Fucket List

The witty title isn't mine. Heck, the blog post isn't even mine today. But if you want a reality check and a chortle, I highly recommend you check out the following link to this blog: Motherhood in the Grove.

Golden Rain

I drove home tonight in the wind and was delighted by the clouds of swirling, chasing, dancing, burnished leaves falling in splendid abandon along the roadways. They were falling like golden rain.

Fall Reading List - Part I

I'm going to forego my usual banal tribute to Autumn to talk about something else that I'm reminded of this time of year.

(No, not how fall makes me long for a weekend in a log cabin in the woods with a fireplace and Barry Manilow music on the stereo - though it does, and I know that makes me a sad git who likes cheesy music , although when I mentioned that to someone the other week he said Barry Manilow was classic now, though he obviously still thinks I'm a sad git, but I digress).

And that something is Books.

This time of year makes me want to run off to the library, come home by way of the bookstore (easy when Chapters is just a click of the mouse away, and though I am an anti-fan of big box stores, I make an exception for online books which seduce me - I am weak, I admit it), and curl up in my big comfy armchair beside the fire, with the dog at my feet and the leaves falling in a golden shower outside the french doors, and read, read, read, read.

But being a bit indecisive at times, I never know quite what to read, so every year I make up a fall reading list, and here it is. Draft One. Bound to be amended. But it's a start.

Books I Own But Have Never Got Around to Reading
The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
Books 2 & 3 of The Golden Compass series by Philip Pullman
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen

Books I Will (Probably) Buy
An Echo In the Bone - Diana Gabaldon (this is more of a NEED to have)
The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown
Galore by Michael Crummey
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Devil's Brood by Sharon Kaye Penman

Books I Found In The Library Last Night
The Weekend Man - Richard B Wright (October, Clara Callan)
Candide  - Voltaire
The Scream - Rohinton Mistry
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

Books Recommended By Friends
Katherine - Anya Seton
Sepulchre - Kate Mosse
Blink and The Outliers - both by Malcolm Gladwell

Books I Own And Am Going To Re-Read
Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Nieffenegger
Outlander books 2-6 by Diana Gabaldon
Possession by A.S. Byatt
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kaye Penman
When Christ and his Saints Slept by Sharon Kaye Penman (need to buy)

Books I Will Order From the Library
Generation A - Douglas Coupland
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Morran

Medieval Times

Anna is studying Medieval History in school.

Which was all the excuse we needed to practice a spot of swordfighting.

And have a medieval meal. And a joust in the back yard.

And wear flouncy dresses. Or armour.

Because, let's face it, it's not everyday you get to be called M'lady all day long by your kids, who insist you sit and watch the fighting from a seat of honour while they vanquish the imaginary enemy.

And because it's fun to eat without a fork - the messier the better, and it gave us a reason to bake bread.

And because wine does taste better from a goblet.

And because it was a beautiful day and I didn't want to spend it indoors editing on the computer anyway. We had far more fun, and I'm so impressed with the number of facts they all know about the Medieval Period. Most of them bloody and gory, of course.

The only note of inauthenticity came after dinner when I bade my serfs clear the tables and load up that most medieval (or not) of devices: the dishwasher.

Harvest Time

We all get to help out this time of year.

Potatoes, corn, tomatoes, chard, spinach, broccoli, carrots, garlic, onions.

It all has to be brought in and stored.

And then eaten. The best part.

Meet Amelia.

Does this look like a happy dog?

Didn't think so. What's the matter, Lady?

She's a bit grumpy because of this.

Meet Amelia.

She's so cute - scurrying and scampering and chasing tails (hers and Lady's).

(Lady: I can be adorable. I can be endearing.)

 Hard to compete with this, though.

Theme Song

My drive to work is 12 minutes along old fashioned, unpaved, country lanes. Surrounded by farm fields and forest, dirt paths and wildlife, tumbled stones and maple trees, I enjoy every moment of it, and since Andrew downloaded this song to my IPod for me, I enjoy it even more. I drive more slowly, just so I can hear it again.

In my mind I am not on my way to a corporate job dotting environmental "i"s and crossing innovative "t"s, but am off cross country with James Herriot and Siegfried Farnon.

I knew I should have been a vet.