tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post8264084739980089381..comments2024-03-28T16:31:23.093-07:00Comments on Books in Northport: What Is Happening Here? You May Be Surprised.P. J. Grathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-49500287311948568842020-12-17T06:33:53.919-08:002020-12-17T06:33:53.919-08:00I'm getting ready to post the Peasy story this...I'm getting ready to post the Peasy story this morning, Jeanie -- Peasy's first week with us, that is. OH, my! What have I gotten into?!<br /><br />We do have a good little heater, and this place is essentially one room, so it can be kept nice and toasty at night. After the sun starts warming the house in the morning, we turn the heater off and sunshine come in through open blinds all day. Dark comes early, though, and sometime between our (early) supper and (early) bedtime we turn the heat on again. <br /><br />So, how fast is summer coming on in Brazil? Flowers? Another world! So heartwarming to connect across all that intervening space, isn't it?P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-61171362584697981132020-12-16T19:07:19.651-08:002020-12-16T19:07:19.651-08:00Yes, oh Yes, I DO remember that night at the farm!...Yes, oh Yes, I DO remember that night at the farm! We had a talkfest as I remember, and David gave Antonio a tour of the barn. I missed that part, so we must return and have a proper visit with all the trimmings.<br />Looking at Silas’s diary, I loved the line you quoted from him. It sounds so poetic, and yes, plaintive, also. How enticing to see what a soul was thinking on a New Year’s Eve in 1854! Seeing that line made me want to know what else he wrote. <br />MyMY! Little Peasy was not at all what he seemed. I will want to know what you three are up to as he gets used to his new life. We noticed the energy difference between the two dogs at our sister’s country house. The younger one is so much more rambunctious and harder to train. She’s a sweetie, though, and more of a follower to the other, older dog when we’re out. Bird chasing and lizard hunting are their favorite pastimes. And eating.<br />I keep forgetting that your days are darker and that the sun sets so much earlier. The desert can be cold when the sun goes away, so I hope you have heat that usually works. Ciao for now!Jeanie Furlanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16294566547596358943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-22967550798773862272020-12-16T08:12:48.114-08:002020-12-16T08:12:48.114-08:00Oh, dear Jeanie, I love "seeing" you her...Oh, dear Jeanie, I love "seeing" you here! And you are SO far away -- in another hemisphere, for Pete's sake! <br /><br />Well, the Peasy story develops day by day. I've certainly taken on a big challenge, because more and more I'm thinking that he isn't anywhere near "2-3 years old," as I was told at the pound. He's no more that than he was an Aussie girl! But he is a little love, and we are all doing our best. More, much more, to follow on that story, you can bet.<br /><br />As for diaries (this goes for letters, too), they don't have to be written by "writers" to make them interesting. As I say, it is the ordinary lives, as well as the ordinary parts of extraordinary lives, that really speak to me. Just this morning I was transcribing Silas's New Year's Eve entry from the year 1854, which closes with the plaintive lines, "Oh, if I could have some kindred spirit near me, to whom I might breathe the thoughts that crowd upon my mind, the emotions that swell my heart." <br /><br />Days go quickly here, too. I get up in the dark, take Peasy out for a pee, heat water to thaw the ice in the birdbaths, make coffee for humans and dog breakfast for Peasy, check e-mail. read or transcribe Silas's diary, write letters and e-mails, post to Facebook and see what friends have posted there, get Peasy out for several good off-leash runs, walk down the road to the mailboxes, drive into town with David to go to the post office ... maybe the feed store or hardware store ... check out likely places to see horses or sandhill cranes ... shop and plan and prepare meals and clean up after them -- and then, before we know it, the sun has set,, and darkness has fallen once more. You, of course, are at the beginning of summer, with nice, long days, but I know how fast those fly by, too.<br /><br />I do hope we can have another evening together at the farm. The one we had was so nice, wasn't it?<br /><br />xxxoooP. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-31409637049246855352020-12-15T13:57:18.425-08:002020-12-15T13:57:18.425-08:00Oh Pamela, I’m SO happy that you got Peasy! I do ...Oh Pamela, I’m SO happy that you got Peasy! I do agree with Bob and Dawn that there is a resemblance to Sarah in the picture, but just like us humans, in real life Peasy is his own person, I’m sure. I think that you must be glad to have him because when we are at our niece’s country house and walking & playing with the two dogs, we miss then so much when we come back to the city. <br />Hmmm, diaries and who will read them. I don’t think that my life would be too interesting because I don’t think of myself as a writer. But I love Bob’s story, and I hope he reconnects with Hank. I love to read biographies and autobiographies. I might do well thinking of a focus, like Dawn’s reflections and your bookstore as a beginning. Your Silas project is quite an amazing endeavor! And you are tying into other places, from what I can see, so it seems his diary will be part of something larger. I’ll want to get that when you publish it!! <br />Time does seem to go quickly most days with coffee & newspapers, 2 hours+ of exercise, cooking lunch which is our big meal, maybe a movie, reading and communicating with everyone like family and friends. Poof, it’s 9:00 pm and I want to read!<br />Gee, I really hope we can make it up to Northport when you and the Artist and now Peasy, are there. Beijos ‘til then!!Jeanie Furlanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16294566547596358943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-49340420667462170742020-12-14T09:49:48.418-08:002020-12-14T09:49:48.418-08:00Barbara, are YOU keeping a diary/journal this year...Barbara, are YOU keeping a diary/journal this year? I find juggling my own journal, my Silas project, my blog, Facebook, and letters to friends and family is quite a challenge. Now, add in Peasy, and -- well! But I wouldn't give up any of it.<br /><br />Happy Hanukkah to you and your family!P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-65393626075228634812020-12-14T07:49:41.255-08:002020-12-14T07:49:41.255-08:00Love your reflections on diaries, and as always, t...Love your reflections on diaries, and as always, the rest of the blog... but especially excited to hear about Pease! Can't wait to meet him! Barbara Stark-Nemonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13017787052118941061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-6371463259647693052020-12-13T17:42:26.390-08:002020-12-13T17:42:26.390-08:00Bob and Dawn, good evening to you both. It's s...Bob and Dawn, good evening to you both. It's still early as I write this reply, but darkness has fallen on the high desert, and above the invisible mountains the stars shin. <br /><br />You are both right that there are Sarah-like aspects to Peasy's looks. He seems to be the same breed mix, border collie and Australian shepherd, and, like Sarah, he has coat colors from white to black, with some brown and tan. He has the spots above his eyes, as Sarah had. But he is much smaller, doesn't have her kohl-outlined, long-lashed bedroom eyes, and it seems the border collie may be dominant in his case. He is an energetic little boy!<br /><br />Bob, Ialways enjoy your stories and certainly understand how little it takes to trigger important memories. What year was it that you and Hank and the rest were in Alabama? And did you go to the movies in uniform?<br /><br />Dawn, I know what you mean, too, about your blog being a kind of diary. That is the origin of the word, you know: web + log. As a ship's captain keeps a log of whatever happens on and around the ship, these blogs of ours sometimes sail into some surprising waters. You started with job woes. I started with my bookstore. Both of us have become very (though not exclusively) dog-focused over the years, and our travels have found their way into our posts. It is possible to have these things printed in book form. I think Kathy's kids did that for her at some point. Wasn't it through Kathy in the U.P. that you and I first connected?<br /><br />Michigan-Arizona-Idaho -- and here we are together, trading stories and thoughts. Lovely!P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-91797773071944944152020-12-13T17:09:20.691-08:002020-12-13T17:09:20.691-08:00BB- I thought the same about Peasy, that there'...BB- I thought the same about Peasy, that there's something about him that reminds me of Sarah. Maybe if we met him in person we would't see it, but it's there in the photo.<br /><br />And your stories about the south, those are a good read...you should write them down. You may even be able to find Hank, wouldn't that be something.<br /><br />Pamela, I love your boy Peasy already and I don't know if I'll ever meet him. You're right, it will take time to see if he's a retail kind of boy, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be a 'long walks on the beach' kind of boy, and that's just fine. <br /><br />I think my blog is something of a diary, though not as personal as one that only I could see. The beginning of this blog was very much reflection on my days and my losses, but it's turned into more of a photographic blog and less a written space. Mostly anyway. I do use it to figure out where we were when sometimes, and in that sense it's something of a journal of our time, especially our travels. The problem, and it's the same problem with all digital formats is that 100 years from now who knows if there will be a way to read it. Unlike paper which mostly manages to last through time, barring hurricanes and floods.Dawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00824027366993286152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-19134638273497249082020-12-13T15:51:43.006-08:002020-12-13T15:51:43.006-08:00Don't know if it is the photos or me, but Peas...Don't know if it is the photos or me, but Peasy resembles Sarah appearance-wise?<br />I would guess he would love walks and chasing squirrels, but may take time to become a dignified literary bookstore greeter. Black lives- being from northwoods<br />Wisconsin, I had never known any..not one...and being a geek student had never experienced alcohol. Fast forward to Army Chemical Officer School, deep in Alabama<br />I met Hank, a tall skinny good natured black kid. The very first week there was a<br />fancy reception, dress blues-dignity (officer and a gentleman stuff). I was quickly introduced to the 'open bar', but had no idea of what to even order. Someone suggested a martini. They seemed pretty tasty and they were free and after serveral<br />I became what I thought was a social butterfly. I was pretty dizzy and sought out<br />the post commander, a black colonel, and offered several suggestions on how to run<br />an Army Post. The the world went blank: I woke up under a cold shower in the BOQ,<br />with Lt. Hand standing over me, "Boy-you some debutante! We were very close the next nine weeks and I was introduced to early 1960s southern culture. When we walked along the town streets we were yelled at by kids with Confederate flags on<br />their old jalopies and most places had a black entrance. Hank's father was New Orleans physician, but like Hank he had to answer to 'Boy'. I wanted to buy a used<br />car in town and took Hank along. The old guy running the place, Lloyd Plunkett, was<br />color blind, treated us both as humans..and green was his favorite color. Happy with<br />my new 'wheels' I invited Hank, another black Lieutenant, a Japanese American and<br />another white kid: we would integrate the local movie theater. Probably set the record for enraging a ticket line and the compromise that probably saved us all from being hung was that we could sit together, but up in the Colored balcony..<br />who considered us most peculiar. I liked cowboy movies, if any at all and Hank<br />introduced me to 'The Americanization of Emily', which makes me think of him everytime I see it on TV. After visiting most of the churches in town, I took him<br />one Sunday to the Episcopal church, where the all white congregation was very accepting, especially in comparison to the rest of the town. <br />Hank and I went our separate ways, he got his much anticipated assignment to Germany and I was off to R&D in Utah. I learned to tolerate martinis, but always<br />wondered how Hank's life went. I would like to tell him that he probably saved my<br />career. Yes, I'm ordinary, obscure and retired..but that was my introduction to<br />Jim Crow, and kind strangers that quickly become friends. If you are ever in a bar<br />and hear an old white haired guy raise his martini "Here's to you, Hank", you can<br />be suspicious. Apologies- sometimes your posts send me off in oblique directions! BB-Idahohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01388509941702241290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-83450988895573253112020-12-13T09:01:48.559-08:002020-12-13T09:01:48.559-08:00Good morning, Ty! Thanks for the kind words. As fo...Good morning, Ty! Thanks for the kind words. As for retired, I am only seasonally retired. Not obscure or ordinary, though? Remember, I am the "tiny bookseller"! As for Peasy, I hope he will be able to handle retail life, but that remains to be seen.<br /><br />For the record, literarily, I heartily recommend all the books I am currently reading. :)P. J. Grathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12693462910472164289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4130421352415377273.post-58428326001103707942020-12-13T08:29:13.619-08:002020-12-13T08:29:13.619-08:00Pamela, I don’t consider you to be ordinary, obscu...Pamela, I don’t consider you to be ordinary, obscure or retired. I do enjoy your blog. Looking forward to meeting Peasy at Dog Ears Books next spring.twessellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02249644358113755147noreply@blogger.com