Music and Books

Isabelle bought Owl City.  We listen to it a lot.  It has that 80’s disco/synth sound, but with dynamics!  Remember Jean Michel Jarre ? I think I got rid of his albums this year.  They went to the book sale.  That and disco music is what Owl City music reminds me of.  Lots of layers with dynamics.

But the lyrics!  They are fun.  They are witty. They bear listening over time.  For pop music, a definite plus.

The Fireflies song in particular made me cry when brother Jay was declining. The part about dreaming the world stood still.  I was wishing it would.

Planet Narnia was such a wonderful book I bought it.  Medieval cosmology in Lewis’ Narnia series “discovered” by PhD student Michael Ward.  He invented a new word,  “donegality”,  to express the use of an atmospheric (pun) motif throughout a story without the author directly indicating its use.

Soon after that, friend Amy told me about Eifelheim, by another Michael, M. Flynn.  This book also has to do with medieval cosmology, though in a more science fiction way.  A great, great sci-fi story about alien first contact.  Back in the 1300’s in Germany.  During the plague.  When Christianity was the European worldview.

Ah, Angela is here.

 

Baby Norbert

Our darling daughter is sometimes very silly.  If you can not handle silly, read no further.

Back when she was considerably younger and smaller (seven years ago, to be exact–since she remembers), one year for Christmas her paternal aunts bought her a Baby Norbert.   She played with it so much it “died” months later.

She has mourned and mooned over its demise for years.  Then a few days ago she came across the booklet for Norbert and wondered if it was still made.

Well, it is not.  But someone was selling one.  And another someone, who had saved the vast majority of her birthday money, convinced her father to let her buy it.

Now all she can do is pester me about when Norbert will arrive.

She decided she will design mechanical dragons.

Just for the Record

I saw three big bucks  while I was hunting during gun season. I got nary a shot.

A large 8-point snuck down out of a backyard, into a drive, as I was in a high tree stand 100 feet away with a natural buckthorn orchard between us.

One came down a steep bank into stream ravine following a doe and crossed the streambed onto a small honeysuckle filled flat.  I was over 100 yards away up on the bank  and back by a shed.  If I had immediately pulled my gun up I might have been able to get a shot off.  But I could hardly believe what I was seeing.

I watched the pair–the buck actually, for the doe just melded into the brush.  I was able to pick out the buck’s antlers intermittently for about five minutes.  They were never in a hurry.  I think they just crossed on their own and were not caught up in early stages of  the drive that was underway.

Twenty minutes later, the man hunting from a stand on the other side of the stream ravine from me fired twice.  I thought for sure  those two deer were the object of his shooting.  Turns out they were not–there had been 5-7 other deer pushed by the drive.  But those two ran out in the general confusion.

Five  to seven minutes after Bob in the tree shot, I saw another buck down on that flat piece of overgrown flat.  He was just moseying along in that thick huneysuckle.  He stood in it.  I could see his tail, his legs, his antlers, his head.  All behind thick stuff.  I could not take a shot that I thought had a good chance of hitting him.  While I was watching him, gun at the ready, Daren came up from behind, finishing the drive, wondering what I was watching.

He came over and said, “Well, there’s no deer there now”.  Bob had shot a spike horn buck. We walked around and over, and I asked Daren if maybe we should push that small piece of brushy ground down by the stream since I thought the buck was still there.

That did not happen.  Daren laughingly told me to go after it myself as he went to get his truck.

So I put three shell in the gun and walked down, picked up the fresh trail, the fresh scat, followed it around and about until suddenly, at the very tip of the area, something large jumped into the stream and crossed ahead of me up a very steep bank.

That buck had bedded down in all that brush.

Ah well.

Notice the Realistic Horse

Oops

Friday a migraine continued to plague me.  We hunted, without success.  Jay saw seven deer run into back yards from the first drive.  I saw a big buck sneak out of a back yard during the second drive.
Angela came over for supper.  We sampled the venison carpaccio.  Then we went to play games at Cornell at 7PM, dropping off a couple of the family on the way at Mom’s.  I was to return,  pick them up and take us all home.

It was such an interesting group of people and games I lost track of time.  At 9.30PM, I realized it was getting late, but stayed to play one more new-to-me game.  Then one more.  By then, it was really late and I was anxious to get home because Jay would be waiting. I figured out the shortest route home, avoided two deer collisions, arrived to a cold and dark home, got ready for bed and went to bed, thinking “Oops, everyone is already asleep!”
It was really late.  For us.

But when the bed with its flannel sheets was so cold, and I put my hand out to figure out why Jay was not warmer, he wasn’t there!

Not There?

Not there!

On, no!  I had forgotten my family!  I ran downstairs and called.  Jay’s next to first words were “You forgot us, didn’t you?”

I had.

Angela’s Answers

1. Four places I frequently go: walks up back, violin lessons, church, grocery shopping
2. Four people who email me (regularly): Jeni, Lydia, Isaac, Kim  (I chose actual people, not businesses)
3. Four of my favorite places to eat: my house, Thai Express, in the garden, on the lawn
4. Four places I would rather be right now: reading in bed, with Jeni in Austin, with Kiny on her way, with Hannah in the Gobi desert
5. <s>Four<s/> people I think will respond: Jeni, Kirsty,
6. Four TV shows I like to watch: Firefly, MASH, The Twilight Zone, Jerico

Hawthorne’s new friend

His name is Moose. Moose came from the Salvation Army store, my favorite shopping place.  H has already removed his eyes and nostrils. He is working on opening Moose up when he is bored and I do not stop him in time. Moose gets carried around and used as a way to be naughty: Hawthorne carries Moose into the living room since he knows that is not allowed, in order (I think) to be caught and get attention.