Edelweiss, secret journals, and more Quindlen brilliance~ Quick Takes, September 26

1. Two sick kids. One with a possible UTI (and candy-pink antibiotics), the other with some oddball bug that mimics strep throat but would scorn to be so obvious.  It's there in her bloodstream, laughing at us... So if I seem a bit loopy, blame sleep deprivation! No, they're not sleeping. You've all been there, right?

Conversion Diary

2. As the children and I feel utterly drained, we've leaned on video for the past two days... I know, I know, it's so unhealthy. But for now let's overlook that point and smile, because-- their new video obsession is The Sound of Music! These two and three-year-olds would love to have "The Lonely Goatherd," "Edelweiss," and "So Long, Farewell" on continuous replay... Frankly, I can't think of a more comforting movie for cranky, lethargic moods (including my own here)! Perhaps my girls have noticed that this one makes mama happy-- and therefore indulgent?

3. Despite illness, my feisty three-year-old found the energy to upbraid Rolf (of "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and subsequent scenes). "If you don't stop being a Nazi RIGHT NOW," she threatened, role-playing Liesl, "I'm going to run up that mountain into SWITZERLAND and you'll never ever ever see me again!"

We really don't have to worry about her (much), do we?

Image: Open Library

4. My daughters' interest in The Sound of Music moved me to place a hold on Maria von Trapp's The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.

5.  Also, I received a review copy for the first time... Ok, ok, it's from Crown's Blogging for Books program, which just about any blogger can join-- but still, there's an ego boost in it.  (Yay, my opinion has value in a barter economy!)

And so, I look forward to reading The Secret Journal of Ichabod Crane (Sleepy Hollow), which apparently is connected with a TV series?  Never seen it.  Have you?

6.  Currently, I'm reading Anna Quindlen's Black and Blue-- a story of an abused wife who, having fled her husband (a big-city police detective), is now hiding out with her 10-year-old son under an assumed name.  While piecing together a new life for herself and her emotionally-damaged child, she also waits in terror for her husband's reappearance...  No flimsy Lifetime movie, this novel is slow, tense, character-driven, and filled with astounding turns of phrase that I itch to underline (but can't, since it's from the library).

Image: Open Library

7.  As example of the above, take this description of a supermarket:

"Jets of water sprayed the peppers and plums so that they seemed irresistible, more like art objects than produce.  In one corner was a pharmacy, in another a bank, in the third a bakery section that gave off the smell of cinnamon unexpectedly as you came upon it, like one of those perfume inserts in a magazine."(p.91)

Like one of those perfume inserts in a magazine.   How I wish that I could write like Anna Quindlen!


Happy Friday!  Thanks for stopping by.