Miscellaneous Stuff
Look at that awesome breakfast. Bagel, toasted, with avocado and lemon pepper. That’s it. So delicious. Served with OJ and tea (PG Tips, a bit of milk and sugar). One nice thing about Facebook is that some people post pictures of their food, and you can choose to be inspired by their pictures. I’m not sure I would have come up with this combination on my own, so thank you Facebook!
Then there’s this…the Gluten Free Museum. Famous paintings, with any offending gluten removed. Click the link to see more awesomeness.
Are you a fan of the ‘Little House’ books, by Laura Ingalls Wilder? If so, and if you like knowing the background behind these fictional books, I recommend the newly released “Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography“. It’s an amazing amount of research into almost every detail of Wilder’s unpublished autobiography, “Pioneer Girl”. Wilder first put her memories down and tried to publish them as “Pioneer Girl”, which is the story of her early life. The story is not written for children, and has some darker elements than the ‘Little House’ stories. The decision was made that the stories would better be told as children’s books, and Laura and her daughter Rose worked through the same material, and they turned into the ‘Little House’ stories that we all know and love. The difference between reality and fiction is sometimes jarring. That she had a little brother, who died as an infant, I knew. That the infamous Nellie Oleson was a composite of several girls in Laura’s youth, I knew. But that Jack, Laura’s beloved brindle bulldog and constant companion, was actually given away when Laura was 4…that was too much for me, and I thought I was going to have to breathe into a paper bag to keep from passing out.
If you’re looking for a good book to read, I really enjoyed ‘The Precious One‘, by Marisa de los Santos. I’ve read a couple of her other books, and I really enjoy them. They’re light enough to be an easy read, but I love her writing and her lovely use of language. Without giving anything important away, this is the story of Taisy and Willow, sisters 18 years apart in age. They share the same father, who is imperious and overwhelming and towers above their lives. They’ve only met once before, when Willow was a baby, when Taisy comes to stay for a short time at the request of their father. Taisy is determined to find answers to how her father turned out to be the man he is, the kind of man who would leave her, her mother, and brother, and start over with a new wife and daughter. Willow is focused on her dislike and jealousy of Taisy, and trying to navigate the treacherous waters of High School, after a life of being home schooled.
Ted and I went to see ‘Wild Tales‘, which was in town for about 15 minutes. We’re fortunate that there’s one theater in town that plays independent and foreign films. I knew nothing about the movie going in, except that I wasn’t interested in any other movies that were playing, and that it was a foreign film. It’s a series of stories with a common theme, and that’s all I will say. Also, fairly dark, but not horrific, and pretty laugh out loud funny in some parts. Ted thought one woman in the audience was going to choke, she was laughing so hard. I’ll be watching for it to come to Netflix or something, so I can see it again.
Whew. Now you’re all caught up. I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve posted…I blame my iPad. I don’t really like the WordPress app on it, so I get frustrated and don’t bother. For this post, I pulled out my old laptop. I should do this more often, clearly. I’ll leave you with the knowledge that Maya is now 19, and that we had a lovely weekend celebrating. Also, if you like to laugh, go look at this.
9 Comments
Ted
The Gluten Free Museum is just weird. 🙂
J
Totally weird. But I like it!
Ally Bean
My mother was crazy about the Little House on the Prairie series of books. She read them all to me when I was little and then I read them when I got older. I saw Pioneer Girl on the shelf the last time I was in a bookstore, but failed to pick it up. Sounds fascinating to me.
We rarely go to the movies, but when Wild Tales hits Netflix I’ll look for it. Again, sounds fascinating to me.
I don’t like the iPad/WP app either. I still sit down at our desktop computer when I want to write, which seems so much easier to do than fuss with my iPad. Does that admission, which only 10 years ago would have made me cool, now make me old school? 😉
J
Check out the book…you’ll find it interesting, I’m sure! And the movie is great. 🙂 Glad to hear I’m not the only one who finds the app frustrating.
Nance
How anyone could even THINK of altering a Vermeer makes me outraged. Yet I laughed out loud–literally, yes–at the book covers for dogs. I am sending the link immediately to Jared and Sam, Zydrunas’s pet parents. Hilarious.
I will, however, get over myself and send the GF Museum link to Shirley, my GF friend.
We are getting rain overmuch, and I wish so mightily that I could send it your way.
Glad to see you back at your space. I always miss you.
J
We do so need your water. Thank you for thinking of me, at least, even if you can’t ship your water our way. It’s gotten to the ugly point of water shaming, with neighbors turning each other in over green lawns and such. I’ll be interested to see what happens with Palm Springs and the ilk, with their many many golf courses.
Glad you liked the dog books. They were hilarious.
Marianne
This looks yummy…I couldn’t get Pioneer Girl because it was backordered, and now it’s $57.00!…AND I want you to know I miss your mama’s blog so much, I go back and read old stuff. 🙂 I can’t believe she’s been gone almost 7 years. xoxoxo
J
Marianne,
You could order it here for $44.95: http://sdshspress.com/index.php?&id=288&action=912
or here for $39.95, though it’s backordered: http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9780984504176-0
If it’s backordered, that just means you’ll have to wait. Like Ted, who ordered my copy in December, and it finally arrived in March. They’re having a difficult time keeping up with demand!
Thanks for your kind words about my mom. I, too, miss her terribly. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 7 years. Her birthday would have been next week, and she came to California in time for her birthday, 7 years ago. Sigh.
OmbudsBen
J: so many of the females I grew up with were deeply into Little House on the Prairie. It was my grandfather’s favorite show all-time, he had lived through that era in Minnesota.
The last time I was back there the publisher announced they had this manuscript and were going to publish. The daughter of one of my closest friends was outraged by this. She thought Wilder hadn’t approved of it. Some of the more salacious content was released, and she felt Wilder’s privacy was being breached. I mentioned that Franz Kafka’s stories were published after he had left instructions to destroy them rather than publish. She thought that a violation, too, but I noticed she seemed to waver a bit. I’m half curious how she has greeted this release, but am almost afraid to ask.
Personally, I think it would make Wilder smile to learn that her earlier work was finally reaching an audience, after she had turned so much of it to children’s fiction.
Nice breakfast, btw. *smile*