Monday, November 10, 2003
Report on the Weekend
This weekend was a bit hectic, but I feel (finally) like I'm getting some energy back, so I don't mind so much.
Friday night was our book club meeting. We were missing one member, but enjoyed a good chat over pecan coffee cake, pecan cookies, cheese and crackers and chai. Deeelicious.
The book was good, but everyone agreed that it was not great. Discussion, when not of particular short stories, centred around: male characters, depiction of the contemporary south, depth vs. 'quirky" characterizations, and the short story form and Singleton's success with it.
We are reading Therapy by David Lodge for our next meeting. Light fare for the Christmas season.
Oh! Friday night a house on our street caught on fire and burned for a long time. I went out on the street at 2 am and it was a terrible sight. The strange thing is that that same house was burned out when we moved in two years ago! The woman who lives there got out okay. The word on our street is that she fell asleep smoking -- again -- and the house's condition would seem to bear that out. It looks like the fire started in an upstairs bedroom.
Saturday we went to the suburbs to visit my parents. This is always more than I want it to be, because my parents are divorced and a trip out there means I have to try and see both in one afternoon. But it was nice. We took my dad out to lunch and then went to my mom's and sat by the fire and talked. The highlight of the day was when my mom played an old cassette of my grandfather reading some of his stories. It was as if he was right there in the room, in a way. He died when I was still young, and I rarely saw him anyway because he lived in England, but I loved him and and he made a great impression on me. I'm proud that he was my grandfather.
Sunday we did a "big clean" in our house. I won't bore you with the gory details, but it feels good to clean, man. I wish I'd been able to accomplish more.
This weekend was a bit hectic, but I feel (finally) like I'm getting some energy back, so I don't mind so much.
Friday night was our book club meeting. We were missing one member, but enjoyed a good chat over pecan coffee cake, pecan cookies, cheese and crackers and chai. Deeelicious.
The book was good, but everyone agreed that it was not great. Discussion, when not of particular short stories, centred around: male characters, depiction of the contemporary south, depth vs. 'quirky" characterizations, and the short story form and Singleton's success with it.
We are reading Therapy by David Lodge for our next meeting. Light fare for the Christmas season.
Oh! Friday night a house on our street caught on fire and burned for a long time. I went out on the street at 2 am and it was a terrible sight. The strange thing is that that same house was burned out when we moved in two years ago! The woman who lives there got out okay. The word on our street is that she fell asleep smoking -- again -- and the house's condition would seem to bear that out. It looks like the fire started in an upstairs bedroom.
Saturday we went to the suburbs to visit my parents. This is always more than I want it to be, because my parents are divorced and a trip out there means I have to try and see both in one afternoon. But it was nice. We took my dad out to lunch and then went to my mom's and sat by the fire and talked. The highlight of the day was when my mom played an old cassette of my grandfather reading some of his stories. It was as if he was right there in the room, in a way. He died when I was still young, and I rarely saw him anyway because he lived in England, but I loved him and and he made a great impression on me. I'm proud that he was my grandfather.
Sunday we did a "big clean" in our house. I won't bore you with the gory details, but it feels good to clean, man. I wish I'd been able to accomplish more.
# posted by becca : 8:52 AM
