Books: Tara Road

Tara Road, by Maeve Binchy

Performed by Terry Donnelly (audiobook)


I've always enjoyed Maeve Binchy's books and recommend her to anyone interested in reading about characters who live in Ireland.

Her story lines are well-done and plausible and her characterizations are very good.

This was an Oprah's Book Club pick in 2000 (which I didn't know until I just looked on Amazon.com). The first book of hers I ever read was Light a Penny Candle in 1984 and I've enjoyed her work ever since. (That book apparently has been reissued in paperback; I'll have to see if I can find a copy as I recall it being a very good book.)

Ria is a working-class girl who marries well and makes good. She and her husband buy an old home on Tara Road and fix it up. The road becomes the place to live. But her husband philanders and their marriage crumbles. An unexpected phone call leads Ria to swap her home with Marilyn Vine, who lives in New England. During the time away the many small events erupt. The climax is a little anticlamtic but the rest of the book is so good it's a forgiveable issue.

4 stars.

Spring Sunday

The birds have been heralding spring with everything their tiny little throats can muster, haven't they?

I've been outside early every morning this weekend and the sounds have been amazing. Saturday I heard the wetchoo wetchoo of a redbird and not long after it sprinkled on me. This morning that cardinal was calling out "clear clear clear" and I've no doubt I will see nothing but sun.

In the pond not far away there must be geese, because I hear them honking. Crows are making their raucus noise from the field. I hear other birds, too, a bluebird in the spruce tree.

Over in the woods, the wildflowers are coming up. I spied them yesterday morning.


(I think, but am not positive, that this is a Carolina Cranesbill flower.)

The cattle have been making lots of mooing noises this weekend, too. The whole world is full of sound - the speedy zip of cars on the road, the startling roar of a tractor, the shuffle of leaves from a squirrel running along the forest floor.

The earthy smell of spring permeates the nostrils, the bird sounds fill the ears. The greening fields are like emeralds to the eyes.

It's spring. It's good.

The Remains of the Day

The sun was trapped between the clouds and the Peaks of Otter this morning when I first looked out the window.

What could I do? I grabbed the camera and went for a walk around the yard and the field beside the house.

This is all that remains of the cabin. My husband and his friend began building this when they were about 10 years old - so this structure is almost 40 years old. They never finished it.

It's rotting and decaying and one day will be nothing more than a pile of mulch. My husband has fond memories of their construction efforts, though. I think it gives him a sense of connection to his past.

Thursday Thirteen

1. I spent two days watching a civil trial this week.

2. There were lots of suits and high-powered muckety-mucks there.

3. Four deputies sat through the whole thing, after frisking us all. Apparently we were very scary and needed watching.

4. The sun is shining. Feel the warmth.

5. There is a breeze. Feel the coolness and breath the fresher air.

6. I've been so busy I haven't been able to focus on anything but work. I've written 30+ articles already this month - that's more than one a day.

7. My thinking is scattered and I'm having trouble refocusing my thinking away from my work.

8. Some of my work was mentioned in the trial.

9. The word "trial" is different from "trail" but it reminded me anyway that one of my goals is to walk to McAfee's Knob.

10. That was also listed in the Extra section of the daily paper today, hiking up there.

12. I don't like the Thursday Extra section since they changed it last week and I never read the insert that used to be what is now the Extra section, either.

13. This entire entry doesn't make much sense, so thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Broth

I want to make soup,
rip the heart from some golden calf
toss its meat fat
into bubbling tomato juice
see it boil, red,
like the blood of a falling sun.
I want to make soup
with the crucifix
of the heart of the art
I choke on,
in a place where
undeserved and unserved
I eat corn, green beans – truly rare
and sacred. Part of
the bounty the earth tossed me.
It’s time to make soup.

On the Fly

The robin with the white wing
nests again in the spruce
we stole from the queer man
who lives up the street.
Stolen trees grow better
than purchased products.
The bird likes this one. Her
three eggs rest in the little
stick circle, comfortable even
in Mama's absence. She chatters
from a nearby wild cherry,
fussing at my impertience
as I peer into her home.
The eggs are brilliant
in color, larger than expected.
How can a tiny bird give
such large things, I ask
no one. As if I expect
some god to speak, offer me
stories or reasons why
the robin's eggs are blue.

A turkey of a day

While it's become pretty normal around here to see a tom turkey strutting across the field, this morning I looked up and saw an entire flock:

I grabbed the camera and a coat. It was pouring rain and so I stood with the coat hunched over my head, sheilding the camera from the rain, while I tried to take pictures.

A solitary tom bringing up the rear:



The entire flock sashaying up the hillside:



There they go, sneaking past the fence:



The big tom decided to strut his stuff for the ladies:



These guys knew they were no match for the puffed up dude at the front of the flock!

Thursday Thirteen

1. Today I lost my temper.

2. I am not a redhead.

3. I don't usually lose my temper. I am slow to anger and I try to have the patience of a saint.

4. Sometimes, I fail. Unfortunately today was a sometimes.

5. It wasn't really my fault, but I am figure it always takes two to have a disagreement, so in that respect, it was.

6. When I was younger, I would get angry but not feel it inside. Instead, I would shake uncontrollably and not know why.

7. Now I know when I am angry but I still try to keep a tight hold of my temper.

8. After I lose my temper, I feel guilty and the incident rolls around in my brain for a very long time while I try to figure out if I would have done something different.

9. The only thing I would have done differently today was maybe not have made that particular phone call.

10. It is hard to hold your tongue when you finally reach that breaking point.

11. Once when I got really angry, I turned over a big heavy picnic table. I hurt my back doing it.

12. Another time I got upset and took it out on a bouquet of roses. Petals flew everywhere.

13. But those are the only two temperamental times that really stand out in my mind. (Even today's will fade pretty quickly, as it was just a minor incident in the long scheme of life.)

Signs of Spring

The squirrels are out:

The daffodils are blooming:





My forsythia flowers are starting to make an appearance, along with the insects:

World Divinity

Sunday I lazed in the bed, trying to adjust to the time change. In an unusual move for me, I turned on the TV and caught The Secret Garden, a movie I’d never seen entirely. It’s based on the novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett and I remember it being a favorite book in my younger days.

As I watched the young girl learn to tend the earth, bringing forth plants and blossoms, my mind wandered to the divinity of nature. When the young boy, Colin, moved from his wheeled chair to his feet and took his first steps, I thought how wonderful it was that Mother Earth had nurtured this child to health.

I have long loved the meadows and forests of Botetourt County. I can remember many a time seeking shelter in the bosom of the great trees that surrounded the farm I grew up on.

In the 1960s, my grandmother would put me on her lap, her arms wrapped around me, and we would watch the birds. Robins, she always declared, meant spring was on the way. And she was right, for soon spring would be upon us, just as it is now.

As an adult on another farm, the trees around me whisper when the winds blow. I respond to their call with some unaccountable innate longing. The fields and pastures greet my vision every morning and I am pretty sure I look upon them with love.

The divinity of nature is not something much heralded in this age of asphalt, concrete and man-made time changes. We hurry to reset the clocks, to climb in the car, to make our way into the constructed stores and office buildings that shelter our lives. Who has time for trees?

In January during one of those strange warm spells, I longed for dirt and soil and purchased an herbal seed kit. I was strangely content to be sowing seeds at the wrong time of the year and now I have a little oregano, thyme and basil growing in pots in the garage. Every day I check them and water if necessary. Sometimes I just take the plastic top away to smell the earth. It is divine.

It seems we do not see the divine except on Sundays, when we go to a church building for spiritual succor. I am guilty, too, even though I try to celebrate nature every day. Stopping the world is a hard thing to do with society’s deadlines and demands.

The divinity of nature tells me it is my duty to be a good steward to what I have here. My job is to nourish my husband and the people around me. I am just one of the many keepers of a very large garden of life, one so big I cannot comprehend it.

My wish is that we all could stop for a moment every day to think about the divine around us. For me, it is in the clouds in the sky, the blueness of the mountains, the sun pouring heat and light and nourishment. The divine is there in the smile from a friend, the kiss from my spouse, the touch of a child’s hand.

It’s even there in an extra hour when the time changes. All we have to do is acknowledge it.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Efforts to promote peace are good things. On June 6, 2007, bloggers will once again show the world that they're intent on stopping the violence.

The Peace Globe promotion is the brainchild of Mimi over at MimiWrites. She and participating bloggers (including myself) put up peace globes on November 7 and December 24, 2006.

The first Peace Globe day for 2007 will be June 6 and I invite anyone interested in peace - whether it's inner peace, world peace, or a day of peace - to participate along with me and others. So far about 16 different countries and 26 U.S. states have taken part in this peace blog effort.

To read more about this and to get your own peace globe, which you can decorate any way you like, visit Mimi's website here.

I hope peace takes hold of you on this day and every other.

Saturday Hodge Podge

First, a sad little joke I ran across in my e-mail this morning:

What's the difference between northern and southern fairy tales?
Northern begins, "Once upon a time...."
Southern begins, "Y'all ain't gonna believe this . . ."

*******

I haven't had much time to blog this week. I also haven't had a lot to say that I thought was worth putting into print. My father-in-law continues to improve, but it is a long process and he is old so he will only get so well. When family members become ill it puts a strain on everyone.

*******

This week I had great interviews with women for articles that will appear in print soon.

On interview was with a female pastor in the Church of the Brethern. I was quickly reminded why I was drawn to that religion 25 years ago.

The Church of the Brethren is a pacifist church that preaches the teachings of Jesus, not the Old Testament. It teaches conservation and is pro-green movement, likely full of Democrats, and I am thinking about going back to it. First, however, I will have to buy panty hose and a skirt, as I don't think I have a thing that's fitting to wear to a church service.

I stopped attending the Brethren Church after my pastor, for reasons of his own, wouldn't marry my husband and me. Then I began attending my husband's Baptist church but I quit in May 1987 after a searing Mother's Day sermon from the new evangilical preacher informed me that I was a sinner because I worked outside the home and wasn't barefoot and pregnant. I have rarely attended a church service since.

The other interview I had was with a woman farmer and her partner (also a woman). They were a hoot and I really had a good time talking to them. While I was there I couldn't help but think how sad it is that the Virginia General Assembly's hate-mongers would pass laws that would harm these two wonderful souls simply because they found one another. I don't know if these two are lovers or not and really don't care, but the laws about deeds and ownership and who can be at the hospital bedside and such apply because they live together, regardless of what else they do.

We are governed by fools.

Both of these interviews came at a time when I really needed to be out and about and doing something. They affirmed my belief in life, women, and community. Through these interviews I am able to remember that people are good, kind and caring and that loving and giving are never bad things.

Father-in-law is home with an oxygen tank and diet and exercise instructions.

In-Law Update

Father-in-law is still in the hospital but not in danger.

Book: Milk Glass Moon

Milk Glass Moon, by Adriana Trigiani (Audio Book, read by the author)

I finished up Milk Glass Moon in the car on the way to and from the hospital over the last several days.

This book is set in Big Stone Gap, Virginia and in Italy and New York. It brings all the well-known characters back from the previous Big Stone Gap books.

I really enjoy Trigiani's reading of her work. She sounds very much like home, which, of course, she is, just a little further south. This is small town and Appalachian writing at its best.

I was thrilled when my alma mater managed a mention in the book.

I won't give anything away here, but this book is one I would probably listen to (or maybe read) again. The characters are wonderfully drawn and the circumstances all realistic. I know these people, some of them live around here, I think. If you enjoy reading about real people, you'll like Trigiani's books.

5 stars

In-Law Update #2

My father-in-law had a catherization and they were unable to do anything more for him. He has something wrong with his veins in that they are bumpy and squiggling and not smooth. I guess it is plaque build-up or something. There was a name for it but it evades me at the moment.

He is on oxygen and that seems to have put some color back into him. He will probably come home tomorrow. They plan to give him some additional medication and enroll him in cardiac therapy. Exercise apparently helps.

Everyone else is tired.

In-Law Update

Turns out my father-in-law had a mild heart attack. They are doing some kind of surgery early in the morning.

The Phone Rang

Sunday night we were readying for our winding down time, my husband and I. We'd both showered and were in our robes and house slippers. I'd just curled on the couch with a book, snuggled beside him. It was 9 p.m.

The phone rang. My father-in-law was on the floor, my mother-in-law said.

We rushed to put on our shoes and britches and dashed over to their place. They live just across the hill, not even a mile.

My father-in-law, who is 73, sat in the floor, leaning against the couch. He was crying out and clutching his chest. He had a heart attack in 1995 and has angina.

My husband, the professional firefighter and EMT, took charge, getting vital signs, asking questions. Call the ambulance, he said, even though the vitals looked okay.

Not long thereafter the aunt and uncle from just up the hill arrived. Around here everyone has a scanner and one of our cousins heard the call go out, and so called my father-in-law's sister.

My mother-in-law rode in the ambulance; we followed after we locked up the house and picked up a couple of items we thought my father-in-law might need. My husband's sister, who lives closer to the city, beat us to the hospital.

The wait in the waiting room was long and midnight came and went and daybreak was on the horizon before we got the results of some blood work back.

To make a long story short, they kept my father-in-law even though the blood work and X-rays and EKG were all negative, and he's still up there doing tests. But he seems to be alright.

The rest of us are very tired.

During the drive in and at various points during the very long night, my husband fussed about the volunteer squad that responded. They didn't do much that suited him and with the county's blessing the rescue teams now bill people's insurance companies when they respond. To my husband's mind, if you're going to pay for the service then you should get professional service, not the cats and jammers kids.

I'm just a civilian who hasn't a clue what should be done in such an emergency, so I wouldn't know if they did anything right or wrong. Neither would the majority of the citizenry, which I suppose is his point. If you're going to have to put out the money when someone responds, you should get what you pay for.

Since someone is responding, and we're a capitalistic society, then the responders have earned something. Perhaps his real complaint isn't that they're charging, but that the volunteers are currently charging the highest rate of anyone in the area.

And if they're going to charge even more than the professionals, then the professional expects them to do it right.

The Sky

Last night there was a total lunar eclipse. I wanted to see this. Starting at about 5:30 p.m. I kept peering outside. I stood in the doorway with my camera and snapped pictures as I watched the clouds move in. . . .

I have always adored the sky in all its facets. The clouds, the colors. The greatness of it and the smallness of me. Such a magnificent splash of color. . . . The next photo has been enhanced with a watercolor filter. . . .

I kept looking for the moon and did not find it until well after the eclipse was over. When I saw her, she was hanging brightly in the sky, and I overexposed the shot (as usual) but I was trying to get the clouds, for the moon was so bright she made the tops of the clouds glow.

The Coming Spring

I plant a little (very little) garden. For a long time we had a very large garden, but it was much too big for me to tend. We diligently planted it and the deer hungrily ate it, for the most part.

We gave it up in 2001, and for several years we had no garden.

Then four years ago we got a small satellite dish and could remove the large C-band dish from the side of the house. We had kept the ground beneath the large dish mulched and barren so we wouldn't have to mow beneath it. When we finally hauled the large C-band dish to the shed, I decided to turn this barren earth into a very small garden plot.

So for several years now we've planted tomatoes, peppers and squash in this small plot of earth. It amazes me what we can grow in this tiny little patch and I've come to learn that folks who believe they need a large swath of ground for a bounty are mistaken. We have hauled more produce from this 5' x 5' spot than I ever thought possible.

In January, when the weather was abnormally warm for that time of year, I began to pine for the feel of earth in my hands. I usually buy my plants at the local nursery, but I thought I would start my own this year.

Above you see the fruits of my winter efforts. I have lots of pepper plants sunning on the picnic table today (looking a little windblown, I fear). My tomato plants have not done so well. The garage does not receive much sunlight; indeed, most of my house doesn't because of trees and the side of the hill we're on. So I think the lack of light has hindered the tomatoes, much to their detriment.

The other plants are herbs. I saw a couple of herb kits while I was purchasing seeds and on a whim I thought I'd buy them and see what happened. So I have oregano, basil, thyme, etc. coming up in these little pots. I will soon move them into a larger planter and they will decorate the deck.

We have a warm day, with too much breeze, but it feels like spring is on the way. Today I'm thanking the higher power for the hope of renewal and rebirth that this time of the year brings.