Interview with Rob Ingram in Portland Family (“We are people! By nature that makes us imperfect. Forgive often, love hard, laugh good and live life! Hey, it is supposed to be fun so why not enjoy it and why EVER let anyone else steal your thunder. Work hard, play harder!!!” Love that. Rob is a great guy and a force of nature in our community, thank you Rob for all of your hard work and wise words) and…
May go to a BlogHer meet-up between 3-5 today at Posies, if I remember. Oh! And game 5 is tonight, Pens and whatever the name of that team is that they’re playing. Go, Penguins!
To be a mountain you have to climb alone
and accept all that rain and snow. You have to look far away when evening comes. If a forest
grows, you care; you stand there leaning against
the wind, waiting for someone with faith enough
to ask you to move. Great stones will tumble
against each other and gouge your sides. A storm
will live somewhere in your canyons hoarding its lightning.
If you are lucky, people will give you a dignified
name and bring crowds to admire how sturdy you are, how long you can hold still for the camera. And some time, they say, if you last long enough you will hear God;a voice will roll down from the sky and all your patience will be rewarded. The whole world will hear it: “Well done.”
Here’s an essay for you, since we’re talking housework. It’s from twelve years ago, it would appear, cuz Steve and I weren’t married yet. Living in sin, woot!
“Whenever I do something good, right away I’ve got to do something bad, so I know I’m not going to pieces.” — Paul Newman
You know what my husband is doing right now? Vacuuming, cleaning the house (nervous energy, I suppose) and otherwise getting prepared for the hockey game that starts at 5. Finally it’s the real Stanley Cup playoffs. Since it is two Eastern teams — Detroit and Pittsburgh — GO PENS! — silly me. I thought we were still in the pre-pre-playoffs, like we have been since last September.
I’ve heard that some are still watching NBA games but no sir, not over here. With all this free time on my hands, I have been liberally drinking pinot grigio, vodka lemonades and mojitos, admiring the petunias and watching the children jet around. Where do they get the energy? It’s been so hot here. Also… reading. Reading, reading and reading.
“Paul Newman: A Life” (Harmony Books, $29.99, 490 pages), is one of the best biographies I’ve ever read in my life, and I’m not just saying that because I used to work with the author, Shawn Levy. (Not the director, the writer.) He was always a decent guy to work with, plus a good reporter and movie critic, to boot. He did an outstanding job on this book, go buy two copies — no, three. Because you’ll need one for yourself, one for your mom or auntie, and one for your girlfriend. Men, you’ll need three copies, too. Because you know you secretly wish you were Hud, or Brick, or Chance, or Butch, or the hottie (literally) from “The Towering Inferno.” So, chop-chop, already.
And speaking of chop-chop? You know what he loved? Salad dressing (you already knew that. Red wine vinegar, olive oil, herbs, garlic, onion and ground mustard seed) over a bowl of chopped celery, or perhaps over a nice Caesar with romaine hearts, homemade croutons and sliced tomatoes. And popcorn. Dishpan after dishpan of hot, delicious, freshly-popped popcorn.
Even though he drank (like a fish), smoked (like a chimney) and raced cars (like a madman), I am convinced that he lived into his 80s because of all the salad and popcorn. I will continue to drink, but I will eat more popcorn and veggies. Chop-chop.
My only wish is that there would have been more pictures in the book. Even though Mr. Levy included two generous spreads of photos, c’mon. He was Paul Newman. We needed three or four sections of photos. Sigh.
“Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that’s a real treat.” — Joanne Woodward
And now… a little review for MotherTalk. The New York Times is just coming out with a Young Reader’s Edition of “Obama: The Historic Journey.” Oh, good. Lots of pix. (Maybe we need a Young Reader’s Edition of the Paul Newman book? Mmmm…) Great book — also available in an adult version. (Viking Children’s Books, $24.95, 94 pages.) My favorite quote:
The weekend before the inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama and his family had stopped to visit the Lincoln Memorial, studying the words carved into the marble. Considering his inaugural speech, ten-year-old Malia turned to her father and advised, “First African-American president. Better be good.”
My daughter and I are considering starting a mother-daughter book club at her school, so I turned to “The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh and Learn Through Their Love of Reading.” (HarperPerennial, $12.95, 296 pages.) (Tips include how to start your own club, reading lists and discussion guides.) We’re thinking “Twilight,” “Inkheart,” maybe an Edward Eager book, from the olden days? Any ideas?
Reviewed today:
And now, a funny YouTube clip of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward on “What’s My Line?”:
Did you realize, Internets, that it’s my late father’s birthday today? HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, PEACE OUT.
Now let’s read and review some brand-new picture books, with our guest reviewer, 7-year-old hunka hunka burnin’ love Wacky Boy. He has taken a break from trying to make his sister wipe out on her skateboard and will join us shortly.
Princess Pig, written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Tim Bowers, is a hilarious tale of a delusional little pig. Or is she…? (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, $16.99, unpaged.)
Wacky Boy sez, “Even though boys aren’t into princesses, they will like this book. Good illustrations, and the story is funny. It’s a good book.”
The Sleepy Little Alphabet: A Bedtime Story from Alphabet Town, is written by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, $16.99, unpaged.)
Wacky Boy says of this one, “The ABC book is…. funny and cute. I will not give it to my cousin.” That’s so sweet! What a kind boy. (And we’re not keeping any of today’s books, by the by. I’ll add them to my school library in the fall.) (But we do love our books over here, don’t you know. It’s just — their mother is a librarian. Books need to come and go.)
“In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.”
— “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Eliot, 1919
Do I own a copy of that poem? I do not. But I know it almost by heart. That, my friends, is the power of libraries. And the Internet. The Sleepy Little Alphabet really is a darling book. The text skips along, and the illustrations are lovely.
Ditto for Ten Days and Nine Nights, An Adoption Story by Yumi Heo. (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2009, unpaged, $16.99.) The drawings remind me of the work of one of my favorite illustrators, Maira Kalman. Our heroine marks a circle on the calendar. She has ten days and nine nights to wait until her new sister arrives. What will she do with her time? Really charming story about welcoming a new baby into the family.
, 
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