July 2014 – Better Living Through Literature

Back To Work

July 31, 2014July 31, 2014 Karen

That’s enough sick time for one week, right? But trying to do work today will probably be like this quote from A.S. Byatt:

She remembered…the phenomenon of the first day’s work on a task. One had to peel one’s mind from its run of preoccupations: coffee to buy, am I in love, the yellow dress needs cleaning, Tim is unhappy, what is wrong with Marcus, how shall I live my life? It took time before the task in hand seemed possible, and more still before it became imperative and obsessive. There had to be a time before thought, a woolgathering time when nothing happened, a time of yawning, of wandering eyes and feet, of reluctance to do what would finally become delightful and energetic.

A.S. Byatt, Still Life (via)

Nurse Toby Is On The Case

July 30, 2014 Karen

Turns out my Little House on the Prairie “fever n’ ague” from yesterday was actually strep throat, so I’m home again today until I’m not contagious. Fortunately, after just 12 hours of antibiotics, I can tell they’re working. Yay modern medicine!

Of course, I should also credit Nurse Toby with this improvement. I’ve made Doc stay away so he doesn’t get it, but Nurse Toby has been by my side:

Or showing me all his healing Powers of Cute:

Sick Day

July 29, 2014July 29, 2014 Karen1 Comment

I have a dress finished and ready to show you, but what started as feeling “off” Sunday night turned into full-on fever, chills, and aches by yesterday afternoon. (This morning the chills and fever have stopped, but I’m still taking it easy. Yay for the labor movement getting us sick days!)

Because I can’t get sick without being literary about it, this passage from Little House on the Prairie (where the whole family comes down with malaria) popped into my mind last night:

Laura said she didn’t feel like playing. She was tired and she ached. …Suddenly Laura shivered all over. She shivered so that her teeth rattled in her mouth.
Ma put her hand against Laura’s cheek. “You can’t be cold,” she said. “Your face is as hot as fire.”
Laura felt like crying, but of course she didn’t. Only little babies cried. “I’m hot now. And my back aches.”

Monday: Mountains and Muir

July 28, 2014July 28, 2014 Karen

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
-John Muir

Friday Unrelated Information

July 25, 2014 Karen

1. Happy belated birthday (yesterday) to Zelda Fitzgerald and Amelia Earhart.

2. I found this on my internet reading this week and it’s fascinating: The Order of the Good Death.

3. But, while we’re still alive, it’d be nice to have a schedule like this and work in 90-minute blocks.

Thursday Poem

July 24, 2014 Karen

This reminds me of summer visits to the Midwest. Love the opening line.

From a Country Overlooked

by Tom Hennen

There are no creatures you cannot love.
A frog calling at God
From the moon-filled ditch
As you stand on the country road in the June night.
The sound is enough to make the stars weep
With happiness.
In the morning the landscape green
Is lifted off the ground by the scent of grass.
The day is carried across its hours
Without any effort by the shining insects
That are living their secret lives.
The space between the prairie horizons
Makes us ache with its beauty.
Cottonwood leaves click in an ancient tongue
To the farthest cold dark in the universe.
The cottonwood also talks to you
Of breeze and speckled sunlight.
You are at home in these
great empty places
along with red-wing blackbirds and sloughs.
You are comfortable in this spot
so full of grace and being
that it sparkles like jewels
spilled on water.

Happy Birthday, Raymond Chandler

July 23, 2014 Karen

The Writer’s Almanac tells me it’s detective novelist Raymond Chandler’s birthday today. It also tells me a trick he used to learn the style of pulp novels so he could go on to write his own (really good) ones:

As a schoolboy in London, Chandler had learned to translate Latin texts into English and then back again into Latin. He used this same technique with mystery stories: he read them, wrote down detailed plot summaries, and then tried to rewrite the stories. Then he compared his finished versions to the originals, to determine where he could have done better.

Tuesday Project Pondering: Daring!

July 22, 2014July 22, 2014 Karen2 Comments

Not only am I on a knits kick and feeling inspired, I’m back on a budget and wanting to sew EVERYTHING myself instead of buying it. This was probably the perfect storm of a time to discover sewing blogs and instructions for making your own lingerie.

There are so many detailed tutorials out there! And step-by-step instructions! And lists of where to find all the supplies! (You can even get kits on Etsy!) And people are making some really pretty things:
(Made and photographed by Cloth Habit, my favorite newly discovered lingerie/sewing blog)