I decided that I needed to get started on Rabbit Angstrom just so the longest book on my list was out of the way. One day and one seventh of my way in, I’m not thrilled but not horrified. I enjoyed Updike’s Henry Bech and found the stories interesting and varied. So far Angstrom intriguingly styled but I’m not sure if I’m going to think it worth my time. Probably will, since it would be in an incredible minority if it weren’t but it is just possible.

Home life has been a bit dull lately. No big projects, no exciting adventures in the last few weeks. The boys have a couple of handfuls and I’ve been ready to buy a ticket to Siberia just to get out of the house! We’ve been doing the usual domestic stuff, cooking, cleaning, baking, etc. But none of it has been earth-shattering. Alex likes to clump around in my high heels (and is doing it right now), he also likes to take all his clothes off, if I leave him alone long enough. Typical right? Luc is just happy to be walking and while he’s still pretty slow, he’s steady and stable.

I’m out of coffee and that is making this morning exceptionally tough. Off to find caffeine…

Finished To the Lighthouse. Started The Dain Curse, The Glass Key and Selected Stories by Dashiell Hammet and finished the stories. I feel as though I’m making progress and that is good. Still not a Virginia Woolf fan. The woman had style but really, what did she say that was important? Meaningful? Not to dismiss the woman’s life or anything, but I often think that she had a tortured existence and death for the sake of a few lightweight style pieces. Yes, I know, a Women’s Studies center is coming to assassinate me. I shall invoke the aid of St. Augustine.

If you’ve never had the chance, make brownies with a half cup of peanut butter chips in them. My husband raves.

Any thoughts on unionizing for the 30 hour work week? No? We have an economic crisis? What are you saying!?

Both Election Day and Joan Didion’s Politcal Fictions are over. Hurray! I do quite seriously recommend the Didion book though. Very clever, very insightful and quite thoughtful. However, I am very happy to be over the politics ‘though pleased at the way the election and my reading coincided.

Home hasn’t been much fun lately…kids are alternately demanding and disgusting (slime from every orifice) and the usual drudgery of cleaning has seemed especially onerous. I *know* that now is when my children need me. I *know* that all work done to the Glory of God is holy. I *know* that being cheerful about it helps. But despite *knowing* these things, some days are just hard to slog through. I’m feeling better this morning, more energetic and more rested with some inspiration to work on other more interesting things than laundry. Which always helps the laundry get done faster too. One day, if I can afford it, I will be happy to hire a housekeeper. Ah! The joys of the aristocracy…

So we had spent the entire day inside. Cooped up, avoiding the cold and damp. Finally we were just too restless, so I dressed the boys up nice and warm, got into jeans and shoes and headed out to the front yard to rake leaves. And the clouds just opened up. We had been outside about 30 seconds and it simply poured on us. The only rain all day. I raked anyway. The boys played in the front seat of the 4Runner while I huddled in my hoodie and scraped the sopping leaves together. They are yet unbagged but the front yard does look better.

We have a gorgeous maple tree in the front yard. It small but vibrant. Unfortunately it only takes about a two weeks for the leaves to turn and fall off. They start out a rusty brown and gradually move through stages of orange to a vibrant, brilliant red. As soon as they turn fully red they begin to fall and a few days later the tree is bare. When they fall you get to see both the gorgeous red of the top and the pearly pink of the underside of the leaves in a mottled blanket on the grass. I should have taken a picture.

I’m in the middle of Joan Didion’s Political Fictions. Quite apt for the season. Speaking of which. Cast a ballot today but do so without worshipping in the temple of the secularist gods. Salvation does not come at the polls and America’s many and deep problems won’t be fixed there. We simply have a civic responsibility to participate in our own government. Oh, for a Monarchy!

Of course Sunday was a busy day as it usually is. This week I did all my weekly baking Sunday afternoon. This meant zucchini bread, amish friendship bread and a pot of minestrone soup, not to mention dinner, all going at once. That means that Monday will be fairly laid back but because of the time change I’ll be up at six instead of seven (children don’t adjust so easily) so I guess that’s more hours to fill instead of more hours to relax. I’m already tired out.

Unusually enough Jared asked for some time to himself this weekend. I ask for time almost every day but somehow he is almost always doing fine. He is definitley not one of those guys that needs a “man cave” or any other cheesy metaphor for personal space and I deeply appreciate this. It is probably partly because he has a job that he enjoys so much and that is so fulfilling and also because it means long stretches of time when he is working by himself, but I know that it is mostly because he is so giving and so kind and so generous with his energy. I really appreciate this about him since it makes him really easy to live with and makes my life so much less draining than it could be. So, I guess what I’m saying is I’m grateful for the dynamic of our marriage.

Hallmark moment over…

I didn’t read very much yesterday. I guess knowing that I am caught up is bad for my motivation. When you run a race it is always good to have a little extra energy at the end so you can “kick” and pass anyone you find in front of you. So I’ve got to find some kick soon so I can pass Thomas Mann (I so don’t want to pick up The Magic Mountain again!) and Toni Morrison (I’m sick, sick, sick, of Beloved) and the any other dragging books still waiting for me. Thanks to Richard, I’m now really looking forward to the Rabbit books instead of being scared of it. Didion isn’t done yet but now I’m getting to my living memory. It is arranged chronologically and now she is writing about nineties politics so even though I’m not interested per se, I’m at least familiar with the subject matter.

More Didion made for dense, slow reading! Despite a concentrated effort I only managed to get about 200 pages in. The only thing is, this book is actually a collection of seven books! Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album, Salvador, Miami, After Henry, Political Fictions and Where I Was From. UnfortunatelyI didn’t know that it was seven books, I counted it as one on my list. I feel used.

No apples today. I didn’t even look at them. Yay.

Instead I decided to remodel…okay, not really. I just took the cupboard doors off of the upper cabinets in the kitchen. Today I well be repainting the face frames and not replacing the doors. I’ll post pictures if Jared brings the camera home. What do you think of pinky-purple?

Umm…so yeah…I’ve been a bit absent from my “daily” blog. I’m busy (of course) and have felt burned out by the end of the day. So this is what I’ve been up to for the two days I was missing…

I finished Raymond Chandler’s Collected Stories. Yay! Hurray! Celebrate! OK…it really wasn’t all that bad but I am glad to be finished. There is something slightly soul-sucking about reading crime stories. Especially hard-boiled ones with corpses on nearly every page. Now I’m reading Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence so I’m not exactly in candyland but things are definitely better.

Saturday was highly productive with four pies, three gallons of applesauce, a gallon of apple cider, two gallons of apple juice, a batch of dried apples and dinner all being produced. Thank you Megan, Quinn and Rachel. I think I figured out what payment I wanted Anemone…a book

This morning we had breakfast for fourteen at our house and still managed to scamper out the door in time for church. Then lunch with Doug and Pam and a nap and finally cleaning out the shed for the winter rounded out the afternoon/evening. I have another absurdly busy day facing me tomorrow with three errands, four loads of laundry, more apples, a pantry to clean out and, oh yeah, books to read…pray for me!

Wow. I must have gotten very uninteresting lately because no one has commented for three days…

I finished Pale Fire today and found it highly amusing. Satirical literary criticism…and an imaginary Eastern European country…and an imaginary deposed king and his imaginary assasain. Fun stuff. Unfortunately I should have read twice as much in the last two days and I’m falling behind again. It’s a little scary to see all the books waiting to be read!

Also scary was today’s snowstorm. First, it doesn’t usually snow this early and second, the heavy, wet snow on still fully leaved trees means lots of broken limbs. We live in a very nice older neighborhood (our house is from 1920, which is a big deal in the American West) with lots of mature trees, including nice big maples, oaks, catalpas and locusts. In five minutes tonight we saw SIX huge branches crack and fall from our various neighbors’ trees. That is a lot of casualties in a short period of time. And that didn’t include the two huge branches we found in our backyard from our neighbor’s maple. Jared spent some time getting wet and cold while knocking snow from our smaller trees but it was time well spent since we didn’t lose a single branch! Photos…

I read all of The Secret Garden yesterday and I’m really over pedantic children’s literature. Ok, ok, I get it, fresh air and plain food are all the world needs…

In other news the boys and I had an absolutely fabulous day. We played, I worked and hardly a fussy note escaped either of them! It was really quite amazing. I’m not at all certain what the magic formula was but we’re going for a repeat of the experience today.

They came and took the empty POD away. The driveway is much nicer now that there is a little room in it. And, also on the shedding possessions front, we sold our teevee last night. We are now $80 and fourteen cubic feet richer.

My dear friend MB had a fantastic idea and was kind enough to let me in on it. We are looking into spending the weekend at a Hermitage. Such a great plan on so many levels. In another life I might have been a member of a contemplative order so to visit that life for a weekend (and get some reading done) sounds simply wonderful. Now I just have to apply and hope they accept me…

I finished The Radetzky March. Good book, very moving and tragic. Also read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Freaking weird little book. I did not like it at all! It was abrupt, repetitive, creepy and arbitrary. There seemed no sense of wonder or beauty or myth about it. I can’t believe that it has the standing it does. Oh, and they were silver shoes not ruby slippers. I started The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende and am finding it quite beautiful though bit on the strange side. Magical realism, here I come.

My day was very busy but I managed to get lots of reading in by balancing the busyness. The boys and I walked to our personal bank which is farther away than the one we use for business banking. I’ve never walked there before, we’ve always ridden the bike or driven. I read all of Oz on the walk so it was time well spent. Unfortunately Luc lost his pacifier on the walk too (one of the drawbacks of reading…mom doesn’t pay very close attention) so I think he is now weaning himself off of it. Always fun! I also did laundry, dishes and cleaned the floors so the house is looking pretty good but I’m so bored with chores! I want to get out a bit more. I feel like the house is closing in on me and since I love my house, that’s sad. However, I have a preconceived horror of “mom’s groups” or “playgroups” and am not sure how to occupy myself with two toddlers in tow without resorting to one…

Speaking of other moms (sort of) I met a lady at the park in the afternoon who had wanted to buy our house just before we did. For some reason she and her husband decided to go with another home and she’s been regretting not getting ours. I’m so glad they didn’t buy it! I love our little house and can’t imagine being settled anywhere else; I want to live here forever…please God…please…