Two Resolutions This Time Around

Already I’ve forgotten if I made any resolutions last year. This time around, as today’s headline indicates, I’ve come up with a couple, both easily quantifiable and thus measurable. That is to say that if I flub either one, I’ll know it. And since I'm announcing them here, the flubbing will be public. Okay, semi-public. All right, at least quasi-public. But enough stalling--here they are:

Plan for a Day: My first resolution has to do with a one-time event I’ve thought about hosting year after year, and year after year I’ve let the date slip past without getting my act together, but this year is going to be different, and here is my official announcement: On Sunday, February 5, 2012 (please let me know if I’ve got the date wrong, which would not do at all! I did check it several times over but am still nervous), Dog Ears Books will be open for anyone who wants to attend a Super Bowl Escape Party! That’s right, if you’re not a football fan, or if you need a break from the excitement of the Big Game—whatever the reason, you can stop in at Dog Ears and be assured that there will be no wide-screen TV booming at you. We’ll have snacks. Maybe we’ll have games. I haven’t worked out all the details yet and am open to suggestions. After all, we have over a month to figure it out. ESCAPE THE SUPER BOWL! And if YOU want to escape while someone you love does not, I have it on good authority that the Garage Bar & Grill next door will have the game on.... 

Project for a Year: My second resolution will demand a more sustained effort. Inspired by several books read during 2011, as well as by a conviction that the woods and hills around me deserve more attention than I routinely give them, I have resolved to spend time outdoors, not walking or driving but sitting still, looking and listening, once every week in the coming year. On these weekly expeditions, the camera and the dog will stay home. Sarah will still have her daily outdoor adventures with me, and the camera will doubtless be with me most of the rest of the time, but this one hour a week will be dedicated to stillness. My weekly report will be made on a new blog called “Home Ground,” where I have already posted more about this year-long project.

What else? Those are my only two formal resolutions. This blog will continue, as will “A Shot in the Light.” I’m less certain about the fate of “Without a Clear Focus” but don’t see any need to decide one way or the other by any specific date. Then there is reading. It was only today, December 28, 2011, that it struck me that my “Books Read 2011” list will be ending soon! As it’s getting cumbersome to have so many long lists here on the blog, I’ll probably remove 2009 and 2010 soon.

And that’s about it. Those are my plans. As for the bookstore, winter hours are posted in the right-hand column. We haven’t had much winter yet, but there’s no telling what January will bring Up North. Or any month or year, for that matter! But I will be keeping you posted, wherever in the world you are.

Good-by, James Joyce, Until We Meet Again

For the last meeting of our Ulysses study group, Marilyn offered to prepare an Irish dinner and bring it to Steve’s house on Gills Pier Road. My assignment (that is, I volunteered to do something, and this was Marilyn’s suggestion) was to make the Irish soda bread. She found a recipe for me, as follows:

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
¾ cups rolled oats
1 T + 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
¾ tsp. baking soda
1-3/4 cups buttermilk
6 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Knead on lightly floured surface and shape into a 9” round loaf. Slash an X on top of the loaf. (Why? Tradition!) Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Since David and I are preparing an imminent departure from home and I have been trying to use up everything in the house, I didn’t want to buy whole wheat flour and decided to get by with only unbleached white. Bought the buttermilk. All set on Wednesday afternoon. --Oh-oh! Short over a cup of flour! What to do? Substituted uncooked cereal of various grains, including cornmeal. There! Along with rolled oats, that will be a hearty bread! (It was.)




Suggestion: if you try this recipe, add the buttermilk to the dry ingredients and stir it in, then the cooled melted butter. I poured cold buttermilk into cooled butter, and the butter immediately lumped up in an alarming manner, producing my second moment of panic. The finished product, however, turned out presentable and edible.


Marilyn brought her aromatic lamb stew in a crockpot, but we did not dig in immediately, tempted as we were. (I’m speaking for myself, at least.) Our fearless leader, Big Steve, had prepared excerpts for us to read aloud, one from each chapter of the book, and that was the first order of business. It was delightful to share these passages again and recall their places in the story. A little Jameson’s didn’t hurt, either.

I intended to get a picture of the stew but (once again!) was distracted by eating and forgot my camera, lying ignored on the table beside me. Also, Marilyn, a retired lawyer, had interesting observations to make about the decision of the judge to allow this book into the United States, effectively lifting the ban that had previously been imposed. Needless to say, we all agreed with the judge that Ulysses is a work of art and not “obscene material.” Other topics discussed over dinner were: What does the future hold for the three main characters? What do they think of and feel for each other? How would you rate this book next to everything else you’ve read? If you could be a book—or take only one book to a desert island—would you consider this one? Others? What others? What will you be reading next? Will you read this book again someday? Would you recommend it to other people?

We all agreed that Ulysses was well worth the time and effort; that the study group had helped us get through it and get much more out of it than we would have alone (the rest of us gave Steve the major credit, while he said the group had pushed him to keep going); that we felt enriched by having taken this work into our lives; and that James Joyce was a genius. Over Marilyn’s Bailey’s cheesecake, we listened to a recording of the last of Molly’s soliloquy at the end of the book. Everyone was smiling.


This group was a resounding success! Thank you, Steve! We parted in a glow of accomplishment and warm feelings toward one another.

Out on M-22, Fischer’s Happy Hour Tavern is closed for the month of January, as usual. Owner Paul doesn’t fly off to Belize or anything, though he may take a little getaway time in the U.P., but in general January is his month each year for undertaking a refurbishing project, something that can’t easily be done around restaurant patrons and bar regulars. One year it was new stools at the bar; another year all the table tops were refinished. What will it be this year? We’ll find out when we return in the spring.



Note: I am uploading this post from the Leelanau Township Library in Northport while we wait for a call from Van's Garage in Leland to tell us they've got the snow tires on the vehicle we want to take to Florida. Checking e-mail and updating the blog from a library feels somewhat like being in Florida, with these differences: this library is smaller, cozier--and full of friends! We will miss this place and these people while we're gone.