Catniss passed away today, leaving a soul-sister, Buffy the Buff Orpington.
Cause of death is unknown, the family speculates that her heart couldn’t take the stress of her first molt. She always had a weak constitution and was prone to inexplicable seizures.
Catniss the Chicken- A freakier chicken there never was…
March 2012-May 20, 2013
Rest in Peace
What a great book! It reinforced some universal truths: 1) Dogs are awesome! 2) Men (people) possess great capacity for cruelty and 3) You can tell a lot about a person based on the way they treat animals.
Seriously, who wouldn’t love this Dog? Look at that face!
Buck-our main character (the dog) finds himself on a great (harrowing) adventure to the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush. It makes for an exciting story. You know what else makes for a great story? This guy…
Jack London was an interesting guy. I have a feeling that Buck the dog was somewhat autobiographical. Buck was a dog’s dog. And Jack was a man’s man. He was a man’s man with a resume that included work in a cannery, the California Fish Patrol, Oyster Pirating, his own stint in the Klondike gold rush, and gentleman rancher-all on top of a prolific literary career.
And like all the other gentlemen I’ve read during this little project, his private life was a fascinating mess! His first marriage was to Elizabeth “Bessie” Madden. He and Bessie were never in love, but they were great friends. Marriage took care of that. Within 4 years, they divorced. Apparently Bessie didn’t approve of London’s “shenanigans” and wouldn’t let him near her when her would come home after an absence. She was scared he’d bring home VD. Jack apparently felt that was a bit unfair, but within a year of divorcing Bessie, he married Charmian Kittredge, “his soul mate and perfect match”. Per Wikipedia,
“ In broad outline, London was restless in his marriage; sought extramarital sexual affairs; and found, in Charmian Kittredge, not only a sexually active and adventurous partner, but his future life-companion.”
Nice.
The jury seems to be out with regard to London’s death. It’s been a popularly held belief that he committed suicide. Most biographers now agree, however, he died of uremia aggravated by an accidental morphine overdose. Whatever the circumstances, London died November 22, 1916 at the age of 40.
Jack London wrote about the harsh realities of nature. His language was visceral and brutal, but also beautifully written. This was a good book, and I have to say, Buck the dog is my favorite main character to-date from my New Year’s Resolution books. I liked Buck. I liked him very much.
Spring! Despite the fact that I live in a climate that really has only two discernible seasons, I love Spring! My love overcomes the adversity of the blizzard of pollen that coats every surface including your teeth if you open your mouth at the wrong time. How can you not love the blooms of spring?
Spring is that golden time in the garden where nothing has really gone wrong yet. You labor, and your labor is rewarded by restored order and new life.
I am committed-I repeat-committed (!) that this will not be a repeat of last year (or what I like to call “The Year of the Fungus”).
We shall overcome! We shall overcome the beetles, slugs, black spot, powdery mildew, blight, fire ants, birds, squirrels, moles, and dogs! We shall overcome and we won’t spend a thousand dollars doing it. We will be thrifty and the garden will be lush and organic.
And after we accomplish these things, we’ll actually go outside and enjoy it …instead of retreating to the realm of air conditioning and tv.
Ahhh, the eternal optimism of Spring… 
I don’t think I’ve shared a sketch since around Halloween, but my little sketchbook is still with me…Happy Monday morning everyone-
These two make me want to start singing “Sisters” from White Christmas….I’m going to do it, “Sisters! Sisters! There were never such devoted sisters….” Minerva on the left is definitely Rosemary Clooney. I love the was she’s staring down her schnoz at Vera Allen, I mean Jennie Weasley.
These two just want some more grass clippings. You’ll note Buffy has saved a tiny piece for later.
A tree blew down during a storm last week. It was dead and we were actually pricing having it taken down when thunder storms eliminated the issue for us. Blessedly, the storm was traveling in a rare southerly direction, thereby preserving the fence you see behind it.
That’s not the only miracle either-you’ll note that not one, but two of my children are playing outside. Playing! Outside!
I tried to coax this one to model my Keyhole scarf-he was not pleased. Looking back with the clarity of hindsight, I’ve had better ideas.
You see that? That’s a weed. The picture is pretty, but the weed is not. It has stickers in addition to the little flowers and it is vining through my dwarf azaleas in a way that is not ok. Weeds, we have lots of them…
We also have lots of these. At the moment this picture was taken, this sweet little Live Oak Seed pod was still attached. I don’t think any of them are attached anymore and they’re covering every square inch of the place with their polleny presence. I don’t think “polleny” is a word, but I’m going to pretend it is.
And just when you think you can’t stand the pollen any more-not even one more minute…
You remember…that pollen, it has a purpose.
“With the aurora borealis flaming coldly overhead, or the stars leaping in the frost dance, and the land numb and frozen under its pall of snow, this song of the huskies might have been the defiance of life, only it was pitched in minor key, with long-drawn wailing and half-sobs…”
The most eloquent dog ever!
Anyone want to join me?
Have you been practicing? We have…Our Sunday forecast calls for thunderstorms, and we have all these beautiful eggs, so we called it a practice run…We choose to be optimistic.
Sometimes the most obvious are the hardest to find…
Usually we dye our eggs fantastically bright colors-electric jewel tones. This year, we’re more subtle…a little more covert…
Do you see it?
A bit of a chameleon…
Hmmm….good one. It took a minute or two…
Delightful…don’t you think? Happy Easter everyone!
I didn’t hate this book!…And I won’t lie, I was scared. Frankly, Crane and the Red Badge of Courage were a bit of a set back for me. I went on a binge of pleasure reading to clear my head. Mostly pulpy nonsense like Lee Child or Debbie MacComber. Book after book of pure fiction indulgence until I could again bring myself to step into the ring with literature of the masculine variety.
So I puzzled over where to go next and finally I picked a book based solely on a practical metric-word count. Because quite honestly, if this book had sucked it like the Badge of courage did, I needed it to be short.
But it didn’t! Hooray!
Robert Louis Stevenson was born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson in Scotland in 1850. He was a sickly child-pale, thin and perceived as eccentric. As he moved into his 20′s, he embraced Bohemian dress and cheap pubs and brothels. When Robert fell in love, it was with a married mother of three named Fanny de Grift Osbourne. He followed her to the United States where they fell into an affair that culminated in her divorce and their marriage in 1880. (I think I’m beginning to see a pattern in the personal lives of these guys. They’re a hot mess!)
In the summer of 1881, Stevenson was on holiday with Fanny (and children) in Scotland. Forced indoors by rainy weather, Stevenson and his stepson, Loyd, whiled away the hours creating and coloring a treasure map of an imaginary treasure island. Stevenson’s imagination was sparked and he began to write a short story based on the map to entertain the family. First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in a children’s magazine between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island or, the mutiny of the Hispaniola with Stevenson adopting the pseudonym, Captain George North.
I’m sure you’ve all seen the movie..so I won’t prattle on, but here’s a quick overview: The story is narrated by young Jim Hawkins. He’s likable and he’s not stupid. Yes, I liked him (as opposed to the dodo in the Red Badge of Courage). From the beginning of the tale, there is suspense and high adventure. A treasure map falls into Jim’s possession, and he soon finds himself at sea with bearings set for Treasure Island! Cool.
So here’s what I liked about it:
It was amazing to me, how much of what we consider to be typical “pirate lore” seemed to originate with this story. The songs, the parrot, the dialect…yes the dialect. Predictably, Stevenson utilized a heavy dialect for his characters throughout the text. Accurate and contextual? I’m sure. Written dialect just isn’t my thing. It was done well, but I could have used less of it.
When he wasn’t using dialect though, he was pretty awesome. I’ll leave you with a brief passage,
“I have never seen the sea quiet round Treasure Island. The sun might blaze overhead, the air be without a breath, the surface smooth and blue, but still these great rollers would be running along all the external coast, thundering and thundering by day and night; and I scarce believe there is one spot in the island where a man would be out of earshot of their noise.”
What are you reading? Share with me. Or better yet, join me in my literary adventure. Check out my 2013 Resolution and I’ll keep you posted on my next selection.
Have a great weekend!
New can be fun. It’s exciting to accomplish something that you weren’t able to do previously. It can also be difficult…frustrating…awkward…tedious. I’ve introduced a lot of new into my life as of late. Some of it voluntary. Some of it involuntary. Today, I’d like to talk about some of my voluntary newness!
Behold, the Garter Stitch! Totally new!
Behold the “keyhole” and the oh-so-lacy ruffle!
Behold, me knitting! I’ve been on Craftsy again (of course). The class is called Knit Lab. The instructor, Stefanie Japel, is pretty cool. I love the format, and she’s a natural teacher. It wasn’t easy for me, however. The sticks have been a challenge. They feel awkward compared to the a crochet hook. And it takes for-ev-er….I’ll press on, however. It’s bound to feel natural eventually. Right?
