Ann Leary, author of The Good House
Author of The Good House
Every year, at exactly this time, I decide that I will become a gardener. Not somebody who sticks a few pansies in the ground once a year, but one of those serious Connecticut gardeners. The type of woman you see around here with the craggy, sun-weathered face, cracked, wrinkled, atrophied hands, a perpetual stoop and a backyard that would put Queen Elizabeth’s to shame.
His name is Oliver.
He’s two days old today.
He belongs to my friend Jen Carolan who breeds sport horses.
He’s a very friendly little fellow:
I’m afraid you’re going to be seeing a lot of him around here, I could watch this little guy all day:
It’s all I have to bring today
by Emily Dickinson
It’s all I have to bring today –
This, and my heart beside –
This, and my heart, and all the fields –
And all the meadows wide –
Be sure you count – should I forget
Some one the sum could tell –
This, and my heart, and all the Bees
Which in the Clover dwell.
I just received these wonderful photos from the Momix show Botanica. I blogged the other day about the show but didn’t have nice photos to share. Now I do!
Photos by Max Pucciariello
Ahhhhh, thank you Moses, this blog needed some beauty.
Last night we went to see the play God Of Carnage, starring James Gandolfini, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden and Jeff Daniels. It was so great. I laughed until I cried, seriously, but I’m one of those people who can’t really laugh without crying. If you’re in the NYC area and looking for a good show, go! We went backstage to visit with Mr. Gandolfini after the show. Such a sweet guy. I loved him in this show.
If you caught yesterday’s post you’ll know that I routinely embarrass myself in public and as promised, here’s another example.
First, I must explain that I often have a difficult time interacting with Denis’s fans. Denis spends a good deal of time in the city and meets and converses with his fans daily. I spend most of my time out here in our nice little town where people pretty much ignore us (well, they used to shoot holes in our mailbox with shotguns, but we got a PO Box and now they ignore us.) Anyway, when I’m out with Denis in the city, or when we’re traveling, I still get very excited when people recognize Denis. It’s just that we were together for years while he was trying to get work and become a successful actor/comic and now that he is, and people acknowledge that, it’s VERY exciting for me. And, like I said, I’m not around it as much as he is. I really just don’t know how to deal with the people we meet on the streets.
Today was a gorgeous Memorial Day here in Northwestern Connecticut. For some reason I thought rain was in the forecast, so I had planned to work on my book. Instead, it was warm, bright and sunny and just a perfect day to go to Steep Rock. I actually groomed Snoopy and was all set to load him onto the trailer, when Mark’s sad, disbelieving gaze over the gate nearly broke my heart. So I groomed him up and off we went. I had originally planned to bring Snoopy because he’s a big black horse. I knew there’d be a lot of people in Steep Rock and the big black horse is so much cooler looking than the short, chubby grey horse with the idiosyncratic gait (and the manure stains on his forehead). But, as usual, I was glad I brought Mark. He was glad, too – nearly dragged me onto the trailer.
Yesterday we went into the city. The West Side Highway was very slow with everybody gawking at all the military ships that were docked next to the USS Intrepid. It’s Fleet Week in New York.
There were sailors everywhere. This is how they look at the beginning of the night, all clean and pressed.
They like to take in the culture while in the city. I happen to know that many military men enjoy the art of dance, as I have seen them staggering out of exotic dancing clubs at dawn, looking completely dazzled (and slightly disoriented, God bless them, they’re just intoxicated by their love of dance.)
Our friend and resident poet/language professor Phil Holland has composed a poem for me!
The other day, I commented here, in response to his last poem, that I have a hard time remembering when to use “affect” and when to use “effect.” In what seemed like a matter of minutes, the brilliant Mr. Holland had whipped up a very clever poem to help me. He emailed it to me straight away, but I begged him to recite it, because everybody loves his voice so much. I must say I was blushing and grinning maniacally when I heard him utter my name on YouTube. I think it’s my YouTube debut. Please, don’t try to prove me wrong by finding some embarrassing footage of me on YouTube, this would have a very negative effect on my self esteem, forcing me to affect a haughty and dismissive attitude toward you all, my dear blog friends. Let’s hope I got that right.
I’m just not that into cooking. There, now I’ve said it. You can stop looking for my “Recipes” category. You won’t find one on this blog.
If you’re just starting a family, don’t make the mistake I did and prepare meals for everybody all the time, or they’ll come to expect them and if you don’t put the food out, they won’t know how to find it themselves. Like birds who have been fed out of a bird feeder for too long, they will become helpless and dependent. They will end up like Elsa, in Born Free, unable to live as they should … someplace else where they have to get their own damn dinner.
Regarding Sailor
by Ann Leary
Several have asked what happened to Sailor,
And here’s my answer to you.
Glue is an under-rated substance,
Without it what would we do?
It’s an epoxy with moxie,
A fixer, a binder,
It bonds with paper and wood,
WIthout it, books, toys, shoes and cards
Well, they just wouldn’t be any good.
Yes, horses are lovely, courageous and loyal,
Most of them are, it’s true.
But Sailor, our dear, troubled Sailor, well,
Let’s just remember the virtues of glue!
