On My Bookshelf
I’ve hit my stride with Barbara Pym and it shan’t be broken unless LAPL can’t keep up. So far they’ve been speeding my requests to me quickly. Apparently I’m Barbara’s only reader in LA at the moment. One of you recommended her to me, and I daresay you hit the bullseye in guessing my taste in books. Quartet in Autumn made the Booker Prize shortlist back in the 70s, but that’s neither here nor there. I usually shun books that make lists or are popular. Once in a while a deserving book like The Correspondent hits every nail on the head despite being popular. If you’re a fan of Elizabeth Taylor (the English novelist) and Barbara Pym, I’m all ears for your suggestions. Jane and Prudence and Excellent Women were both outstanding, but you might need to be a fan of vintage fiction to enjoy them. I can’t be held responsible for my taste.
In other news, I am readying myself for a trip to the far north village where I haven’t been in several years. Back when I was a just a kid in my 40s I wrote a couple of posts about such a trip. Otto and Iris have had their biennial trip to the vet and are in tippy-top form, ready for the house sitter to descend.
Some days I find myself in a state of bliss that flies in the face of world events. I am 223 days into retirement and it is glorious. Days spent swimming, yoga in Old Town Pasadena with a view of City Hall when I come and go, snowy egrets with their golden slippers posing for me at the beach, reading in the park under trees with falling leaves, organizing my sketchbooks and bookcases, making the occasional video for Substack, making little photos for my writing journal, Zooms with art mammals, art buddies in general, guided meditation with Joseph Goldstein, and drawing my heart out. I guess I’m still in the honeymoon phase where everything is tinged with pink and gold. It feels like that today, in the grey drizzle of a Thursday NOT at school, where I am writing a blog post in the middle of the afternoon.
Grateful to be alive and oh so aware of those who are suffering and dying at the hands of our despot-in-chief and the ignorant thugs presently running things. This too shall pass, including my present happiness at being right here. Like Jiddu Krishnamurti, I’m trying to be okay with whatever happens. It’s all part of my practice of being alive.
If you took advantage of the free pass to Sewn this month, please continue to enjoy through February and stay tuned for the next class on offer. If you’re subscribed, you won’t miss an update straight to your inbox when I make these announcements, but if you can’t be bothered due to newspaper pileup, I get it.
Let me know how you are, what you’re reading, how you’re living, and what you’re thinking. A curious retiree in Los Angeles needs to know.
