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Sunday Salon: March 5, 2012

Hey, kids! Sorry to be a little hectic and brief here (and a day late with my Salon) on this Monday morning. I had a pleasantly full weekend: got our taxes files, did a few bike rides including a visit to the trails at the Sam Houston National Forest at Huntsville State Park, cleaned the house a bit and cooked up some yummy collard greens… I also watched the Bogart & Bacall film To Have and Have Notbased on the Hemingway novel of the same name. This was a Christmas present from my Pops (thanks, Pops!) and I’m glad I finally got around to it; there will be a movie review to come later this week, I promise. But in a nutshell, good stuff! And I wish I were a little fresher on the novel in my mind; I’m definitely rusty.

What else? Well, I’m still reading A Difficult Woman, Alice Kessler-Harris’s upcoming biography of Lillian Hellman, and that is still fascinating. I put down Ed Abbey’s Down the River to meet my deadline on the Hellman bio, and I’m itching to get back it; but then again, I’m running low on Abbey books on hand, so it makes sense to drag out the enjoyment a little bit. And I’m also just about done with Anne Fortier’s Julieton audio. I’m conflicted. I’m more annoyed than anything else, really, but occasionally fascinated, and for better or worse, I’m too invested in the story to back out now. So that’s not a ringing endorsement, but there we are. Reviews all around to come. Oh, and I had a nice visit to a beautiful library on Saturday that I’ll have to tell you about, too.

Finally, check out my new friend over at Critical Wit where I may be doing some guest hosting at some point – very exciting! Thanks Chris for the invitation!

The other busyness this weekend relates to the planning of more busyness: we’re currently working on two trips, to Ireland and to the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Busy busy!

Sorry for the brief digest post this morning. How’s your week starting out?

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Sunday Salon: February 5, 2012

How’s everybody doing this weekend? Houston is having a recurrence of an old event we used to see around here back in the day. It’s been raining! I did some internet research the other day and learned that our annual rainfall is right around 50 inches; in 2011, Houston’s driest year on record, we had about 20 inches, of which we had seen only 12 by mid-October. It was those 8 inches in the last 10 weeks of the year that managed to bring us up to the still shockingly (record-breaking-ly) low number of 20. So far in 2012 we are close to 10 inches, which has come in a handful of one-day downpours. All of this is to say… 1) rain is very exciting for us these days; 2) Houstonians seem to have forgotten how to drive in the rain; 3) this is wonderful for our poor parched earth (gardens, farms/ranches, mountain bike trails, trees – of which we’re losing some 70 MILLION – you read that right – due to last year’s drought) but also 4) it’s wrecking my weekend. You see, I’ve been working on recovering from my knee surgery (in December) and hoping to make my comeback to mountain bike racing at the end of this month, and my training time is so precious to me… especially since we’ll be in Nashville next weekend to see our favorite band play two nights in a row! (Very exciting! Look for a Walk About Town post to follow that trip, hopefully.) So losing both days of intended mountain biking this weekend to rain is really bumming me out. I’m trying to stay positive and think of how much the whole city needs this rain, and be happy with yoga, the gym, and my shortened road ride yesterday.

Weather aside, what’s going on? Well, I’m getting some reading done this weekend. (That’s the upside to all the rain.) I feel like I’ve spent all my reading time lately on books for review for Shelf Awareness, and none on pleasure reading; and all my audiobook listening time for weeks now has gone to Anna Karenina, which is a huge time commitment. So it was nice to pick up a few quick reads this weekend: Hemingway’s On Paris, for one – always nice to return to an old favorite – and then Edward Abbey’s The Journey Home. Abbey is an old favorite, too, and this is a gem; I’ve had such fun with it, including reading one short piece out loud to Husband and laughing out loud at it together. Good times. Reviews to come on both of these.

The weekend digest is rather boring, I guess: it rained, I didn’t get to ride like I wanted to, but I read some good short books. In the coming week I’ll be simultaneously prepping for our trip to Nashville and my upcoming race that I don’t feel prepared for! What are you up to this weekend? And what are you reading?

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Sunday Salon: Dec. 4, 2011

Hello everybody. It’s been a while since the last Sunday Salon (ahem October! wow!) but I do have some news to share with you today.

Here’s the big thing that has been ruling over my life for months now: my knee. I hurt it originally back at the end of June; did some PT for a while that seemed to help immensely, got back on the bike and even did a few races, but then when I started running again it got much worse again. The original injury came back and then some, with some new symptoms presenting. I finally ended up on crutches because I couldn’t stand to walk on it anymore, just in the last few days before my knee surgery on Friday. I have been feeling fairly well controlled by this injury; it effects every part of my life and makes everything less enjoyable; rather than navel-gazing I’ve been knee-gazing. But now… it should finally be at an end! This past Friday the 2nd, I had arthroscopic surgery. We didn’t find the torn meniscus we expected, but did a bunch of repair to damaged cartilage, and I’m told I should be back on the bike soon – but I’m also told I will never be a runner again. 😦 This is sad news, as I had deferred my January 2012 half-marathon entry but hoped to run my first half-marathon in January 2013. Now, apparently, I will not. Those who know me at all, though, will know that riding and racing bicycles is THE most important thing in my life that doesn’t live and breathe. So, what a relief that I’ll be riding again soon! How soon, you ask? You’ll have to wait and see, along with me. My check-up appt. is this Thursday and we’ll know more then.

So. This week I’m laid up around the house, and you know what that means: lots of books! And movies, too. Movies are rare events in my life and I’m sort of looking forward to the opportunity. That, and I want to finish a painting I’ve been working on, and do lots of snuggling with the little dogs. (Well, the snuggly one at least. The other one looks lovingly at me from across the room.) Husband is working from home all week so I’ll be well taken care of.

At present, I’ve just finished reading (for review) The Chalk Girl by Carol O’Connell. You’ll have to wait a bit for the review, to be published in Shelf Awareness closer to the book’s pub date of 1/17, but I will say: I had never heard of O’Connell or her serial character Mallory, but boy was this book a hit! I’m recommending it. Wait to hear more.

As you know, I’m also reading Their Eyes Were Watching God as part of the ongoing Readalong (check back tomorrow for the second installment thereof). I have Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky going on audiobook, but that’s most likely on hold during this week off. The rest of my reading time is deliciously available, free and uncommitted, and I’m considering the next Sharon Kay Penman in line for my attention, Here Be Dragons, as well as the copy of The Home-Maker that Thomas sent me a while back… or some of the Papa books I’ve been saving… oh, the TBR shelves overflow, the possibilities are endless! I honestly don’t know where I’ll turn next. What would you read if faced with a week off??

I’ll be chugging along here, kids. Thanks for checking in and tolerating my knee-gazing.

What are YOU up to this Sunday?

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Sunday Salon: Oct. 23, 2011

Happy Sunday, folks! How’s your weekend been?

I got in some good mountain bike time this weekend: local trails yesterday at the Anthills and then a little bit of the top of the dam (gravel road), and then today out to Double Lake for a few laps with friends. And I’m getting excited about heading up to the Dallas area next weekend to do a 6-hour race at Solvaca Ranch!

I’m reading quite a bit too… I declined to join the 24-Hour Readalong, as much fun as that sounded like. Right now I’m finishing up Lee Child’s The Affair (the brand-new Reacher) on audio, and have just started The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon – it’s a lovely book. But I wouldn’t have done well as a 24-Hour Reader. Yesterday post-ride we spent some garage time getting one of my bikes ready to post online for sale, and then a friend came over and we watched a movie – just a nice, quiet Saturday.

We’ve been listening to a lot of Drive-by Truckers lately (surprise surprise, what else is new! one of our favorite bands) and thinking about maybe going to see them in the next few months, in Philly or maybe at New Year’s in D.C. (Alternate New Year’s plan is to go out to Terlingua to ride some of our favorite trails!)

I’ll be doing slightly fewer reviews for Shelf Awareness in the coming months, which is good because I’d been getting pretty busy with that. This frees up a little more time for choosing my own reading – and that free time is, sadly, being sucked up mostly by reading for the Where Are You Reading? Challenge. I may give up without reading all 50 states; we’ll see. At any rate I don’t think I’ll sign up for this one again. It’s been fun and interesting just keeping track of where I do read; but I don’t really like having to go out of my way to read for location. I’d rather just pick and choose what I want to read. Although I’ve certainly found some good books on the way.

It’s been a good weekend and I’m just so glad to be riding my bike again. I’m looking forward to racing next weekend (and still feeling the glow of having won some good money a few weeks ago), and hope that if I keep working on it, maybe I’ll have a good spring season ahead of me next year.

What are YOU up to this Sunday?

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Sunday Salon: Sept. 25, 2011

I’m riding: Today I’m headed up to Chappell Hill to ride the hilly road with my former coach and great old friend Carl. Yesterday I finally got back on some good trails at Huntsville State Park with Husband and two buddies. It was great to be back on the trail!

I’m reading: Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings; and in the car is Without Fail by Lee Child on audio.

I’m thinking about: Losing some weight and getting faster again on the bike, now that I finally seem to have beat this knee injury! I’m thinking that the fall race season is out of the question (as is January’s half-marathon), but maybe I can do some marathon mountain bike races over the winter… some cyclocross… some spring racing… and our buddy Leach is starting to talk us into some off-road cycle-touring this spring.

And on another note, I’m thinking about reducing the number of books I read for review, at least for a month or two, sometime soon so that I can try to catch up on the Hemingway reading I’m building up and getting excited about. That’s a separate post, to come soon.

I’m listening to: Well, I’m listening to audiobooks mostly when I’m by myself, but every time I set my iPod loose I discover old favorites that I’m not paying enough attention to: Jewel, the Doors, the Descendents, Aretha Franklin, Daft Punk, Fishbone…

Lists I am making: What to do (and what not to do) to achieve my goal of weight loss and FASTness.

Around the house: Buying berries and doing laundry, mostly, nothing new. Well, that is, in addition to a little Hemingway project already alluded to, which will get that separate post.

From the kitchen: Curried Quinoa Salad with chickpeas, tomatoes, feta, green onions and zucchini. And berries.

The dogs are: Three, right now, since we have one that we’re dog-sitting. Ritchey, especially, loves his “dog beer” toy that we got him in Key West; we love it less when we’re trying to nap (Husband, yesterday) and he gets it squeaking really loudly.

Funny event: Getting excited about Doomsday Wrestling next weekend!!

Musical event: Have my eyes on an upcoming Gourds show just down the street from us here in Houston at Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar; couple of Drive-by Truckers shows that we’ll have to travel to in the coming months; and Husband is going to a Kyuss show with some guys. I think I shall sit that one out. Oh, and I’ve got the percussion concerts on my calendar over at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. I hope to see some marimba this fall.

What are YOU up to this Sunday?

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