Rainbow Chills

Jacob Have I Loved

I am shocked that I didn't read this book as a little girl. It's one that I always knew the title of and thought that I had read but when I picked it up in a used book store, Brickbat*, the week that the Shelf Discovery Challenge began, I knew that I had not read it. I would have remembered the story from which the title comes. The idea of a grandmother whispering into a child's ear, quoting the Bible and hinting that God hated her and loved her twin, "Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated..." Just chilling. I would have remembered that for sure!

I loved the descriptions of island life in this book: the isolation, the necessity of hard work, the crabbing and fishing duties. I was captivated by the secrecy and whispers surrounding the Captain when he returned to the island. One of the things that I loved best about this book though, was the portrayal of the relationship between Louise and her twin sister Caroline. Louise always resented Caroline, hearing from a young age about Caroline's dramatic entrance into the world and the efforts to save her at birth. Louise's perception that her family loves her less than they love Caroline is only exacerbated by her elderly grandmother's Bible quote, indicating to Louise that not only does her family love her sister more than they love her, but God does as well. Louise's adolescent sibling angst will be familiar to most readers who have siblings. While my relationship with my sisters is very different from that between Louise and Caroline, I identified with Louise's admiration of her sister's incredible singing voice, as I have a sister whose voice is so beautiful and pure that, like Caroline's, it can literally bring tears to your eyes, particularly at Christmas. I love that in the end, Louise thought of that stirring moment so many years before, when Caroline sang "I Wonder as I Wander" at their Christmas concert and the emotions that it brought to her so many years later.

I read Katherine Paterson's other Newberry Award winning book, Bridge to Terabithia as an adult as well. I am sorry that I missed these books as a child and am very glad that I chose to read Jacob Have I Loved, although it was not on my original plan for the Shelf Discovery Challenge.

*Sidenote: I am completely in love with Brickbat and need to devote a post to my praises of it!

Thanksgiving

This year I am thankful for:
Michelle, my parents, siblings and nieces and nephews, extended family and friends who are like family to me, yarn, my sewing machine and learning to sew this year, Loop and Spool, sheep and wool festivals, books, the Kindle, Infinite Jest, blogs, twitter and facebook, coffee, chocolate, french fries, Curacao, my health and better living through chemistry, Michelle's health (such as it is) and all of the medical professionals and scientists who are working to make life better for people with automimmune diseases, my job and the great people (both staff and students) I work with every day, midweek lunch dates with coworkers and friends, Book Club meetings with my students, Michelle's job and how hard she works AND the great opportunities it affords us, the Phillies, seeing musicals in New York, especially seeing Lauren Graham in Guys and Dolls, our new apartment, El Vez, No Doubt and Colplay concerts, Gay Bingo, the Shore and all my memories there, Buffy on dvd, tivo, and much, much more.

I'm very lucky and incredibly grateful for the life I have and the people in it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Prior Thanksgiving posts:

• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004

Shelf Discovery

I have been wondering for about year what, if anything, would bring me out of my blogging hiatus. What did it: the Shelf Discovery challenge.

I have been seeing blog posts about Shelf Discovery for a few months and have been wanting to get this book. My aunt used to tease me and say that she didn't know what my face looked like from the nose down because I always had my face in a book. Shelf Discovery reflects on the books that many of us read when we were kids, and the many that we have returned to again and again.

Booking Mama's challenge will run for 6 months and the challenge is to blog 6 book reports about any selections mentioned in the book. I am having a hard time narrowing it down to only 6 so I will likely read more than that in the next six months, but here are my 6 official selections and why:

1. Chapter 1: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle- one of my all time favorite books. I reread it so many times as a kid because I so often felt like the smart, outsider just like Meg.
2. Chapter 2: Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? by Judy Blume- Do I even need to write why I chose this one? Wasn't this every girl's go to book on a day you were home sick or a rainy Saturday? The part when Margaret discovers that her friend lied about getting her period is so vivid in my mind. I can just picture that restaurant bathroom.
3. Chapter 3: Summer of Fear OR Chapter 7: Stranger with my Face by Lois Duncan- I used to read and reread these books but I don't remember why. I am eager to rediscover what was so intriguing about these books. I think I have them both jumbled together in my memory.
4. Chapter 5: Deenie by Judy Blume- another favorite. When she goes to the party in the new outfit that covers the back brace-- oh, I could just feel the brace rubbing sores on my own torso. Poor Deenie!
5. Chapter 8: Fifteen by Beverly Cleary- besides Little Women, this may be my favorite book of all time. My mother also loved this book when she was a teenager. I can just imagine the weight of the ID bracelet on my wrist, the humiliation of riding in the doggie meat truck, the embarrassment of not knowing how to order in a Chinese food restaurant. I want to run out and buy a back scratcher just thinking about that book!
6. Chapter 10: Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews- I've never read it. I know! I can't believe it. 

I think these books will be great reads for the next six months. Right now, I am using the archives of Infinite Summer as I read Infinite Jest on my Kindle. I am planning on reading along when that blog community reads 2666 in January and February. The Shelf Discovery challenge should be relief reading next to those other two whoppers.

Swifter, Higher, Sleepier

I adore the Olympics. I fell in love with the summer Olympics in 1992. I was 14 years old. I have scrap books of that the Olympics and the following two-- newspaper clippings, magazine articles, front page headlines. I also have the Gymnastics competitions from the '92, '96' and '00 games on video.

One of the things that I have really been enjoying about the Olympics this year is that we are getting to see so many events live during prime time. That 4x100 men's relay the other night was AMAZING and it felt very cool to be watching it while it was happening half way around the world.

The problem, though, is that I don't want to miss seeing anything LIVE. So I find myself trying to keep my eyes open at 1:13 am wondering if I'm going to be able to wake up in the morning and be productive. It's crazy. I'm working late almost every night, scrambling home to watch as much coverage as possible, and drinking tons of caffeine during the day. I am  going to be SO tired by the closing ceremonies.

Tonight, I expect Nastia and Shawn to go 1, 2. And you can bet that I'll be watching it live.

Knotions and Philadelphia Moms

Two of my very best friends have launched online projects in the past week. They are both great. Check them out.

Knotions is the newest online knitting magazine. Jody has been working on this for months and the hard work is evident. The layout is so clean and easy to use. The patterns are great, smart, and in a wide range of sizes. I'm so proud of you, Jody!

Philadelphia Moms is a new blog launched by my friend, Deirdre. D has a one year old little boy and she's sharing the lessons she has learned about great places in Philly for moms and kids, places you can change a diaper, take a stroller, etc. Great job, D!

Concert Central

Tonight, we'll go to our third concert in 5 days. We're seeing the Police. We bought these tickets ages ago for a date that was months and months ago but Sting got the flu and they had to reschedule. I read a review this morning from someone who saw the Police about a year ago and then last week. Apparently, all of the bad reviews that I read a year ago no longer apply. Sounds like the guys have finally gotten their stuff together and the shows over the past week or so have been amazing. I'm glad because I'd hate to be disappointed after the two awesome shows we saw over the weekend.

On Friday night, we saw Coldplay. They were really good. The two opening acts were not. Whatever, I bought a Sudoku game on my cell phone and found a way to amuse myself. We were in the second to the last row but we totally enjoyed the concert. We danced a lot and sang along. Chris Martin is completely insane as a dancer. He looks like he's having a fit-- oh, yeah, and a whole bunch of fun. Coldplay played for about an hour and a half. The quality of the music made up for the brevity (I remember my mother seeing 4 hour Bruce Springsteen shows when I was a kid...where have those days gone?)

We decided last Friday during the day that we really wanted to see George Michael on Saturday night. Donna had sent Michelle an email recommending the concert. She saw him in Houston (or was it Dallas...somewhere in Texas) the previous week and sent the most glowing concert review I've ever read. We had considered buying tickets from the day we got Donna's email but we kept hedging and wondering if we should save the money instead (someday we'd like to buy a condo...really). So I took the plunge on Friday, told Michelle that I really wanted to go see George Michael and we bought $25 seats, again in the second to the last row and this time, in a section even further from the stage.

As we walked into the Wachovia Center, we noticed that the escalators were not working. The guy at the bottom took a look at our tickets, pointed to a long line and said, "Get in this line for relocation." Michelle didn't have any idea what he was talking about but I did. I couldn't remember when this had happened before but I had experienced this (I realized later that it was the Transiberian Orchestra performance in 2006). They didn't sell enough tickets to warrent having the upstairs open so they moved EVERYONE from the upper level to the lower level. After hearing that there was no line on the other side of the arena, I took Michelle's ticket out of her hand, told her to catch up with me, and raced around to the other line where we were given tickets in the first section to the right of the stage in the 5th row. Seriously. I felt bad running around the arena and leaving gimpy Michelle with the arthritic joints to hobble to catch up with me but boy was it worth it! 5th ROW!

George was awesome. He took a 20 minute intermission but played for about 2.5 hours. He did so many songs from when I was a kid, I couldn't help but remember my sleepover party in the 4th grade when I first got my Faith tape and we danced around the house to Monkey and Faith. I remember even further back, standing in my neighbor's living room dancing along to Wham songs. Wake Me Up Before Go-Go and Everything She Wants! Oh my Lord, the memories. I have to say, I think it was the best concert experience ever. His voice sounds amazing, better than ever. He still dances as well as he did 25 years ago. The seat were incredible. I danced to every song that could be danced to and sang along to the rest-- Praying for Time, Kissing a Fool, Careless Whisper.

The fact that the concert was so incredible totally made up for the fact that we were surrounded by drunken middled aged women who had deluded themselves into thinking that if only George Michael saw how much they adored him, he would run away from his partner and marry them. I actually heard a woman in the ladies' room after the concert say "Sometimes I wish my husband was gay. I just want him to get me the way George gets us." Um, hun, if your husband was gay, you'd have bigger problems than his not "getting" you. Good grief!

Here's hoping that tonight is just as fun!

Timothy William

Born: Sunday, July 27 at 1:15 AM

Weight: 7 lbs, 6 oz

Length: 19 3/4 inches

My sister Cathy and Timothy are both doing really well. He slept during our entire visit yesterday but my sister Angie snapped this picture of Timmy last night. It's my favorite one taken of him so far, even though he only has one eye open!