cut myself some slack here, and let myself get over this empty nest thing. I know it's only two months, but it's also the wave of the future.

I'm outta here, to catch a plane. What a mad scramble. I'm sorry I don't have time to give a full report of what I've been up to. Though I'm not going to be here for the writer's festival, I did volunteer to drive people from the airport. I've met some interesting writers (is that redundant?). But now I'm off to see my daughter, and hang out with some friends as well.