“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there…dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before” – Edgar Allan Poe
We are currently watching a series on Netflix that is super mysterious, gory and sci fi/time travel themed called Bodies and its super, uber psych tv viewing for me. Perfect for Halloween!!
This Goddess book club novel we read last month was conceived and penned by Bonnie Garmus who was inspired by her mom, a nurse who became a housewife in the 1960’s. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist when women scientists were unheard of and marrying and settling down with kids was still as always during patriarchal societies, the mistaken yet eventual goal of every female.
There were so many themes in this one book; autism, the metaphor of rowing as a team, misogyny, the ability for a woman to define her own future, sexual assault and its traumatic consequences, discrimination, the arrival of daytime television, death and honesty to name a few.
It was a fast paced read because of its superb sarcastic and humorous writing and its original and imaginative use of point of views even from a dog who won my heart. I had never read anything so powerful yet wholesome and nurturing.
If you haven’t read it yet, no worries, it continues to hold its place on the NYTimes bestseller list and is now adapted into a series on Apple Plus TV.
I first encountered this author’s bestseller, A World Without End, in a used bookstore ensconced in the Lake Arrowhead library. The back cover intrigued me with its content description. Moreover, the 1000 page tome was a steal at fifty cents. It would be years before I actually opened it up and read it. It took me a good year since I left it up in the mountain treehouse and only read it when I stayed there.
Wowza! This epic tale set in the 14th century is a historical novel with events like the Black Death, start of the Hundred Years War and peasant uprisings. Apart from that it portrays how people lived, worked, farmed, ate and fought. It’s a memorable story set in another time with a cast of characters, events and plots intertwined with an authentic view of the human condition in that era.
After finishing it, I looked up the author and found out I read the second in a series, so of course I purchased the first book, The Pillars of the Earth, and just turned the last page, finally, this weekend. Since we moved to a more remote area in the San Bernardino Mountain Range, it resided by my nightstand up at Sunset Ridge, our new to us, mountain home and snowmeggedon of 2023 prevented me from making it up the hill for around 9 weeks last winter. Hence, between the move, the sale of the cabin, and the weather, it took me about one and half years to finish this almost 1000 page book as well.
I am as deeply satisfied and was as entertained with this historical novel as I was with the afore mentioned title ( the 2nd in the series). These stories stand alone but it would have been helpful to have read them in order. Nonetheless, this incredible saga takes place in 12th century England wherein the building of a cathedral and all its woes, wars, architectual designs and labor troubles are depicted in the mythical town of Knightsbridge. Some real-life moments in history include King Stephen’s reign and the battle of Lincoln and the tragic murder of Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury. Like most historical novels, there’s romance among protagonists and evil villains of the worst kind.
Both books reminded me of the times we live in still with better plumbing, medical/technical modern advances and grooming habits but the same brutality of war, hateful factions vying for power, twists of fate and civilian suffering.
I am eager to read the next in the Kingsbridge series, A Column of Fire, considered more of a thriller set in the English 16th century, wherein the power shifts not between religion and monarchy with the masses caught in the middle and taking sides but the factual divide between the Catholics and Protestants. Taking place during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, surely this will be another fascinating read.
I am ordering the heavy tome tomorrow! Watch for my review in another year!!LOL!
Clearing mountain fog covered the valley below, a fluffy blanket thrown carelessly into the air, softly landing into a misty sea of sky and horizontal waves.
From the ridges of the hills, the haze shifted, sinking and sheltering the lowlands with wisps of vapor, criss-crossing hues of greys and off- whites.
Eventually, sunrise crept over the pinnacles and the sun’s fate today was to light up the upper atmosphere in celestial blue, a blank canvas to behold.
In the depths of the creviced, steep shears of granite and conifers where compacted sediment, was layered and settled, both scrub and succulent shared life with the deer, the bear, the critters, the fowl and the dreaded, California black rattlesnake.
Lucky for me, the oak leaves and pine needles now shimmered with their dew and the magic of the day was set in motion with gratitude. I watched to admire, felt festive and joyous and acknowledged this bright new day as sacred.
-CBS
Interestingly enough there are several definitions for vamp and…
If to vamp as a verb means to improvise then that is exactly what this blog has always been about.
The full moon eclipse will be tomorrow – so it’s time (if you haven’t already) to get rid of what doesn’t serve us anymore and bring in the new. This could mean in the realm of relationships, jobs, objects or even behaviors. This may happen even if you don’t want it to, so astrology says “go with the flow”.
For my part, I am giving up certain ideals, expectations and beliefs.
And, I deserve to bring in more movement, discipline and writing practice because I realize that’s what I want to usher in and encourage in myself.
Let the re-programming begin.
Tomorrow is the eclipse. Let go of whatever is bogging you down with no reservations or much ado and invite a new habit, career, friend or place to gracefully enter into your life.