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Sunday, February 21, 1999 The sun came out today, finally. It was cool, but nice. I've been thinking about taking the camera outside and taking some pictures one of these days, just sort of capture some of the places I go, but I think it would make more sense to take it to work and get photos of some of the wonderful buildings and things around the office. I wasn't planning on being anyplace interesting today. The only place really interesting today was the restaurant where I had lunch--the little Mexican place that I usually go to in the summer. I couldn't eat outside today, but I had a nice lunch inside, and brought home half of my quesadillas for dinner. I realized something today that I hadn't before--they play Jimmy Buffett outside and Spanish music inside. Apparently even when it's too cold to sit outside. It just seemed funny. It seems like they would be playing the same music both places, although I guess there's no real reason why.
I did a big shopping spree today for the house, something that I seldom do. I got new bath rugs for my bathroom and new ones for Bob's, too, plus a new shower curtain. And I bought him a new electric toothbrush, which he had been saying he needed, and replacement filters for the water purifier, and . . . oh yeah. Some candles. It seems like I can't go to a housewares shop without buying candles. A box of Green Tea scented ones, and a box of peach colored ones that are scented with peppermint and ginger and named something incomprensible like "Stimulation." Well, I mean of course "stimulation" isn't incomprehensible, it's just that I never really find that candles themselves, no matter what they're called, really do all that much for any specific ailment or condition. They're lovely, I absolutely adore candles. I burn them nearly every night. But I don't fool myself that burning a candle named "Stress Relief" is actually, in and of itself, going to relieve my stress any more than one named "Stimulation" is. I do buy them for the scents, but I buy the scents I like, not the qualities they're supposed to have. And I buy them for the colors sometimes, too. I'm drawn toward ivory, mostly. And I bought a coffee measure and a cheese grater, and a couple of gorgeous little wooden platforms meant for dripless pillar candles, I guess, but which remind me of something you'd find in a Japanese garden. Tiny little benches about an inch and a half tall. I'll think of something to do with them, I'm sure.
I was wandering around through Amazon the other night, and I think I must have been on an Anne Tyler or Alice Hoffman page, although I don't really remember why, and they have a little section at the bottom of the page saying, "People who bought books by this author also bought books by these authors," and then they list four or five people who supposedly write similar books, or whose books at least appeal to the same kinds of people. This page listed Sue Miller, who I had never read. I'd heard of her book "The Good Mother," of course, but hadn't read it. Sometimes I get in moods where I want to read something emotionally wrenching, but I seldom seek it out. I often end up reading something emotionally wrenching, for instance, I found myself moved to tears yesterday by something in the de Lint book I'm reading, but it tends to sneak up on me unawares. The descriptions of her books sounded so intriguing, particularly her newest one, "While I Was Gone," that I went out and bought it, along with another one, "For Love." "While I Was Gone" is a novel about a woman who has built a successful career and a long-term marriage, and raised a couple of grown children, when her turbulent, secret past comes back to haunt her in the form of a former housemate. In "For Love," the heroine goes back to her hometown to get her aging mother's house ready to be sold and watches as her brother begins an affair with a neighbor, something that she's been wondering about herself, since her marriage is troubled. Both books deal with relationships and how we interact with each other, and how we deal with tragedy in our lives. While I was at the bookstore I picked up a copy of "Victoria" magazine, mostly because the issue was devoted to England, and in the magazine was the beginning of a novella that Joanna Trollope is writing exclusively for the magazine. How could I not have ever heard of her? Or, more likely, I'd heard of her but imagined her someone like Barbara Cartland . . . The story was delightful, and today I went back to Borders to see if any of her other work appealed to me. A few other women must have had the same idea, because the shelf was noticeably empty except for two lonely copies of some of her earlier work. I wasn't sure enough to buy them without looking at the rest of her books, so I'll save that for another day. Buying a book, for me, is much more than just buying the book itself. I have to like the way a book is printed, and the way it's bound, and the paper, and the typeface. There have been occasions when the subject or author of a book has appealed to me, but if the book doesn't seem "right" to me, I'll pass. That sometimes seems silly, but reading a book is such a "whole" experience to me that I don't like to compromise on it. I've gone ahead and bought books whose physical appearance didn't please me, and had the reading of them become so annoying that I've put them away. I like small type and fairly thin paper. My favorite are "trade" paperbacks, the bigger size paperback, and I like ones that are flexible. I can't stand trying to read a book with stiff pages, mostly because I don't like to break the spines. I don't like to have to struggle to hold a book open. Both of the Miller books passed the test, but the Trollope ones didn't, thus my indecision. I guess I have a lot of rules.
Someone from South Africa wrote and told me that the animals I saw in the Africam shots were waterbucks, recognizable by the "target" pattern on their rumps. I haven't seen anything truly exciting there yet, but last Friday night I did run across these guys (this is the Sabi-Cam at Sabi Sabi Game Preserve):
I watched them for awhile; I think the small animals on the ground must be baboons. It was the deer-like animal that I thought was especially cool, though. It only stuck around for a couple of minutes. I looked it up, and I think (by the ears) that it's a kudu. I'm not sure why I find this site so fascinating, but I really do. I keep hoping for some large animal like an elephant to wander by, and I imagine sooner or later one will. |
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