Nom de Plume

There’s something about the holidays that makes me want to reread old childhood favorites. The feeling was especially strong this year, probably because for the first time in YEARS, we actually had a real Christmas tree. A proper one, not like the pathetic little Charlie Brown Christmas tree that we had a few years ago (and that Mr. Demo subsequently planted in the Japanese garden and proceeded to bonsai). Anyway, this year it was Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books. I loved those as a child. LOVED them. So I reread them all, and lo and behold, the library had the final four books in the series (Betsy was a Junior, Betsy and Joe, Betsy and the Great World, and Betsy’s Wedding), which I had never read and enjoyed thoroughly.

The library also had Emily of Deep Valley, which I had never heard of. So I read that one as well. And I have to say that much as I loved the other books as a child, Emily felt a lot more real than the ever-popular Betsy Ray. She is a bit of an outsider, lives in the “old-fashioned” house with her grandfather. Unlike the other kids, she can’t go off to college. Still, she comes into her own, finding her place in the world–and it’s a charming story.

I don’t know any little girls to give these books to, but if you do, a boxed set would be a great gift. That’s how I got mine.

After writing histories of other emotions–anger, jealousy–the topic of happiness should be a snap for author Sally Farber. But of course, thinking about happiness (and whether you’re happy or not) is the surest way to succumbing to the deep, looming realization that of course you’re not. So she does what any self-respecting writer would do; that is, she procrastinates, rewrites, procrastinates some more, and has a wild affair with a self-absorbed artist. I liked this novel. Recommend.

These were little nothing prints–I can’t even remember who they’re by–that I think will become more collectible as time goes on.

My mother let me filch this one .. oh joy …

Funnily enough, my mother bought another one in this series, while I have these two:

Heian Shrine

Picture doesn’t do this justice at all, but it was one of those eBay gambles that paid off and led me to get the second one.

I had been coveting this print for a long time–although completely unrelated, it reminds me of that part in Harry Potter where he’s swimming through the lake to rescue Ron ….

And then there’s this little guy:

Wow, I am SO behind on posting new woodblocks. Aside from the fact that the blog has been languishing, the last version of WordPress I was using wouldn’t upload images properly. Anyway, this is what’s I’ve gotten from Artelino since I last posted:

Gihachiro Okuyama

Tokyo University

Morning after the First Snow

Saburo Miyata

Mountain Stream at Oirase

Unknown

• If I spent as much time blogging as I do updating my template, I would have more than 2 book reviews for all of last year. #
• Off to be interviewed for Big Brothers Big Sisters–yep, I’m going to be a big sister! #

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And the blog has now officially passed into 5th year of existence–not that anyone would be able to tell that it was once a live and thriving thing before 2007.

All I can say is 2008 was NOT a particularly great year. But it’s 2009, we have a new president, I have been out of the shack for a couple of months, and I still seem to have work. So we should all count our blessings.

I want to say that I’ll be good about posting this year … but who knows? The fact is that I’m going gangbusters on a book and the blog plays second fiddle. Still, to energize myself, I did update from MySQL 4 to 5, put in a new template, futzed around for several hours today trying to figure out how to make 5 years of archives their own page (YAY!). So maybe I’ll be energized.

So here’s a quick little update:

1) The house is still a shambles.

2) Steve may be getting laid off. He tells me he’s going to buy a sailboat and become a deadbeat boyfriend.

3) Harry is cute and furry.

4) I’ve read a bunch of good books lately, and MIGHT EVEN POST THEM!

5) I’m hosting a soap swap right now and one person–at the 11th hour–upped and dropped out because her bottles were leaking and she apparently couldn’t figure anything out. I’m irritated.

6) I’m still in love with bellydancing.

Steve just walked in the door, so that’s it for now. Perhaps I’ll even see you again soon.