Un Jour de Pluie

The rain, it comes.

You know you live in the desert when it rains and you're confused about what, exactly, is going on.  This is after 25 years in the Willamette Valley, where it rains 10 months out of the year.

Still. Brain trying to recollect what one does when it rains.

Tesla is completely befuddled by the moisture from the sky, because she spent her Spring rainy season in our corporate apartment as a young pup, only experiencing the rain that blew/dripped in past the patio covering.

(I apologize for the crick in your neck. I'm not techy enough to figure out if the orientation can be changed. But cute, no?)

Right now, Tesla will ring her bells to go outside; I'll open the door, she'll take in the scenery and decide - no, actually, not worth it.

Just kidding.

I've been reading The Paris Wife, FINALLY - I've wanted to read it for some time, but the Kindle edition is on the pricier side, and the wait list at the library took a long time...

...anyway, reading it now, and oh. My. Goodness.  Poor Hadley! An excellent read so far, The Paris Wife tells the story of the first Mrs. Hemmingway from her perspective, from meeting Ernest in Chicago to marrying him at the age of 28 (he was 21). They moved shortly after the wedding to Paris - and not the nice part of Paris, either - and make a home for them while he struggled to find himself as a writer.

Writers are difficult people in the best of times; Hemingway had hemochromatosis, the inability to metabolize iron, as well as (most likely) bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

He also drank like a fish.

Easy man to be married to? Not so much.


Another book that makes for terrific rainy-day reading?

Jenny B. Jones' There You'll Find Me  is perfect for a day with precipitation.  I should have realized it was also perfect for an airplane ride...I slogged through a truly terrible book (actually, two of them) on the flight back from St. Louis, which was painful because Danny's book was absolutely brilliant.

He'd giggle at his book and I'd role my eyes at the pages (and pages) of limp characterization.

I came home and pulled out There You'll Find Me.  I loved it for all of the reasons that I loved Anna and the French Kiss - a very real, very likeable heroine, a gorgeous setting, and a crush-worthy boy.

(Speaking of, Stephanie Perkins has a new novel out.  I'll get back to you on that...)

There You'll Find Me treads perfectly across themes of loss and hope, romance and change, friendship and grief.  Did I mention it's funny? That the protagonist refers to Pride and Prejudice as the single girl's Magna Carta?

Really, it's grand. Trust me.

So if it's rainy where you are - these are the books! Grab a mug of tea (carefully) and tuck yourself into bed with a book.

Or, if you're Tesla, you can go catch a raindrop.

Random Observations

My head’s so deep in the book I’m having a hard time piecing thoughts together to create one cohesive blog on one topic. This is not to say I haven’t had random thoughts in my head, looking for an outlet.
So here goes.

1. I really hate the whole shorts with tights, boots/heals, and sweater/jacket look. I’m not sure how this evolved as a serious look, because to me, it says, “Hey mom, I dressed myself.” And not in a good way. What I love most is the fact that this look was thrown around back in December.

I don’t care if there are tights involved. Shorts are shorts are shorts. And December is cold. And shorts and tights look stupid. I don't care if it's one of "Jenna's Picks." Jenna needs to wise up.

I feel better having said this.

2. Starbucks has caught onto the “natural” trend by over hauling their baked goods. This means that my mom’s favorite cookie bar, the Toffee Almond Bar (her Starbucks Raison D’etre) is MIA.

The molasses cookie, a longtime favorite of mine, tastes…worse. If the molasses flavor is so week that you can contemplate what kind of flour was used (white vs. wheat), the molasses wasn’t strong enough. If an artificial ingredient (and the meaning of “artificial” is up for debate), I would kindly like it returned.

3. And the chocolate chunk cookie needs salt.


4. If you’re not from these parts, you may not know that while the rest of the country has been buried in thirty feet of snow, Oregon has experienced its lightest winter in recent memory. A lot of analysts told us, within the last few weeks, about how unlikely it would be for the rainfall to pick back up.

Well, time has passed. Rain has fallen. I don’t know what the analysts were smoking. This is Oregon. You can count on unpredictable warmth and the fact that it will always end in much water falling from the sky.

Like it’s falling right now. You’d think they’d learn. You’d think they’d have gotten the memo by now, taken the hint.

You know, gotten rained on.

Oh well. There’s always next year.

5. I bought a new basil plant!!! It's probably a little silly how much this has filled me with joy. But I've MISSED having fresh basil! Eating a lot of ravioli and tortellini these days (tortellini with roasted veggies, tossed w/ olive oil, a splash of pasta water, and Romano cheese is yummy! And easy when you're writing a book.) and it's nice to have basil to snip over the top to make it special. I will try to keep this one alive. I will not leave it in the car on a 102 degree day. I will take it to Gram's if it needs a spa weekend (the snippet she took from my last plant is still alive on her window ledge). I will not over-water. I will not under-water.

6. Simply Sara is nearing completion. At this stage, I kind of have to get out of the apartment to write otherwise almost nothing gets written. Starbucks and I are quite close these days. Hence the cookie observations. Anyway, as the last 20% gets written, I need to make up some new happy plot cards to get me through to the end. I want to be sure nothing gets left out!

That's it for now...on to the note cards!