A few weeks ago, I received a call from my book publicist. He told me that he had just given my agent’s phone number to somebody at Town and Country magazine. Town and Country had an idea for me, he said. He actually used the word “collaboration.” It was something they wanted me to write. They would be in touch by the end of the day
Ann Leary, author of The Good House
Author of The Good House
Town and Country
October 21, 2009 by 75 Comments
Trying on the New Blog
October 19, 2009 by 49 Comments
First, I must thank my friends at AuthorBytes, Steve Bennett, and especially the very lovely and funny Nancy MacDonald for their enduring patience and forbearance with me over the many months that I have been churning out this blog. I’m a slow learner. And all the things I don’t love about the new format are things I chose, so I don’t want anybody to think that I’m blaming them. I’m not.
A Tyrant Spell Has Bound Me
October 17, 2009 by 50 Comments
Photo by Moses Pendleton
Yes, time for a fresh dose of Moses. I’m not sure if I’ve shared this here, but Moses has tens of thousands of photographs of his sunflowers. He also has thousands of hours of video footage of them. You wouldn’t think that something as static and motionless as a row of plants would make for interesting video footage. I’ll just say that his sunflowers don’t stand still when Moses is in their midst. You wouldn’t believe the energy in those fields when he is there.
Where The Wild Things Are
October 15, 2009 by 57 Comments
Awwwwwwww!
We’re having our bathroom done. First, the shower needed to be fixed, and then we determined that the shower needed to be replaced and now the entire bathroom is being gutted and rebuilt. It’s the bathroom next to our bedroom. I really hate the term “master” bath, I always have, since I was a child, but it’s the bathroom attached to our bedroom.
All My Badass Pets and Me
October 14, 2009 by 61 Comments
I have begun informing select people (just my friends, my frenemies, my agent, former editors, the New York Times, my shrink, complete strangers, my pets, the internet and basically anybody within earshot) that I’m writing a new book. The new book is a memoir about all the animals I’ve known and loved.
For some reason the first thing people ask me about is the title. Well, actually, because of my frothing, spitting enthusiasm describing the book, the first thing most people ask is, “When is the book coming out – later this month?” Then I have to mumble something about the fact that I don’t have an exact publication date, as I haven’t actually written very much of the book yet. The next thing they ask is, “What’s it going to be called?”
On Crushing Love
October 13, 2009 by 49 Comments
I know I’ve blogged about The Writer’s Almanac before, but I wanted to point you all that way today, as there’s a very moving story about poet John Keats and his beloved, Fanny Brawne. There’s a famous letter written by Keats for Brawne, in which he declares his love quite passionately, saying, among many other tender, beautiful things, “My Love is selfish — I cannot breathe without you.”
Nature of Reality
October 12, 2009 by 15 Comments
Photo by Moses Pendleton
Moses Pendleton sent me the above photograph. I can’t figure out how he created this effect. Maybe you photographers can guess.
A poem to go with it:
Crossings
by Ravi Shankar
Between forest and field, a threshold
like stepping from a cathedral into the street—
the quality of air alters, an eclipse lifts,
boundlessness opens, earth itself retextured
into weeds where woods once were.
Even planes of motion shift from vertical
navigation to horizontal quiescence:
there’s a standing invitation to lie back
as sky’s unpredictable theater proceeds.
Suspended in this ephemeral moment
after leaving a forest, before entering
a field, the nature of reality is revealed.
The Coldfish Eye
October 11, 2009 by 19 Comments
As many of you know, we have been touring colleges with our daughter, Devin. On a recent tour of Vassar College, our guide explained to us why the hallways in the main building are so very wide. It seems that there was a theory at the time of the buiding’s construction (1860s), that educating women could make them sterile, as it would force all the blood to rush from their ovaries to their formerly barren little brains. In order to prevent this from happening, extra-wide hallways were constructed so that the women, wearing wide hoop skirts, could exercise by walking and running past each other, up and down the corridors.
Wrestling
October 9, 2009 by 18 Comments
Art
by Herman Melville
In placid hours well-pleased we dream
Of many a brave unbodied scheme.
But form to lend, pulsed life create,
What unlike things must meet and mate:
A flame to melt–a wind to freeze;
Sad patience–joyous energies;
Humility–yet pride and scorn;
Instinct and study; love and hate;
Audacity–reverence. These must mate,
And fuse with Jacob’s mystic heart,
To wrestle with the angel–Art.
An Unforgettable Gig
October 8, 2009 by 24 Comments
A very nice Vassar alum (I’m using the term alum because, not having attended Vassar myself, I’m not sure if the correct word is alumnus or alumna) sent me an email today with the above flyer and ticket attached. The ticket is to a performance that Denis did at Vassar in 1992.
(Alumnae?)
Want to hear something weird? Our daughter Devin was born in 1992.
Want to hear something even weirder? Devin and I were touring the beautiful Vassar campus YESTERDAY. Denis was telling us about that very gig LAST NIGHT!
