Vicki Lane's Blog, page 510

Bright Cold December Day

Some chose to stay in near the fire . . .

The Almost Moon

"When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily."

 The opening line gives warning that this is a strange, dark book.  I  tried to read it several years ago and didn't get much farther then the first few pages. But for whatever reason, I picked it up again and this time found it compelling. 
Sebold is a wonderful writer and I was fascinated by the low key manner in which she dropped in the back story bit by tantalizing bit, allowing the reader an increasing understanding of the narrator's behavior.
Following Sebold's  NYT bestselling THE LOVELY BONES,  this unsettling look at a family, bound by love and madness, was not popular with many of her fans. Read the Amazon reviews and you'll see what I mean.. Many disliked the protagonist. Quite a few felt betrayed
I don't know. It's not a book I would recommend to everyone. If you're looking for feel-good, this isn't it. But it didn't make me feel Just Awful either in the way that, oh, say, Death of a Salesman does.  The ending, while somewhat ambiguous, had a taste of redemption to it. And I found myself enthralled and moved by the daughter whose love and hate of her mother plays out over the course of this novel.
Have any of you read this? I'd be interested in your thoughts. 


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Outside/Inside

...ah, the joy of shelter . . .

At First Glance . . .

 . . . I thought the worst. Then I paid attention to the relative sizes of the con trails. Willa is home and in good spirits . . . though still a little sleepy from the anesthesia and the tranquilizers the vet gave her. Evidently she didn't like being in a cage.

Rum Balls

One of my favorite memories of Christmas is of the rum balls my mother used to make. So I spent yesterday morning, hands sticky with dough, enjoying the intoxicating fragrance, and singing (I was alone in the house -- the only condition under which I attempt to sing):
Away, away with rum, by gum, Rum by gum, rum by gum.Away, away with rum, by gum,The song of the Temperance Union.
We're coming, we're coming, our brave little band,On the right side of temperance we do take our stand.We don't use tobacco because we do thinkThat the people who use it are likely to drink.
We never eat fruitcake because it has rum,And one little bite turns a man to a bum.Can you imagine a sorrier sightThan a man eating fruit cake until he gets tight?  (For more lyrics, go HERE.) Rum (or bourbon or brandy) Balls
1 box  vanilla wafers...1 cup chopped pecans... 1 cup powdered sugar ... 3 TBS. white corn syrup ... 2 TBS. cocoa powder ... 1/2 cup rum (or bourbon or brandy) additional powdered sugar for coating rum balls. 
Crush vanilla wafers. (I remember putting them between sheets of waxed paper and using a rolling pin to do this. The food processor is much easier and less messy,)
Sift sugar and cocoa powder into the crumbs. Add the pecans and mix well. Stir in corn syrup and rum and mix well.  Roll into balls (buttering your hands helps a lot) then roll balls in powdered sugar (no snickering there, you in the back.)
Store in air-tight tin.  Makes about 3 1/2 dozen  (I doubled the recipe.)

Hi Ho, the Greenery-O

Time to fill the empty pots on the front porch with some nice Christmas greenery. (And to send that Halloween/Thanksgiving pumpkin down to the chickens.)
For the first time ever, one of our holly bushes had significant sprays of berries and I took full advantage.
Here a berry, there a berry . . . Love that wired ribbon -- saved from a past Christmas present.
A nice mix of green and silver and gold is handy just below our front porch -- the yew and holly berries are a little farther away. Fill some vases for the house and make a sheaf (if that's what it's called) for the front door  . .
. And a little more greenery by the greenhouse entryway . . .
Still to go, six sheaves for the stairs and some bits for the mantelpiece. Fortunately, I'm not going to run out of raw material any time soon. . .

Eddie Says. . .

Vicki spent most of Tuesday at big stores in Asheville, laying in provisions for Christmas and beyond. Vicki does not like to shop so she rewards herself with a nice dinner with sparkling wine. Now she is enjoying some post-dinner port and pecans and chocolate, after which she will do the dishes and go to bed early, as Willa has an appointment at 6:15 AM  for a ride to the spay/neuter clinic . . . 
Regular blogging will return tomorrow.

The Never-Ending Story. . .

And then there was the tinsel.  These pretty things give a lovely finishing touch -- as long as they're hung so that they dangle loose and straight. If you just hook one on one of the branches, it will tend to stick out at a silly angle, defying gravity and looking nothing like an icicle. The only solution is to hang them from the wires of the lights or to remove some of the needles on the tip of a branch so that the little tin icicle can hang straight. It's a tedious job but it's done!     At last all the ornaments are on the tree, from  the crocheted snowflakes and the stuffed hearts and the doves and the candy canes and the red bows and Justin's kindergarten paper star to the survivor of the starfish couple given  to us by friends  I still have to cut greenery and bring it inside  --- later in the week. But the corner cupboard is wearing its Christmas look. . . There are lots of Santa's and several creches, including this odd one from India (I love the off-hand way the shepherds carry their sheep and the Fifties suburban housewife hairdo that Mary sports.)
These little figures from Italy are my favorites. I gave them to my grandmother about fifty years ago and there was also a lamb. The lamb disappeared a while back -- I think William got it. And the canopy (the wire thingie from a champagne bottle) on the manger was added by one of my boys -- and now it's a part of the Christmas tradition.



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Almost There. . .

We had the usual help making the popcorn/cranberry chain yesterday . . . this year the tree sits up higher and we left off the lowest tier of garland because of the pup. 

It's almost there -- the next step is to hang the tin icicles but that can wait till morning light.
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Crow Three Ways

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