Very Random Reading Notes

I don't think I've been away from the blog for this long before.

I had a vacation and no computer.

I didn't do all of the driving.

I had the opportunity to read a lot but did and didn't.

I walked, biked, knitted, talked. I took our pet rat to the beach and let her smell the wind and the next day we took her back and let her dig around in the sand. I took quite a few pictures of clouds. Reading was down the list. But this is what I did read:

The London Free Press. Always good for starting the campfire...We used The Globe and Mail too. But I always read the Free Press:

Lots of 'human interest' stories - "Inseparable in life and death" about two London brothers who were killed in a car accident in Georgia, "Biz Wiz Kid" about an 18 year old web designer over achiever, "Parking ruling angers Richmond merchants" about a 'conflict of values' between street parking and public transit advocates, "Martial arts man's death a mystery" about a suspicious death in a small community near London "where nothing ever happens" (quote from resident). "Notice of Liquor Licence Application" for Williams Coffee Pub on Wonderland Road South, London.

I mostly check out (in detail) the Environment Canada 5 day forecast. I like the little "AccuWeather" cloud and sun and lightning bolt cartoons and can quote the "probability of precipitation" percentages on demand.

The Food Today section on June 28 had a page of strawberry salsa recipes (will I ever make one?) and one semi-interesting article called "Is 'healthy' food healthy?" which is mostly a review of a book called The End of Food by Thomas Pawlick. The article points out that supermarket produce is less nutritious than it used to be - mostly because the food is trucked in from so far away (and artificially ripened) and because the emphasis is on the look of fruit and vegetables over the flavour & food value. Buy local is the message.

I also read/looked at the July issue of Teen Vogue. Nautical styles are in. Warnings against tanning are big and I don't really remember much else. Oh, something about 70s style wedge sandles... And lots of pictures of bikinis with nobody in them.

I read The New Yorker on the beach. There was one good cartoon about a girl, her boyfriend and her dog. I enjoyed reading The New Yorker and kept thinking about how much I like reading it while I was reading it but I actually don't remember anything I read. It's interesting...one of those sensual reading experiences totally in the moment. I don't know if they'd be happy to hear this. I think you're supposed to remember what you've read in The New Yorker.

I bought Harper's but didn't get around to reading it.

I brought Ivanhoe and D&G but didn't read them either. I also brought Donna Haraway's The Companion Species Manifestowhich I've already read but wanted to read again. I didn't read that one either though I did bring it with me to the beach one day. I think I brought too many books - though a couple of my companions read two novels each over 4 days. You never know...

I think what I really focused on was the knitting and the clouds. I tried to learn to read my knitting so that I could see which row I was on. My friend A. helped me with this. She showed me how to tell a purl stitch from a knit stitch and how to count rows. I'm still hesitant but I definitely improved my knitting literacy over the last week. My cloud literacy is no better but I did see a thunderstorm come in. The water and sky changed colour so dramatically. It was astounding to see the turquoise and navy blue. We almost stayed too long poised in the wind and wondering.