tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post8212454671432065472..comments2024-03-26T03:46:04.937-07:00Comments on Books in Northport: Revisiting a Couple of Old FriendsP. J. Grathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-17087299034618252702008-12-28T14:09:00.000-08:002008-12-28T14:09:00.000-08:00What is THE SILVER NUTMEG about? Oh, my!Well, thin...What is THE SILVER NUTMEG about? Oh, my!<BR/><BR/>Well, things are not at their rosiest for Anna Lavinia. Life is never quite right when her father is away, and this time drought has even her pets drooping. The well is dry, and Anna Lavinia must make repeated trips to the spring for water as her mother puts up spicy green paw paw preserves so as not to waste the paw paws that fell from the tree before they could ripen. <BR/><BR/>Uncle Jeffrey’s visit is a pleasant diversion. His relationship to the family is a little vague, “twice removed,” though he won’t say from where, but he brings spices and songs and gifts. <BR/><BR/>Before he left on his trip, Anna Lavinia’s father had begun making a hole in the stone wall surrounding their garden. The purpose of the opening was to broaden Anna Lavinia’s horizon and give her a point of view. Through the opening she could see a small wooded hill. On top of the hill was a dew pond. How many hills have a dew pond on top? Her point of view was something special. <BR/><BR/>When Anna Lavinia visits the dew pond, she learns the truth of the old saying, “Still waters run deep.” There is another world on the other side of the still water! A boy on the other side invites her to jump, assuring her that if the water is still she can get through without getting wet. She jumps, and thus begin her adventures in a world without gravity, where people and objects are attached to earth by the tingle as long as they are touching the ground or something that is touching the ground. <BR/><BR/>But the workmen were going to drain the pond to irrigate the parsnip field! How will Anna Lavinia get home again? And who was Aunt Cornelia’s lover, and will he ever return? <BR/><BR/>This is the beginning of what the story is “about,” and I feel it tells nothing at all. The charm is in the very specific language, the songs and rhymes, the drawings, the faces of Anna Lavinia and the other characters, the details of the animals, and so on and so forth. It is truly a magical book.P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-64145755640025109182008-12-28T13:54:00.000-08:002008-12-28T13:54:00.000-08:00Interesting reading what you write about Zen Seein...Interesting reading what you write about Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing. Many years ago I used to draw with my other hand to activate imagination. It seemed to work, as I now have too many ideas and not enough time!<BR/><BR/>The Silver Nutmeg sounds intruiging - what is it about?Raph G. Neckmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02468502742144495020noreply@blogger.com