Itty Bitty Book Review: "The Song of the Lark"

"The Song of the Lark" by Willa Cather.

I found this in a bookstore when we were in Port Angeles. I've read some of her short stories but not any of her novels so was rather interested to see what one was like. Really rather good especially considering it was published in 1915. It's about the development of a talented young girl from Colorada farming area who becomes a very famous opera singer. Very advanced really for its take on the difficulty of women trying to do something non-traditional.

Itty Bitty Book Review: "We Need to Talk about Kevin"

"We Need to Talk about Kevin" by Lionel Shriver

A bookclub choice and quite a slog to get through. I guess it tries to get at why children end up killing their peers in school shootings but isn't particularly successful. Just didn't ring true to me on any level.

I found it rather ironic that the author changed her name to a male name so she wouldn't be victim to gender prejudice but the award she won for this book (the Orange Prize) is only for women authors!

Also, she isn't a mother and the point of view is first person narrative from the mother's point of view. Not that you can't write about things you don't have direct experience with but I think in this case it shows.

Welcome Tiloup!

Monique has a new little dog, a French Poodle called "Tiloup" short for Petit Loup which means "little wolf", and he is just delightful! He's just 8 weeks old and I know we'll all enjoy him...a really cute little fun guy already.


Monique and Tiloup


Peanut and Jim.

Annette's second painting in the Camus series

Annette and I were painting again today...isn't this great! Opus #2 in the Camus series.


8 x 10
acrylic on paper

Cowichan Bay

Took the convertible out for a run up to Cowichan Bay and had lunch at the Rock Cod Cafe, then for a swim in the outdoor pool at the University...summer seems finally to be here!

A few images of Cowichan Bay.

Children's Art

Lake Sutherland

We had a really super time on the Olympic Peninsula. Jim taught a class at the college there and Jim Fisher will return in the Fall to teach Jim's class. Jim and Ann put us up in their lovely boathouse with its own private hottub. Just great to listen to the waves lapping and looking at the wonderful view. We really enjoyed meeting their friend, Bobby, as well and he took us on a tour of the lake in his boat. We are looking forward to their visit in Victoria.


View from the Boathouse.



The Boathouse



Breakfast at Granny's was a treat.



Jim relaxing in the sun.



Jim and Bobby.

Itty Bitty Book Review: Old Filth

"Old Filth" by Jane Gardam

I hadn't heard of Jane Gardam but read a review of this book somewhere and it sounded very interesting and it was. I really enjoyed it and must read more of her. She is British and has written a lot of novels (two won the Whitbread Prize for fiction, one shortlisted for the Booker) and our library has quite a few.

"Filth" stands for "Failed in London, try Hong Kong" and is about a very successful lawyer who was a "Raj Orphan"...children whose parents were working in the Empire (he was born in Malaysia) and who sent them "home" to Britain at the age of five to avoid getting tropical diseases, then to be educated. An excellent story and a bit of a mystery as well.

Latest painting

“English Bay “
23 x 30 acrylic on linoleum mat
June/06

Trip to Vancouver

We did lots of neat things in our few days in Van. It was really great to reconnect with old friends, Roger and Kerry and Donna...we hadn't seen each other for over 20 years. We had a good visit and lunch with John and Carole at the Watermark overlooking Kits. Food was excellent this time. And we just happened to be there when Edward and Sophie's motorcade drove down Burrard. So, old friends, family, and royalty...what more can you want!


Donna, me, Kerry



We met Richard after work and he took us on a tour of Technicolor...all top secret so just can show the heritage building in Yaletown where it is located.



Some really neat heritage houses they've preserved around where Technicolor is.


Our first day in Van was beautiful and sunny and we had dinner with Richard at the Boathouse
sitting outside overlooking English Bay.


We had a nice meal in this restaurant on Robson...loved the mural.



Window display in Hermes shop...hard to know if this metal bicycle was based on a real design. I thought it was very cool especially with the metal saddle bags.

Graduation Day

Congratualtions to Richard on getting his B.A. in English and Fine Arts! We all had a lot of fun at his grad at Simon Fraser University. The fog and the rain rolled in and it was fitting to be listening to bagpipes (we could have been in the Hebrides!)...then back to celebrate with some single malt to warm up then lunch.


Managed to get a quick photo during the procession.



Just before walking across the stage.



The three of us after.



"There were a hundred pipers and all and all..."



Everyone and their dog was there...

Can this cat get any more comfortable?

Oscar and Elaine

For Richard and his friends....

Pretty gray day at the Oak Bay Tea Party but I'm sure it wouldn't have stopped Richard and his friends having fun in the old days.

Paella Night

Had a really fun time with Annette, Patty & Terry, Don & Elaine last night and everyone enjoyed my paella.





Paella Simplified for 4 -6
(1/2 recipe for 2-3)

1 pound raw prawns or large shrimp (1/2 pound)
2 chicken breast halves or 4 thighs *skinless/boneless (1 br or 2 thighs)
1/2 pound scallops (1/4 pound scallops)
4 cups water (2 cups water)
1 large onion (1 medium onion)
4 garlic cloves, minced (2 cloves)
2 tsp salt (1tsp salt)
2 tbsp olive oil (1 tbsp )
1/2 lb chorizo sliced into 1/4 inch rounds) (1/4 pound)
1 large chopped green pepper (1 small )
1 28 can whole tomatoes *preferably plum ( 1 19 oz can)
2 cups long grain rice (1 cup)
1/2 tsp tabasco (1/4 tsp)
1/2 gram saffron (available in the seafood dept at Thrifty’s)
2 cups frozen peas, thawed and drained (1 cup)
1/2 pound mussels in shell if available or add more scallops/shrimp
1 jar red piminto *could be optional

Cook the chicken and cut into bite size pieces. Cooks scallops...sauté briefly. In large saucepan with boiling salted water (use 1 tsp of the salt) cook prawns or shrimp over high heat just until they turn pink, about 2 minutes. Peel. Reserve the shrimp water.
(*This can be done ahead of time. Refrigerate chicken and seafood.
Also, chop veg & chorizo ahead of time.)

In the dutch oven in the olive oil, saute garlic, onion, and green pepper for 3-4 minutes, add chorizo and saute for a few minutes more. Add 4 cups of shrimp water, tomatoes and juice, tabasco, saffron and other tsp of salt. Bring to simmer breaking up tomatoes with spoon.

Add rice and return to simmer. Cook over medium-low heat, tightly covered for about 20 minutes. For the last 10 minutes add cooked shrimp, chicken, scallops, and peas (and mussels in shell) . Mix in well and cover.

Serve in paella dish garnished with pimento if desired

Schooldays in Villette

For my friends who are currently preparing students for Grade 12 finals, this is a quote from Bronte's novel about the method of schooling in Villette.

"Here was a great house, full of healthy, lively girls, all well-dressed and many of them handsome, gaining knowledge by a marvellously easy method, without painful exertion or useless waste of spirits; not, perhaps, making very rapid progress in anything; taking it wasy, but still always employed, and never oppressed...

Masters came and went, delivering short and lively lectures, rather than lessons, and the pupils made notes of their instructions, or did not make them - just as inclination prompted; secure that, in case of neglect, they could copy the notes of their companions. Beside the regular monthly outings, the Catholic feast days brought a succession of holidays all year round; and sometimes on a bright summer morning , or a soft summer evening, the boarders were taken out for a long walk in the country and regaled with sweets and white wine...

Here, in short, was a foreign school; of which the life, movement, and variety made it a complete and most charming contrast to many English institutions of the same kind."

--From Bronte's "Villette" published in 1853.

Villette

This past week I've been reading Charlotte Bronte's novel called "Villette" and assuming the name of the village "Villette" where it takes place was fictional. In the TC on the weekend there was an article on Chateau de la Villette which is an estate northwest of Paris in the village of Villette which served as Sir Leigh Teabing's pad in "The Da Vinci Code" movie. When I looked up "Villette" on Mapquest to see where the village was located, it appears there are no less than 9 villages called Villette in France!

Rather a coincidence I should pick up this book just as the movie hits town. Bronte's novel is almost exclusively character development...the opposite of the Da Vinci Code which is exclusively plot and action. I will never understand what all the fuss is about with Brown's novel. A super example of a page turner great for reading on planes and it ends at that for me.

Children's Art

Battleship grey day...

Fern and I went for a walk out at Fort Rodd Hill...hadn't been there for years.

Pirate's House at West Bay Marina

I think everyone would get a chuckle when they look at this whimsical "pirate house" across from West Bay Marina. I couldn't see any info on it but I felt it was very well done whoever was responsible.

Itty Bitty Book Reviews

"Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden

A pretty amazing novel and certainly Boyden is someone to watch. Loosely based on the real-life WW I Ojibwa hero Francis Pegahamagabow who was a famous sniper in WW I. Wasn't quite ready for another WW 1 horror novel but I picked it up on a 7 day fast read and was totally engaged by it. Our bookclub heard Boyden read a passage from the novel earlier in the year and that whetted my appetite.

"Girl with the Botticelli Face" by Bill Valgardson

A very disappointing novel after having been quite impressed by some of his short stories. He came to our bookclub meeting and we all enjoyed chatting with him but I did find it interesting that he did 40 drafts of his excellent short story "Bloodflowers" but wrote this novel in 33 days without doing any revisions...I think that tells the tale.

Annette's first painting

I got my friend, Annette, painting yesterday and Jim and I were both very impressed with her first attempt!




“Camus Flowers”
by Annette Louise
8 x 10 acrylic on paper
May/06

First Painting

My latest painting

I've been wanting to do these wonderful old wooden boats you see in the south of France in our favourite Mediterranean villages. They are called "les pointus".



"Les pointus"
11 x 14 acrylic on canvas
May/06

Esquimalt Library

I passed by the Esquimalt Library the other day and noticed the mural on the side so just had to stop to take some pictures. I was very impressed!

Latest painting

Having fun doing these mats of designs I've done while I frustrate myself trying to do some subjects that seem to keep eluding me...


"Arbutus with Olympic View"
24 x 29 acrylic on linoleum mat
May/06

More Children's Art

Children's Art

Wonderful blue camus everywhere

This photo was taken near the summit at Mt Doug but camus is blooming everywhere in Victoria at the moment.

Smile for the day...

I got a kick out of this floral display at the corner of Blanshard and Finlayson.

Itty Bitty Book Review: Story House

"Story House" by Timothy Taylor

Wow...this is quite the read. Very impressive and about a gazillion things to think about. I'm sure the world of academia could spend forever with it. Alway rather neat to have a Vancouver background (Taylor is a Vancouver writer...previous first novel was
"Stanley Park" which I didn't finish although I felt it was quite good but too many other books awaited). This one has lots to say about fame, authenticity, counterfeit, etc.

Robin drinking from the pool

And here is Robin who loved drinking from our pool and also was on the hunt for our doves. When the Wisteria was in full bloom I noticed Robin climbing stealthily along the arbour but couldn't see what he was after. Then all of a sudden our doves flew out....good thing I was there but Robin was unimpressed!

Our Turtle Doves in Carqueiranne

I just got around to printing up and posting to Flickr a number of photos I took in France Feb-May last year. The great thing about a digitial camera is that you can take sooo many photos but doing something with them is the next challenge!

These are our doves that took up residence in the arbour of wisteria at our villa.

Children's Art

Latest Painting

I'm having fun with these mats (and avoiding trying to paint my California poppies beside the house...somehow I think that might elude me.)



"Tuscan Hills with Sunflowers"
23 x 30 acrylic on linoleum mat
May/06