At Sixes & Sevens...

Advice from Grandma

Another cogent gem from Thomas Friedman 

Advice from Grandma

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I look forward each morning to the arrival of a daily poem from the Writer's Almanac. If you regularly read my blog, you know I am a fan. 

In addition to a poem, Garrison Keillor includes interesting historical information about authors or other famous people. Today is the birthday of Leonard Woolf, husband of Virginia Woolf. I loved the passage Garrison included at the end of today's email,

"In 1941, with war raging in Europe, Virginia Woolf feared that she was on the verge of another breakdown. On March 28, she filled the pockets of her jacket with rocks, waded into the River Ouse and drowned herself. Her last note was to her husband Leonard. It ended: 

'What I want to say is that I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that -- everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been. V.'"

Checked it off the List

drive-thru-tree
Originally uploaded by EphusBailey

Everyone has things they want to do or see in life, and I'm no different. When I was a child, my brother and sister and I had a Viewmaster. Remember those? I still have the one that belonged to my dad, and late last summer I pulled it out of the closet, and stuck in a disk. The one I chose was a disk created in 1948 that showed several images of the amazing redwoods in Northern California. I was instantly transported back to my childhood in Virginia, where I dreamed of visiting California and seeing those trees. 

Recently, I took a long weekend trip to NoCal and spent some time driving in, around, and yes, through the redwoods. They were as amazing and wonderful as I had always imagined them to be, back home in Virginia. 

Diagramming Won't Help This Situation

A short bit from a poem on the Writer's Almanac for today: 

"~and so we will
continue to be nothing more than sentence
fragments, perfectly fine for effect, 
but forever looking for the missing
part of speech we can never seem to find."

From: "Diagramming Won’t Help This Situation" by Kevin Brown 

Culinary Irony

I received a free issue of Gourmet magazine in the mail today, with an attractive offer for new subscribers.

Unfortunately, the publisher decided to stop publication, so the offers are moot.

Prague!

IMG_0378.JPG
Originally uploaded by EphusBailey

Alfalfa

She loves wide open spaces 

and freedom; 

Summertime soft warm breezes, blue skies, high thin clouds, 

and small white flowers wet with dew. 

Possessing an impish sense of humor

she eats pumpkin seeds and warm chocolate cake, 

though not at the same time.  

An emotionally complex person, she is warmly welcoming to strangers,

doesn't mind waiting in lines,

and Halloween is her favorite holiday. 

Alice in Prague

Alice in Prague
Originally uploaded by EphusBailey

I am back from my vacation to Copenhagen and Prague and working diligently (I promise) to get pictures and text up on my blog for you to view. This picture was taken at a beautiful flower shop near a lovely public square in Prague. It is very much like a picture I shot on a trip to Amsterdam in January of 2009. This has been a wonderful year for travel, apparently. 

Stay tuned. More to come!! 

Signs of Autumn

Signs of Autumn
Originally uploaded by EphusBailey

Ah yes, summer is coming to an end in the Pacific Northwest. I spotted this seasonally appropriate poem in downtown Corvallis.  

By Shank's Mare

Santiam Lake
Originally uploaded by EphusBailey

When the weather is nice, I'm usually on my bike. We had a bit of late summer/early autumn rain this past weekend, so I spent Saturday and Sunday running errands and knitting. Monday, Labor Day, was forecast to be beautiful, and my ski buddy Bianca convinced me that a hike was in order. 

We decided to go to Santiam Pass, our usual back-country ski destination, and hike one of the trails we normally only see when there is 15 feet of snow. We picked the Santiam Lake trail, and weren't disappointed. The area, though burned over by the B&B complex fire several years ago, was stunningly beautiful, and we were rewarded at the half-way point by this beautiful view of a lake we normally don't see in the winter.