I loves me them four-day weekends!

[flexagon]

Apparently everyone's been out of town... my friends page is almost all comic strips now, and that is so sad. Don't y'all know your job is to entertain me? Well, maybe I'll get lots of family drama stories when you all get home.

For my part, I've been nothing if not domestic and athletic for the last 4 days. Oh, and sleepy, I think I got like 30 hours of sleep the first 3 nights.

Thursday we both lifted weights (YAY for gyms that stay open on holidays), then stayed in and cooked... yeah, a turkey just for the two of us. That was a bit of an adventure but it came out fine, and so did the half cherry / half blueberry pie, and so (to my great relief) did the Yorkshire pudding... which I had never made before but I guess HLM's mom always served at Thanksgiving. Was I ever happy when he said it was coming out normal! :) I also read Hominids by Robert Sawyer, a nice quick read, for a book club I'm occasionally in.

Friday and Saturday I mostly traded off between quilting and reading The Sky so Big and Black by John Barnes... the quilt top is now done except for the border, and the book turned out okay but not as good as the book it's a sequel to. I'll have to post a friends-only pic of the quilt when it's done, because it came out really cool-looking and it wasn't that much work as quilts go. :) Ohhhhhh yeah, and I also made a whole bunch of turkey pot pie, and went to tae kwon do both days. I felt virtuous, and I think the teacher is starting to remember who I am, so that's all good. At that point HLM and I were both getting a bit cabin-fever-y, so we went out for some non-turkey dinner and a movie (Lost in Translation, if you must know, which I thought was depressing as all hell. Didn't really let it get to me though).

Today, no new SF book to read. Damn. I went out to lift weights and I got batting for the quilt while I was out, but I'll probably spend time tonight trying to get organized for Monday and make sure the house is clean, rather than work on it much more. Yup. I'm thinking Metallica and dishes.

It was sooooo nice to have these four days to relax, be creative and hang out with (or, just as often, near) HLM! I feel greedy about this, but I do rather hope we don't go anywhere for Xmas... we have the best holidays ever when it's just the two of us.

Comments

[savage-rose.livejournal.com]

I've been reading Maguire's Wicked, about the Wicked Witch of the West from the Oz stories. Have you ever read his stuff? He takes old legends, stories, etc. and rewrites them from the villain's perspective. They're entertaining AND thought provoking, which is usually a good combination. I liked Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, I think his Lost is about Jack the Ripper (haven't read it), and his latest, Mirror, Mirror is about the evil queen from Snow White. They're really long though...and the endings (because you're seeing things from the villains' perspectives) are not entirely happy.

[flexagon]

And here I'd almost stopped posting what I was reading, because nobody ever cares... :)

I have read Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (my friend B gave it to me a while back) and I really liked it (especially since I'd just read The Botany of Desire, another awesome book, and thus actually knew what was going on with the Dutch tulip craze! I was so psyched about that). I'd love to check out Wicked and Mirror, Mirror at the very least, but have been lazy about tracking them down--maybe I am subconsciously waiting for B to give them to me, I dunno. Anyway, thanks for the recommendation--that definitely bumps Maguire higher on my list of things to get around to.

[savage-rose.livejournal.com]

We care :) We just don't always have the time to show it.

You read Dreamside, right? Did you find that there were a few loose ends that didn't get tied up? For instance...did the annoying guy have sex with Helena, or Ella? Why did he think he had sex with Ella? Was this answered, and I just missed it? And in Dark Sister, what happened to Bella?

There were other questions/loose ends, but I think I've blocked them out. As well as Annoying Guy (Brad?)'s name.

[flexagon]

Graham Joyce! Yeah... yeah there were definite loose ends in Dreamside. I think that was part of the artistic concept (I said that word with my nose in the air)... you know, dreamlike and mysterious and never quite resolved. Aggggh. I don't really know why the lack of explanation in Dark Sister; I think it was just supposed to be spooky (and I couldn't stop thinking about that whole brank thing for quite a while, at night, so I guess it worked on me).

The one book of his that's really worth recommending, though, is called The Tooth Fairy. It's a dark-fantasy coming of age story kind of in the spirit of Dandelion Wine, only more modern and English and f*cked up. If you can stand one more before stopping forever, I'd love to know what you think of that one.

*makes mental note to start mentioning books more often*

[savage-rose.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely not stopping, oh no. I liked those books, I like his concepts and suspense he creates. I pretty much start doing the Harry Potter thing with his books, reading the book involuntarily until it's done. But the loose ends annoy me like a bad aftertaste. And I think, "Did I miss something?" I don't mind loose ends making me think, but loose ends because of sloppy writing (?) annoy me. Things that seemed consequential to me just don't get finished. I find it annoying, but his stories are so intricate, they make up for it somewhat.

Can't wait to see the quilt...

[bluechromis.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely curious to see how it comes out, especially since it hasn't seemed to take too long (always a bonus).

And of course we want to hear about what you're reading. Otherwise how would I know what to ask to borrow? :-D

Re: Can't wait to see the quilt...

[flexagon]

You'll get to see it soonish. :) What remains is a double border (sew long strips around the edge, twice), then lining it up with the batting/backing and putting a final edge on it (which involves going around the edge twice, again). Round and round we go. But all of that doesn't take nearly as long as the piecing, so... we'll see.

Books--you can always wait until I force things on you. *grin*