It’s a challenge, this year.
This is my year. My year of retirement. I am on Day 16. The last 16 days have been very interesting…..maybe. By Day 14 I’d forgotten exactly what day it was! My spouse spouted that “you need a routine,” and I thought “gee, I thought I had one!” Guess not.
Slipping information in here, rather than in today’s title. Book Review! Author Review! I have taken up John Irving! What a great writer! Since August, I have read “A Prayer for Owen Meany” and now “Cider House Rules.” Oh the gleanings! If you know me at all, or if you do not, let me say that I take my reading to heart. I am a traveler, I love armchair travel, it’s definitely the cheapest way to fly!
I fell in love with the characters in Owen Meany. The guy ALWAYS SPEAKS IN CAPS LOCK. You know you’re involved when you start dreaming about the characters. While the entire book is worth reading, and all the characters are truly worth getting to know intimately (yes, see, I do get INVOLVED), my takeaway was Hester and her insistence in one scene, singing “Four Strong Winds.” Never heard of it! I YouTubed it. Oh my! I fell in love the the Neil Young version. And, watching Pegi Young sing. And it led me to more Neil Young. It lead to documentaries. It lead to reading about Pegi’s pain of divorce, and her passing, and I cry when I think of her. It also led me to the neilyoungchannel on YouTube. https://youtu.be/DP9UjLeLN5A
Then there is Cider House Rules. An abortionist. An orphanage. Characters who slowly come into your life, and into your heart. Surprises. Backtrack for a moment, I found a documentary on YouTube regarding the writings of John Irving and how he does it. He writes the last chapter first, and then begins. I have a great deal of respect for him, and other writers. You don’t just simply sit down and write a story. There is research, if you are going to do it right. John Irving does it right. https://youtu.be/_acnWf3Hmuo. I plan to watch the movie Cider House Rules, but I know it is different than the book. But John Irving had his hand and stamp of approval on it. My takeaway quote is a thought from the minor, but important, character, Melony, on page 453: What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us are wrapped up in parentheses. The page is forever dog-eared in my copy of this book.
Now my goal needs to be continued preparation for my own life, my own way. I am prepared with Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, and still working on it. I read a chapter, I get inspired, then domestication takes over and the wild writer within has to take the background while I feed cats, take care of laundry, look at the books, worry about Medicare and the choices that need to be made (to quote my girlfriend “Getting old is not for the weak of heart,” but it sure beats the other saying “don’t get old,” because that doesn’t give us good odds on the alternative (or does it?).
Now, if we can survive until the pandemic has run it’s course, hopefully the vaccine will work out okay, and I sure hope there aren’t side effects! They are saying “I feel fine! I feel okay!” But that’s today. You just got the shot. It is an affirmation that things will be okay. For now. Like talcum powder, asbestos, or Round-Up, they worked until we realized, down the line, that there were consequences. But, that’s for down the line. Right?
I’m a grandma to grandchild #8. It’s a boy. His arrival to the outside world is scheduled tentatively for end of February. That’s 5 boys (1 in heaven), and 3 girls. Life is good, but it does get a little confusing sometimes. I enjoy the different personalities so very very much. My children are all good parents. They all work at enhancing their children’s lives and they all strive to make sure they have good character development. Their dad and I were much more liberal in getting them to make correct decisions, whereas I see that they take a different stance: oh no! Don’t even think it! Attitude with their own. Which is pretty healthy! I chose not to shelter, they chose to. Their dad and I had very sheltered childhoods. I wonder if this is cyclical.
And there you have my take on life, on this cold day in mid-January, here on the farm in upstate New York. Hopefully you will see more of me. I do have two other blogs here on WordPress: One is for photography (Photography by Kathleen) and the other is poetry (The Lopsided Poet). This is my most active blog, since it is more about the musings of Kathleen, which occur 24/7.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for Liking. Thank you for following. See you soon!
It's All About the Journey 