Appetizers Served in Photos & Literary Quotes

A note about fathers & sons—and female authors

“Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and brush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock.”
~ Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

"Walking is the great adventure, the first meditation, a practice of heartiness and soul primary to humankind. Walking is the exact balance between spirit and humility." ~ Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild

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I’m offering something different today. Consider it light and a bit airy. Instead of a meal, these are appetizers.

The daily frenzied quotient is off the rails and has been all year. We need breaks for beauty, and those for good thoughts, too. Peace and sanity require it.

When we travel, to break up the stories, we offer “Postcards From the Open Road.” Since we are home this summer, save for a trip to Ohio, we’re taking advantage of past photos and some favorite literary quotes. We’ll do this occasionally, until we hit the road again.

It’s too soon to think all that much about our next trip, but changes are coming. When the time is right, I look forward to sharing these.

“But I will tell you this: in the desert there is all — and yet there is nothing.”
“Stay! Explain that.”
“Well then,” he said, with a gesture of impatience, “God is there and man is not.”
~ Balzac, A Passion in the Desert

“Away, away, from men and towns,
To the wild wood and the downs, —
To the silent wilderness,
Where the soul need not repress its music.”
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” ~ Rachel Carson

“We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.” ~ Wendell Berry

“Set aside the window. Let me drink the day.” ~ Edith Wharton

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A Note about Fathers, Sons, and Female Authors

(You could also call this “Confessions of a Literary Nerd.”)

I am such a literary geek!

I wrote to a friend this morning upon finishing the book, The View from Lake Como by Adriana Trigiani, about a woman in her 30s attempting to escape her Italian family’s smothering grasp in New Jersey. It is comic and touching with crisp dialogue. A story of self-actualization with an utterly human heroine. It’s so captured me that as soon as I finished reading, I downloaded the audiobook. It’s perfectly read by Mira Sorvino.

I also confessed to my friend that my dad did not enjoy reading female authors because “they write differently.”

When I called Jack Ryan on this, he challenged me: “So, tell me some of your favorite books written by women.”

“That’s easy: To Kill a Mockingbird…um…um…”

To be fair, I only became a reader after turning 30, so I had not read many books at the time.

However, since then, I have always been on the lookout for female authors I enjoy, and the list is long.

Here it is 30 years down the road, and I am still coming up with ways to argue with my father!

You’ll notice the stamps on the envelope carrying my letter have a theme: Willa Cather, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Louisa May Alcott, and New Jersey.

Very much a geek!

PS: Postage stamps are going from 73 cents to 78 cents this week. Previously purchased “Forever Stamps” can still be used, regardless of how long ago you bought them.

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon
men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that
emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and
renews a weary spirit.”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

“Overcome fear, behold wonder.” ~ Richard Bach

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