Amazing Book Grace

Wow, I have had excellent book karma this week. First, I read an excellent Icelandic mystery novel called Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason, and today I read Until Thy Wrath be Past by Asa Larsson. What a great book. This is the best novel she has written so far. I really recommend you read all her books in the order they were written because the main character, Rebecka Martinsson, goes through a series of dramatic events that shape her character and she just keeps getting deeper and richer. What's remarkable in the compassion she has for one of the characters in the book which which becomes a transformative force in the novel. The way the author handles the "ghosts" in her work is elegant and poetic. There's also part of the plot which is about Sweden's fascinating role in WWII. I LOVE this book. This will be a hard act to follow in terms of what I choose to read next.

I am currently writing a lot of letters asking people for permission to use their images and text for the exhibition I'm working on. Quite a lovely part of the whole process so far.

Me Want Tacos

I am becoming very addicted to Korean Tacos. The lovely couple near the Vancouver Public Library make some good stuff. The lady advised me to have one spicy and one mild, and she was right as it is the perfect combination.

Starting to wrap up the archival research project, but it has awakened a great desire to go deeper into the material on my own time.

Watching Monk and one of my new favorite episodes is Monk Gets Hypnotized--a gem in what seems generally to be a weaker season, writing wise.

Tomorrow I am playing a tippler bumble bee queen in Pacific Spirit Park. Pray for me.

Busy Bumble Bee

It is so good to be a busy bumble bee. Lots of pressure for my current gig, but challenging and stimulating. I got to visit the bowels of the Museum of Vancouver today and peruse old cookbooks published by the Vancouver Sun. I also put an archivist at the COV archives to work digging up an obscure photo for me and she did it. Respect!

Tomorrow I've really got to crunch the numbers in my budget and make some hard decisions.
I also have a cabaret performance tomorrow eve. No rest for the wicked. Sunday I have to be a bumble bee queen. And I have joined a choir. It's hard work, but I think it's a good match--not totally sure of that, but so far so good.

I've started reading Survivors by Chava Rosenfarb which is a mind-altering life-changing book of short stories. Her women are unlike any I have read in fiction--complicated, passionate, and dark. The stories are quite surreal.

And to treat myself I am watching more episodes of MONK.

We had a lovely dinner last night at the French Table. What a jewel of a place. I will have to start making more serious dosh so we can go more often.

A Tang in the Air

Can you smell that fall tang in the air? I am spending my days searching the archives, so I welcome the cooler weather as gardening season winds down.

Read: The Moon Tunnel by Jim Kelly. This is my favorite so far of Kelly's work. It helps that the subject touches on my current research into WWII. I do love mysteries about archeological digs and this one turns up a tunnel from an old POW camp and a corpse, of course.

I also read Death Wore White, the series with Detective Peter Shaw. I found the plot strained credulity, but I think this series will grow on me.

I'm rewatching Foyle's War--always a pleasure.

The School Run

This is one of the warmest September days I remember experiencing in Vancouver. I worked up a real sweat watering the school garden this morning. I loved hearing the teacher's voice coming through the windows. Bits of order, then sounds of chaos as the kids chatted to each other about what they did this summer.

My son said: "Today my freedom ended. School is a prison." He played a piece of somber organ music as he morosely got ready for school. But he was chatty and funny on the way there and the way back and told me anecdotes from last year I've heard many times. Other students tend to exasperate him. He just wants to get on with it and serve his sentence without all these tedious children acting up. He also says things and then warns me: "Don't quote me on that." Today he went on a sweet riff about the problem of the tree falling in the forest question.

Read: Scared to Live by Stephen Booth. Sometime police procedure gets in the way of a good novel. And we really need to care more about the characters.

Read: The Nesting Dolls by Gail Bowen. Somewhere along the way Joanne Kilbourne became so middle class cosy with her extended family and so luvvy duvvy with her smart, handsome lawyer that she's become a bit of a yawn. This novel revolves around a pretty unbelievable coincidence that I just couldn't get my head around.

In the dye jar: blackberries. I'm going to try solar dyeing.

A Cloud will Come

My friend Donna says that in September a cloud will come and we'll reach up and find all the things we lost. I hope we find only the things that are wanted, not those we left behind on purpose.

Read: The Skelton Man by Jim Kelly. The architecture of a lost village becomes sculpted into the reader's memory. I also found out that this author has a really lovely website. It is worth checking out.

Dye Pot: I am still using iris roots and iron to dye cotton pieces a dark blue-purple.

Baked: I did make a chocolate cake, but the vegan recipe from The Joy of Cooking was a fail, so on to better things. We still ate it with helpings of whipped cream sprinkled with coconut.

Craving: Masala dosa.