the poet in you

I was the first out of our warm bed this morning. It wasn't terribly early, only a little before nine. I left the dogs and man behind in a wake of warmth that would soon be gone. From the kitchen table I could see a gray blanket of fog over every sleepy little house. It made everything seem silent and still and it would have been except for the occasional swoop and caw of a grackle.

I wanted to be out in it to stand still and listen. The smell of dampness was intoxicating and drew me further out. Everything was wet without it having rained. A light mist had passed through. As gray as it was there was something underneath, I crouch down and look closely at the ground. The richest colors come into focus. Every shade of green emerges, the browns, hints of red and orange and yellow. It was just beautiful down there, in the earth, in the leaves and moss.

The Other Kingdoms

Consider the other kingdoms. The
trees, for example, with their mellow-sounding
titles: oak, aspen, willow.
Or the snow, for which the peoples of the north
have dozens of words to describe its
different arrivals. Or the creatures, with their
thick fur, their shy and wordless gaze. Their
infallible sense of what their lives
are meant to be. Thus the world
grows rich, grows wild, and you too,
grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too
were born to be.

-from The Truro Bear and Other Adventures by Mary Oliver

As I was saying in my last post, there is a lot of cheesecake in my life. It has also been well established that I have more than enough books in my life. My point being, work with what you have. Several weeks back I was at a booksale in Waco and I found a very nice copy of Jack La Lanne's Slim & Trim Exercise book. I for one have  very fond memories of Jack. He would do his exercises in a simple studio and from time to time his dog would trot through.

The very amply proportioned woman who tallied up my book purchase at the Waco sale saw the book and told me that she had taken a class with Jack La Lanne. He accepted an invitation by her women's group to teach an exercise class in El Paso and she said that he did indeed bring his dog, a big German Shepherd.  I really liked this woman. I was awestruck and I have to admit, a little envious.

I thought about her and Jack and the dog as I was selecting books to auction on Ebay. I opened up the Slim & Trim book and leafed through. Why, he's using books to exercise with! It's like this book was written with me in mind. I have books, I have cheesecake. By god, I need to exercise! But I did make that pesky promise to myself that I would list everything from Waco on Alibris or post it on Ebay. As much as I may "need" this book, I'm letting it go on Ebay. But no doubt, it's a charmer.

There are a lot of black and white photos and the occasional color photo. The last section is devoted to diet and recipes. My favorites recipe names are the Leilani Hula Salad and Stuffed Mushrooms a la Jack.

If you're looking for that perfect gift for the cheesecake eating bibliophile in your life, this may just be it. It says, have just a smidgen more. Jack's here for you.

Do you know that Jack La Lanne is still alive? He's in his 90's, still very active and lives with his dear wife, Elaine La Lanne. That's right, say it with me...Elaine La Lanne. 

Last week I received an email for a free book giveaway from keaggy.com. The first to respond would receive Bill Keaggy's magnificent collection of grocery lists published by , HOW Books,  Milk, Eggs, Vodka. I responded so fast my fingers were smokin'. And voila, I was Numero Uno and I've been assured that the book is on its way. Thank you, Bill!

If I'm not mistaken I believe that was the same night that it snowed. It snowed in Austin. I guess that happens once every other year or so. I haven't been here that long so I can't really say. I know that it has snowed once before in our time here. It snows for about an hour, it doesn't stick and yet it remains the topic of conversation for days.  That afternoon I had been driving around with the AC on in 80 degree weather and by midnight the temperature had dropped into the 30's and the clouds were laying big wet ones on us.  I was pretty happy about that, I do like to bundle up and  feel the chill on my face.

You know winter's right around the corner when it's snowing in Austin. It's also the time of year when the Hershey people bestow Peppermint Kisses upon us. I've bought three bags so far. I shredded and gnawed the first bag open and after gobbling up half a dozen candies, I pieced the bag back together, you know, to check the nutritional information but I was sidetracked by the recipe for Peppermint Cheesecake. It calls for 30 melted peppermint pieces (plus another dozen for decoration).  Do you know how hard it is to unwrap 30 Kisses without eating any? Personally, I don't think it can be done. Oh, I unwrapped 30 pieces. But Slip and I indulged in at least 2 if not 3 of the little things.

The holidays are just deadly. When I was unwrapping the 3 - eight ounce packages of cream cheese, each and every box had a recipe for another cheesecake, the artery clogging French Cheesecake. Not only does the French Cheesecake call for 16 oz. of cream cheese, it also calls for 5 eggs, 1 cup heavy cream, 2 cups sour cream and a cup of sugar. If this is not proof that the French hate us and want to see us dead than I don't know what is. Even so, this recipe calls to me. I have had 2 pieces of the Peppermint Cheesecake so far and when I 'm done with the rest of it I might very well have to proceed to the Frenchie. I'll keep you posted.

The weather this last weekend was perfect for book scouting and scout we did. The morning was clear and cool as we made our way down to Buda (rhymes with "view-duh"!). I only just heard about the Buda sale and it happened to coincide with Budafest so there was lots of activity. They had a lot of vendors set up in the center of town under the oak trees and there was a holiday parade to boot.

The sale was a little disappointing. I found a few things but overall it was cramped and disorganized. There were tables with books and then boxes of books stacked on top of the displayed books.  And it being Buda, there were no McSweeney's to be found, no  modern architecture. You'd think that would hold true for most of Central Texas but I come across a number of interesting used books in Austin. Buda does have that small town feeling so it's nice to stroll through and it was on the way to our second stop, Wimberley.

I love the Wimberley sale. It's not even that they have the greatest stuff, and it's not necessarily the free horse rides, its the staff. They are unbelievably nice. Their kindness, unrelenting. You feel very welcome and they seem completely devoid of all cynicism. I will unfairly lump them all together and tell you that they are middle-aged church women, most of them probably mothers and grandmothers and they treat you like one of their own. They don't even haggle well. The art of the haggle is lost on the Good Women of Wimberley. I offered $5 less on one of their "better" books and the woman in charge accepted without a moments hesitation. I thought, "What just happened? Where is the back and forth that we were supposed to do?"

On our way out the door we asked directions to the Nutty Brown Cafe but someone recommended The Leaning Pear. Let me just say - No Regrets. The Leaning Pear sits in a pretty little wooded glen just off the main road. It's in an updated stone building and the prep kitchen sits in a separate little outbuilding. Everything is fresh and they try to do most everything local, they get their greens at the local Farmer's Market and you can taste it. I told Michael halfway through, "I like this so much better than Nutty Brown". He had to point out that I had never been to Nutty Brown and all I could say was that I was sure The Leaning Pear was better.  Don't get  me wrong, I'm sure Nutty Browns is a fine establishment, where else could you get Big Daddy's Ribeye (16oz) or the Double Bacon Bad Boy? But The Leaning Pear alone was worth the trip to Wimberley.

Another NaNo has come and gone and no, I didn't get anywhere near 50,000 words. I spent a lot of time sitting quietly by myself and imagining a character, I spent a lot of time pretending as though I was listening to people while imagining a character, and a lot of time (most of the time) doing other things and telling myself I should be writing about this character. I came up with a lot of reasons why I would not be successful - number one reason is that I don't ever see myself as being successful- and I spent a lot of time wondering what I should do about this and would cleaning behind the washer and dryer shed any light on this quandary of mine. The answer being no, by the way, but let me say that I do have nearly lint free washer and dryer hoses and couplings plus a few long forgotten cat toys. So, thank you NaNo.

Success or lack of success aside, I found it to be a tormented a reflective month that made me ask myself how I want writing to fit into my life. Do I want to approach it as a rigorous discipline or casually and at a whim? What is the middle ground? I do like setting aside time to quiet down and indulge my imagination. I think I would be less stymied if I got the idea out of my head that I was attempting to write a novel because then the wonderful characters that people my imagination are actually obliged to do something and I'm not sure what it is that they should be or what they want to be doing.

It could be nothing at all. There is nothing wrong with "going nowhere", no plot, no beginning or ending. An incidental character sketch could come in handy later or simply be amusing on its own. Now that NaNo is over I've started reading John Gardner's Art of Fiction. It's a classic as far as the craft of writing goes. As I read I find myself nodding in agreement especially as he explains how important attention to detail is. James Joyce's short story The Dead completely pulled me in with its descriptions and attention to all the little things that some might think mundane. The bit of dialogue about what footwear to don in the cold and snow illustrated the tenor of the main character's relationship and rounded them out. The husband is cautious and prepared, the wife carefree, probably impulsive. So details. They're integral in creating a fictional world.

Michael and I spent a lot of creative time together in November. He's been painting again which I love. I can never detect any signs of doubt when he is making art. I'm not saying that painting is effortless for him, I think he works things out in his head over time and has an idea where he's going when he sits down. There's no good or bad, right or wrong with him. Everything is process and necessary. Our conversations through the month have had more resonance, discussions about what we want to express and what if any, is obstructing the expression. What small event may have triggered an idea, an image?  I'm reminded of how much I love his perspective and approach to life.

It doesn't end with NaNo but with November behind me I'm very aware of how much I had to make a conscious effort to make time for myself. I'm very aware of the many distractions I've created for myself; one being the impulsive purchasing of books for Book Mountain that  sits  just  east of my pillow. We will see some serious culling in The New Year of 2009. In an odd way I feel that I had a successful National Novel Writing Month in my own special spasmodic sort of way.