The hours

Each day I have about seven hours to myself. [Message to mothers of young children currently neck deep in sippy cups and face wiping and tantrum calming: they do eventually tie their own shoes and trundle off for a good bit of the day! Unless you homeschool, in which case there is hopefully still shoe tying but less trundling off.]  We have just the one car right now so I usually drop everyone where they need to be by 8.30 and then the day unfurls before me, open to my whims until 3.30 pick up time. Of course, a good portion of the time goes to functional showering-laundry-grocery-errands-clean-housey-volunteering time but I have been mulling over what to do with those remaining elective hours when they happen. 

More and more I just feel compelled to write, write, write. (No, not my dissertation silly. Who feels compelled to do that?) Something about the stillness of the house and my still-fairly-empty calendar has awakened this long latent but always faintly nagging nudge to tell stories and spin the threads of my thoughts into words on paper. 

But then I think can I do this? Is this allowed? It feels (a) like I'm playing a role with this fairly sarcastic running commentary in my head complete with "air quotes": Here she is, "fiction writer" Annie sitting down at her computer in her "writerly chair" embarking on her "novel/story/saga."  I could barely tell G what I've turned my attentions to (he who knows me best), not because he would belittle it but because saying it out loud sounds so preposterous that I'm tempted to belittle it and brush it under the placemat. Oh, you know, just my little writing thing. And (b) it feels indulgent, like anything that I want to do this much should be left until after drudgery, dessert after finishing the spinach. I suspect I need a note from someone authorizing me to do this. Can this be my life or am I sneaking around behind the back of my life? 

I can feel some feathery hopes rustling around my soul about this, though. We'll see.

p.s. You might notice I've turned off comments on my posts. I am increasingly having to delete spam that is getting posted on old posts and I think maybe people are just generally less inclined to comment on blogs anymore. I do, however, LOVE emails and pen pals so I would love to hear from you if you'd like to say hi or chat about anything: basic (dot) annie at gmail (dot) com.

Passage to India

While I'm hovering around, listening to NPR online and waiting to hear US election results, I thought I'd share a bit of news we've been buzzing about around here.

After visiting us for Christmas next month, Lauren will head off to India where she has been accepted to study abroad next semester. She's over the moon about it; she has always had an particular fondness for all things to do with India and now she gets to go study and live there for over four months. 

She'll be in Visakhapatnam (usually called Vizag for short), a port city on the south eastern coast of India on the Bay of Bengal, in a house with several other students. 

One (admittedly tourist bureau-ish) view of Vizag

It's a hybrid program so she'll be taking language and anthropology classes at Andhara University and also doing her own independent field research. She's planning on doing an ethnography studying siblings and sibling caregiving in Indian culture. Truth be told, I'm thrilled for her and a little jealous--while simultaneously indulging in some parent worry and prayers for her safety and health (breathe in, breathe out). Another truth be told: I think Lauren secretly would be perfectly content to stay there and do international work a la Maggie Doyne.

Oh, hello, strong Paxman/Brockbank/Bentley wanderlust genes. I know you.

Low key Halloweening

 

Happy Halloween! It isn't a huge deal here but the US embassy has a party this afternoon and our stake has a youth party tonight so they'll be well Halloweened. Hats off to M&S who came up with pretty terrific costumes from what they had on hand + a quick trip to the store. (Maddy would want me to add that she is not shorter than Sam; I just took the photos from different perspectives. Sam would want me to add that it's getting close, though!) 

May your Halloween be as cozy and crazy and spooky as you want it to be. Shuffle through some leaves, light a jack o'lantern, and definitely have a Reese's peanut butter cup for us!

Playlist: Early days in Oz

The moving vans have arrived and we are busy unpacking and setting up house here! (Huzzah!) In the meantime, I thought I'd share some of our favorite music showing up frequently in the rotation around here.

Hiking with friends in Tidbinbilla

For the rest of my life when I hear one of these songs, I will think of our early days in Australia: of eucalyptus trees and long walks, of driving around in our little red hatchback rental car with the windows down, of our delight in seeing Aussie creatures, of being both excited and slightly woozy from jetlag and turning our lives upside down. 

These links take you to hear each of the songs on Spotify; here's the whole playlist:

Once Upon Another Time (Sara Bareilles)
Be My Witness (Bahamas)
Bread (Yellow Ostrich)
Gnossiennes No. 1 Lent (Satie)
Take It With Me (Tom Waits)
Flowers in Your Hair (The Lumineers)
On My Way Back Home (Band of Horses)
Forever Young (Bob Dylan)
Stay (Sara Bareilles)
The Lord Bless You and Keep You (John Rutter)
Normal Song (Perfume Genius)
If I Didn't Know Better (Sam Palladio, Clare Bowen)
Bring It On Home to Me (Sam Cooke)
If You Want Trouble (Nick Waterhouse)
My Heart Stood Still (Chet Baker)
You're the One That I Want (The Lennings)
Big Jet Plane (Angus and Julia Stone)
T-Bone Shuffle (T-Bone Walker)
Wisely and Slow (The Staves)
Come Back Down (Greg Laswell & Sara Bareilles)
Heart & Bones (The Pines)
We're Going to Be Friends (The White Stripes)
Fade Into You (Palladio & Bowen)
I Saw You Blink (Stornaway)
1000 Sundowns (Emma Louise)
Are You Ready Yet? (Clare Bowditch) 

 p.s. I'm a big fan of the show Parenthood; if you are, too, you might notice that I lifted a few of these from the Bravermans (that show just keeps getting better and better, right?). And here's a little bonus for your viewing pleasure, some "kangaroo" high jinx  (thanks to Sam, who shared it after seeing it at school today): 

Good Long Reads

Somewhere in the last month or so, I discovered Longreads. Where have I been? It's a curated site that recommends the best long essays and articles from a wide array of magazines, journals, and newspapers. They link to the original article and even give the word count and estimated time it takes to read it. It's heaven--vetted to pass along consistently breathtaking writing + captivating topics. 

So, in an especially meta move, I offer you my best of Longreads' best, from recent weeks:

Fade to Light by Dave Cameron, published in Walrus Magazine: a poignant and insightful look at a couple who are living with Alzheimer's Disease. I dare you to read this and not fall a little bit in love with Lowell.

Coach by William Browning, published in SBNation: A real life portrait of a tough, beloved Friday-Night-Lights high school football coach, paralleled by a boy's search for himself.

At Home at the End of Google Earth by David Kushner, Vanity Fair: An amazing tale of how a young man used Google Earth to find his family he lost at age 5 in Calcutta.

The Dead are Real: Hilary Mantel's Imagination by Larissa Macfarquhar, The New Yorker: Fascinating interview with Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (for which she just won her second Booker Prize).

What are you reading lately?