The Literature-Map The Tourist Map of Literature

Well, we can't really be tourists these days but readers will love playing around with this site:

https://www.literature-map.com

You put in an author you like to read and then it brings up all sorts of authors you may like. It's great fun...give it a try!

It was mentioned on the FB group called  "Silent Book Club". People post a lot of interesting suggestions for reading and good reminders about authors you haven't read for a while.

Some info about it:

The Literature-Map is part of Gnod, the Global Network of Discovery.

It is based on Gnooks, Gnod's literature recommendation system. The more people like an author and another author, the closer together these two authors will move on the Literature-Map.

The French one was especially interesting to me...never heard of that!

Good on Louise Penny and what a good idea

From her FB page:

Because of the pandemic, many authors whose books are coming out now are not able to go on tour, and not getting the exposure they, or their books, deserve. For a while my publisher wisely decided to halt new publications, but now books are being launched. And so I want to tell you about THE MOUNTAINS WILD, by

Sarah Stewart Taylor Books

. It’s the start of a new series for her, and is set in New York and Dublin. THE MOUNTAINS WILD introduces cop Maggie D’arcy and has been called ‘lyrical’ and ‘a must-read’. Below is a link to more information. It is always a pleasure to support writers, and bookshops, and libraries. As I’ve been supported.

I bought a Kindle edition and am really enjoying reading it. It brings back quite wonderful memories of Ireland and is a good story to boot. I'll have to take a look at her previous series.

Laneway house inspired by Mondrian

Patty sent me this...just love it!

Itty Bitty Book Review: "Unto us a Son is Given"

"Unto us a Son is Given" by Donna Leon



Leon always writes a rather intriguing mystery and I do love the setting of Venice. Quite a twist in this one.

Sunset last night...

My letter to the editor...

I don't actually write a lot of letters to the editor ( five maybe over a lifetime?) but every one of them has been published. When I was teaching in Victoria I saw what a great difference our alternative school could make for some students who just couldn't be successful in a traditional school setting. 

Re: ‘One for the history books’: A small group of Grade 12s and their COVID-friendly graduation

I would like to express my congratulations to the graduates of the Maplewood Alternative High School. It was an inspiring and joyful story that lifted my spirits in these dismal times. The determination and exuberance these students expressed will serve them very well in the challenges to come.

I wish them all the very best.

Janice Sexton, Vancouver

Migrant workers hit hard everywhere

Thousands of dads in British Columbia will spend Father’s Day far away from their children as they tend and harvest local food crops, typically for minimum wage.

To mark the day, migrant workers and their families have posted photos of themselves on social media platforms holding signs asking Canadians to support their fight for more rights.

“My name is Esmeralda and my dad is named Benigno Orozco Rojas. He has to abandon his home in search of a better life. He is a migrant farm worker in Canada for the last six seasons.”

“Hi! I’m Nahomi, daughter of Mario Peralta Barrera. My dad had to leave to give us a better life. My mom and I miss him a lot but we have to get through it because he is the only breadwinner in our house. We ask that you help all the migrant workers like my dad defend their rights!” 

Rest of the article here:

https://vancouversun.com/news/fathers-day-campaign-tugs-on-heartstrings-asks-to-fight-for-migrant-workers-rights

It some good comes out of all of this current pandemic mess, perhaps these workers all over the world will get a better deal. 

From The Desert Sun:

Enrique Rangel sleeps with a bandana over his nose and mouth, his work boots next to the bed. The Salton City farmworker wakes up at 4 a.m., well before the sun rises, grabs a rag from a bucket filled with water and bleach, and wipes down his plastic mattress and pillow.

Then he joins other workers outside the Galilee Center’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Shelter in Mecca. Each sits at their own table with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in their hands, and a face covering hugging their chin. 

The shelter has provided beds, as well as hot meals and laundry services, for up to 65 farmworkers each night since it opened in 2017. The facility was a vast improvement for migrant workers in the region, who had long slept in fields or parking lots during the region's grape harvest, which typically runs between May and July.

After the coronavirus pandemic hit, however, the nonprofit reduced the facility’s capacity to 30 to allow for social distancing between beds and at meals. To prevent the spread of the virus inside the shelter, founder and president Gloria Gomez said staff disinfect surfaces “as much as we can.” Staff also take workers’ temperatures multiple times a day — before they go to work, when they return from the fields and before they go to bed.

Rest of the article here:
https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2020/06/20/california-farmworkers-weigh-new-protocols-health-grape-harvest-peaks/3198450001/?utm_source=desertsun-Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_briefing&utm_term=hero

Father's Day in the pandemic

Richard and Grace came over for Father's Day and we had a social distancing event. They really wanted to be outside to keep us healthy so they were on the balcony and we were inside. It worked out well and they brought lots of wonderful goodies. So great to see them and shared lots of old time stories...lots of which Grace hadn't heard:)

Thanks so much, Richard and Grace for making it a wonderful evening.

Lots of hot sauces...

Grace's wonderful sourdough bread...

More yummy presents...

Jim with his new apron...guess that's a hint to  start cooking more.

This looks really great too especially for me, the seafood lover. I won't be having too much of the hot stuff

And the perfect card...

Richard and Grace out on the balcony looking at the view. I'm glad they felt they could take their masks off when they sat down at the table outside. We do appreciate them being so careful with us.

Madrid

The Ephemeral Rainbows in Crystal Palace in Madrid, Spain 

Linda posted this photo on her blog recently. What an amazing place! We missed this when we were in Madrid but I do remember having a fabulous lunch after we had been in The Prado (famous art museum with amazing art). For about $10 each we had a three course meal that had paella as an appetizer, then suckling pig, wide choice of desserts, and a half litre of wine each. 

I think this was in 1999 when a Spanish Colleague of Jim's had invited us to Spain and let us use a spare apartment he had in Madrid. We also visited them in their villa in the countryside. 

Spain seemed very cheap in those days compared to the UK and France. 

Creativity during the pandemic....you gotta love it!

Barcelona has a great idea of having plants as the audience for their concert. I think it's quite brilliant as it shows off the wonderful venue but not with the rather sad spectacle of empty seats.

How the plants might look.

Attendees of the first post-lockdown concert at Barcelona’s Liceu opera house next week will not need masks or gloves, nor will they be required to observe physical distancing.

But they might like to take along a nice comfy pot and a little water to prevent their roots from drying out as a string quartet serenades them, fittingly, with Puccini’s Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums).

Well aware of the need to return with a spectacle as grabby as a venus flytrap, the Catalan venue has announced a concert for 2,292 plants when it reopens next Monday. Non-vegetable music fans will also be able to enjoy the performance as it will be livestreamed.

According to the Liceu’s artistic director, Víctor García de Gomar, the Concert for the Biocene is intended to help us ponder the current state of the human condition and how, in lockdown, we have become “an audience deprived of the possibility of being an audience”.

Rest of the article here:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/17/spanish-opera-house-reopens-with-concert-for-plants-barcelona?fbclid=IwAR1_f2uJv28ic_EveCxlE5BK1gfJZpBeRIHYw_fFmTuvcrmUq0DLLg--dmw

Itty Btty Book Review: "A Gentleman in Moscow"

"A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles

For the most part I really liked this novel about a "Former Person" ...an aristocrat being under house arrest in The Metropole, a famous hotel in Moscow. It did drag a bit at times but loved the ending. There is almost too much going on at times but generally pretty engaging.

The Count is a very sympathetic character and all the delightful recounting of past experiences in aristocratic life are intriguing and interesting but the reader does know how the proletariat lived before the revolution and of the very repressive antics of the Bolsheviks. The author creates the old privileged life along with the new. Still a world of privilege but for different people.

From goodreads:

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel's doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count's endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose

Driving in Vancouver in the 1960's

Although the story says it's newly released I have a feeling I've seen it or perhaps even posted it myself. 

The Ministry of Transportation just released a wonderful archival video from 1966! In it they drive from Horseshoe Bay, through downtown Vancouver, up Main street then onto Kingsway to Burnaby. It was part of their 'photologs' where they would mount a camera on a car and produce a film on 16mm.

In a blog post the Ministry states that "these roads were classified as provincial Highways 1 and 99 until the early 1970s. In fact, Kingsway was also a component of the Trans-Canada Highway until construction was completed on the current alignment of the TCH across the Fraser River on the Port Mann Bridge in 1964."

Pick up the story and the video here:

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/history/1960s-driving-in-vancouver-1934738?utm_source=Vancouver+Is+Awesome&utm_campaign=7008abda8d-Daily+060920&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f592a7afc0-7008abda8d-136521497

I'm with Shelley Fralic...

While I am loving reading about Paris in Lisa Anselmo's blog these days, I have no desire to really go anywhere other than Palm Springs. Fralic says she'll never give up Palm Springs either. My friend, Linda, can't wait to get travelling again and is really missing it. I hope things get back to normal before too long so she can feed her wanderlust and Shelley and I can get back to our wonderful desert oasis.

Benjamin keeps posting lots and lots of photos of paradise on FB...

Evening in PS.

Article: No More Tckets to Ride

It’s outright boomer heresy to say so, for if the world has been our oyster, as we are interminably reminded, why on Earth would anyone so blessed be so cavalier in shucking off the opportunity to explore it fully?

After all, travel is meant to enrich us, enlighten us, expose us to culture and humanity and the illumination that as a people, despite our differences from one border to the next, we are one. To travel, goes the inculcation, is to experience life.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Here’s why I hate it. Not that I always did. Just that I do now.

Where once planes, trains and automobiles were the passport to new adventures, today the skies, rails and roads no longer hold that magical lure to uncharted territory.

Getting there, getting anywhere, is now mostly a crushing chore. Security checks, patdowns, unruly masses, pricey hotels, cramped airless planes, trashy trinkets, bed bugs, jammed freeways, pickpockets and armed guards.

Rest of the article"
http://eedition.thewhig.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

P.S. The exception I suppose would be those wonderful and reasonable bus tours Maureen takes but we'd have to be living in Europe to take advantage of those.

From My Part-Time Paris Life

It looks like France is making a good come back. Let's hope it's true!

How many of you are still under some kind of confinement? If things are opening up, are you jumping in, or holding back? Does all the resurgence of activity create a sense of relief that there is light at the end of the tunnel? Or are you awash in anxiety because the virus is still out there?

I know these questions don’t have straightforward answers if you live in the States. Things are all over the place: better in New York; worse in Florida, Arizona, and others. Here, in France, the latest word is that we’re doing better than expected, and numbers of new cases are down despite déconfinement. Paris has apparently gone from an orange zone to a green zone. Yesterday, President Macron declared a “first victory against the virus” and is accelerating plans to ease the country’s lockdown in order to revive the economy more swiftly.

Rest of the post:
https://myparttimeparislife.com/2020/06/15/life-after-lockdown-abundance-hemmed-in/

From FB group My Clean Sick Sense of Humor...famous insults.

I don't know if these people actually said these things but they are still funny.

These glorious insults are from an era before the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."

"That depends, Sir, " said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."

"He had delusions of adequacy " -Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." -Clarence Darrow

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." -William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it." -Moses Hadas

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." -Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." -Oscar Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend, if you have one." -George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one." -Winston Churchill, in response

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." -Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." -John Bright

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." -Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others." -Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating

"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." -Charles, Count Talleyrand

"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." -Forrest Tucker

"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" -Mark Twain

"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." -Mae West

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." -Oscar Wilde

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." -Andrew Lang (1844-1912)

"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." -Billy Wilder

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But I'm afraid this wasn't it." -Groucho Marx

Richard did it...thanks so much!

Richard was successful in opening the file with the 1976 letters and I guess I must have posted them to my blog at some point. I completely forgot about that. It was really fun to read them.

My introduction to this correspondence which is somewhere on my blog:

Now that the weather is turning I’m continuing my organization of old photos and memorabilia.  In 1976-77 we took a year or so out from our teaching jobs to travel in Europe (mainly France) for five months and do courses in French, then returned home to go to the University of Oregon in Eugene to do graduate studies for nine months. I’ve been re-reading the letters I wrote my parents during this time. I’m very glad my mom saved them.

I didn't write letters from Poland or Amsterdam but I did write up our experiences with people we had met in our French course in Cannes when we visited them. We visited  Marian and his family in Poland and  Dorli and Eveline in Amsterdam. At the time, just out of interest, I googled the names of the two women we visited in Amsterdam. I had forgotten this too!

This was taken in our studio apartment in Cannes. We had had the group over for dinner.

Marian (Poland), Jim, Eveline & Dorli (Amsterdam)

Postscript:

Just for fun I googled "Dorli Huvers" as I couldn't remember Eveline's last name except that it began with an "R". Lo and behold the first entry that came up was a notation about a book Dorli Huvers and Eveline Renes had translated together! It's called "Shanghai Baby" and was an erotic book written in China in 2000, subsequently banned and 40,000 copies publicly burned. All of which seems to have made it a cult hit in China and Europe. Too funny. Eveline appears to have translated quite a few books...mostly more mundane things like cookbooks. I think we'll try to track her down through her publisher. It could be fun to be in contact again.

I didn't have any success with contacting them at the time but yesterday Jim found that both had died.

I just looked on Amazon to see if the book "Shanghai Baby" was available and it is...$4.99 for a Kindle edition. I think I just may have to read it. It gets good reviews. They spoke French, English, and German so I expect they translated it from one of those languages into Dutch.

Perhaps I'll suggest it for the Brock House Book Club. That would liven things up!

This is the review on goodreads:

A story of love, sex and self-discovery - banned in China.

Publicly burned in China for its sensual nature and irreverent style, this novel is the semi-autobiographical story of Coco, a cafe waitress, who is full of enthusiasm and impatience for life. She meets a young man, Tian Tian, for whom she feels tenderness and love, but he is reclusive, impotent and an increasing user of drugs. Despite parental objections, Coco moves in with him, leaves her job and throws herself into her writing. 

Shortly afterwards, she meets Mark, a married Westerner. The two are uncontrollably attracted and begin a highly charged, physical affair. Torn between her two lovers, and tormented by her deceit, her unfinished novel and the conflicting feelings involved in love and betrayal, Coco begins to find out who she really is. 

Here is a beautifully written novel with a distinct voice that describes China on the brink of its own social and sexual revolution. 

Looks like a wonderful new book about my beloved orcas

The book is a wonderful collection of ideas and impressions of the orca from a mix of people including renowned environmentalists; marine biologists; Indigenous knowledge keepers; poets; former aquarium whale show trainers; and even a group of young kids from a bioregional forest school.

Memoir?

The view from our apartment in our wonderful village of Carqueiranne

We were on the top floor of this apartment a bit right of centre.

I really got into painting when we were in Carqueiranne in 2002 & 2003. In the next photo, Jim is preparing his classes. Who do you think is having more fun?

I'm thinking of writing up our experiences in France so re-reading the letters I wrote in 2002 and my blog in 2003 and 2005. It's amazing what you forget! I also found an old file I can't open (hope Richard can) of letters I wrote to my parents when we were on a 5 month trip to Europe (mainly France) in 1976. My mother saved the letters.

This is my blog post from Tuesday, April 1, 2003. The anti Canadian sentiment from the US is because Canada did not support the US in the war with Iraq. I couldn't believe it when I read a reference to SARS. Maureen and Roland drove down from their home in Germany.

TUESDAY, APRIL 01, 2003

It is great to be home, even if it is 10 degrees and raining. Great to sleep in our own bed and wake up to the birds singing.

We had a wonderful time with Maureen and Roland the last few days we were in Carqueiranne and showed them our favourite places of Cassis and Sanary. We also introduced them to eating raw sea urchins...a big specialty in that area during the season of Jan - Mar. They didn't quite share our enthusiasm for these creatures ( the "hedgehogs" as Maureen called them!) but they did both agree the white wine of the Cassis area is very special.
Thanks again to Maureen and Roland for coming down to visit with us and bringing your "magic box"....a seemingly bottomless box that continued to produce goodies of food and drink all through the visit!

We spent our final two days in Nice basking in the sun, drinking pastis on the Promenade des Anglais and getting our last fill of fish soup and other Mediterranean specialties. Our flights home were long and tiring but good connections and everything on time. The fire alarm went off when we were in the international area of the Vancouver airport...was rather disconcerting (or perhaps not) as there seemed to be no question of letting people pass through customs and immigration without being checked properly. Caused quite a bit of havoc as the luggage shut down and we wondered if we would make our connecting flight to Victoria. Everything worked out in the end.

Back to reality seeing almost all airport employees wearing rubber gloves (to protect from SARS) and to hear about all the anti Canadian sentiment from the US. One seems to be very away from all that in the south of France. I wasn't even sure what year it was when I went to fill out the customs forms....

We came back to an immaculate house, lawns cut, and with home made spaghetti sauce and bread waiting for us.
We are so lucky to have such fabulous renters...thank you, Lynne and Lloyd!

Some baseball at last!

Richard sent us a post to old Montreal Expos games on YouTube. This should be fun as you'll see the actual game rather than just listening to it. I wasn't a baseball fan then although I played scrub softball every day after school for years. The games were broadcast in French on radio and we could pick them up since we had a satellite dish in the backyard. Richard and Jim were ardent fans and this really kept Richard's French up. Jim got the dish to pick up Mexican TV and BBC radio and we got lots of other interesting stuff. Ah...how things have changed with the Internet.

We did see the Expos playing in Montreal, San Francisco, and Seattle. It was quite exciting to be at the live game with the crowds.

Richard had quite a collection of Expos hats and shirts. I think I recognise some of these.

A wonderful afternoon chez Donna...

It was so nice being together having a wonderful social distancing lunch on this rather dreary Junuary day. Yummy food, elegant presentation, and great conversation.

Thank you so much, Donna!

Rancho Mirage Library opens...

I guess these protocols might be in place if our Vancouver libraries open.

https://ranchomiragelibrary.org

It seems the "Takeout" service at VPL  couldn't accept any more requests due to demand after two days.

Your love for VPL Takeout is (literally) overwhelming

Due to overwhelming demand, we are unable to accept new VPL Takeout orders at this time. As we work to fill existing VPL Takeout orders, we will be exploring more options to meet your library needs.

If you have an appointment confirmed, we look forward to seeing you at your scheduled pickup time!

If you have submitted a request and haven’t heard from us yet, thank you for your patience. We will call you soon to schedule a pickup appointment.

Please continue to check back for updates as we work to reopen some VPL locations with limited service over the summer.

Some humour

Cookbooks

Carol's post reminded me that I bought the new Joy of Cooking although I haven’t really looked at it. I got my original Joy of Cooking  in 1971 as a gift from my staff at a school in Delta where I did my first year teaching. Jim got the job at Camosun College so we moved to Victoria. There were very few teaching jobs especially in Victoria so the thinking of my colleagues was that I would have the time to do a lot of cooking. Well, I got a job after all although it was teaching a lot of subjects I knew very little about!

I sent Carol this photo and she commented that the new one looked very pristine. I was motivated to buy it because of the fascinating history behind how the series got started. It's now even more inspiring I think now that we are in these pandemic times.

Link to the history:
https://www.history.com/news/the-personal-tragedy-behind-the-joy-of-cooking

Richard and Grace came for dinner last night. We just had pizza but maybe I'll next time I'll cook a classic from this classic:)

Carol's post: Don't throw out the cookbooks.

http://mountdunbar.blogspot.com/2020/06/dont-throw-out-cookbooks.html

The Galley at Jericho Sailing Club

This is one of our favourite places to go in Vancouver and we were so glad to see it open. They have a lot of retrictions in place and it's only outdoor seating so pretty safe I think. It was nice to get out and to support them and they all seemed pretty pleased to see us. They had a big staff on so great to see them supporting their employees who probably haven't been working lately.

Great view as always.

This was a very tasty brew...Parkside Pale Ale. The Parkside Brew Pub took over when the Stanley Park Fish House went out of business. So sad to see it go as we had many wonderful meals there.

And we always split a two piece cod and chips...wonderful as always. I think the sea air makes it better!