The May revelry has begun. Waxwings are getting high on nascent mulberries, the fuchsia’s getting ready to pop, cakes have been baked, early lettuces plucked. The first cheese soufflé of the season is rising in the oven, and asparagus and artichokes are on standby. It’s an explosion of spring!
Ship fever
The shape of water, the fatal shore
We, the drowned
Swimming home
Clinging to the wreckage all around Atlantis.
(from the brilliant Andrea Barrett, Andrea Camilleri, Robert Hughes, Carsten Jensen, Deborah Levy, John Mortimer, and Deborah Eisenberg)
You
A match to the heart
Incendiary
Everything ravaged, everything burned.
(Austin Grossman, Gretel Ehrlich, Chris Cleave, Wells Tower)
The brilliant editors at Flavorwire shared this last month, and I keep going back for another look. Karoline Hjorth and Riitta Ikonen may be my new favorite artists. The expressions on their subjects’ faces are sublimely knowing and transcendent; the settings are magical. Check it out and see if you don’t agree.
http://eyesasbigasplates.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/eyes-as-big-as-plates-norway-finland/
Looks a little like something Hitchcock might have concocted, but there’s no Tippi Hendren involved, only a piece of Hawaiian pizza left unattended.
Saturday
Middle men carry the one
To the wedding.
The sucker’s kiss – are you mine?
With your crooked heart, more like not running away.
(Ian McEwan, Jim Gavin, Carol Anshaw, John Berger, Alan Parker, Abby Frucht, Helen Dunmore, Paul Shepherd)
Makes me want to read them all again!
“Heat Wave” – Martha and the Vandellas
“Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid” – King Pleasure
“Slim’s Jam” – Slim Gaillard and His Orchestra
The Cool Voice of Rita Reys (album)
Fly Away Little Bird (album) – Jimmy Giuffre/Paul Bley/Steve Swallow – GORGEOUS!
Vaughan Williams: Tallia Fantasia; Fantasia on Greensleeves; the Lark Ascending (album) – Academy of St. Martin in the Fields & Sir Neville Marriner
“Can I Put You On” and “Friends” – Elton John (Rare Masters, Disc 1)
“Hurricane” – Mindy Smith (One Moment More album)
“The Smoothie Song” and “The Fox” (Live from the Freight and Salvage) – Nickel Creek
Alison Krauss & Union Station: Live (double live-concert album)
Fleet Foxes
“Stones Under Rushing Water” – Needtobreath (The Outsiders album)
“Rules of Travel” – Rosanne Cash (album of the same name)
Look at the great cover art from Jane Zwinger for the Spring 2013 issue of Glimmer Train Stories. That could be my attic. Except for the sled. Sadly, not much snow in the Bay Area. But the board games on the shelves? The hula hoops? The tool box? (Especially if it has a large assortment of spare bulbs for Christmas lights, and opalina stuck in the hinges.) Then it could definitely be my attic! Get a copy of this issue to see my tattoo. http://www.glimmertrain.com/issue86spring.html
The first showing of the year for the Gang of Six and their Fearless Leader. (Which one is Fearless Leader? They take turns.) A bevy of Cedar Waxwings, with their lovely thin whistles and yellow-tipped tails.
The Gang
Self-imposed rules:
– Can only use books I own
– Can only use each book one time (perfect excuse to buy more books!)
The boys of my youth
Out stealing horses
The sky unwashed, the solace of open spaces
The riders crossing open ground.
(Jo Ann Beard, Per Petterson, Irene Zabytko, Gretel Ehrlich, Tim Winton, Barry Lopez)
Clearly I will need to find more titles with action verbs. Suggestions?
