Reading as a journey

The Chinese philosopher, Lao-Tzu is quoted as saying, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I'm going to adapt it to "Reading a book with a thousand pages begins with the first word." Okay that's pretty cheesy and I will admit to that. The point is books can take us on all sorts of journeys. Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry picked me up and carried me from the south of England to the northern border with Scotland. It also took me into the heart and soul of Harold Fry. I don't want to spoil this story for you so I will simply say I was absorbed, and I too journey through my own heart and soul as a result.

"Beginnings could happen more than once, or in different ways. You could think you were starting something afresh, when actually what you were doing was carrying on as before." (p. 156) I was so taken by this quote. How many times have I resolved to start something, or stop something for that matter? How many New Year's Resolutions are made with all good intentions? New diets started? New workout routines? I'm sure together you and I could come up with a huge list of the things we had decided to start or to start over with. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. Albert Einstein defined insanity as, "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." The lesson for me is to look at my beginnings and to make sure I'm simply not carrying on as before. Real change is what is needed to get myself out of insane spirals that I sometimes find myself trapped within. Harold Fry started a journey of self discovery without ever meaning to. He simply walked out his front door and kept going.

Why I save quotes

Often when reading, I come across something that strikes me right to the core and I have to record it so I can reflect on it later. One such quote comes from Joan Anderson's A Weekend to change your life: find your authentic self after a lifetime of being all things to all people (httpt://www.amazon.com/Weekend-Change-Your-Life-Authentic/dp/0767920554), "When we train our bodies to sustain our dreams, then we are learning to live authentically. Authentic living is not about scaling mountain peaks or winning races. It's about acknowledging and developing the God-given strength of our bodies so that we can continue to live our lives as fully as possible." (p.139) I copied out this quote into my journal on October 29, 2012.  I see it often when I open my journal to write. I've reflected upon it. I've ignored it's advice.

New Year's has come and gone. I did not make any resolutions but thought about changes I needed to make in my life. I've known for some time that I needed to start eating better and exercising but I just didn't want to. I was being stubborn. After my annual check up and the results of my blood work came back I was relieved to hear once again that all the numbers were good all that is except for the number on the scale. I've taken Anderson's advice to heart and finally I'm doing something to train my body. Train it to need less food. Train it so I can do all the things I want to do like hike, kayak, do yoga, and garden. I desire to live life fully and I can't do that if my body lets me down. So the quote spoke to me and I've finally listened.

Books about bookstores

One of the first series of books I ever read about bookstores was Carolyn Hart's Death on Demand (http://carolynhart.com/) about a spunky young woman who inherited her uncle's bookstore which carried only murder mysteries. She and eventually the man who would become her husband set out to solve a series of real murders. The best part was how Hart dropped names of authors, characters, and titles throughout the book, I was introduced to many new books that way. I walked into the real thing when I visited Mystery on Main Street in Brattleboro, VT. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I told the proprietor that he held my dream job, he responded that owning your own business wasn't as easy as it looked. I discovered Edmund Crispin there in a reprinting by Felony and Mayhem Press.

A couple of years ago I read The Novel Bookstore about a Paris bookstore that only stocked novels chosen by a select and secretive committee. The competition in the city heated up between the different book sellers of Paris and there was some skullduggery. Again a good way to learn about authors I was unfamiliar with.

This afternoon I finished Robin Sloan's, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, where once again we are introduced to an unusual bookstore with a twist. There's a secret society, a quest, friendship, and the search for meaning. I won't tell you more as I think you should read it for yourself. Here's a hint though, if you do get the book leave it under a light for a short while and then turn the light off. Cool isn't it?

Time to resolve

The year is drawing to a close and it is time once again to reflect back on the events of the past twelve months. This year has been chuck-a-block full. Over full. Way too much! Some good and unfortunately some very sad. In spite of it all there has been beauty and joy, and when I have found it, I've grabbed onto it and relished it. The one lesson I firmly learned was to give up playing the "what if" game. It simply doesn't matter and it is just a waste of mental energy. The "Why?" game isn't one you should play either. Sometimes there is no answer, and why make yourself miserable trying to find one? Here's where the Serenity Prayer comes to the rescue:
      God give me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Resolving can mean to solve or to break down into component parts. Instead of resolutions this year I want to seek solutions in order to resolve the "problems" in my life. For example, getting organized. Once and for all I must get organized, I'm tired of living with my current technique of piling. Piles no longer work for me because I waste way too much time sorting through them looking for what I want. It's stressing me out too much! So I've pulled an "oldy" but goody off the shelf, Julie Morgenstern's  Organizing from the Inside Out. Confession time, I never managed to get through it the first time which is probably why I still haven't gotten organized. Well that may be one reason. What I think is really the answer is found in this quote, "Organizing from the inside out means creating a system based on your specific personality, needs, and goals. It focuses on defining who you are and what is important to you as a person so that your system can be designed to reflect that. (page 13)" Up until now I didn't really know who I was or what I wanted in life. I was living based on what I thought people expected of me. No wonder I couldn't come up with a system for myself. Here is where the resolving comes in, the breaking down of my life into its component parts so that I can observe them and fashion them into a new whole. This past year has been one which has challenged me to see myself in a new way and to redefine who I am. It is the work of this new year to express what I've learned and put it into practice.

The days are getting longer again

3:00 pm on a December day
look how low the sun is in the sky

I'm a couple of days late with this post, but on the solstice I was laid low with a seasonal cold. My son brought it home from school and my own students were sitting in class with their colds. I was bound to catch it as my defenses were worn down. We are approaching the time when last year my father fell ill and the devastating news of Stage IV lung cancer was given to us. The days were definitely dark then for all of us. It was over quickly when Dad passed away on February 1st.

I'm listening once again to Rosmund Pilcher's Winter Solstice on my iPod. I first read this book when it came out back in 2000. I was a fan of her other books The Shellseekers and particularly September which I've read a couple of times. I purchased my iTunes copy last December so I could listen to it once again plus have it to enjoy every December.

It is a story tinged with lots of sorrow. There are tragic losses of life and of loves. But then there is healing and starting over. It is the same with all our lives. Last year we didn't get to celebrate Christmas with my parents as my father was hospitalized before we could gather, but we did bring him his Christmas presents to open. This year we prepare to celebrate but with heavy hearts. Yet life goes on and doesn't the solstice prove that. At the darkest point of the year the earth begins its movement back towards the point where the earth's axis will tip us towards the sun again. In the end of Pilcher's story all her characters take up the broken pieces of their lives and begin to fashion something new. So too will my family. We will begin new traditions holding onto some of the old and incorporating the new. It will never be the same, but it will be good.

New Year's Eve

I know I'm a little early to be writing about December 31st but I finished Mitch Albom's The Time Keeper the story of Father Time. *** Spoiler Alert*** It is a twist on the old story of It's A Wonderful Life. It was a bit predictable but worth reading as a good reminder of what is truly important in life and the sin of trying to control our time here on earth. What was hard for me was his choice of his two characters who had their future's revealed to them while time was stopped in the middle of their act of suicide. The young teenage girl is a carbon copy of my own cousin who took her life at the age of 18. The second character an older gentleman with cancer was very much like my grandfather who was dying of cancer chose to take his life (cancer treatment in 1969 isn't what it is today). When I read the story I wondered if Mitch Albom had been reading my personal journals. I've always wondered if my loved ones could have known what life would be like after their deaths if they would have gone through with their actions. It's easy to write a story where there is a happy ending, but what about when there isn't? Our family story has been one of heartbreak, but also of triumph over tragedy. For those who suffer from this type of loss, it gets better, but the unanswerable question of why will still haunts.

Winter's coming

Frosty leaves

On Saturday afternoon we went for a walk in the woods and in patches the morning's frost had not yet thawed as evidenced by the pictures I have taken. It was a beautiful day for a walk, but we had to plan appropriately since the sun would be setting early. As we approach the winter solstice so we come to the day of the year with the shortest amount of day light here in the Northern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the sun in its annual orbit. Man has used the key points in the earth's orbit to mark time - winter and summer solstices, and the autumnal and vernal equinoxes. They have made their calendars and built their temples/monuments to keep track of these days (think Stonehenge).

Now to continue with my December theme of books to read and re-read, I am currently listening once again to Ngaio Marsh's Death of a Fool.  This time we find Roderick Alleyn detecting the odd death of an old blacksmith who had been playing the role of the fool in a ritualistic winter solstice Morris Dance call the Dance of the Five Sons.

Frosted oak leaves

The ins and outs of village gossip, old traditions, and the fine art of police work all play key roles in this story. I am a huge fan of Marsh's fine dialogue and rich descriptions of the countryside. Plus she has such fine characters, and in her own words they are all "proper masterpieces."