I started Joan Didion’s We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live and so far so good. A lot of the pieces are about sex, drugs and rock and roll but then so were the sixties… Her writing is clear and thoughtful but now I’m venturing in to some of the more introspective essays and they aren’t quite as interesting. Still, I’m impressed so far with her reportage and her analysis.

I’m appled out. I’ve decided that I need to expend the energy currently being consumed by applesauce, cider etc… on reading, writing and other projects. If you want free apples, come see me. I’ve got a couple of bushels to give away.

Speaking of reading, staying up reading until eleven has been working fairly well. I’ve been reading a bit extra almost every day and along with one or two more concentrated weekends of effort this should get me caught up before December 31st. Should. We’ll see.

I have no recent pictures of the boys (Jared has been hogging the camera for work projects) but they are getting more amazing by the day. Luc is almost walking. His current record is four steps. He and Alex now play together for extended periods of time. They are so cute! Alex pushes Luc over, Luc giggles. Luc eats dirt and Alex wipes his face. Alex runs in circles and Luc laughs. Imagine, one day they will be fathers, wise young men debating philosophy and religion. One day they will be teaching me things, showing greater understanding or skill than than I. And I’ll remember that they used to eat dirt and be reminded to be humble…right before I start losing my mind…

OK, Saturday is apple day. We will start processing millions of apples at 2pm. Come with cinnamon and sugar and gallon ziploc bags if you want pies, with jars or tubs if you want applesauce and with more jars or pitchers if you want juice (it’s really yummy juice). Of course if you just like fresh apples you can have some of those too. When we are done we will fry apples in butter and sugar and eat them with vanilla ice cream…

I’m reading Raymond Chandler and now it’s three of the short stories that remind me of four of his novels. Obviously he reworked some themes. I also started Beloved yesterday. It is not a favorite of mine and I’m of the opinion that it ought to be stricken from any list it’s on. Ok…that might be a bit harsh but I’m really not a fan. Don’t tell Oprah on me.

I had a busy day of housework, baking and errands and did manage to finish Alice Munro’s Carried Away. Does anyone know if her short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” was ever turned into a movie? I was describing the plot to Jared and he thought it was one.

Because I’m drowning in apples and because I hadn’t been to the grocery store I used applesauce in several recipes to substitute for eggs. It worked perfectly and the final products (chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins) taste great. As applesauce is essentially free I might be switching permanently…I’ll let you know how that works for mousse…

I am considering having some kind of work day this weekend where I ask for volunteer help to process the bajillions of apples in exchange for some of the end product. If anyone (within driving distance) is interested, please let me know. I have one peeler-corer-slicer and one dehydrator but volunteers could bring extra. Potential end products include apple juice, applesauce, dried apples, frozen apple pie filling, cider and tired feet.

Zeno’s Conscience is a longer book so even though I read quite a bit yesterday, I’m still only about halfway. It’s been a great books so far, truly a modern classic, and I’ve barely noticed the translation so that’s good but since starting it, I’ve had two big deja vu moments that are starting to creep me out. One was very powerful but once it was over I realized I was having whole memories that really weren’t there…odd.

I was uber-domestic, managing to do two batches of dried apples, one small batch of applesauce, ditto juice, bake Amish friendship bread (more cake than bread), do dishes, five loads of laundry, lasagna for dinner and a loaf of whole wheat bread to go with it. Whew! Full day! Since the boys were in relatively good moods, Quinn was around to watch them once in awhile, also Megan, and Jared came home early, it wasn’t too hard. I really enjoy looking back on a day like that…went to bed at 9:45…yes I’m officially old now…

I finished The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and started Zeno’s Conscience by Italo Svevo. I’m still not a Joyce fan but I admire The Portrait and what it accomplished much more than I do Ulysses and what it represents. I still have Dubliners on my list and I remember liking much of it and I don’t have to read Finnegan’s Wake so I might end the year feeling favorably toward him.

If you thought I was a dork, or super-domestic because of my crazy applesauce making brace yourself. I picked more apples. LOTS more apples. My in-laws live in a planned community which is three parts Stepford Wives and one part commune. They have a community farm and all the residents are entitled to a share in the produce. Apparently all those families out there are not into processing apples because the orchard is still really full, even after several days of open picking. My mother-in-law Pam got permission for us to pick as many as we wanted, and apparently we wanted bushels and bushels. I’m planning on drying a bunch of them, making a bit more applesauce, making plenty of juice and freezing several apple pie fillings. If you are a fan of any of the above (and live in the greater Boise area) leave me a comment and we can work out a deal. If you are a member of my family, you can just have whatever you want by asking otherwise we can work out a deal. Jared claims that the dried apples are better than candy…

Great Expectations Charles Dickens Page: 227

Not too much reading today but I did work on my new blog. I really like the way it’s coming together but I don’t really have time for it. Still I can’t help but try to get the ideas out of my head. It’s kinda like labor right at the end when you can’t help but push. I’m still working on it and I’ll let you all know when it’s ready to be seen.

I’m a confirmed lover of Dickens now. I can’t believe I ever disliked him. I consider it confirmation of my own fallibility.

Once again I feel very domestic and very competent. I made zucchini bread, brownies and breakfast casserole while I made dinner tonight. Now we have breakfast, snacks and dessert for the whole week. Pretty good use of a “spare” two hours.

The Only Problem Muriel Spark Page: 461

The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann Page: 381

I made risotto for dinner tonight. I’m in love with the Italians. How did one culture give us spaghetti, lasagna, risotto, pizza and the wonderful glories of Parmesan cheese? So much goodness, so little time.

Jared and I leave tomorrow for a backpacking trip. This will be the first time we’ve been in the mountains since Alex was five months in utero. We are both ridiculously expectant. We hope to read a lot, enjoy the fresh air and each others company. Jared has plans to take three books while I’m busy deciding whether I should take several books or just one or two long ones. It would be fun to take six books and finish all of them but not so fun to pack them in. It would also be fun to say that I read Moby Dick in one day. What do you think? Should it be Kafka, Nabokov, Cather, Grahame, Morisson and Burnett? Or should it just be Melville and Dickens?

Of course the other great consideration is that we are leaving the boys behind. I’m worried. Not worried that they won’t be happy, after all they are staying with their grandparents and will be well taken care of. No, I’m worried about me. Selfish I know. I just hate to be away from them so much even while looking forward to a little break. Here’s to being completely absorbed in my books!

I finished my second batch of applesauce today. Pictured below are the results. The clear jars on the left contain apple juice. I think it looks like a productive project. Not pictured is the jerky I made. Jerky is not very photogenic.

The High Window Raymond Chandler Page: 656

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Girls of Slender Means, The Driver’s Seat, The Only Problem Muriel Spark Page: 332

I feel like a domestic goddess today. I made my applesauce. Incidentally a bushel basket of apples makes a surprisingly small amount of applesauce. I only got four and a half pints out of that basket plus a pint of apple juice. In order to have a respectable amount of applesauce to show for my efforts I asked Jared to bring home a ladder and we are going back to pick the apples out of the top of the tree. Since they are bigger and less wormy up there tomorrow’s yield should be much higher.

Also on the domestic (goddess) front I started some elk meat curing for jerky. Jared and I are going backpacking this weekend, I had a roast sitting in the freezer and it seemed like a good idea. It’s kind of a lot of work but sooo worth it! Homemade jerky is much better tasting than the store bought stuff and at $16+ pound I’d rather make it.

I’ve plowed through four complete (though short) novels in the last two days. I find Raymond Chandler a curiously entertaining diversion. His creation of the private eye Philip Marlowe is sublime. I’ve read that his novels are the finest of hardboiled detective fiction but not being a reader of such I cannot determine if that is so. Suffice it to be that they are fine and enjoyable light fiction. Light in the sense that they don’t demand much of the intellect, not so light in subject matter. There are rather too many dead bodies lying around. I do very much enjoy the dialogue, it puts me in mind of this type of image

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I’m enjoying Muriel Spark’s novels and will write about them tomorrow after I finish the final one.

Farewell, My Lovely & The High Window by Raymond Chandler Page: 500

As expected I had a busy day today. I’ll come back and edit the post later tonight when I finish reading but I wanted to put today’s photos up…especially the tat ones!

Apples on the tree.

Despite the plethora on the tree this is all we could reach. Ladders would help, especially when your assistants are an infant, a one-year-old and the world’s shortest Quinn.

Hopefully we’ll have applesauce tomorrow!

Now you wouldn’t believe it to look at him but this gorgeous, smiley little boy just had his shots.

We walked from home to the doctor’s office (2 miles or so) and he slept most of the way there and back. He is healthy as can be, was a tough guy through the shots and seems to be pretty happy now.

Here is my ring tattoo. Unfortunately it’s kind of hard to get a good shot. It is really fresh (just finished less than an hour ago) and so is a little shiny from the seepage. It is a J and an M worked together and joined with a simple swirled band.

The Big Sleep & Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler Page: 235

I started yet another book trying to find something to cheer me up. Chandler isn’t exactly a bucket of sunshine but The Big Sleep went down easily. I’m still not sure what logic has hardboiled detective fiction on a list of classic literature, but it’s been a nice little break. I hope to finish Farewell, My Lovely and the last book bound in this volume, The High Window, tomorrow. Luc has an appointment with the doctor to get some immunizations and I’m planning on walking there and back. I’m also planning on picking some apples at an empty house down the street; I hope to make applesauce from them. If I manage to get the reading done and the applesauce made I’ll feel like a domestic goddess. Maybe. Oh, and I have a 6pm appointment to finally get my tattoo. I’ll post a picture of it and you can all see how cool I really am.