Category Archives: Reading

Hanging at the Hampton

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Yet another Hampton Inn.  I’m doing a digital storytelling workshop for the next two days.  I’ve mainly been doing administrator training so this will be a nice change of pace.  I had fun playing with photostory and moviemaker last week and I think I have the workshop nicely paced out.  A short into this morning, then look for resources, then photostory.  I think we may be able to get through this by lunch.  This afternoon is an hour with the flip camera then moviemaker.  My goal is to give them time to work tomorrow on a project.

I slept about as well as I sleep in a hotel.  I am planning on some yoga this afternoon.  Before I hurt my back, I had been doing yoga pretty regularly and my heat flashes had really abated.  Not sure if it is cause/effect but Bob and I saw a short news story on yoga helping with menopause.  I feel like I’m back to the beginning, but I’ll start with some light stretching.  And, now that the weather is nicer, I’ll start incorporating a walk, too.  I ordered a few books using Audible credits.

Still reading The American West by Dee Brown.  It’s depressing to read the stories of the ends of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and the other great warriors.  I keep picturing the barren prairie of Wounded Knee.  Was there any other possibility for this situation?  I don’t think so.  Even those who wanted to save the Native Americans didn’t seem interested in letting them preserve their culture.

Yesterday was one of those not-very-good days that we all have from time to time.  Just felt frustrated all day.  Realized I had lost my cell phone.  And managed to rip the nail off my thumb.  Ouch!  I swung by Target on my way out of town and bought a new phone.  It seemed like it got set up correctly but I still haven’t gotten the text message saying it is ready to use.  I also bought A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  Just couldn’t resist: it’s part of the Target Bookmarked and last week I heard a woman on NPR talking about the main character, Francie Nolan.  I can remember that my mother didn’t want me to read it.  Eventually, I think I did.  Meanwhile, the last thing I need is another book, but I’ll add it to the basket.

Rainy Days

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When I opened the back door for the dogs, I discovered the chickens already wandering around.  We never braved the rain last night to put them away.  Actually, they put themselves away: heading into the coop to roost just about dusk.  But we close the various gates to keep them in and potential predators out.  Last night, however, it was pouring like crazy and it just never happened.  They appear no worse for wear.

My husband said when he got up to let Ivy out in the middle of the night, the frogs were singing.  Not a surprise when you look around this morning.  My neighbor’s woods have been transformed into a wetlands.  We didn’t get rained on and I thought it looked like it was clearing.  Then, as I sat down to write, I noticed that it was raining again.

I’m spending the day with my parents.  We’ll do some shopping and if it does clear take a walk in Colonial Williamsburg.   Dinner is easy, just have to get the chicken in the crockpot this morning.

I managed to finish the VITAL newsletter last evening.  Just two or three more of them to do.  I wondered if I should try to continue but I think it’s time to bring it to an end.  I do get comments from several people about how much they appreciate it.  And, I never really know what I’m going to write about for the opening essay.  Yesterday was no different, but then I started writing about how the Kindle has done for books what iTunes and Netflix did for music and video: made them instantly available.   So, the other day, when I heard through Twitter that the Bryant Park Project was going to have a book club, I decided to join in.  But, I had also made that new year’s resolution about buying books and had just come home from Roanoke where I had majorly broken that resolution.   What to do?  Turn to the Kindle.  Sure enough, the book–In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar–was available.   I saved about 5 dollars buying the Kindle version.

Of course, there are drawbacks: I can’t share the book with others, I can’t sell it at the paperback book exchange, I can’t donate it to the library.  But, for now, I have plenty of other books for which I can do that.  The Kindle allows me, along with the public library, to start making decisions about whether or not I need my own printed copy of a book.

Early Afternoon Pages

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This is what happens if you do not write your pages first thing in the morning. Life intervenes. It’s 2 PM and I just poured a fresh cup of coffee. I’ve been cleaning the house and just have one bathroom to go.

I was up early: the dogs were ready for their walk by 6:15 AM. By 7 AM, I was ready to get started on the day, but I decided to indulge in what I consider a luxury: reading a book with my first cup of coffee. In my single days, I couldn’t wait for Saturday mornings. I would get up early, make a pot of coffee, put it in a carafe and bring it to bed with me. Then, I would drink coffee and read. Pure pleasure.

So, that’s what I did this morning except I sat outside since my husband was still in bed along with our lab. It was a might on the chilly side but I lasted for a bit along with Zuzu. Reading In the Shadow of Wounded Knee reminded me that I had Dee Brown‘s The American West on my shelf. And, I was ready for more Western history, even though there isn’t much I haven’t at least touched on. But, Brown’s book, with photos edited by his late colleague Martin F. Schmitt, promised good stories. (NB: just went to Wikipedia and discovered the Mr. Brown is also late.) By the time I sat down at the computer, I was ready to work and spent the morning doing a few things. I was planning to write about the book.

I love its organization: chronological but also topical. Rather than trying to tell everyone’s story at once, they narrow in on sharply detailed vignettes of Western life. I feel like I have some knowledge of how to rope a calf now that I didn’t have before reading their chapter on cowboys. Quite a feat driving 3500 head of cattle from Texas to Kansas.

Their description of a man and his horse who had been trampled by a stampede was gruesome but compelling. The West, it seemed, offered multiple horrible ways to die. Maybe that’s why, when they got paid, cowboys went looking for booze and women rather than hearth and home. Spend it before you get shot by an arrow or trampled by a longhorn steer or shot by a poker player.

I’m hoping to have an hour to sit by the fire and read. It’s pouring outside and we’re home. I added at least another book to the basket of books.

My coffee is just about done. I should also work on the VITALNews so I may put an hour or so into that. We’re having weekend guests and I’m making supper on Saturday night: cranberry barbecue chicken in the crockpot, roasted sweet potatoes, salad from the green house, cole slaw with apples and walnuts, and a chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Yum! And easy to make.

Native Americans

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I’m writing from yet another Hampton Inn.  I have a friend who says she’s been in every one in Virginia.  I cannot make that claim but I’ve done a fair number.  Maybe I’ll start a Google Maps overlay of all the Hamptons I’ve been in.

But, not this morning.  Instead, a quick post about In the Shadow of Wounded Knee.  Here’s a picture of Plenty Horses, who shot Lieutenant Casey near Pine Ridge.  It’s from the Grabill Collection at the Library of Congress.

You can read more at American Heritage.

Gotta go….

Monday Morning Musings

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No title yet this morning.  The title for my morning pages was always the date and time.  It’s March 3, 2008, at 7:39 AM.  I did the usual routine with the dogs but haven’t let the chickens out yet.  That’s next on the list.  I am playing recorders this morning then have the rest of the day at home to get organized for the week.  Here’s the topic list of to dos:

  • Taxes (Mostly data entry into Turbo Tax so I can put the paper work away. We always get an extension and it takes my husband a little prodding to get his numbers together.)
  • Dissertation draft and human subjects (This is due Thursday.)
  • Digital storytelling workshops (These begin next week.)
  • Leftovers for a client (I have additional work to do for this client but probably not until the end of the week or over the following two weeks when I’m stuck in a hotel room for five or six nights!)

So, nothing too bad, although I did wake up in the middle of the night and worry that this week wouldn’t be enough time.  Get over it…the dissertation is the main thing and I’ll work on that this afternoon.  And the workshops should just take a day or two to practice with the software and get some resources together. So, just relax, Karen, enjoy playing some music this morning, then settle in and get some work done.

The weather is supposed to be nice so I wouldn’t mind getting to the property this week.  Again, I have plenty of time so actually pretend you know how to be on vacation and have some fun.  I put the pile of books I bought in a basket and am going to read through it.  I could get in an hour or two of reading at night.  We were both tired after a long day of gardening.  I raked a flower bed and did some planning.  Dusted our bedroom and finished up the laundry.  We went to bed around 9 PM.  That’s just too early for me.  Because then I was wide awake at 2 AM and still sort of mulling over the world at 3 AM when Bob invited me back to bed.  At the conference last week, I stayed up until midnight and slept great.  So, I’ll try it tonight.

And, I’m back on the weight watchers wagon today.  I did OK over the weekend: just one incident with milk and oreo cookies.  I had been avoiding them but once I get off track, anything goes, it seems.  I am just sort of embarrassed that I can’t seem to be disciplined enough to control my eating.  Yesterday, when I really wanted cheese and bread, I chose an apple instead.  Can it be that simple?  Making different kinds of choices?  I wish it were and I’m going to try to see it as that.

So, I added a title and am ready to publish this.  Then, in the hour I’ve got, I’m going to look at my dissertation to see how much has to be done.  But, first, I need to let the chicken out of the coop for the day.  And, it looks like there’s a small bird trapped in the netting.  One of the chicken–Trudi–has discovered that she can get out of the yard.  We retrieved her several times yesterday.  It’s interesting that the others don’t seem interested in following her.  She and Tina Turner are my two escape artists.

Blessings for the day.

Greetings from Roanoke!

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My tradition with the hand-written morning pages had been to start writing about how I slept.  And, I must say, I slept pretty well for a hotel room.  I’ve already had a cup of in-room coffee (one of my favorite things about hotels) and am fixing to take a shower.  I don’t have to be anywhere for the conference until 10 AM!  A big thank you to the volunteer coordinator for that little gift.  I’ll wander down earlier to find real coffee and maybe some breakfast.  It’s going to be a long day once it gets started so I’m enjoying the peace and quiet right now.

I love Roanoke.  I’ve conferenced here and worked with the local school division on several occasions.  I can see mountains from my hotel room window and the downtown has an old charm.  One of my favorite bookstores–Cantos Booksellers–is here, and I’ve already got Tuesday morning planned out.  A latte at Mill Mountain coffee then browsing the books at Cantos.  It’s an independent bookstore and I make it my business to help keep them in business.  They could use some work on the website they set up…maybe I could recommend my husband.

Saturday Morning, Feeling Fine

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After almost exactly a year of work, I turned in my dissertation proposal to my committee yesterday.  My advisor has already returned it with some suggested changes, but she assures me that it is not because I am a slacker.  It is 125 pages after all.

This is all very exciting but also a little overwhelming and perhaps I’m experiencing a small sense of let down.  Because of the way I’ve written this paper, it was part of my life throughout 2007.  My research plans have changed fairly significantly since January 2007 including my paradigm.  I shifted from a constructivist to an interpretivist paradigm in the hopes of being able to at least make some generalizations with my data.

Suddenly, I have some time…enough work to keep me busy during the day, but evenings and weekends provide unstructured time.  I’ve been crocheting for charity (mostly baby booties and hats).  And reading. I just finished Pontoon by Garrison Keillor.  I really liked it but found myself sort of wanting more.  The story seemed spare for Keillor; I found myself wanting more of his diversions.  This was definitely the story of Evelyn and those close to her rather than a story of Lake Wobegon as a whole.  Since I hurt my back, I’ve been feeling very middle aged and just tired.  So, I could sympathize with Evelyn’s daughter, Barbara.  Except I have a lovely marriage that blesses my life every day.

I picked up The Power and the Glory by Grace MacGowan Cooke yesterday but only got through the introduction.  Published in 1909, the subtitle is “A Novel of Appalachia.”  I sat in the swing under the oak tree and learned about the author, something of a feisty woman who was very much part of the literary ether of the time, rubbing shoulders with Sinclair Lewis and  Robinson Jeffries.  The book was made into a movie in 1918.

Most of Cooke’s work is out of print, but this edition was released in 2003 by Northeastern University Press.  I was also pleased to discover that it is available via Project Gutenberg. I am planning on spending an hour with it today wrapped in a blanket in front of the fire.

Right now, I’m puttering on the computer, setting up an iGoogle page for a workshop I’m doing at the VSTE conference and listening to great music from WFMU: Laura Cantrell’s Radio Thrift Shop…there is laundry in and I’ve got the ingredients for sweet potato pies on the kitchen table getting soft (butter and frozen sweet potato mash).  I’m making pies for dinner tonight.  And, later this afternoon, I have a recorder rehearsal.  But, I’m pretty sure I can find an hour to read.  Maybe even crochet…what DID I do with myself before I started going to graduate school full time?