Pleasant historical fiction. I don't think it was as good as Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring, but it wasn't bad. Maybe I'm not familiar enough with William Blake's poetry to get a lot out of it, I don't know. I guess I'd rate it two stars: pleasant, enjoyable, but ultimately, probably forgettable.

I managed a 30-40 minute yoga session last night. I was feeling really depressed and down, and that feeling really stuck with me through the yoga. It was unpleasant. I am glad I got in a little practice, but I was so deep in bad feelings that even yoga couldn't help me climb out of it.

Also, note to self, I really should not try a crow while wearing shorts. The skin-on-skin really hurt.

Last night, I kept thinking about a particular Gary Young poem, so I'll share it here:

I don't know where the owls go when they leave this place, or if they never leave, but simply leave off calling sometimes in their hollow voices. But tonight they are here: one in a redwood beyond the creek, one high in the fir tree above the house. Rappelled through their voices, those three long vowels the darkness speaks in, I forget my own worthlessness which has troubled me all day.

I found an old paperback copy in Baskets Bookstore in Brattleboro, VT. I've been looking for this for a while, and Baskets is just the kind of wonderful used bookstore where I could dig around and find it. I picked up some Le Guin and Asimov there, too.

In any case. This is a Hugo Award winner, and I thought it was great. The novel describes the collapse of human civilization, and the efforts of an isolated group to save humanity through cloning--but the clones are different in key ways from naturally conceived humans. An excellent read, highly recommended.

Dear Lord, I've been working on this for WEEKS. Maybe even over a month--I know I had it with me through our whole New England road trip. That's not to say it wasn't an excellent collection--in fact, that was probably the issue. I'm much happier when I can read an easy fun light story here and a serious one there, but this is a collection of the best essays that were published last year, so you can safely assume that at least some of them deal with some heavy shit, and all of them are deep and multi-faceted and full of symbols and other things you have to think about. This has not been a good thinking-type month for me, so this took a while. (Although it's true that I usually find nonfiction anthologies and literary journals very hard to get through, which makes me feel hypocritical--I want them to publish my essays, so I really should read more of theirs, but it just takes so long!)

In any case. There were some really amazing pieces in this collection, and some that didn't really reach me. ( Here's the breakdown )

I know, it's been ages since I posted a Scrabble game. Ages since we had one, too, but Kari decided it was time for a summer Scrabble revival. Kristina, Christine, Kari, and I went outside to LOVE Park for Scrabble at lunch today. Other than the random bagpiper, it was pretty awesome. Here are my words:

14 points - PEED
51 points - MOCK (the K was on a double-letter block, and the M landed on the triple-word block!)
23 points - QUIT (Q on a double-letter block)
33 points - JILT (on a triple-word block)
09 points - PANG (killing time...)
13 points - ZERO (I'd had both the Z and the Q since the first turn, and finally found a place for the Z, even though I didn't get any extra points for it)
17 points - HEW
-5 points to Kristina, who went out first
155 points total

I had a really solid start in this game, but then the Z tripped me up since there was nowhere to put it. I really wanted to play QUIZ early on but there was just nowhere. Still, it was a solid game, and I won. Final scores: Christine, 142, Kristina, 120, and Kari, 94. I now have the Scrabble crown at my desk for the first time in months--Christine won the last time we played and she's had it since then.

This has been a terrible couple of months for yoga, and my body is really feeling it. It had been two weeks since my last practice, which was only a little short practice at Miles's house while I was on vacation. So I'm really glad F made me do yoga last night. My body felt all weak and out of whack and sore, but there's so much else to do in the apartment that I was going to unpack instead, but F made me get out the mat for half an hour. It took almost 15 minutes for my body to remember what we were doing, but after that it was a really enjoyable little practice. Did a nice tree pose, and also a tripod because Rowan reminded me how fun that is. Managed about 35 minutes total, and I felt much better afterwards. Nice and refreshed.

My mother insisted I read this book. It was really delightful--narrated by a very intelligent dog, the sort of dog that everyone's met at some point who's just amazingly smart, the kind of dog who looks into your eyes and you just know he knows exactly what's going on. This is that dog. Enzo's love for his master and his family is really touching, and the things he understands about life are really poignant. There were some difficult parts in the middle that upset me and made me put the book down for a couple of days (and, okay, I was busy unpacking at the time, too), but overall this book was really good. One of my favorites this year.

Hey, we moved!! And everything went abundantly well, really smoothly, and happened amazingly fast!

Friday morning, F and I got up pretty early. We disassembled the bed, took apart his desk table, I made a Dunkin run, and we got some other things done. By the time friends started arriving at 10:30, there wasn't much to do besides eat donuts and chat and wait for the truck to arrive. And arrive it did! We had managed to block off parking right outside our apartment. People started carrying things, and it went so fast. We had budgeted two hours to load the truck, and we were done in 45 minutes. It was insane. And everything fit in the truck, too--we had been planning just to get the big furniture in, like the pull-out couch and mattress and box spring and book shelves, and then the larger boxes, and then see what else would fit, but EVERYTHING fit. I didn't even get to see the finished packed truck because I was scrabbling around in the apartment looking for more things to put on the truck. And we remembered everything in the basement, even the laundry detergent! We left around 12-12:30ish, I think, and got to the new place around 1? I phoneposted at apparently 1:07 PM, so maybe that's not right. F and I were the last ones to leave the old apartment, though, but we made up time on the road--it only took us 30-35 minutes to drive to the new place. And when we got there, most of our friends had come too and found parking and helped unpack the truck. I mostly stood inside and directed traffic, because we have so many rooms in the new place that traffic direction was necessary. And then we put together the bed (thanks to Liz and Mike, who are hella competent!) and ate pizza! Everybody left by like 3:00. It was so amazing. I am insanely grateful to all the wonderful people who helped us (for the record: Liz and Mike, Rick, Joanna, Sam, Connor, Lauren, Michelle, Jean and Dennis, and Reagan and Mark--I think that's everyone, plus the affordable and helpful Patrick and Olu from UPenn Movers, highly recommended to anyone moving in the Philadelphia area!).

F and I spent the weekend together dealing with apartmenty things. Friday night, we did some unpacking, but also did some much needed flopping on the couch and reading and watching Six Feet Under. Saturday, we worked on the kitchen for a bit, then went back over to the old apartment to clean. The old place is now very shiny. After cleaning we took a walk over to Pastorius Park and sat in the shade and watched the dogs play. Then we drove into Manayunk/Roxborough for dinner at the Adobe Cafe. Yes, we got Mexican food on the 4th of July. It was awesome. Back at our new home, we worked in the kitchen some more and then watched more Six Feet Under.

Sunday, slept in a bit, worked in the kitchen (it's amazing how much kitchen stuff we both have, and also what a crazy packer F is--we find the weirdest stuff in his boxes). After lunch (the last of Friday's leftover pizza) we practiced some shock-and-awe grocery shopping--we left the house at 1:15, hit both Trader Joe's and Genuardi's, spent $144, and were home by 3:15. Woot. Fridge and cupboard are now completely stocked, and I'm snacking on the good banana chips. In the afternoon we did two loads of laundry in our new building's basement--a little pricey, but can't beat it for convenience, and the machines hold more than the machines in my old place--and also worked on closets. ( There are many closets, some Good and some Bad. ) Anyway, when F started throwing hangers on the floor in frustration, we decided to make dinner, which was just a basic spaghetti with spinach and zucchini in the sauce. Tonight we'll have the leftovers and will also finish off the meatlessballs from the freezer.

These banana chips are amazing. I love them so much. But not as much as I love F, despite all the closet-related concerns. Even though we've been living together for several months now, this is really the first time that our stuff has lived together, and that's complicated to navigate, but overall it was a really joyful and wonderful weekend and our new place is going to be so happy when we get it all set up!

Tonight after work F and I will be breaking down our computers to move them to our new place (TOMORROW! MOVING TOMORROW!). We haven't yet signed up for internets at the new place (I currently have Comcast, but we're considering Verizon since both our cell phones are currently Verizon, which would be fine except that F wants an iPhone, so it's up the air). So after today I will be out of internet contact until Monday, and then I'll only be online at work. I may try to make a phone post this weekend, though.

What a fun book! I don't know how I missed this one when I was a kid. Thanks to Amy for the recommendation.

This book was delightful. I heartily enjoyed it and highly recommend it to everyone.

I'm back from my trip. We had an excellent time. Let me know if I missed anything major.

I picked this up at the Swarthmore town library, which has a great YA section much like the Lansdale Library where I grew up. This is the kind of book I would have read when I was a kid at that library, so it was kind of reminiscent of me to pick it up now. It's about a girl on the prairie in the 1800s. A quick, fun read.

I woke up this morning with most of my muscles screaming from yogic disuse. Luckily, I woke up at Miles's house, with no pressing need to be anywhere right away. I did 30-40 minutes of yoga, and I'm so glad I did. A lot of my parts were kind of wobbly, but it was really good to stretch the especially tight bits. I feel much better now.

In about a minute I am leaving for a WHOLE WEEK OFF. F and I are going to a friend's wedding near Amherst tomorrow, and then we'll be cruising around New England. Planning to see such highlights as Chelsea (the person not the town), Portland ME, Portsmouth NH, and of course a weekend in Boston. I doubt I'll be checking LJ, but I will probably check email at some point.

This was delightful! I guess I'd classify it as YA fantasy? I really enjoyed the premise--that there are some people with an ability, and a responsibility and role in society, for keeping secrets, for listening and keeping silent and knowing when the truth should be told. I loved how nicely everything wrapped up in the end, how when the secrets came out it was the right time and everything fit together. I liked the characters and the story and the way the mysteries were solved.

Thanks to everyone who's recommended Shinn to me. I really liked this book. What should I read of hers next?

This was a lovely book. A really quick read, recommended by lady_anemone. What a sweet little love story. Florists in love! In a lot of ways it could have been just any romance novel, but Julie's voice was just so real and vivid and smart. I really liked this book.

(Also, I noticed in the acknowledgments at the back of the book that Ray is Ann Patchett's mother--it must run in the family, because I've loved most of Patchett's books too.)

Full title: Route 66 A.D.: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists. Nonfiction. Under the Pax Romana, the era from 100 BC to 200 AD became the first time in the history of the world when travel was safe and easy. The Romans were building roads and making maps and eliminating Mediterranean pirates all over the place. So of course, this is the era when tourism began, and when the tourism became an industry for the first time in Greece and Egypt. Tony Perrottet decides to research ancient tourism by actuallly taking a trip and following the path that ancient Roman tourists took, using ancient guidebooks to lead him along the way. However, Perrottet is traveling with his pregnant girlfriend, who gets bigger and bigger as they travel.

A book that combines ancient history with travel writing--you'd think I'd be thrilled, right? I don't know, it was just so-so for me. I honestly wanted more of Perrottet's own travels and experiences (although I know the point was kind of that he's submersing himself in the ancient to avoid what's going on in his life right now). And it seemed like a lot of the ancient history he covered wasn't new to me--I mean, yes, it's ancient Greece, we all know about Zeus and we know about the Parthenon, but for some reason it just wasn't that interesting. Parts of it were. It's a very well-researched book, and approaching the topic from the angle of following the tour was pretty original, I think. Perrottet does a good job of putting things in context--what the Romans would have wanted to see, what the places would have looked like when the Romans were there versus what they look like today (for example, all statues were brightly painted in ancient Greece), how Romans would have reacted to what they were seeing. In that respect it was a really good book. But for some reason it just didn't stand out to me. I think Heather H might like it. It would also be a good book for someone who wants an overview of ancient culture.

Kind of surprisingly, a good 45-minute yoga practice tonight. Despite being sick the past few days, I felt really strong and solid. I also was able to breathe through my nose better than I had all day, which is always a plus. Tonight I held all my standing poses for a count of seven breaths. Semi-decent headstand tonight.

I almost discovered the wonders of Pandora and Last.fm tonight, but unfortunately F's computer suddenly decided it didn't feel like playing internet radio anymore, even though it had been playing Last.fm for a good hour or more already. I was all excited, too, to find out about new yogaey music! Next time.