2009

Few days into 2009 and already it has the potential to be a fun year:

Today is the fifth and I have had one fun thing happened every day so far.

The First started out with the Pasadena's Rose Parade on television followed by the Rose Bowl which is a College Football tradition where this year (once again) USC (Curt's and Allan's University) was playing against Penn State (Curt's Dad and Warren's University). We had invited few friends for the event (A dozen). The guys were downstairs watching the game. The ladies upstairs chatting away. USC won, all is well!!!

The Second was another landmark with our first Book Club meeting. About 7 ladies gathered at my house and it was a let's get to know each other meeting. Really relaxed gathering covering a large amount of topics... Camaraderie formed among the group and it was nice to see that those ladies got along so well. We had food, wine, and tea and all was well. You might ask: "What about the book?" well it was discussed briefly and it was accessory to a nice evening of friendship building. "A Room With a View" by E M Forster had been the excuse to get together, our next excuse is "Snoop: What Your Stuff Say About You" by Sam Gosling. We also talked about other books of interest like "The Virgin's Knot" by Holly Payne and "Shattered Dreams: My Life As a Polygamist's Wife" by Irene Spencer. The best subject of the evening was reviewing movies which made us questioned if the club should be about movies instead of books... Funny, but so many books are being translated into movies that it is interesting to compare them. Anyway it was a very pleasant evening. Next one will happen at Patty's house in February.

The Third, our state was celebrating it's 50th year anniversary of being a state. A lot of activities were happening around town to mark the big event like those beautiful ice carvings. Another event was the biggest fireworks that the city of Anchorage had ever seen. Curt, Gaia and I got to go see it on a vintage point on Government Hill... in our warm car. It was -20 F outside. A lot of people had elected to brave the crowd and the weather to be downtown... I don't know if I am glad not to have done it that way but I have a great enough memory of my warm experience... if you know what I mean. That temperature is brutal and has been for the last three weeks. We are having sunshine so at least that is wonderful.

The Fourth we went to see "Benjamin Button" this strange story of a man being born as an old man and getting younger has he ages... A life in reverse. Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchett and many other wonderful actors. A great sad interesting movie. I had read the short story of

F. Scott Fitzgerald bearing the same name which has very little to do with the movie, thank goodness in my opinion. I had found the novella pretty unfinished with many question marks and a real downer of a story. It had been an interesting concept and the way the people reacted about Benjamin condition was unfortunately not surprising. It was showing how people who do not understand a situation can revert into cruelty. Anyway I was glad that the movie was different in every way. Anyway you should give it a try.

As soon as the movie was done we went up to Nancy's for Chili with her family. It was a really fun evening with a game of Cranium after diner. Good food and good company what more can we ask for. It was bitter sweet as Nancy is to go to Sunny Colorado today for the rest of the winter. She is to tantalize us with her tales of hiking in the red rocks in her shorts when we will still go out with our heavy down jackets and moon boots.... No fair!!! Oh well what to do... maybe go for a visit... maybe???

The Fifth was suppose to be TAS day... whell I spaced it out!!! Just can't believe it. I do have some senior moments like that. Oh well c'est la vie!!! There is still plenty to do around the house after so many "playing" days. I hope that your life is keeping you busy too.

I have finished "The Shadow of the Wind" finally. It was a good read. Very dark and suspenseful. I liked some characters a lot others were really hard to like. All was well described and reinforced my uneasiness while I visited Barcelona. I don't particularly like that gloomy city. In the book it is not one to trust. Anyway I have started the book of short story by Jhumpa Lahiri "Unaccustomed Earth". Her novel "The Namesake" was made into a movie that made some waves. In the first short story I am already transformed into her melancholic world. She has the gift to make you want to hear her story, no matter how hard you know it is going to be. I have also started another book of short stories by an Indian woman (Gift from Curt for Christmas) "Arrange Marriage" by Chitra Divakaruni, very good so far. She is also the author of "Mistress of Spice" and "The Vine of Desire" and "Sister of My Heart". Can't get enough of India. I will get there some day. I am enjoying comparing those two similar books but different in their voice. I am finishing a small book by J. L. Carr "A Month in the Country". The story of a shortly divorced guy who is going to a village in Yorkshire to restore a mural found in the church. He is about the restore himself too in the process. So fun. I love the humour in the description of this man who has facial tics and a stutter... There are so mighty meaty characters. Pretty fun.

Then I am about to start "The Behavior of Moths" by Poppy Adams. Anyway I will be busy in the lecture department for a while. I also have to produce two quilts as soon as possible. One is due in less than two weeks. To the studio then...

Where did 2008 go?

This year feels like it never happened to me. It is just a blurr, a trick of the calendar. Where did it all go??? When I do retrace my steps through 2008 I remember then... It has been a strange year but there was some very good times. It was the year where I could not stay in the studio long enough to do anything. I got to learn many things but didn't get to apply many of them. It was the year that Curt's Cousins came to visit with his Aunt Leona. It was the year that Dominique and Martin came to visit. It was the year my children were not home for Christmas. It was the year I visited California three times, Colorado and Arizona once. It was the year that Bunny turned 60, and the year Nancy turned 50. It was the year that Bunny and Mimi discovered Homer. It was the year I didn't get to go to France and see my family. It is the year that Curt turned 50. So I should not feel the way I feel about 2008, it really happened and I have a lot of entries on this blog to prove it. I am looking forward to start 2009 in the studio though. That is my goal to get as much time as possible in there. I started reorganizing it a year ago and still have some work to do like the lighting and some few piles that need disappearing. All righty then, I am ready!!! Let's turn the page and start a new chapter.

Joyeux Noel!

Merry Christmas to all my family and my friends. May all your desires go far and wide and blossom with peace and joy. I am truly blessed by having you in my life.

Curt and I had a quiet but nice Christmas eve. We had our traditional seafood meal with Oysters, smoke salmon, King Crab Salad with feta cheese, artichokes and Kalamata olives. A dark vinaigrette. Peppercorn pate de campagne. All that "arose" with Champagne. Then a mini chocolate cake. We watched "Elf". I got to talk to Paul and Emily earlier and they seemed to be having a good time too. So life is good right now. I wonder if Santa is going to come over tonight. It is cold out there... Poor guy!!! He always seem to come through though.

Natural Embellishements

The full moon was showing all it's splendor the other night. It was hard for me not to stare.

Then on the way to New Sagaya for Paella supplies here was that perfect Maple tree just in front of my car. All the natural ornaments of the previous season added with the present one was a sight that just made me stop and stare.

The Sunrise was a welcoming pleasure one day. When it has been grey for so many days and the sky is finally baby blue and I wait for that 30mn of sunshine on my house at lunch time. How can I just not stop and stare?

Sunset at 3:30pm can be a beautiful thing against all judgement. So I had to stop for a meditative stare

Finally going to Eagle River yesterday and those huge birds were hanging up on cottonwood trees just adding to the winter natural decor. I had to stop the car to stare.

Another two weeks before the Solstice

This is the time when the Mantra "I can make it! Yes I can" comes to my mind. It is so so dark and gloomy outside I need a bit of reinforcing. Just a bit hard to keep up the "Cheery" attitude for the Holidays. So the goal is to make the most of those few weeks when you have no bearings anymore. Looking out the window doesn't match the clock on the wall. The moon is half full. The blue light that I love so much is back and that by itself is something to be grateful for. This picture is like a giant eye in the sky....spooky!

I have been playing with beads. I am going to take few ornaments out tomorrow and decorate the house a little.

On a different note I rented the movie "The Memory Keeper's Daughter". I have been listening to the book on tape and didn't particularly enjoy it although I am half through and things are getting a bit better. The movie is not great. It is not following the book. The dialogues are not great. The actors are doing a good job with a bad script. Why do authors accept to have their story changed so drastically? Money? Fame? Hard to imagine. I also watched "Transsiberian". That was not great either. Pretty hard torture scene. Not OK with me at all. Still waiting for the "Night in Rodanthe"....

Anchorage Movie Festival started yesterday so there is going to be opportunities to go check some interesting shorts and independent movies. I am looking forward to that. Another thing I am looking forward to is Billy Collins new book of poetry "Ballistics". Just got it.

Check out my Banana Bread. I made it in memory of Dewey from the blog "The hidden side of a leaf". It was one of my favorite Book Blog. Dewey passed away last weekend. She had reviewed the Moosewood Cookbook and had given us the recipe of that fantastic Banana Bread. I think that Dewey would have been proud of me.

More fun in Ventura

I got to go out few times in the evenings for different activities. One of them was to see Robert Schimmel at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills. This guy is a comedian of some reputation and has a real filthy mouth but I was laughing the whole entire time. One joke after the other it was incredible. I was just glad that my kids were not with us as it would have been most embarrassing to listen to that show with them... It was a very nice evening. The other comedian that night was also funny in a more subdued way but I cannot remember his name. One of his joke was that Obama needs to get the troops out of Iraq because he needs them to protect him... that was funny I thought. Then I went to see the movie "Australia". Well that was a movie that had a lot to see (3hrs). You could laugh and be surprise and get to admire Hugh Jackman's gorgeous body, fall in love with the little Australian boy who plays one of the leading roles, enjoy the amazing countryside and colors of Australia and get a bit of historical facts in between, of course Nicole Kidman is fabulous. The filming is surprising with a mix of graphics. I just enjoyed it very much. It is a sort of parody or at least it was for me. So that was a great surprise, Cynthia, Emily and I had set off to see a totally different movie that happened to not show anymore.

On Saturday night after a nice walk on the beach, a nice diner in a Vegan Restaurant (Mary's Secret Garden) we ended up at Zoey's a nice place at the end of an alley in Downtown Ventura where you can listen to music have a bite to eat or just a glass of wine. That evening we were serenaded by a nice young man and then a group of three people named "Threes and Nines". Both venues were exquisite. Young people with lots to say about the environment relationship and personal feelings all expressed with great beat, great music and strong voices. Just fun, fun, fun. I hope that I get to see them play again in the future. In the meantime I am waiting for their first CD to be released.

What else...

Well I enjoyed spending time with my nieces: Madison and Delaney. I even helped by taking pictures of the girls for their traditional Christmas photo shoot. The one that enjoyed it the most was Coco who was a professional model gazing at the camera with an air of grande dame. Too funny!

Gaylene was doing very well and we got to go on a ride to the Nut House... in Somis. We bought some goodies there and then moved on to Santa Paula a little Mexican town with lots of history. To illustrate the evolution and diversity of the town the city has asked different artists to do murals throughout the downtown area. So we picked up a map at the museum and had a little driving tour around and took pictures of the murals. One of them is in front of a gorgeous Australian fig tree. A lot younger than the one in Santa Barbara but still was planted in 1879 so is 129 years old. See for yourself.

Gaylene and Dina taught me to play Mexican Train Dominoes. I lost!!! But I am getting better and understanding the strategy a bit better. I might try to find friends that would be interested to playing games. I used to play Scrabble and Gin Rummy and Canasta and loved it. Oh and another thing that happened. For two nights straight I heard a whole herd of Coyotes barking and howling in the night. Bob and Cynthia's House in on the edge of a huge field where there is some wild life activity. Those were really strange noises to hear so close to an urban area.

That just wraps up this Thanksgiving week where fun things happened in my life.