no more blogging

(image by Debora DeWitt Marchant)

I’ve almost completely abandoned this blog and will probably end up doing away with it completely not only because I haven’t got the time, but also because I would much rather spend that time writing in my personal journal. It’s something I’ve been doing for well over 30 years – long before there ever were such things as blogs.

So just in case this turns out to be my very last blog post, as it probably will be, I think it’s appropriate for this final adieu to focus on the difference between journaling and blogging.

I love reading other people’s blogs. Or rather I love reading SOME of the many blogs I come across. The ones I find most enjoyable are those that introduce me to new experiences, ideas, interests and ways of seeing things and doing things. I’ve got a wide range of favorites –gardening blogs, reading blogs, creativity blogs, even a few marvelously esoteric blogs that deal with the numinous world of the spirit. In addition to the information my favorite blogs contain, they are all attractive to look at and engaging to read because they are well written and artfully designed by people who are willing to take the time to do both well.

But the internet has also become a microphone and a stage for people to use in order to focus - in copious detail - on their very favorite topic, which generally happens to be themselves. Many blogs end up turning into places for disgruntled people to criticize, bicker, whine and complain about whatever annoying thing seems to be bugging them at the moment. These blogs tend to resemble each other in tone and style and I’ve noticed that one thing many of them have in common is the frequency with which the word suck” is used in reference to something that’s upsetting, annoying or frustrating. In many, but not all of these blogs, profanity becomes the method of choice for self-expression….possibly because it doesn’t require much creativity and takes less time to dash off.

Which brings me to the difference between a blog and a journal. It seems to me that what goes into the former deserves to be treated a little more carefully since everyone has access to it. On the other hand, a personal journal is much more private and since no one else gets to read it it’s a good place to let off steam. It’s also the place for recording trivial details that matter to no one else but the person doing the writing, and for saying all kinds of things that need to be said but don’t necessarily need to be shared. That’s why I prefer journaling to blogging. It’s a way to talk to myself without needing to take into consideration the fact that the whole world might be listening.

Frankly it amazes me that more people haven’t figured that out for themselves instead of continuing to churn out blog posts that really ought to be journal entries. Writing is a great way to work through issues, clarify problems and get to know ourselves a little better…and frequently the things we discover in the process aren’t necessarily the kinds of things the rest of the world needs to know about.

What’s more, blogging about things that ought to be filed away in a personal journal instead can reveal things about a person that aren’t always very flattering. Without intending to, a person can come across as being superficial and petty, self-absorbed and selfish, and woefully lacking in sensitivity or compassion. That’s especially the case with the number of bloggers who, in their haste to vent their frustrations end up saying things about other people that are hurtful and unkind. Better off reserving those things for the pages of a private journal where there’s no chance that the other person need come across it.

And so….come to think of it that’s what I think I’m going to go do right now. I’ve got a couple of things to say about what’s been going on in my life lately. And I’m not particularly interested in sharing them with the rest of the world.

Tough times

This picture of my dad at his desk was taken when he was a young architect just starting out in business. Now all these years later, he is in the last stages of Alzheimers and is very close to death. It is a difficult time for all of us and during these heartbreaking days of waiting and praying for an end to his suffering, I am reminding myself that most of us have within us what we need to deal with difficult and troubling life events. We just need to give ourselves a chance to get in touch with it. And I suspect that one way for me to do that is by trying, to the degree that I am able, to make sure there is consistency between the things I say and do, and the best things about who I am. This can be tricky because I think there is a tendency for the opposite to happen in stressful and tense situations. Times like this can often bring out the worst things about a person.

And yet I have always believed that even though I cannot control the tough stuff that happens in the course of my lifetime, I have a great deal of control over how I am going to deal with it. The problem of course is how to stay centered and focused when bad things happen so that I can avoid being overwhelmed by them. Because once that happens I start feeling fragmented and disoriented by the anxieties and worries that surround me and soon I begin to lose perspective. It is as if my world shrinks and becomes a very small place where all my attention gets focused on what is troubling me – so that I end up forgetting all about everything else that matters in my life.

What I need to do when this starts happening is to find a way to reclaim the things about who I am and how I live that will help restore peace and harmony and perspective in my life. I need to take time not only to restore my energies, but also to give myself permission to go beneath the surface of what’s troubling me – not to dwell on how hard it is but rather to try to search for the deeper meaning that is usually to be found there. I have always suspected that the only way I can ever pay attention to how God is present in my life (whoever and whatever God is) is by looking for the deeper meaning in things. And so it makes sense to take this same approach when confronted with difficult and troubling life-events.

I also believe there is wisdom in making a point of remembering the things that I have always found most meaningful, significant and beautiful about life. Perhaps this is why one of my favorite scriptural quotes comes from Philippians 4:8-9. It is a reminder that when life gets hard, it is good to think about those things that make it worthwhile: Think about what is good, what is enduring, what is affirming. Think about the people I cherish and those that cherish me. Think about everything I have learned about what it means to live my life attentively...and then keep on doing it. Keep on keeping on and sooner or later I know that I will find my way back to being the person I know in my heart I really am.

While it is tempting to wish I could avoid the pain of what’s going on in my life right now, I know the only way through it is….through it. Rather than letting myself be overwhelmed by the problems, difficulties and sorrows I’m encountering these days, I think there is wisdom in letting myself be immersed in them instead. Language teachers know that “immersion experiences” are the best way for a person to learn a new language. So I suspect being fully immersed in whatever is happening in my life - including the sorrow and pain of waiting for my dad's death - will help me learn a little more about what it means to be me.

2011 reading challenge: a banned book.

My 2011 reading challenge pick in the “Banned Book” category is John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, which according to the American Library Association is consistently ranked among the top ten most frequently challenged books for a variety of reasons including violence, cruelty to animals and the lack of strong female characters. But my guess is that what really ends up getting the book banned is the way it ends -- because it clearly makes the case that mercy killing can be the form that compassion takes.


Compassion is one of several themes that run through this depression era short novel, originally titled Something That Happened and later changed to Of Mice and Men – a line taken from a poem by Robert Burns: “the best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley.” It’s the story of two migrant workers whose dream of someday owning their own little farm where they can settle down to “live off the fatta the lan’ is impossible to attain. But the novel is really all about the bond between a child-like, developmentally disabled man and his loyal friend who has taken on the responsibility of looking out for him.


Classic pieces of literature are those that tell us something timeless and true about life and human nature in a way that engages our understanding and empathy. Steinbeck has done that here. Of Mice and Men deals with classic themes: courage vs. cowardice, strength vs. weakness, innocence vs. experience, loneliness and the longing to belong, alienation and isolation, duty, the burden of being responsible for others, the task of mercy, and the weight of compassion.

John Steinbeck, who is said to have preferred writing with pencils, and often used as many as 60 each day, is one of America’s finest writers. He didn’t graduate from college, and most likely he never enrolled in a writers workshop or signed up for a course in creative writing. He did try his hand at free-lance writing in the 20’s but failed at it and eventually turned his attention to novels. His first success was in 1935 with Tortilla Flat filled with rough and earthy humor. Of Mice and Men was published in 1937 and The Grapes of Wrath, widely considered to be his best work, appeared in 1940.

Steinbeck’s sympathies for migrant workers and the struggles of working-class people didn’t set well with everyone. In 1942, an unidentified informant complained to J. Edgar Hoover: "For some time past I have resented books by Steinbeck, for they portray such unrepresentative pictures of our American life in rural districts. I live near the Everglades farms district and most of the migrants out there live better than I do, while they are here for the picking season."

In 1962 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature “for his realistic as well as imaginative writings, distinguished by a sympathetic humor and a keen social perception.” In 1979, John Steinbeck’s portrait was featured on a commemorative stamp.

And in 1996 John Steinbeck’s widow created the Steinbeck award given to artists whose work reflects her husband’s democratic ideals and concern for the common man. Past recipients include Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Arthur Miller and Sean Penn.

The National Steinbeck Center, located in his hometown of Salinas, California, provides opportunities for visitors to learn about literature and history, agriculture and art, as well special events and educational programs.

This is What Democracy Looks Like!

Here we are at the Capitol...



Here's why we were there...



Now that we qualify as "elders" we figured it would be a good idea to be there for the "Elder Rally" ....



...along with a lively crowd of people of all ages who were there outside and inside the Capitol to continue protesting the shameful things our Governor and his fellow Republicans have been doing to the people of Wisconsin....







Here's the sign Denny made to take to the rally....



....and here's the letter he wrote:

Dear Governor Walker

Because your actions over the past few weeks have signaled your distain for the citizens of Wisconsin, I suspect that you will not read this message or, if you do, that you will ignore me as you have tens of thousands of other Wisconsin citizens. When I sat down to write this letter to you, I had thought of making a rational appeal to you. However, as I thought it over, it became apparent to me that I would be appealing to one of you major short-comings--namely, the ability to rationally address the issues that face you.

Mr. Walker, you have demonstrated not only a signal lack of social concern for our children's education, the poor and under-represented, and those who must work for a living, but a lack of moral concern as well. Were your actions but the result of deeply held political beliefs, it would be one thing. But your actions have demonstrated to me that it is not political beliefs that motivate you, but rather the two major evils that invest our political system today: the thirst for absolute power and the need to satisfy those whose dollars have brought you to the office you inhabit.

Your unwillingness to negotiate and to compromise, even when faced with overwhelming evidence that the citizens of this State do not support your extreme actions, is evidence of a blind and angry man. You do not deserve any claim to "democratic governance" since your actions are neither democratic nor do they suggest in any way that you are trying to be of service to the citizens of this State. Yours appears to be a personal agenda, supported by those who will benefit most from stripping rights from the under-privileged and those who have to work for a living.

For this reason, Mr. Walker, I will do everything within my power over the next weeks, months and years to see that you are removed from office. If that can be accomplished through recall, then the social and moral evil that you have unleashed will all the sooner be addressed. If I must wait for the next election, then I will dedicate my labor and my support to seeing that you are defeated.

Dennis Day

Snow on Ash Wednesday

The word "Lent" comes from an Old English word that means springtime. And it's good to remember that on this Ash Wednesday morning as I look out my window...

...because I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about the difference between faith and belief and somehow I think there's a connection here. There's more to faith than trying to believe what we've been told we must believe. There's more to hoping for spring than being put off by the fact that it's still snowing. There's more to Lent than fasting.

I think faith has to do with what I know in my heart even if isn't in sync with what other people believe. It's what Richard Rohr means when he says "Your deepest intuition is real." No matter what anyone else may choose to believe about today's forecast when I look out the window I know in my heart that spring is already happening underneath all the snow that is filling up our back yard.



And so what on earth does this has to do with Lent? Quite a bit, I think, because there's more to it than what so many of us have always been led to believe we must do in order to observe it appropriately. Lent is a time to examine our priorities and take a closer look at where we spend our time and energy, as well as what we need to do (or not do) in order to nurture the spiritual side of who we are. The traditional approach of combining fasting, prayer and almsgiving can be one way of doing that - but only if we know in our hearts why we're doing it.

“…our self-imposed sacrifices are likely to be pretenses, symbolic gestures without real interior meaning," says Thomas Merton who obviously gave a great deal of thought to this very subject...



"Sacrifices made in this formalistic spirit," continues Merton, "tend to be mere acts of external routine performed in order to exorcise interior anxiety and our attention will tend to fix itself upon the insignificant suffering which we have piously elected to undergo, and to exaggerate it in one way or the other, either to make it seem unbearable or else to make it seem more heroic than it actually is. It would be more sincere as well as more religious to eat a full dinner in a spirit of gratitude than to make some picayune sacrifice of part of it, with the feeling that one is suffering martyrdom."

I'm thinking about Merton's words as I look out my window on this snowy March morning as Lent gets underway. Last year as summer was ending I brought in all my geraniums so I could keep them trimmed back and alive through the winter. Now, just as Lent begins, the cuttings I've taken are already thriving. By spring they'll be ready to plan outdoors.



This Lent I'll be doing some fasting, some alms-giving and some praying, just like I always do. But I'm also going keep my geraniums well watered and be grateful for what I carry in my heart - a sure and certain faith in spring.

What's the connection between Little House on the Prairie and Candlemas Day?

Last night, once I was assured that everyone I love was safe and sound inside their homes rather than stranded somewhere in a snow drifted ditch, I settled down and allowed myself to savor the particular pleasures that go along with being snow-bound on a dark and stormy night.

It always reminds me of how much I loved reading the Little House on the Prairie Books when I was a child – especially on blizzardy winter nights with the wind howling through the trees and the snow swirling against the windows.

I used to imagine myself right there in the little log cabin on the banks of Plum Creek, or along the shores of Silver Lake, or in the big woods of Wisconsin. I’d pretend I was tucked in next to Laura and Mary in a big feather bed, all snug and warm under a patchwork quilt, drifting off to sleep with the wind rattling the window panes and the light from the fire flickering on the log walls.

“Laura felt a warmth inside her. It was very small, but it was strong. It was steady, like a tiny light in the dark, and it burned very low but no winds would make it flicker because it would not give up."

— Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter

I woke up this morning and remembered that it’s the 2nd of February, Candlemas Day. I love the amazing interconnectedness of things – last night’s blizzard….which put me into a Little House on the Prairie Mood…which sent me scurrying for a copy of the Long Winter…which yielded the quote about the little light that burned very low but did not even flicker ,,,which is so appropriate for today, Candlemas Day.

Candlemas, the climax to the Christmas and Epiphany liturgical season, is filled with symbolism. It’s the Church’s feast of the presentation of the Child Jesus in the temple and harkens back to Jewish rituals of purification and offering following childbirth. It’s filled with predictions about things to come because of the encounter with the prophetess Anna and ancient Simeon who declares that the child will be “a light for revelation to the nations” (Luke 2:32)

Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple

Hans Holbein

And so a ritual evolved in the Church involving candles and a dawn procession that used to be practiced in churches throughout Christendom until the Reformation. That hasn’t kept the ritual from being kept alive in Cistercian monasteries. And in fact one of my favorite memories of the three months I spent with the Sisters at Mississippi Abbey is the morning I participated in the Candlemas procession there.

We gathered just before dawn in the dimly lit scriptorium where we were each given a lighted candle to carry with us as processed into the darkened church for morning Mass. Prior to the reading of the Gospel, we rose from our choir stalls and took our candles up to the altar where they remained until darkness fell again and Compline brought the day to its close.

Today, on this cold winter morning I have gathered together as many candles as I can find in the house and arranged them all on the dining room table. I want to keep them burning there throughout the day and into the night, symbols of light, hope and revelation, reminders of what it means to live in a world where each of us has a part to play in spreading this kind of light into one another’s lives.

The Good Earth

One of the books I selected as a part of my 2011 reading challenge needed to be Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction. (So many titles to choose from!) I finally picked The Good Earth by Pearl Buck and discovered that not only did this book win the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, but in 1938 she became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature for “her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces". It’s interesting to note that she refused to accept the prize in person because it was being presented in Nazi Germany.

The Good Earth was published in 1931 and eventually translated into more than 30 languages. Much of its appeal has to do with Buck’s talent for describing ordinary details and customs of pre-revolutionary Chinese peasant life which she was able to do because she grew up in China and was acquainted with its history and culture. She was also familiar with Chinese literature and oral story telling traditions, which is reflected in the narrative style she uses in her novel. As a result I feel there was an authenticity to the way the story unfolds in simple words and phrases, as well as the sparse dialogue between characters whose way of speaking and interacting with each other is dictated by strict social norms and conventions.

I enjoyed this book very much and it left me fascinated with Pearl Buck herself. A little bit of research on-line revealed that evidently she wrote The Good Earth in less than three months and went on to become quite well known because of the awards it received. Nevertheless, despite her Nobel prize for literature, the “literary establishment” (heavy weight writers like William Faulkner included) thumbed its collective nose at her even going so far as to criticize the Swedish Academy for awarding her such a prestigious prize.

Today her books are considered dated when compared to novels about China that are being written by contemporary Chinese writers. But in the thirties she was one of the few, perhaps the only, person writing about China. And the fact that that's where she grew up, learning to speak Chinese even before she could speak English, certainly qualified her to write about what she learned there.

Throughout her life, she and her second husband Richard Walsh, (who was also her publisher) were involved in a number of humanitarian efforts through the East/West Association an organization devoted to mutual understanding between the United States and Asian Countries. Pearl Buck also founded Welcome House, known today as Opportunity House, the first international, inter-racial adoption agency in the United States, as well as establishing The Pearl Buck Foundation. “This then is our responsibility,” she said in one of her speeches, “to share what we have, so that the benefits of human wisdom with its infinite deities, may be enjoyed by all.

Eleanor Roosevelt was one of Pearl Buck’s role models as was Margaret Mead; and Pearl was an avid advocate of women’s rights and racial equality. It was probably for these reasons, as well as her interest in Asian cultures that the F.B.I. kept detailed files on her for years. She had been classified as a Communist sympathizer but at the same the Chinese government accused her of being a “running dog of capitalism,” and her books were banned there until as recently as 1997.

The Good Earth was made into a film in 1937 and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two of them (Best Actress and Best Cinematography). Ironically, the Actress who won the award for her portrayal of O-Lan had not been the first choice for the role. In addition to employing Chinese as extras and giving the role of Wang-Lung’s sons to Chinese actors, the role of O-Lan had originally been intended for Chinese actress Anna May Wong. However, the Hays Code miscegenation rules banned the portrayal of mixed race marriages on screen, and so she was rejected because the actor who took the part of Wang-Lung was white.

My Life in Books 2010

"Early Autumn"

Deborah DeWitt Marchant

Having fun with the titles of some of the books I've read in 2010...

I used to belong to The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (Michael Chabon)

People might be surprised to discover that I’m Alias Grace (Margaret Atwood)

I will never be The Last Wife of Henry VIII (Carolly Erickson)

At the end of a long day I need The Echoing Grove (Rosamond Lehmann)

Someday I hope I'll have The Perfect Summer (Juliet Nicolson)

At a party you’d find me in The Music Room (William Fiennes)

I’ve never gone Out Stealing Horses (Per Petterson)

I really don’t enjoy Strong Poison (Dorothy Sayers)

I would like to visit Wolf Hall (Hillary Mantel)

In my next life I want to live at The Barn at the End of the World (Mary Rose O’Reilley)

My advice is to make Final Payments (Mary Gordon)

I hope I never run into the demon in the house (Angela Thirkel)

A Year in Books 2010

Woman Reading in a Study

Mary Ferris Kelly

Feeding my obsession for keeping track of things like this, here’s a review of books I read in 2010

Books read (and completed): 29

Books started and abandoned: 5

Fiction: 20

Non-Fiction: 8

Library books: 14

Set in British Isles: 9

Set in Ireland: 3

Favorites:

Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (David Mitchell)

The setting and time period were both new to me -- a remote island trading post for the Dutch East India Company off the coast of Nagasaki in the 18^th. The plot was a heady mix of political intrigue, murder, passion, unrequited love, loyalty, betrayal, brutality and tenderness, and the characters were fascinating - a colorful mix of all sorts of low lifes, scoundrels, thieves and toadying bureaucrats into whose midst came a few brave souls determined to do the right thing even though it placed them at great risk. I was fascinated with all the details about Japanese court etiquette and protocol, and the clash of East/West cultural values and norms.

Alias Grace (Margaret Atwood)

Atwood is a talented writer with a knack for telling a compelling story. And at the same time she expects the reader to do a fair share of the work as well. In this case we’re introduced early on to the fact that a terrible crime has been committed, but we’re not so sure that the woman who has been convicted of it really is guilty. Or (and here things get even more interesting) if she is guilty, was she really aware of what she was doing? Even more interesting is that she is based on a real person who was tried for the murder of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery in 1843, sentenced to prison, ended up in the “lunatic asylum” for a while and was eventually granted a pardon.

Strong Poison (Dorothy Sayers)

I don't think I'll ever get tired of reading and re-reading anything that Dorothy Sayers has written. (with the exception of her scholarly works - like her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy!) And this is the book where Lord Peter Wimsey first meets his future wife - the savvy Harriet Vane, writer of mystery novels who has been wrongly accused of poisoning her former lover. Lord Peter, ever on the scene when there is a mystery to be solved, immediately suspects she is innocent and steps in to prove it, especially since he has decided that she is the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Harriet on the other hand, isn't so sure and as it turns out it takes two more books (Have his Carcase and Gaudy Night)before she makes up her mind.

Final Payments (Mary Gordon)

This is a book about a young woman’s efforts to come to terms with who she is after having spent 11 years of her life caring for her invalid father. It’s about people who refuse to allow themselves to be happy, and what can happen to them when they cannot let go of their illusions about who they want other people to think they are. It’s about how difficult it is to face our insecurities, weaknesses, and obsessions in order to make changes that are difficult to make. I first read it 30 years ago and what struck me most forcibly back then was the way Gordon captured what it was like carrying around the kind of baggage that remained behind for those of us who were raised in staunchly observant Catholic families in the late 50’s and early 60’s. Even though I think I’ve gotten rid of most of that baggage, re-reading this book brought a lot of it back into focus.

Room (Emma Donaghue)

I was skeptical about whether the author would be able to carry off the voice of a five year old child who had spent his entire life living with his mother trapped in a tiny little room. My verdict is that she succeeded. The plot intrigued me but what I liked best about the book were the characters: Jake was at the same time achingly innocent and wise beyond his five years. And his mother's fierce determination to create as normal a life as possible for her son while at the same time scheming to escape their prison made her a compelling character.

Least Favorites:

Yiddish Policeman’s Union (Michael Chabon)

I kept plugging away at this expecting that sooner or later I'd get as enthused as I was by the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. But it never happened. The plot - an alternative history look at what might have happened had the post holocaust Jews been unable to settle in Israel after WWII and instead were granted temporary residence in Alaska -- was just far fetched enough to intrigue me. And the mystery about who killed the heroin addicted, gay potential Messiah and ex-wonder child who was also a chess prodigy hooked me once I got into it. But in the end the book just didn't deliver. Equally mysterious is the question of how this novel could possibly have won two prestigious awards for science fiction writing!!

The Story of Edgar Sawtille (David Wroblewski)

The problem with belonging to a book discussion group is having to waste valuable reading time on a book like this one. Initially I was drawn to the character of the mute young boy who used sign language to communicate with the dogs he and his family were training. And I did enjoy the parts of the book that had to do with the dogs themselves - especially since they seemed so real (and so lovable!) But beyond that….I can nothing else positive to say about this book.

The Last Wife of Henry VIII (Carolly Erickson)

The only reason I read this was because for some strange reason I’m a sucker for all things Tudor. Usually I'm a little more discriminating about books I read that have to do with this period, so it beats me why I kept reading after I discovered that the author had taken enormous liberties with the life of Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's last wife. Not only were facts and dates distorted, important characters eliminated and others invented but equally unfortunate was Erickson’s tendency to lapse into a writing style that seemed closer to what might be expected between the covers of a romance novel, or the script of a soap opera. And yet I suppose I shouldn't be so critical. After all, I kept right on reading.

In translation:

Out Stealing Horses (Per Pederson)

The reader is gradually drawn into what the main character is remembering about an incident that happened back in 1948 when he and his father spent a summer in a remote cabin in Norway..What I found most remarkable about this book is how adept the author was at letting us discover the depth of Trond’s feelings even though Trond himself was so unable to articulate them.

Re-read:

Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

Strong Poison (Dorothy Sayers)

Final Payments (Mary Gordon)

Most Depressing

Famine (Liam O’Flaherty)

Oldest

Huckleberry Finn

Most recent:

Room

Recommended by others

Dogs of Bedlam Farm (Jon Katz, recommended by Lissa Brown)

Barn at the End of the World (Mary Rose O’Reilley, recommended by Paul Tanner)

Wolf Hall (Hillary Mantel, recommended by Paul Tanner)

The Help(Kathryn Stockett, recommended by my mother)

Best Title

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Favorite Character

Lord Peter Wimsey (Strong Poison) is at the top of my list of fictional characters I would most like to be able to spend some time with! But it would have to be a strictly Platonic relationship because after all he is a married man, completely devoted to Harriet Vane after having had to work so hard to convince her to marry him. But I’m in love with him nonetheless which is why I’ll keep on reading and re-reading all the books Dorothy Sayers has written with him in the spotlight.

Books by authors who were siblings – both were Vita Sackville-West’s grandchildren

The Perfect Summer – Juliet Nicolson

Sissinghurst – Adam Nicolson

Favorite quotes:

The next day dawned bright and fair, and Wimsey felt a certain exhilaration as he purred down to Tweedling Parva. ‘Mrs. Merdle’, the car was sparking merrily on all twelve cylinders, and there was a touch of frost in the air. These things conduce to high spirits. (Strong Poison)

If we were all on trial for our thoughts, we would all be hanged. (Alias Grace)

Time is important to me now, I tell myself. Not that it should pass quickly or slowly, but only be time, be something I live inside and fill with physical things and activities that I can divide it up by. So that it grows distinct to me and does not vanish when I am not looking. (Out Stealing Horses)

More ideas

illustration by Marie Cardouot

for the DIXIT boardgame

I had so much fun coming up with books for my reading challenge (see previous post) that I decided to come up with an entirely new challenge -- and it doesn't even have to do with reading!

Surprise someone:

Try a new food:

Check the voting record of one of your US legislators:

Do something you were going to do last year, but never got around to:

Write a LETTER to a facebook friend and send it via snailmail:

Memorize something:

Perform a random act of kindness:

Get rid of something you really don't need anymore:

Let me know if you'd like to join me in this challenge!

illustration by Marie Cardouot

for the DIXIT boardgame