Rather a Miserable Kind of Day

You know you're lucky to have the brother you do when you step in front of him in the hallway and say, "Thanks for your cold," and his very sincere reply is, "Oh, I'm sorry!"

I was rereading Padma Venkatraman's Climbing the Stairs this morning. It is really such a wonderful book -- heart-breaking, infuriating, hilarious, and important.

It is a very miserable day but William and I will play Mancala together. He's played about five games and is already an expert. We'll probably read Coraline too. He loves it so far.

I hope the weather is sunnier or snowier for you than it is here (very gray and damp, with the wind howling like a wolf).

~Emily

The Peachy Little Things

This picture shows some of the best parts of my hospital stay. There's the spry batch of red-and-yellow carnations my mother and brothers brought to me. If you look very closely you might see the Harry Potter book peeking from the lower right-hand corner. On the left shelf sits the package of The Vicar of Dibley DVD's and, on the top shelf, the Oragami penguin my brother Ben folded for me.

It wasn't all bad.

Well, yes it was. But the flowers and penguin were great.

~Emily

Snow and Tea!

It's funny how the house smells different, first thing in the morning, when snow has fallen overnight. Is it because the natural scents we take for granted are muted somewhat? I don't know ... but I love the first snow of the season, and it happened last night. It's still coming down outside.

I have a hot cup of apple-chamomile tea sitting before me. I feel good.

~Emily

Emily

I wrote a lot of lists while I was in the hospital. It's one of the most perfect ways to pass the time when you've been locked up and there is no hope of escaping. I mean, I could have spent the time trying to crawl out of the window, but that didn't seem very productive, especially since I was on the sixth floor; so instead, I wrote lists.



Why I Like Being Named Emily



It sounds lovely on others' voices



I share it with Emily Bronte



Many people think it beautiful



And Why I Hate It



I am Emily due only to my father's utter inside-the-box-ness



It is a nauseatingly common name and its popularity seems to have robbed me of a certain uniqueness



Many people find it boring



...



It's all true.



I wrote a lot of other lists as well, but I have kind of a phobia about posting creative work on the Internet. I'm quite scared of people finding words and phrases and plopping them into the middle of their novels or something ... but seriously, the most interesting things grow in your brain when you're locked up. I came up with some enormously weird ideas.



(Of course, I didn't just come up with lists -- there were plays, stories, poems, and essays in there as well.)



I just figured this would make for a vaguely interesting post.



~Emily

On Babysitting and Books to Read

I spent yesterday babysitting for a really marvelous baby girl. I am so glad to be able to do this again! I missed her so much in the hospital. Yesterday's highlights included the roll-the-ball-under-the-couch-and-watch-Emily-strain-to-get-it-out game, knocking on the wall because it results in an interesting sound, and seeing how many blocks we could heap on top of one another before they collapsed in our laps.

I don't really need much more than that, I have to say.

I am reading some wonderful books, including ...

The Green Man: Tales of the Mythic Forest, a collection of short stories by a bunch of wonderful authors, edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow. If I go a while without reading fantasy, I tend to forget how much I like it. Only stories like these could be such a wake-up call.

Waifs and Strays by Charles de Lint. I read some of the stories in this book when I was about twelve years old and was extremely confused and a little disturbed. My mother told me to put it away and pick it up again in a few years. I did.

It was definitely worth it.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. There are a lot of things about this book that just aren't very good, says the critical part of me (and there is a rather prominent critic in me because I review books).

This book is extremely catchy and enjoyable, says the hungry reader in me.

The hungry reader usually wins.

Wishing you good reading.

~Emily

Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving not only for the warmth and richness but for the reminder that I wouldn't be here had the Pilgrims not come to Plymouth Colony. My roots are in the Allerton family (http://mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/IsaacAllerton.php).

This is the time of year for me to read and relish Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness, a story all about Mary, Remember, and Bartholomew Allerton.

What are you thankful for? ...

I love that I ...

Have piles and puddles of books to read

Know that I'm descended from the Allertons

Have three very unique and loving brothers

Am in the library right now instead of the hospital

Get to babysit for a marvelous and lovely child on Friday and Saturday

Am all done with appointments for the week

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

~Emily

How I Am Spending My Days

I am so sick of clinical appointments. Okay, there, I've said it. That gets that out of my system.

(Sorry; I had two appointments today and one yesterday and two last week and two or three or something next week and ARGH.)

Moving on ...

I just picked up an extremely battered paperback copy of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight at the library -- I think my name was number one hundred-fifty-something on the waiting list. I wonder what I shall find upon reading it, having heard all the wonderful things I have?

I have also recently found myself whiling away the hours immersed in Meg Cabot's Princess Diaries novels. They're a lot of fun and a nice break from all the appointments (let's not go there again).

The weather is very cold here in Rhode Island. My breath has become very white and I need three quilts to get through the nights.

So really, I don't have much solid blogging material for now, but it's been a while and I felt I should blog anyway.

~Emily