Today
First, meme from mamculuna: take a selfie right now, the way you are, and post it. I was so happy to put a face to a name, I thought, okay, I'll do that, frowzy hair, ice cream splashed t-shirt, and all.
Ice cream because son and I went to see Dr. Strange, and we sneaked hot fudge sundaes into the cinema. (Better ice cream and a fraction of the price from what you'd pay at the concession stand) It was a fun movie, though I had to keep my eyes shut first through the medical ick, and then through the vertigo-inducing lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng fights. But I enjoyed the actual dialogue, and all the actors were terrific. I even liked Cummerbund Bandersnatch, which I hadn't thought I would--he plays such a smug jackwagon in Sherlock that I was only able to tolerate an episode and a half. (MUCH prefer the version with Lucy Liu as Watson.)
On other fronts, my mom turned 84 today. First thing this morning, I called to wish her happy b. and we chatted about memory, and mysteries. (She's hiding from the news by reading about fictional justice, she said.) That's my mom at age twelve up there at the extreme left of the selfie shot.
At yoga this morning a long conversation with several people about, of all things, childhood and Dr. Seuss books. Someone was urging another person to buy them for some grandkids, saying that with Dr. Seuss, you can't possibly go wrong. One person said, well, actually you can--he loathed Dr. Seuss books as a kid. Hated whimsy, but people kept giving him Dr. Seuss books. Another person was aghast, how could anyone hate any Dr. Seuss book? They are so cheerful and safe!
I said, um, no, actually they are not. I dutifully read Cat in the Hat when I was six (it had just come out, and of course I read anything and everything book-shaped) but it made me incredibly anxious. I distinctly remember reading it over several times and racing through the pages to make sure that the kids didn't get beaten for the mess Thing One and Thing Two made. The relief at the last page was physical, and their antics before that were not the least bit funny to me. Once I was sure of the ending, I never touched it again. (Then I thought about what mom said about justice. Weird, how two completely unrelated conversations will do that.)
However, I said to the others talking Seuss, the one I highly recommended for a kid with imagination is On Beyond Zebra. We didn't have that one at our house--my cousin had it. Every time we visited I would go to his bookshelf (he had his own bookshelf!) and reread it, and tried to memorize the letters. The idea of letters beyond Z was unspeakably thrilling, and of course I was off and running with alphabets and languages after that. My other much-reread Dr. Seuss books were The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and The King's Stilts. Strange, looking back, and thinking how formative they were.
And so the day ends, with maybe possibly rain tomorrow? I'm not getting my hopes too high.
And thus endeth this natter of trivia!
Ice cream because son and I went to see Dr. Strange, and we sneaked hot fudge sundaes into the cinema. (Better ice cream and a fraction of the price from what you'd pay at the concession stand) It was a fun movie, though I had to keep my eyes shut first through the medical ick, and then through the vertigo-inducing lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng fights. But I enjoyed the actual dialogue, and all the actors were terrific. I even liked Cummerbund Bandersnatch, which I hadn't thought I would--he plays such a smug jackwagon in Sherlock that I was only able to tolerate an episode and a half. (MUCH prefer the version with Lucy Liu as Watson.)
On other fronts, my mom turned 84 today. First thing this morning, I called to wish her happy b. and we chatted about memory, and mysteries. (She's hiding from the news by reading about fictional justice, she said.) That's my mom at age twelve up there at the extreme left of the selfie shot.
At yoga this morning a long conversation with several people about, of all things, childhood and Dr. Seuss books. Someone was urging another person to buy them for some grandkids, saying that with Dr. Seuss, you can't possibly go wrong. One person said, well, actually you can--he loathed Dr. Seuss books as a kid. Hated whimsy, but people kept giving him Dr. Seuss books. Another person was aghast, how could anyone hate any Dr. Seuss book? They are so cheerful and safe!
I said, um, no, actually they are not. I dutifully read Cat in the Hat when I was six (it had just come out, and of course I read anything and everything book-shaped) but it made me incredibly anxious. I distinctly remember reading it over several times and racing through the pages to make sure that the kids didn't get beaten for the mess Thing One and Thing Two made. The relief at the last page was physical, and their antics before that were not the least bit funny to me. Once I was sure of the ending, I never touched it again. (Then I thought about what mom said about justice. Weird, how two completely unrelated conversations will do that.)
However, I said to the others talking Seuss, the one I highly recommended for a kid with imagination is On Beyond Zebra. We didn't have that one at our house--my cousin had it. Every time we visited I would go to his bookshelf (he had his own bookshelf!) and reread it, and tried to memorize the letters. The idea of letters beyond Z was unspeakably thrilling, and of course I was off and running with alphabets and languages after that. My other much-reread Dr. Seuss books were The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and The King's Stilts. Strange, looking back, and thinking how formative they were.
And so the day ends, with maybe possibly rain tomorrow? I'm not getting my hopes too high.
And thus endeth this natter of trivia!