Book notes

I've heard a lot about Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell in the last 5 years. I bought a copy a few years ago, and slogged through 163 pages (out of 846) before giving up. It is rare that I do not finish a book, but I just couldn't make myself read this one. However, a couple of weeks ago I found the recorded version at the library. It is read by my favorite narrator so I thought I'd give it a try. I still find it excruciatingly slow, but I've said before that I could listen to Simon Prebble read the phone book, and so it is. I'm on CD #11 out of 26 - 32 total hours of narration.

Not that it doesn't have redeeming features. Ms. Clarke's writing has a very sly, dry wit. Today, there was actually a passage that made me laugh - Jonathan Strange has been performing magic for Lord Wellington in the Peninsular Wars. After he moved a river to a different location, Lord Wellington remarked that "there was nothing so wearying for troops and horses as constant marching about and that in future he thought it would be better to keep them all standing still, while Mr. Strange moved Spain about like a carpet beneath their feet." (If you don't find that funny, don't bother trying the book.)

I believe I would greatly enjoy the story if it were about 300 pages. But 3 times that long - most of the time there isn't enough going on to hold my attention. Still, thanks to Mr. Prebble, I believe I will finish it this time...

Playing with photos

A couple of weeks ago, Russ and I took a walk at Staring Lake. The path had huge oak trees leaning over it, and Russ commented that it looked like we were descending into a scary forest. So I went back today and took photos. Here's my "scary forest" photo:


I was a little handicapped in getting a spooky effect, because really this afternoon was bright and sunny. Here's the original:


It was a nice long walk. And I was very happy that I met a family playing PoohSticks. Wish I had taken a picture, but I didn't think of it until it was a little late.

Here's another photo from the walk that I particularly liked.

A lovely day

I had a lovely birthday yesterday. I took the day off, just because. Loitered around in the morning, and Russ cooked breakfast for me. Then I took Bravo to the dog park. It's rather muddy right now, and he always comes back with filthy paws and feathers. Yesterday he decided to roll in a slightly muddy patch. So after playing with the Chuck-It for a while (I am so glad I bought that!) I brought him home and we took a shower together. He doesn't like being bathed, but he gets cheese, so it's all good.

Then I went to the mall, shopped a bit, saw Duplicity with Russ and shopped some more. I came home with 5 tops and a pair of pants - birthday presents to myself.

It was such a beautiful day, in a way it was too bad I spent several hours indoors. But I did take Bravo for a walk when I got home. I wished I'd taken my camera along - the evening light on the trees was just gorgeous with the beautiful blue sky and the half-moon. So I took some photos when I got home. Here's my favorite:

I like the buds on the trees - spring may yet come! I know it's cherry blossom time in DC, but it's still a ways off here.

To top off the day, we had dinner with Jason and Gaea at the Malt Shop (I love malts!). And then I had a nice long talk with my sister, and also with Karis. A great birthday! Thanks, everyone!

Bad dog

Bravo is usually very good, but every once in a while he eats something strange. The first time it was ties to Russ' kumdo armor. Then it was a set of headphones from Karis' room. Last night it was a box.

I'd taken him to the dog park in the afternoon, and he'd chased a lot of balls. Then Russ and I went out to dinner - but we fed him first! Later in the evening, when Russ went upstairs, he found pieces of something scattered all over at the top of the stairs. Took us a while to realize it was a little wooden box covered in material that held those Chinese balls with the bell thing inside. Jason had left it in his room, and we'd left the door at least cracked. The balls are fine, but the box is history. Now I'll have to watch him to make sure there aren't any health consequences.

Frozen dog tales

I took Bravo walking by Bush Lake this morning. We met some other dogs (more about them later) and I let him off leash to socialize. After the other dogs left, he proved why I shouldn't let him off leash - he decided to go wade in the lake. He was surprised when the water crunched. I don't think he really liked breaking through the film of ice, because he came back to me right away. (Yes, the lake was frozen again - it was 16 this morning.)

And the interesting thing about frozen dog hair - at least when it's long like Bravo's - is that it acts kind of like velcro. It picks up all sorts of leaves, twigs, etc. I stopped several times to pull leaves off his frozen feathers, and he'd just pick up more.

About the other dogs - a German short-hair puppy and an older Golden. The puppy was really full of energy, and kind of annoyed Bravo. He'd picked up an old broken tennis ball earlier in the walk, and when we first met the other dogs, he dropped it as he usually does. But later, after the puppy had played with it a while and then dropped it, Bravo got it again. The puppy came up to try to get the ball back and Bravo snarled at her just a little. That's unusual for Bravo - he's so submissive - but I guess he'd decided the puppy needed to be put in her place.

Here's the photo I took just before all this happened - I was interested to see the slabs of ice piled up at the edge of the lake.


Have a great weekend!

Quote of the day

To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage. - Lao Tzu

I heard this quote in a book-on-tape as I was coming home today. I liked it and thought I would share.

Dog jokes

Dinner conversation tonight turned to inside jokes, and Russ said dogs have inside jokes. When I said that I wasn't sure dogs laugh, he went off on a whole riff about dogs laughing.

He said (I'm paraphrasing a bit): When dogs appear to be sniffing each other's bums, they are really communicating in frequencies outside our range of hearing. Things like: Is your owner crazy? Yeah, mine is too. And then they laugh. Or Does your owner have crazy rules like only feeding you in the morning and when they come home? Don't they know that dogs eat all the time? And then they laugh.

Here are dog jokes according to Russ:

How high does a chihuahau pee? Not very high.

How does the squirrel cross the road? He's chased by a dog.

That last one would be Bravo's favorite, if he actually did tell jokes.