I finished reading Slow Lightning by Eduardo C. Corral. It is one of a quartet of books of poetry I began reading in each day back before vacation.
I enjoy getting up and reading poetry in the morning.
Yesterday I went to the doctor for my six month check up. Ironically, I was about ten pounds lighter than my last check up. Doctors seem to like it when you lose weight. The fact is I had gained weight before my last check up. So that even though she was happy about it, I still feel like I need to keep working at losing, if only basically watching my diet and moderating drinking and eating in the evening.
My blood work was good too. Cholesterol down. Blood pressure okay I guess. The things you worry about if you get to live this long.
Today I take my Mom to her shrink. I will try to get her to go out to eat with me as well. I don’t think I am great company for my Mom. We don’t talk about much. I try to keep her up to speed with the fam. But she doesn’t really converse that much. On Sunday I took my laptop with me when I saw her and showed her vacation pics on it. The laptop is a bit easier for her than seeing pics on my phone. She seems interested but doesn’t say much.
I used to have conversations with my Mom and Dad. We were a verbal family.
I seem to recall talking about ideas and things that interested me. But now Dad is dead and Mom is quiet. Things change.
The doctor gave me some ear drops for my impacted inner ear. My head has felt like a balloon for most of the last week or so. Not a comfortable feeling. I have to sort of exercise my imagination when I play music. This must be a little bit like what it is to play deaf. Or maybe not.
I checked out the novel Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie yesterday and read the first fifty pages or so of it. (I’m not sure if it is the author pictured above with the book, but I really like the picture either way).
Purple Hibiscus is Adichie’s first novel. She was interviewed in the New York Times. I thought she sounded interesting and intelligent. She mentioned three American writers she is reading right now.
One of them had a book sitting on the shelves of my local library so I checked it out for possible summer reading.
Olive Kitteridge is Elizabeth Strout’s first novel as well. It won the Pulitzer in 2009 for what it’s worth. Actually it’s a collection of interrelated short stories.
Adichie seemed impressed with Strout’s work. We shall see.
The title to today’s blog comes from the title poem of Rebecca Lindenberg’s book of poetry I am reading, Love, An Index. She attributes it to Anne Carson who is another poet I quite like.
Ay yi yi. I guess it helps to be outrageously stupid in order to get your own TV show.
2. Whitney Saves Douglas Davis’s ‘First Collaborative Sentence’ – NYTimes.com
Museums confront rapidly changing tech in presenting art from the nineties.
3. Robots Lead the Way to the Classroom – Slide Show – NYTimes.com
Pics about a recent story I linked and liked.
4. Cited by a Justice, but Feeling Less Than Honored – NYTimes.com
Hard evidence that Supreme Court justices are like the rest of us and make mistakes.
5.Affirmative Reaction – NYTimes.com
This made me think of the local little college here in Holland, especially this quote:
” … something fundamental is missing from a campus where everybody is pretty much alike. Diversity tends to make institutions more creative, more adaptable, more productive.”
6. Tom Sharpe, Darkly Satirical British Novelist, Dies at 85 – NYTimes.com
Hmmm. This guy’s books sound like something I would enjoy reading.
7. ‘Listen to the Birds’ and ‘Verdi for Kids’ – NYTimes.com
Book review of two books for kids about music. Plan to check out the “bird” one.