All the best
to You
from the
Ladies at Baja
Inspiration From The Distant Past
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Found note in an old book... warms the cockles of my bookish heart...
Showing posts with label by Tracy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label by Tracy. Show all posts
Friday, December 16, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Independent Bookstores: Copperfield Books
(Repost of a missing post as yet unrestored by Blogger)
When people go to drink wine in California, most of the time they think of Napa County, an area just north northeast of San Francisco, but given a choice, I'm going to go where most people aren't, in this case, that place is Sonoma County, which lies due north of San Francisco, one imaginary line away from it's "sexier" neighbor.
I love Napa County, and Sonoma County isn't exactly deserted but when I see limousines pull into a grape farm, I get the distinct feeling the experience is more Hollywood than Healdsburg, and I'll take Healdsburg over Hollywood anyday.
Healdsburg is Andy and Aunt Bee's Mayberry with good restaurants, cute shoes and a Copperfield Book Store, one of the reasons I fell in love with this small Sonoma county town.
The lovely thing about opening your own chain of book stores as Barney Brown and Paul Jaffe have done, is that you can make each one an experience unique to its surroundings, not that there's anything wrong with comforting homogeneity, but when you have to leave a bookstore to go see what town you're in, maybe a little shakeup is in order.
Bovolo is one such shakeup.
There are any number of bookstores where you can get Corporate Coffee at five bucks a pop, but how many book stores will sell you a salted caramel affogato at 9am.
The unbelievably good restaurant attached to the bookstore, Bovolo will do so. They also offer things like hot apple fritters served with a maple crème fraiche dipping sauce, but I was shocked to find there are limits to how much sugar I can eat before noon.
Healdsburg is also in an area that smart rich authors flock to for its physical beauty and for the short hour drive from San Francisco so you're likely to get a signed book like the one my husband picked up, though in the case of his book, I doubt the physicists who signed his copy of ? are rich.
They may be famous, just not to me.
Have I mentioned my husband is an extreme geek?
In fact, I'd give you the title of the book, but he's not here right now and neither is the book. He carries it with him in his briefcase. I'm not sure why. It's not very helpful in his job but maybe the laugh factor is.
There's a chapter on why the government insists your wine be radioactive or you can't buy it. Turns out radioactivity is the only way the government knows how to tell your wine was made from grapes instead of crude oil, which suggest government employees should drink more wine.
I think the DMV experience would be vastly improved should they decide to take up my suggestion. I know mine would if I was drinking.
By the time I write my own bargain book adventure for Bargain Book Bonanza, I'll try to get it away from him long enough to share it with you, but until then, if you're wandering around north of San Francisco, stop in at one of the Copperfield Book stores and hug someone.
If you stop in at the one in Healdsburg, have an affogato while you're there.
The nice smart people who make it for you will even explain to you what you're drinking, unless it was just my clueless facial expression which led to this largess.
When people go to drink wine in California, most of the time they think of Napa County, an area just north northeast of San Francisco, but given a choice, I'm going to go where most people aren't, in this case, that place is Sonoma County, which lies due north of San Francisco, one imaginary line away from it's "sexier" neighbor.
I love Napa County, and Sonoma County isn't exactly deserted but when I see limousines pull into a grape farm, I get the distinct feeling the experience is more Hollywood than Healdsburg, and I'll take Healdsburg over Hollywood anyday.
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| Hollywood and Vine:::::::Matheson and West |
The lovely thing about opening your own chain of book stores as Barney Brown and Paul Jaffe have done, is that you can make each one an experience unique to its surroundings, not that there's anything wrong with comforting homogeneity, but when you have to leave a bookstore to go see what town you're in, maybe a little shakeup is in order.
Bovolo is one such shakeup.
There are any number of bookstores where you can get Corporate Coffee at five bucks a pop, but how many book stores will sell you a salted caramel affogato at 9am.
The unbelievably good restaurant attached to the bookstore, Bovolo will do so. They also offer things like hot apple fritters served with a maple crème fraiche dipping sauce, but I was shocked to find there are limits to how much sugar I can eat before noon.
Healdsburg is also in an area that smart rich authors flock to for its physical beauty and for the short hour drive from San Francisco so you're likely to get a signed book like the one my husband picked up, though in the case of his book, I doubt the physicists who signed his copy of ? are rich.
They may be famous, just not to me.
Have I mentioned my husband is an extreme geek?
In fact, I'd give you the title of the book, but he's not here right now and neither is the book. He carries it with him in his briefcase. I'm not sure why. It's not very helpful in his job but maybe the laugh factor is.
There's a chapter on why the government insists your wine be radioactive or you can't buy it. Turns out radioactivity is the only way the government knows how to tell your wine was made from grapes instead of crude oil, which suggest government employees should drink more wine.
I think the DMV experience would be vastly improved should they decide to take up my suggestion. I know mine would if I was drinking.
By the time I write my own bargain book adventure for Bargain Book Bonanza, I'll try to get it away from him long enough to share it with you, but until then, if you're wandering around north of San Francisco, stop in at one of the Copperfield Book stores and hug someone.
If you stop in at the one in Healdsburg, have an affogato while you're there.
The nice smart people who make it for you will even explain to you what you're drinking, unless it was just my clueless facial expression which led to this largess.
Please click to vote for Mrs. BG at the free-ranked blog directory Picket Fence Blogs!
Friday, April 29, 2011
About writing...
Every single person who will ever read these pages is grateful to the people who write. Books, words, expressed thoughts, typed ideas, they are our lovers, our passions, our savory life morsels, our presents. They are the "why" of Mrs. BG's Book Nook's existence.
DeLynne is writing a book. My sister is writing a book. I am writing a book.
Actually, let me correct something here, because I try not to make a habit of presenting untruths: DeLynne talks about writing a book. I talk about writing a book. My sister talks about writing a book and I suspect Lesa would talk about writing a book if she didn't have to spend so much time taking care of Mrs. BG and her delicious book nook.
What drives us to write, or to create at all?
Sorry. This isn't that post. If I knew what it was, I'd cure it, because it is like a drug.
I don't know what it is, but I know how it feels.
To write is to dance with the Universe.
There's a reason so much art has been offered up to the mythical forces that seduce creativity from the ether through little ol' us.
But it's hard.
It's hard to keep your toes (ego) out of the way.
It's hard to keep up with the muses because they have those annoying trim, lithe, dancer bodies and we all have the cubical, baby weight, not fifteen year old bodies, or exactly fifteen year old bodies with the exact gangling that comes from all that power we've yet learned to wield.
It's hard.
It's hard, and yet, not to be melodramatic, not that you'll think me so if you've had this dance, but I almost can't breath without it.
DeLynne, Leslie, any of you out there dancing, write. We owe it to ...well, pretty much everyone.
DeLynne is writing a book. My sister is writing a book. I am writing a book.
Actually, let me correct something here, because I try not to make a habit of presenting untruths: DeLynne talks about writing a book. I talk about writing a book. My sister talks about writing a book and I suspect Lesa would talk about writing a book if she didn't have to spend so much time taking care of Mrs. BG and her delicious book nook.
What drives us to write, or to create at all?
Sorry. This isn't that post. If I knew what it was, I'd cure it, because it is like a drug.
I don't know what it is, but I know how it feels.
To write is to dance with the Universe.
There's a reason so much art has been offered up to the mythical forces that seduce creativity from the ether through little ol' us.
But it's hard.
It's hard to keep your toes (ego) out of the way.
It's hard to keep up with the muses because they have those annoying trim, lithe, dancer bodies and we all have the cubical, baby weight, not fifteen year old bodies, or exactly fifteen year old bodies with the exact gangling that comes from all that power we've yet learned to wield.
It's hard.
DeLynne, Leslie, any of you out there dancing, write. We owe it to ...well, pretty much everyone.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Bargain Book Bonanza (7): Wine Country Edition!
Welcome to Bargain Book Bonanza!
A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!
A book haul linky party for bargain loving bookworms!
BBB is the place to showcase all the great books (new, used, vintage, electronic, audio) that you have scored on sale.
Each Monday through Thursday, all book lovers are invited to carouse, make merry and revel with bargain book abandon!
Want to join the party? Just visit the Bargain Book Bonanza page for the particulars.
Tracy is hosting this week!
There is so much stuff in my house, my husband and I have to take turns turning side ways to get into it. That's an exaggeration, but some days it doesn't feel like much of one. I am not a collector. My husband is not a hoarder, but somehow, in the dark of night, the stuff cavorts and more stuff appears.
This is why I do not do souvenirs. I also don't do jazz hands, but that's a story for a previous day.
Still, when one goes to the immense trouble pleasure of taking a trip, one would like to have a little something tangible to remember said logistical nightmare delightful five days.
That's a difficult aspiration to marry with the one I have of de-cluttering my life. Good thing I have made up my own rules about what defines clutter and what doesn't.
Books don't.
Last weekend, in a little town north of here, I walked into a local bookstore and walked out with some souvenirs that now sit happily on my desk.
Depending on your idea of bargain, they may not have been much of a bargain, but if I want something and it normally costs me X dollars but I can get it for X/6, then that is a bargain.
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| A tasty, thrify and non-toxic bargain book collage... |
Bargain 1) I was in wine country, so there had to be at least one obligatory wine book. I'm all about going the extra mile and got two. The sacrifices I make for you people *sigh*.
One is titled "In search of Bacchus"
One is titled "In search of Bacchus"
Yes, I'm going to go drink more wine. For research. For you. Of course.
I've just started it, but basically, if you like wine and you'd like to spend your lottery money traveling so you can have a little wine from all the little places that produce it, then this is a story of someone who did just that, and I find I don't even hate him. Much.
Bargain 2) Ignore all the other stuff in the photo. That is an "I hate my house and am going to pretend I'm going to redecorate it" experiment.
The book is the star: "Back Lane Wineries of Sonoma"
Bargain 3) Well, this would have been a bargain no matter what the cost. Ms. Izzy is as yet unable to move to Southern California and teach me how to dress more like a Audrey Hepburn and less like Maxine so I had to get literary assistance. It's entitled "The Style Strategy
" and it's full of things I can actually understand, a post unto its own very frump-ista friendly self.
" and it's full of things I can actually understand, a post unto its own very frump-ista friendly self.Bargain 4) I want to make jam that won't kill me or anyone I know and love. 'Nuf said.
What bookish bargains did you nab this week?
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Independent Bookstores: City Lights
The kindle has changed my book buying experience irrevocably.
Gone are the days when I would wander through the shelves of the "big book store", and you know who you are. In fact, since I started using my kindle, I'm ashamed to say I haven't even walked inside a library.
There are too many free books to be had for this e-reader to use what little time I do have in the pursuit of what may or may not be a decent book.
All this changed two weeks ago in San Francisco.
For the young or the underexposed, City Lights began as a periodical and became a book store when poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin joined together to publish small works, by little known and at the time very unpopular authors, unpopular with the police in particular.
I do not, in any way miss the "big book store", but I truly do miss places like City Lights.
It even motivated me to buy an actual bound three dimensional paper book and in the future I'll be talking about more of them, the books and the places that love them as much as we do.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Top Ten Tuesday: Books We Want To See Made Into Movies
Hi! Lesa here! Thanks for commiserating last week about my cold of apocalyptic proportions. Wish I could say it dried up like a well behaved cold should but, NO, it morphed into bronchitis. The symptoms are not fun and the associated head/eye pain and exhaustion have kept me off the computer quite a bit. But, I am now with antibiotics so hopefully will kick this crud soon. Hope all of you are staying healthy and crud-free!
Now for Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is very appealing because some books are just perfect for film.
For me, it is usually action thriller or fantasy reads that I'd like to see on the big screen. Surely, I'm not the only girl who grew up watching Bond, Sinbad and all manner of cowboys and swashbucklers. Ooo--love those swashbucklers!
I was very curious which books the other ladies of Mrs. BG would choose so here is our collaborative Top Ten Tuesday!
Lesa's Picks:
This is my favorite newish fantasy series. I would love to visit a sanctuary for fairytale and mythical creatures but the next best thing would be to see it on the big screen.
2. Any of the Pendergast novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
Pendergast is an amazing cross between Bond and Sherlocke Holmes. If you aren't familiar with Pendergast, I wrote about him here.
3. Repairman Jack Series by F. P. Wilson.
Jack is so cool-- he lives off the grid in New York City and creatively 'fixes' situations for people who can't go to the authorities for help. If you aren't familiar with Jack, I wrote about him here.
4. Any James Rollins science thrillers-- the old stand alones or the Sigma Force series.
5. Temple by Matthew Reilly but I want to see all his action thrillers made into movies-- reading a Reilly book is just like watching an intense action movie.
Temple takes place in the jungles of Peru with two storylines, one from the past and one in the present. Several factions are furiously hunting for a lost Incan idol that holds the secret to a deadly weapon of war.
Fun fun fun!! I'd love to have that sort of jungle adventure-- except for the parasites and creepy crawlies, of course!
6. Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan
This fantasy series is too massive to be made into films but it would make an amazing animated series. I'm thinking something similar to the style and complexity of Avatar:The Last Airbender series. Do you watch it?
Ok, I've monopolized long enough!
DeLynne's Pick:
7. The Phyrnne Fisher mystery series by Kerry Greenwood because the costumes would be stunning!
Phryne (pronounced Fry-knee) has more money than she knows how to spend, luxuriates in expensive cosmetics, wears bespoke clothes, and solves mysteries while shocking society. She is a ballsy, unconventional woman with an amazing intellect who began her life distressingly poor. DeLynne wrote about Phryne here.
Leslie's Pick:
8. The series by Celestine Vaite - Frangipani, Bread Fruit, and Tiare in Bloom.
I think it would be a fabulous movie for a mother, daughter, sister, best friend, aunt, cousin, neighbor....the women in the story are beautiful, hilarious, wise, and familiar...you know these women, you are these women....and it is set in Tahiti...
Tracy's Pick:
For me, it is usually action thriller or fantasy reads that I'd like to see on the big screen. Surely, I'm not the only girl who grew up watching Bond, Sinbad and all manner of cowboys and swashbucklers. Ooo--love those swashbucklers!
I was very curious which books the other ladies of Mrs. BG would choose so here is our collaborative Top Ten Tuesday!
Lesa's Picks:
1. Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
2. Any of the Pendergast novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
Pendergast is an amazing cross between Bond and Sherlocke Holmes. If you aren't familiar with Pendergast, I wrote about him here.
3. Repairman Jack Series by F. P. Wilson.
Jack is so cool-- he lives off the grid in New York City and creatively 'fixes' situations for people who can't go to the authorities for help. If you aren't familiar with Jack, I wrote about him here.
4. Any James Rollins science thrillers-- the old stand alones or the Sigma Force series.
Temple takes place in the jungles of Peru with two storylines, one from the past and one in the present. Several factions are furiously hunting for a lost Incan idol that holds the secret to a deadly weapon of war.
Fun fun fun!! I'd love to have that sort of jungle adventure-- except for the parasites and creepy crawlies, of course!
This fantasy series is too massive to be made into films but it would make an amazing animated series. I'm thinking something similar to the style and complexity of Avatar:The Last Airbender series. Do you watch it?
Ok, I've monopolized long enough!
DeLynne's Pick:
7. The Phyrnne Fisher mystery series by Kerry Greenwood because the costumes would be stunning!
Phryne (pronounced Fry-knee) has more money than she knows how to spend, luxuriates in expensive cosmetics, wears bespoke clothes, and solves mysteries while shocking society. She is a ballsy, unconventional woman with an amazing intellect who began her life distressingly poor. DeLynne wrote about Phryne here.
Leslie's Pick:
8. The series by Celestine Vaite - Frangipani, Bread Fruit, and Tiare in Bloom.
I think it would be a fabulous movie for a mother, daughter, sister, best friend, aunt, cousin, neighbor....the women in the story are beautiful, hilarious, wise, and familiar...you know these women, you are these women....and it is set in Tahiti...
Tracy's Pick:
9. Wicked by Gregory Maguire... I know, it's been a play, but I don't do jazz hands...
Izzy's Pick:
10. The Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda.
And a Mary Poppins that is true to the original (i.e. Mary Poppins is stern and a bit scary), not Disney-fied. Also, L.A.Candy by Lauren Conrad.
Love Izzy.
And a Mary Poppins that is true to the original (i.e. Mary Poppins is stern and a bit scary), not Disney-fied. Also, L.A.Candy by Lauren Conrad.
Love Izzy.
What book would you love to see made into a movie? or a better remake? That might make an excellent Top Ten Tuesday Topic too. Hmm...
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Everyone of you needs to write a book. Go. Now. Write!
*waves enthusiastically to all the new faces.*
I am Tracy, the oldest and therefore the bossiest of the blogging ladies of Mrs. BG's. Thankfully for my cohorts in creativity, I try to keep my dominant obnoxious personality, aka Lady Nurse Ratched, in check and medicated. From the post title, you can see I am not always successful. Lady Nurse Ratched wants you all to write books. She thinks it will be good for you.
It is the most intense experience I have ever had because it shows you very quickly what you are afraid to think about, feel, experience and tell. It is also much cheaper than therapy and I totally get why Hemingway was a drunk. It's easier to write after a glass of wine. How much easier would it be to write after three glasses or maybe a bottle of bourbon? Oh baby!
Wile E. Coyote GEEN*YUS!!
This razor's edge thing has also been one of the coolest, if scariest, parts of writing a book for me and why I've basically begun a total rewrite. It also explains why no more "parts" have appeared on my personal blog. The story will remain the same, but the telling of it has changed. I now feel like I owe these non-people something more than a simple reporting of events. In part, it feels like eavesdropping on other people's lives but there's also an alternate reality aspect to it and that gets right proper weird. Holodeck anyone?
That's about it. Lady Nurse Ratched is done for now. Wait. I owe you a photo. Let's see. How about the official unofficial writer's union uniform and did you know that the GNU image manipulation program (gimp) comes with a tool that lets you shave your legs?
I am Tracy, the oldest and therefore the bossiest of the blogging ladies of Mrs. BG's. Thankfully for my cohorts in creativity, I try to keep my dominant obnoxious personality, aka Lady Nurse Ratched, in check and medicated. From the post title, you can see I am not always successful. Lady Nurse Ratched wants you all to write books. She thinks it will be good for you.
Thursday, I accidentally invited two people who very very much do not enjoy each other's company to an event that had already happened in the past, which does not work on more levels than I have fingers and toes to count, but that's how my brain's been running of late. The neat compartmental divisions I have constructed to handle the multidimensional nature of life have turned into something more like shoji screens than walls and I blame a heads down attempt to write the way Harper Lee was said to have written "To Kill A Mockingbird". All in.
It is the most intense experience I have ever had because it shows you very quickly what you are afraid to think about, feel, experience and tell. It is also much cheaper than therapy and I totally get why Hemingway was a drunk. It's easier to write after a glass of wine. How much easier would it be to write after three glasses or maybe a bottle of bourbon? Oh baby!
Wile E. Coyote GEEN*YUS!!
Not.
(Have I mentioned an addictive personality? Let's call her Absinthe, shall we?)
This razor's edge thing has also been one of the coolest, if scariest, parts of writing a book for me and why I've basically begun a total rewrite. It also explains why no more "parts" have appeared on my personal blog. The story will remain the same, but the telling of it has changed. I now feel like I owe these non-people something more than a simple reporting of events. In part, it feels like eavesdropping on other people's lives but there's also an alternate reality aspect to it and that gets right proper weird. Holodeck anyone?
That's about it. Lady Nurse Ratched is done for now. Wait. I owe you a photo. Let's see. How about the official unofficial writer's union uniform and did you know that the GNU image manipulation program (gimp) comes with a tool that lets you shave your legs?
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| Needed: 1 genetically hip Aussie stylist. now taking applications. |
Friday, January 14, 2011
Our 2011 Bookish Resolutions
After all my holiday bookish musing, it was a breeze coming up with reading related resolutions. Then, I just had to know what my lovely co-blogger's bookish resolutions might be...
Lesa's Bookish Resolutions:
1. Keep a list of all books I read in 2011. I started a list for 2010 but didn't keep it up.
2. Participate in an official challenge and/or readalong. More about that soon.
3. Buy more books!! Never fear, I am still a library girl! The earth hasn't shifted on it axis or anything BUT after all the bookstore sale, book fair and thrift store treasures I discovered in 2010, I am now unashamedly addicted to aquiring beaucoups of bargain books!
4. Read as many books that I already own as I can-- there is a monkey on my back, after all. (see #3)
5. Don't horde-- Donate read books to libraries and/or giveaway to bloggy friends. Then, there will be room for more books. Aw, the monkey is clapping his little hands...
6. Buy a bookcase for my child's room. That will free up one or more shelves on three family bookcases! Oooo, more space for bargain books! The monkey just swooned...
7. Stamp out book snobbery whenever it rears its ugly head. I just won't stand for it, I tell you. Don't make me sic the monkey...
Leslie's Bookish Resolutions:
I want to try a new author and/or genre. I tend to stick to a series until it's done because I know it will be good and I don't want to waste a reading opportunity.
Izzy's Bookish Resolutions:
My reading resolution is to read something classic, something substantial, and try to stay away from Mary-Kate and Ashley. I need something out of my comfort zone, I only read those ridiculously girly novels because they are so familiar. And all have pretty much the same plot.
:)
DeLynne's Bookish Resolutions:
I would like to read every book in the Phryne Fisher series. And something totally new, like sci fi which I don't do often. And a classic. And blog more often. xo
Tracy's Bookish Resolutions:
I plan to read all thirteen Wheel of Time books this year. And hopefully, have my book, Dragon Seals, ready for someone else to read!
Happy New Year and Happy Reading... May all your books be page-turners!
Friday, December 17, 2010
"..a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought"--Byron
Thanks to Lesa, the only book reviews I'll be doing the next year involve a thirteen book series which I'm sure you all know about and if you don't, go here to see how excited she was about book thirteen. If you want to buy them all, go here
.
Disclaimer: Don't blame me if you want nothing more than to lock yourself in your closet with a flashlight and a stack of books for the foreseeable future. Great books. I can hardly stand to be here long enough to post this because while I am posting this, I could be reading!
Still, somethings need bookish peers to appreciate. I thought this one was one of them... and may I just say:
.Disclaimer: Don't blame me if you want nothing more than to lock yourself in your closet with a flashlight and a stack of books for the foreseeable future. Great books. I can hardly stand to be here long enough to post this because while I am posting this, I could be reading!
Still, somethings need bookish peers to appreciate. I thought this one was one of them... and may I just say:
ouch...
Would you?
If you would and but need some more inspiration: Take a look at this post by LotusReads
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Book pretty. Wish list.
Words are nice,
but sometimes, what's called for is pretty and that needs no words:
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| Remodelaholic |
wish list:
and just because we can all dream about heaven..
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| A Stairway, though they called it "Bibliophile Porn. I sort of like it. |
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Russian literature
...uh.. no.
I tried. Not hard, but I did try. Russian shopping? Yes. Yes. I tried. I succeeded and I had company.
When I was in Texas a few weeks ago, my sister, my daughter and I all went on an international outing for the day in Houston. Texas gets a bad rap sometimes. What with Enron, ex-presidents that shall remain nameless, strip malls, big hair, etc. the reputation isn't entirely undeserved but there's another side and it's an interesting one.
The first stop we made was to the Russian General Store. The store is on the small side with deli counters lining the walls and of course there is a great deal of Russian food that would be comforting if you're Russian and that far away from home, but all sorts of things were packed onto the shelves.
They had everyone covered. Can you imagine what it must be like to be in a strange country and need to feed your baby? I thought this was odd at first. American grocery store shelves are full of baby formula, but if I'm a Russian mother with a baby, these cans represent one less thing I need to worry about because people I know have used them and lived to become adults. Who knows what they put in that American stuff? I'd have a point.
In the very back of the store was something that would delight any Russian book worms heart, a book shop. I was busy buying shiny things, but Leslie spotted it behind a counter and a curtain that had been pulled to one side. None of us were sure if we were allowed back there, but it didn't stop us. Ugly Americans are ugly Americans in America too. We did ask if it was okay when the shop keeper came to make sure we weren't getting too much out of hand. Good call on her part. We're rowdy. I regret to say I neglected to photograph the large collection of contemporary fiction in my haste to get back to my more shallow pursuit of shiny things, but here is a bit of what we found:
I tried. Not hard, but I did try. Russian shopping? Yes. Yes. I tried. I succeeded and I had company.
When I was in Texas a few weeks ago, my sister, my daughter and I all went on an international outing for the day in Houston. Texas gets a bad rap sometimes. What with Enron, ex-presidents that shall remain nameless, strip malls, big hair, etc. the reputation isn't entirely undeserved but there's another side and it's an interesting one.
The first stop we made was to the Russian General Store. The store is on the small side with deli counters lining the walls and of course there is a great deal of Russian food that would be comforting if you're Russian and that far away from home, but all sorts of things were packed onto the shelves.
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| Soaps: Smell like дом! ("home" to the rest of us..) |
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| Note: This is not Tolstoy. |
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| The Classics, and not just the Russian ones. |
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| The Queen's Necklace, Dumas. I asked. |
Do all places have far flung surprises? Arm chair travel anyone?
Friday, November 19, 2010
Oh why not....
Anyone who reads a great deal has to have at least thought about writing at some point. There are already plenty of good books and there are quite a few really good books, but there are also books, and I cannot be the only reader who's thought this, that lead to,
"I could do better than this."
Call it hubris, because lord knows I have plenty, but I'm trying to "do better." I'm writing a book. I posted an excerpt on my personal blog which you can find by following the link here on Mrs. BG's, but after talking with Lesa, and the most objective of people, my loving sister and mother, I thought I'd throw it out there to see what readers who don't already love me think about it. They say the first few paragraphs are the most important anyway. Here goes:
What she held in her hands was closer to a catastrophic brain bleed than a headache because she was pretty sure it was an exact mirror to the jade dragon seal sitting in a nest of shredded paper beneath her bed. If Conner hadn’t already been dead, she’d have divorced him; in fact, she was wondering if she could have him exhumed for just that purpose. She wanted to throw the seal against a wall. Instead, she clenched it until the ache in her fingers worked its way up her arms then sat it gently at her feet. Individually, the seals were rare and ridiculously valuable. As a pair, they were priceless and fuel for an international fire-storm.
When resignation finally replaced rage, she took out her cell phone to call Jack Douglas, the FBI agent she’d been lying to all day.
Sean had offered to come to her, but Aubrey had declined. The hard angles of Oakland kept her more aware of her tenuous place in the world, but navigating them was a lot to ask of a man in a twelve hundred dollar sports jacket. Traffic was also easier for her than it would have been for him leaving San Francisco at this hour, particularly with the Bay Bridge in a perpetual state of construction, or deconstruction, depending on one’s point of view.
The view of the city, still orange-yellow from the last arcs of late autumn sunlight might have felt like karmic confirmation of a good deed had she not known her real motive was to keep him out of the firehouse. Conner and she had restored the crumbling hovel into a sleek home for their life together, and the last thing she wanted was his doppelganger sitting on the sofa in the softening effects of warm firelight and wine all night. The few evenings that happened soon after Conner’s death had all ended with a solitary climb up the stairs and sobbing. Among the things she’d figured out very early in life were: sobbing is useless and leads to occular bloating where as one foot in front of the other was and is always salvation.
Her cell phone ringtone and a number she recognized as belonging to Alan Mercer brought her back to the present. That had to be more down side than not because any call after hours meant something or someone broke bad and couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning but she was still grateful that whatever the topic of conversation would be, it was guaranteed to move away from reawakening sadness. She pressed “Accept.”
"I could do better than this."
Call it hubris, because lord knows I have plenty, but I'm trying to "do better." I'm writing a book. I posted an excerpt on my personal blog which you can find by following the link here on Mrs. BG's, but after talking with Lesa, and the most objective of people, my loving sister and mother, I thought I'd throw it out there to see what readers who don't already love me think about it. They say the first few paragraphs are the most important anyway. Here goes:
Aubrey Hale fell, furious and dumbfounded, onto a step stool to look at the stunningly beautiful jade object in her hand. The storage unit was quiet other than the sound of the climate control system pushing perfectly humidified air around the room, but the internal curses she screamed in the direction of her dead husband made her head feel like it was going to explode. Conner had been dead three years, and that was reason number one he currently sat on the top of her least favorite people list. Reason number two was that his company, Conservator Transit, Inc., along with all the headaches that came with it was now her responsibility.
What she held in her hands was closer to a catastrophic brain bleed than a headache because she was pretty sure it was an exact mirror to the jade dragon seal sitting in a nest of shredded paper beneath her bed. If Conner hadn’t already been dead, she’d have divorced him; in fact, she was wondering if she could have him exhumed for just that purpose. She wanted to throw the seal against a wall. Instead, she clenched it until the ache in her fingers worked its way up her arms then sat it gently at her feet. Individually, the seals were rare and ridiculously valuable. As a pair, they were priceless and fuel for an international fire-storm.
When resignation finally replaced rage, she took out her cell phone to call Jack Douglas, the FBI agent she’d been lying to all day.
"Thanks large, darlin'", she said to no one.
Twenty-two hours earlier
Dinner in the city meant another long day was going to be extended indefinitely, but Aubrey hadn’t seen her brother in law, Sean, in months and he would be a nice diversion from the pace of the past few weeks. The easy conversations she and Sean had were some of the more pleasurable moments she spent with the Hale family before Conner was killed and the only peaceful ones she’d shared with them since she’d become the widow and heir. She had always known their thin affection was more practiced than perfected, but she’d been absolutely shocked by how quickly the civility ended when she inherited their youngest son’s shares of the Hale family trust.
Sean had offered to come to her, but Aubrey had declined. The hard angles of Oakland kept her more aware of her tenuous place in the world, but navigating them was a lot to ask of a man in a twelve hundred dollar sports jacket. Traffic was also easier for her than it would have been for him leaving San Francisco at this hour, particularly with the Bay Bridge in a perpetual state of construction, or deconstruction, depending on one’s point of view.
The view of the city, still orange-yellow from the last arcs of late autumn sunlight might have felt like karmic confirmation of a good deed had she not known her real motive was to keep him out of the firehouse. Conner and she had restored the crumbling hovel into a sleek home for their life together, and the last thing she wanted was his doppelganger sitting on the sofa in the softening effects of warm firelight and wine all night. The few evenings that happened soon after Conner’s death had all ended with a solitary climb up the stairs and sobbing. Among the things she’d figured out very early in life were: sobbing is useless and leads to occular bloating where as one foot in front of the other was and is always salvation.
Her cell phone ringtone and a number she recognized as belonging to Alan Mercer brought her back to the present. That had to be more down side than not because any call after hours meant something or someone broke bad and couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning but she was still grateful that whatever the topic of conversation would be, it was guaranteed to move away from reawakening sadness. She pressed “Accept.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The Italian government.” Alan had no love and little patience for the many bureaucracies that he had to endure as Conservator’s head of Customs Compliance
“Only one government today? Wow. That’s unusually charitable of you. So does this mean you’re getting some lead time on the holiday cheer racket or that you’re drinking on the job?”
When the silence wasn’t filled with a response, she decided her sense of humor was currently unappreciated and continued.
“Okay. I’ll put on my concerned face. Tell me the good parts.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"There is it... what do you think," she asked after donning her asbestos undies? And for those of you appalled and/or concerned. It's copyrighted and all that good stuff, though personally, I believe in the benevolence of the universe, my fellow man included.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Emma, we need to talk.
, Emma and I have parted ways. Our relationship ran its course. We're still friends, but we had to be honest with each other. She's a Highbury highbrow and I, an Orange County lowbrow, minus the cat fights, Botox, Restylane, sugar daddy and jumbo mortgage, though the use of "low brow" sort of makes the explanation redundant, and I have a job, not a line of skin care products.
I could start with the list of fascinating field trips I was going to take outside Orange County to hide the fact that I'm not going to be a big Jane Austen fan, but they aren't materializing so I'm thinking honesty is on the agenda. The only thing I can think of is that Jane Austen and Jerry Seinfeld appreciation sit on the same gene. The one I don't have. The Seinfeld thing is a problem in my family. I hope the Austen thing doesn't become another one. Don't get me wrong. I like Emma. A lot, but I read to give my brain a break. I don't want to have to think when I read and I have to think when I read Jane Austen.
Horrible. I know. I am what's wrong with readers ( the world ) today. I told Lesa she needed to add "Too stupid ( me, not the book )" to the Mrs. BG poll, "Why do usually give up on a book?"Okay, stupid is a little harsh, but lazy.. yeah. That would be much better. "Too lazy ( my flesh, not my spirit )." That's why I didn't finish reading "A History of Pi", the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, not the baked good. It was by Petr Beckmann in case you're interested, and if you understand why Seinfeld is funny you probably are..
I did finish Emma, and at some point, when I get my own line of skin care products, I'll start reading Pride and Prejudice. In the meantime, I still plan on taking those field trips outside Orange County, if for no other reason than the plastic lady parts and puffy lips are starting to look normal.
I could start with the list of fascinating field trips I was going to take outside Orange County to hide the fact that I'm not going to be a big Jane Austen fan, but they aren't materializing so I'm thinking honesty is on the agenda. The only thing I can think of is that Jane Austen and Jerry Seinfeld appreciation sit on the same gene. The one I don't have. The Seinfeld thing is a problem in my family. I hope the Austen thing doesn't become another one. Don't get me wrong. I like Emma. A lot, but I read to give my brain a break. I don't want to have to think when I read and I have to think when I read Jane Austen.
Horrible. I know. I am what's wrong with readers ( the world ) today. I told Lesa she needed to add "Too stupid ( me, not the book )" to the Mrs. BG poll, "Why do usually give up on a book?"Okay, stupid is a little harsh, but lazy.. yeah. That would be much better. "Too lazy ( my flesh, not my spirit )." That's why I didn't finish reading "A History of Pi", the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter in Euclidean geometry, not the baked good. It was by Petr Beckmann in case you're interested, and if you understand why Seinfeld is funny you probably are..
I did finish Emma, and at some point, when I get my own line of skin care products, I'll start reading Pride and Prejudice. In the meantime, I still plan on taking those field trips outside Orange County, if for no other reason than the plastic lady parts and puffy lips are starting to look normal.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Book Ends
One of my husband's more annoying/endearing qualities is that he's smarter than me in ways and quantities that approach infinity. This is why I won't play left brain games with him, even though we met playing chess. He's also done the crossword puzzle in ink as long as I've known him so his right brain isn't too shabby either. This weekend he was so sweet. He tossed a half done puzzle from the LA Times aside, looked at me and with no intended insult said,
"You could finish this one." Aaaaand yet he lives.
See if you can figure out the pattern. If you can't, don't feel bad. I had to ask. ( and no, I did not finish it. Sir Brainsalot did. )
"You could finish this one." Aaaaand yet he lives.
See if you can figure out the pattern. If you can't, don't feel bad. I had to ask. ( and no, I did not finish it. Sir Brainsalot did. )
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| Click on the image to enlarge |
Sunday, October 17, 2010
When you eat at the refrigerator, pull up a chair...
..is good advice and the title of a wonderful book by Gennen Roth. I've battled with my self and "the bulge" long enough for me not to really want to talk about it but sometimes you find something and feel compelled to pass it along even if it means showing your soft underbelly, no pun intended.
If you've ever struggled with your weight or know anyone who has ( and are sure they won't take it the wrong way and bean you with it...) find this book and keep it in on your person. No sales pitch, just good advice from someone who knows of which she speaks, two women in fact, Gennen Roth and me. I've lost 20lbs since I bought it and began applying the principles within, my two favorite being "Whatever you do, Don't Diet" and "Carry a Chunk of Chocolate Everywhere", chapters 1 and 15 respectively.
How can you not love a book that tells you that you must have chocolate on your person at all times? It's a pragmatic approach to dealing with an adoration of food and the realities of physics...calories in vs. calories out and more importantly to my mind, it's about getting over your self-inflicted food drama. I'd tell you more, but it would spoil the ending. Suffice it to say, the middle of the book looks a lot like a loose fitting pair of linen slacks and that my new happy place is See's Candies.
Friday, October 1, 2010
How to become a best selling author:
- Write a series with many parts
- Give the first one away on Kindle.
In fairness, I don't know how many books Kay Kenyon has sold, but I know she wrote a really good series in "The Entire and the Rose" Few of us have the luxury of browsing through books all the time . (Fantasy life pause. Go ahead, I'll wait,............... Ready? k. ) A good series is a very nice find. This one falls into the science fiction/fantasy genre. It's set a few hundred years from now when some of "us" accidentally end up "over there", in another universe, one that's begun to look at "us" like "our" stars are the solution to "their" power supply problems.
The story opens after the protagonist managed to get back where he belonged, but without his wife and daughter and no one believes he ever went anywhere particularly interesting. The series has the typical alien/future technology character, but it's also a story about what defines family, how we ultimately suffer when we try to use each other, how people cope when they're wildly out of place, how loyalties assumed to rock solid can change over time and how there's a larger purpose than we often see on the surface.
The story opens after the protagonist managed to get back where he belonged, but without his wife and daughter and no one believes he ever went anywhere particularly interesting. The series has the typical alien/future technology character, but it's also a story about what defines family, how we ultimately suffer when we try to use each other, how people cope when they're wildly out of place, how loyalties assumed to rock solid can change over time and how there's a larger purpose than we often see on the surface.
For Kindle users, Bright of the Sky (Book 1 of The Entire and the Rose)
is the über sample. It's free. It's also so good you'll pay for the other books in the series, and because you like Kenyon so much, you'll buy an additional book (The Braided World
) when you finish book four of the series, Prince of Storm. Maybe compulsive book buying is a character flaw that I should addressed, but you see how my "best selling author" plan could work. Either way, it's a good read, several in fact.
A quick note about the Kindle, and my on going love affair with it. I'm as surprised as anyone, and every time someone asks me about it, I make them wish they hadn't. The other night, I was waiting for a friend to show up for a dinner date and I was reading, from my Kindle. I should get stock, I'm tellin' yah. I talked the waiter into giving his mother a Kindle, and Kathy of http://kathylovestoread.blogspot.com and my personal favorite http://kathyisawino.blogspot.com/ (Sorry, Kathy, but I love the url's as much as I love the blogs!) awarded a word of the day prize to a post here at Mrs BG's, all because of the Kindle.
I know exACTly how this guy feels:
( thank you Aunt Deleese/Linnie)
( thank you Aunt Deleese/Linnie)
Friday, September 24, 2010
Traveling in place: India
Instead of the karmically unmentionable book with an Indian theme, I read "Climbing the Mango Tree: A Memoir of Childhood in India, a biography by Madhur Jaffrey. and loved it from the forward to the last word so much so that I hardly know where to begin so I'll tell you how she began,
"I was born in my grandparents' sprawling house by the Yamuna River in Delhhi. Grandmother welcomed me into this world by writing Om, which means, "I am" in Sanskirt, on my tongue with a little finger dipped in honey." You can't say enough about the upside to a really good grandmother.
Jaffrey is a titan of the culinary world, was friends with James Beard to the point of having taught some his classes when his health began to fail and while she began as an actress she has become a prolific cookbook author, specializing in, get ready... Indian cuisine! Shocking! I know!. So why not one of her many cookbooks? Well, I chose her biography because I'm trying to lose weight and just didn't think it would be a good idea to have any more reasons to want food. My husband and I go out for India food. Fewer leftovers=smaller sit down ( optimally at least ).
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| Kakri cucumbers. Seeds available from Diamond Seeds |
Maybe you have the last few summer kakri sitting sadly on their withering vines and if so, though this isn't even remotely Shakespearean, maybe you'd like an idea about what to do with them:
Raita Salad
- 1 cucumber peeled, seeded and coarsely grated
- 2 cucumbers peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 cups non-fat Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup finely chopped mint, firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne ( to taste and omit if heat isn't your thing )
- 1/2 cup finely chopped cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
- salt and pepper to taste
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| Hindu Temple, Calabasas, California. Take off your shoes.. Thank you. |
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