Ann Leary, author of The Good House
Author of The Good House
Tomorrow night – Friday, May 1st – I will be reading from my novel Outtakes From a Marriage and participating in a panel discussion with two other authors, Marie Bostwick and Lauren Lipton.
The event is part of a series done by the Litchfield County Writer’s Project, in conjunction with the University of Connecticut. If you live in the Connecticut area, and have nothing else to do, try to come. It’s free! It’ll be fun and not boring, promise! For information call 860-626-6850.
I am calling on you, once again, for advice. Denis and I are going to the White House Correspondent’s Dinner next weekend (in case you’ve missed my previous boasts about this.) I know that I claimed that I was going to wear the black dress that I wore to last year’s Emmys and the Golden Globes, but I have been talked out of it. The truth is, the dress is a little worn. There’s a stain. THE PRESIDENT WILL BE THERE, a friend finally had to shout at me.
[Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome]
by Christina Rossetti
Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my loadstar while I go and come
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honored name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death.
Start with this:
Add this:
Throw in a smidgeon of this:
A pinch of that:
Well, there you have it – Lulu Stew!
Our vet, Dr Trish Grinnell from Aspetuck Animal Hospital called with the DNA results over the weekend. She posted this on the “Who’s Your Mama” page:
“Final results: 50% Airedale Terrier, 25% Saint Bernard, 12.5% each of Bearded Collie and Rhodesian Ridgeback. Some great guesses on the site! Lulu is the perfect mixture of all — except she forgot to make hips that work for her size!”
My friend Moses took this photo of the daffodil circle behind his house. I had to shrink the photo in order for it to fit on the blog. It’s much better in larger format.
Still, this poem by Jean Garrigue seems fitting.
Spring Song II
And now my spring beauties,
Things of the earth,
Beetles, shards and wings of moth
And snail houses left
From last summer’s wreck,
Now spring smoke
Of the burned dead leaves
And veils of the scent
Of some secret plant,
Come, my beauties, teach me,
Let me have your wild surprise,
Yes, and tell me on my knees
Of your new life.
Sarah was on the right track. The camera had fallen in between the seats of my car, not my truck. Found it today. Now will bombard you with photos.
His Excellence:
You can see what a shorty he is when Lulu is near:
We went to Steep Rock today. Look how pleased he is to be getting out. I just adore this horse – not sure if I’ve mentioned that before. Look at that eye.
Will blog later about the characters we met there. Now I’m getting ready to go to The Soloist. I think that’s the name. Robert Downey, Jr., Jamie Fox?
I have somehow misplaced my camera (again) and so, am forced to use my words. I’m supposed to be a writer, so this should come easily for me, but I’m kind of blocked with my book right now and it seems to be spilling over into the blog. Have no idea what to blog about. Am happy to answer questions, though. Go ahead, ask away. I’m happy to answer questions about me and even more happy to give advice about you! Ask me anything, I’ll pretend I know the answer, even if I don’t.
I mentioned in an earlier post that Denis and I are going to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner next month and I can’t wait. I’m more excited about this event than, I think, any other I have attended. But, of course, I need something to wear. Yesterday I was in the city so I hit a few great department stores – Bergdorf’s, Barney’s, etc. to try on a few things. At Bergdorf’s, I breezed in and out of the showrooms, dazzled by the beautiful finery all around me. A very nice saleswoman asked me what I needed the gown for, and when I told her, she hustled me into a dressing room and began to bring me gowns and dresses designed by Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, etc. Oh, there were some beautiful gowns. I tried on a very pretty, very slimming lavender dress – I forget who the designer was, and then I looked at the pricetag. At first I thought the price was $14,000, so I chuckled, fished my reading glasses from my purse, and then read the price again. It was $14,000!
Pied Beauty
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Glory be to God for dappled things–
For skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced–fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise Him.
If you read the New York Times yesterday, you might have noticed the great cover of the magazine section. It was the “Green Issue.”
Here’s a video of the making of the cover:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/04/16/magazine/1194839585868/brain-dance.html
Anyway, the people who form the green brain on that cover are members of Momix, the dance company run by our friends Moses Pendleton and Cynthia Quinn.
Last fall I blogged about Moses and his passion for gardening. His new show, Botanica will be at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan for the entire month of May. Denis and I already have our tickets. If you’re in the New York area, go see the show. It’s beautiful. We saw a couple of rehearsals and we were both mesmerized.
