Country Comforts

It's flurrying, the sun is shining and Joni Mitchell is showing her deeper side on the radio, this according to the announcer who wishes she were Joni, quoting Joni and then reluctantly playing her. I wasn't aware there was a shallow side of J.M.

Marty's in Italy, Mariel in Peru, Harry is on a jet plane (I think) and Mark is back in NYC. I came to my country sanctuary Thursday to try to get the minivan to pass inspection. I really came for the solitude. I love being with people, but I love being alone. I read, I write, I cook, I bag old clothes, I watch movies. I'm proud to announce that I figured out how to play a DVD! I'm sad to say, I watched The Lonely Bones. I never read the book, because Mariel was 14 at the time and that's how old the murdered girl is. I thought that since Mariel is now almost 24, it would be safe to watch it. It was safe, but mainly a lot of drivel. The music was good, but my overwhelming feeling was for the girl to go to heaven already.

I finished The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton. If I were asked to write a book blurb, I would say "Emotionally redemptive!" It's actually pretty bleak, Dickensian. Dickens is her favorite writer. If you like novels that explore psychological motivation, how a person's upbringing explains how they turn out, Hamilton delivers it in spades. It doesn't use the Twinkie Defense by name, but it gives an amazing portrait of a resilient young woman, and that of her demented and violent husband.

Afraid I'll run out of things to read, I picked up 4 other novels. But I don't read and watch movies all day. I've started working on curtains for the upstairs bedrooms, taken clothes to the consignment shop, bought a frame for a painting I picked up in Peru, cooked Moussaka (delicious) and done a little shopping. I saw a vase in the window of the antique shop in town that cried out to me to buy it. It's very colorful, pinks and greens, done with pastel paints then fired in a kiln. I went to the grocery store and bought a dozen roses for $6. It looks great on my dining room table.

Thinking about Joni, I pulled out her records. We have more in NYC. Miles of Isles, Mingus, Blue (2 more copies in NYC!) and Ladies of the Canyon. We also own more Elton John records than it seems possible, including 2 Tumbleweed Connections. I know there's more in New York. There was a time our records were organized by genre and artist. We had a smaller collection then.

Tonight I'll watch another movie, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Look for my review soon.