Sawyer at the Beach, Laura's off to Outdoor School

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A great weekend at the coast and Sawyer got to see the beach for the first time. He loved the opportunities for digging that the sand provides! And he met a nice Doberman who wanted to be his friend.

Laura is off to Outdoor School to be a counselor this week.

I read the thriller Dark Places this weekend while I was at the beach.

Weekend Weekend!

Here's a photo of me and Laura last night at the Love And Theft meet and greet that Laura got us passes for! They were good. Lady Antebellum was good... and Tim McGraw was amazing! Truly one of the greats.

I have to grade some papers and then I'm going to watch the GREY'S ANATOMY season finale with Laura although she has seen it before. Max doesn't want to see McGrabur today because he saw IRON MAN 2 yesterday with Michael.

How many pop culture references can I fit into one posting?  Michael is watching the series finale of LOST tonight. There! I watched season 3 I think, but I'm not going to watch the finale. Maybe the last five minutes or something.



I love Tim McGraw.

I'm supposed to run 7 miles today but I think it will be more like 6.

I have been working on a story but I just don't know about me and fiction. I'm trying not to think about that though, and just write it. Like it is a non-negotiable task. Like getting dressed in the morning. We'll see! I don't get very far writing fiction and sometimes I think fiction is just the backstory for my poetry.

However! My story has a deer head in it.

Happy Mother's Day

Michael made me breakfast, the kids gave me chocolate and a card (with Michael's help I'm pretty sure), and my dresser now has a vaseful of roses on it.

Laura and I went to see Letters to Juliet this afternoon - for free! Free passes to a preview screening.My favorite part was Vanessa Redgrave and all the Italian scenery.

I framed some postcards I got in New York - including "The Woman In White" by Picasso, and a picture of Audrey Hepburn I bought on the street.

I planted flowers, ran 5 miles, and got some writing done.  There was a great profile of Gina Ochsner in the Oregonian today. She inspires me.

Steaks for dinner! A good Mother's Day!

Acceptance!

I had a piece accepted at QUICK FICTION hooray. I am reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Sawyer is one years old. Going to Corvallis tomorrow.

Minnesota!

Thanks to Literary Arts I am in Minnesota this weekend. You can read about the book awards on the Paper Fort blog.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, and yesterday I took some pictures of the house he was born in. He lived in quite a few different houses in St. Paul - when he was growing up and after he married Zelda.

I also took a picture of the Mary Tyler Moore statue downtown. Tonight I'm going to a play at the Guthrie Theater.

I like the Midwest!

Some Stuff I Did this Weekend

Laura and I saw THE BOUNTY HUNTER, an okay Jennifer Aniston movie. We also saw a preview for EAT PRAY LOVE, and - guilty pleasure - I want to see it!

Watched part of a documentary on Patti Smith. There were video clips of her from the 1970's, talking about why she moved to New York. And her and Sam Shephard playing guitar. Michael and I will see her in New York as part of the PEN WORLD VOICES festival.

Read the new issue of Vogue magazine which seemed more vapid than usual and made me not want to buy it ever again. I used to love me some Vogue!.

Watched an episode of Project Runway, which I still love!

Finished my grading for winter term.

Tried to clean my office (still in progress!)

Read some of A Little Middle of the Night by Molly Brodak, the 2009 Iowa Poetry Prize winner. Has the Univ. of Iowa press adopted a sans serif font for poetry permanently? I like the poems, but I prefer my fonts serif-ed when it is poetry.

Put sheets on Max's new bed.

Took Sawyer for several walks with his new easy-walk harness. It helps considerably with the tugging on the leash. Walks are no longer a tug of war!

Michael and I are going to watch Breaking Bad tonight - season premiere!

Listening to Jim Croce on Pandora on my Gordon Lightfoot station.

Hey! I won something!

Garth Stein's latest book! (It has nothing to do with Raven the Disney star, but my kids used to watch that show and I've never had a reason to post a photo of her.)

Until now.

Thank you Mead Hunter!

Once More to the Lake

I knew Michael Quigley. Many years ago, in Eugene. I found out this week that he died in September, in Sacramento.

He was a big fan of this man, and this essay.

I think maybe he liked E.B. White because White possessed a certain sophistication and embodied a type of civilized discourse that Michael Quigley aspired to but never quite achieved.

Michael Quigley was rough around the edges. He introduced me to Apocalypse Now, The Return of the Seacaucus 7, Deer Hunter, BEER Hunter, and SPAM.

I knew what SPAM was before I met him, but I think he's the only person I have ever witnessed actually cooking SPAM. And eating it.

He was never really at peace, so I doubt he's resting in peace, and I doubt, really, that resting in peace would really appeal to him.

So I guess what I hope for him is he's found a place where he can keep fighting.

In peace.

Boxing Day

I love Boxing Day. I am reading Let the Great World Spin. I have a new I-Mac which is so fast and spiffy! Yay for new computers.

It's Official

I am on vacation until January 4th!

Look at Me I'm Blogging!

I haven't posted here in ages. But I will post over Christmas time!

Kids are done with school tomorrow. 2009 is almost over.

Tin House and Now It's Saturday

The Tin House 10th was lots of fun and you can find podcasts at Literary Arts.

Next weekend we are going to Kahneeta!

Mandy gos to the vet today.

It's summer and I never seem to have time to water my plants.

Sawyer is sleeping under my desk. He is bigger than in the previous photo!

No Name Yet!

But we love him. Just came home today!

Last Sunday in April!

Laura is out driving with Michael as I write this. Here's a picture of her and Max, taken a few years ago, when all she drove was a bike!

Last night was the Parkrose Educational Foundation dinner and auction at Holiday Inn. That was a lot of fun, and yes, adults do occassionally still dance to Play that Funky Music White Boy - but Mike does it best!

The tour went to Corvalls and Newport this week. That was fun, and we had attentive audiences. I loved visiting Newport High School with Sara Ryan.

I am running the Eugene Half Marathon next week so I should run far today. But I may just run 7. I ran 10 and a little extra last weekend, so I know I can run 13.1!

I'm reading at the Eugene Public Library in May.

Planted

Lilies, iris, snap peas, forget-me-nots.

Tomorrow, geraniums and petunias and lavender.

Laura got her driver's permit today. Max had his opening day game for Little League.

Gotta run far tomorrow.

Reading the new Beckman.

Like a Day Without Sunshine

PCS without Mead Hunter.

I can't wait to see where he lands.

Tomorrow National Poetry Month begins! Get your haiku on.

Spring Break!

Terry Tempest Williams tomorrow.

Kids on spring break.

Shamrock Run!

I ran the Shamrock Run today with Amy. I ran faster than in 2006!

I never blog these days.

Reading Tod Marshall's The Tangled Line and enjoying it very much.

Poems from Updike in this week's New Yorker. Sad but I appreciated him taking the time to say goodbye.

Hello!

Milk is Cheap!

Milk is cheaper than it used to be. It's now $1.99 at Freddy's and that's not the sale price, that's just the price! Which makes it hard to be a dairy cow these days.

Yoga class tonight! I wish Laura could have come with me. You know how they say sometimes, people only use 3% of your brain power? Or something like that. I think yoga makes you realize you probably use only about 5% of your body's potential. Sitting, standing, walking, running - there's so much more than that!

Rough drafts to grade from students this weekend. But I want to see Milk (the movie not the beverage mentioned previously) with Michael before the Academy Awards on Sunday. I also want to see How To Disappear Completely, soon-ish!

I read Run by Ann Patchett over the long weekend. I liked it. I really appreciated Updike's review of it.

My new Poets & Writers arrived today and it has lots of stuff to read in it and new books coming out by Joshua Marie Wilkinson and Emily Wilson and other poets I like.

Spring is on its way, which means Little League. Life is good.

Milk is cheap. If you're not a dairy cow, that's not such bad news.

I was impressed by Calvin Trillin. They don't make them like that anymore.

Check this out

Ish Klein.. Then I ordered her book from Canarium Press.

It's Friday!