Another Anniversary

Husband and I had our anniversary a few days ago – 43 years — if that can be possible. We decided to get away, but not far. We went to Point Reyes which is only an hour northwest of us, but seems like further. We can actually see the lighthouse on a clear day from our house…that’s how close it is.

With apologies to readers on the East coast, we had beautiful weather.

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We hiked, ate good food, stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast…

even had a picnic lunch with a heron…

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It felt like we had journeyed far, far away.

And speaking of far, far away — a friend back East found this photo of us – we’d only been married a year.

Check out that beard… still the cutest guy ever.

Happy Anniversary

I finished one book

and am halfway through another

Back to books, reading, and regular programming next time.

Anne With an E

Normally, once Husband goes to bed, I settle into my reading nook with a book — but these days I have lots of knitting projects in progress for gifts. Especially for those friends and family in colder climes. So, this time of year I turn to television and knit instead.

A few weeks ago, starting on my fourth knitting project, I stumbled across a series on Netflix ~~

Anne With an E — based on the Anne of Green Gables books. 

I must admit I never much warmed to the Anne of Green Gables books, even though my mother adored them — I’ve never shared her enthusiasm. I also found the various screen adaptations over the years one-dimensional and often annoying.

However this 2017-2020 Canadian series won me over. This is a broad retelling of a big-hearted orphan girl in a small Canadian town. By broad, I mean there are racial issues, gender inequality, sexual harassment, and even homosexual acceptance. This series aims high and wide, with diversity and acceptance as on-going themes.

Anne With an E remains set in the late 1800s, and perhaps these new story lines are a tad progressive for strict historical accuracy, but they work nevertheless, and serve as reminder that struggles for acceptance and equality are not unique to our times.

Anne survives on her ability to use her imagination as a defense mechanism and she remains generally upbeat despite the abuse in her past and the callousness of many of the grown-ups in her present. Anne’s most delightful pronouncement:

“When you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile.”

The series cast is absolutely wonderful with spot on performances — Anne is perfectly cast. Other notables include Geraldine James as Marilla

and a witty 90-year old Corinne Conley who steals every scene she’s in. (Think Maggie Smith in Downton Abby)

Anne With an E is beautifully filmed on location on Prince Edward Island — just feast your eyes.

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Sadly, a planned fourth season was cancelled. Fortunately, most of the story lines were sufficiently resolved in the final episode. But others remained unresolved, including the painful one of Ka’kwet, a Mi’kmaq First Nation girl who was stolen from her tribe to be ‘assimilated’ in a strick Catholic run school.

I started watching Anne With an E with trepidation, figuring it was something to distract me while I knitted. I was pleasantly surprised and found it both engaging and absorbing. Not the least bit saccharin or one-dimensional.

Some reviewers have pegged it as a darker retelling but I say it’s richer and more compelling.

Look for Anne With an E on Netflix.

Welcome Back

Our beloved cable cars shut in the spring of last year due to the pandemic and remained out of service ever since. During this down time they worked on the cable system under the streets, as well as the cars themselves.

Now they’re back and for the month of August free to all (normally an astounding $8 each ride). One beautiful sunny day last week, Husband and I donned our masks and rode every cable car line.

First thing we noticed was how empty downtown was – this area is normally wall-to-wall pedestrians and traffic – eerie.

First we reviewed the new cautionary signs on how to ride a cable car. No such rules before — we laughed at how we used to run for the car as it was moving and hang on the outside. A bygone era it seems.

It was fun to play tourist in our own city and we noticed just a few of our actual tourists are back.

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The Buena Vista has opened and serving their famous Irish Coffee – outside under the tent. But we didn’t stop this time.

The cars were relatively empty and everyone wore masks.

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We had lunch at the famous Sears Fine Food – a San Francisco institution since 1938. Normally, it’s packed with a long waiting line out front. Not this day.

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We went up and down the hills of San Francisco – our trusty cable cars pulling us up and gripping us down.

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The fog waited until we were done to start rolling in.

It was one of those great days – wish you were here.

Why I love ALL my books

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People always comment on the many books I have collected in this tiny house. They inevitably ask, “have you read all these books?” And my response is “no, not yet…but I will”. A younger visitor once said, “all these books around, that would just make my head hurt”! I often get comments on the space-saving-benefit of digital books. I just give these poor souls my tolerant Book Barmy smile, and we carry on with other, less troubling, topics.

Now I’ll tell you a short tale of how I just recently experienced a re-appreciation of having all my books here and physically available to me night or day.

I subscribe to the NY Times Book Review — just the book review section, not the entire paper. It’s fairly cheap and I’ve been subscribing for years. But they do tend to pile up. So the other evening, with a big cup of tea, I went through the stack. I like to read them in chronological order so that the letters to the editor relate back to the previous book review section (yes, I am actually that geeky).

There was a wonderful essay by Min Jin Lee, called Shelf Lives, in which she wrote about her experiences as a young reader who read voraciously. She recalled getting her first library card and which books she selected when she could read from the adult section.

The following week’s section had several letters reacting to this essay. One letter writer recalled picking up W. Somerset Maugham’s short story collection at the age of 12, and reading the first story entitled Rain. When finished, he’d experienced reading not only a very adult story, but also a first exposure to the art of ellipsis. Here’s what he wrote:

Great storytellers make readers co-authors, letting them complete with their imagination what has been left unsaid on the printed page. For the first time in my young life, I felt like an adult.

Hmm I thought, I’ve got to read this. I wandered over to my grandfather’s book collection of classics, and there it was — The Complete Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham

I sat right down, opened up the first volume and read Rain right then and there. I had to see what this letter writer was talking about. The letter writer was right — here was a short tale of the tropics, torrential rain, and a critique of missionaries, not to mention religion. And, yes the ending lets the reader fill in the plot. I’m now slowly working my way through this two volume set – one story at a time. I’ve never read Maugham before and discovered a wonderful writer – all due to a letter to the editor of the NY Times Book Review.

So that, dear readers is why I cherish having (and hereby justifying) all my books – especially those I’ve never read.

What’s on your shelves just waiting to be discovered?

What I Did During the Pandemic

In mid-June, the Bay Area came off our COVID restrictions. We were the first to have lock down orders, so it’s been a long duration of pandemic gloom and doom. I’m not complaining, Husband and I were very fortunate and got off easy compared to the millions (and millions) who contracted the virus — including some family and friends.

But there it was, almost a year and half to read, write in this blog, go for long walks, tackle those house chores, and did I say read? A year and half to be productive, to be creative. You may have already figured this out by the lack of Book Barmy activity — but I have to fess up – I was neither productive or creative.

What did I do during the Pandemic ? Practically nothing.

At first, we nervously stayed tuned to CNN. Then we started distracting ourselves with Netflix and Amazon channels and binge watching some great shows (Shitt’s Creek – Line of Duty – Bosch just to name a few).

We limited our binge watching to evenings. We did shake it off with some walks and planting several successive vegetable gardens…but even so, we both took laziness to whole new level.

I avoided total boredom with my involvement with two (count ’em two) city government hearings, which turned out to be a great distraction but also caused much stress. You see, I had to read each and every government or legal document three times. First, to figure out what I didn’t understand (which was always alot). Then research what I didn’t understand. Read the document again to see if it was any clearer, and then a analysis to figure out arguments.

So at the end of those days, I didn’t want to think at all. When it came to a contest between my bookshelves and television — I’m ashamed to say, the television won out.

I did do some erratic, inconsistent reading, picking up and putting down books — my stack of partially read books mocks me as evidence

However, last week I woke up feeling like a cloud had been lifted and it hit me (OK I’m a bit slow) that we were leaving our days of pandemic gloom and boredom behind us.

Husband and I have been going for long walks, exploring different neighborhoods. We’ve planned some local trips. We cleaned out the freezer and somewhat organized our garden/work room. We had friends over for an impromptu dinner and went to have drinks with others in their garden. We have other social events coming up, but we’re going slowly – small steps on the social front.

But most relevant for Book Barmy readers, on one of my walks, I randomly picked a book from a little free library and read it in two sittings. Also, I made great strides on a publisher’s proof on my Kindle, and have finally worked my way through my backlog of NY Time’s Book Reviews. The stack of books above is still mocking me, but again small steps.

It’s a cliche, but I feel it’s a new day and I will tentatively state that I’m back (not back to normal, but close) and in the upcoming weeks, there will be much for you to enjoy here at Book Barmy. So please don’t leave – stay tuned.

p.s. sorry for all the GIF’s – I went a bit crazy.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my one and only.

Still making me laugh every day.

Still my best friend.

Still the cutest guy in town.

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