Days of Books and Roses

Like me, Mom hates finishing a good book and suggested that if I write a review of it, it might elicit comments. The book I just finished reading is The End of The Alphabet by C.S. Richardson and here are my thoughts on it.

If you were told that you only have 30 days to live, how would you spend those days? Ambrose Zephyr, the main character of The End of The Alphabet by C.S. Richardson has just been told that. He is fifty and married to a woman he loves very much when he is told that his illness will kill him within a month. Give or take a day.

He quickly decides to spend his 30 days traveling alphabetically from Amsterdam to Zanzibar. Though Zaporra Ashkenazi (nicknamed Zipper) his much loved wife thinks that he could use the letter “A” to get his affairs in order, she decides that if he wants to travel she will go with him. They have no children and she does not want him to go without her.

This is a beautifully written story of their last journey though it’s not a travel book and things don’t always go well. However, throughout the book you see how much they love and depend on each other and how gracefully they complement each other. This is above all a love story with a little bit of poetry and magic on every page.

Logically there are some problems with the book as you’re never told what his disease is and he never asks for a second opinion. This is C.S. Richardson’s first novel and he uses no quotes for his characters so there were times I wasn’t sure whose “voice” I was reading. But this is an intelligent and deeply touching book; poignant without being maudlin. Life goes on. Death goes on. Love goes on.

What would you do if you were told you only had 30 days to live?

Joy

Life on the farm in Minnesota was difficult; nine kids, no mother and a dad who was gone much of the time building silos on neighboring farms. But kids are kids and fun is found no matter the circumstances. Mother and her sister often told us how they would ride the sheep, racing each other and holding on for dear life to the wool. Bridles were never mentioned which is probably why they fell off so often. But it is one of their most treasured memories.

John Edwards has withdrawn from the campaign but you can read his wonderful message to all of us on his website: www.johnedwards.com

And the award goes to.........

Fresh snow in the mountains, the rain is over and gas is under $3/gallon!When we watch the Academy Awards, there are always movies or performances we haven’t seen. Not this year as we are making a project of seeing all the major films and performances. It costs $7.50 each to see a matinee (before 6:00pm) with the senior discount of $1.00. Afterwards we go out to eat or stop at Starbucks for a latte and discuss what we've just seen. The different locations create a better atmosphere for discussions; if we were home, I'd be reading or studying and DH would be watching television. Not exactly conducive to stimulating conversations!

I've just finished reading a most unusual book and need some time to reflect on it: "The End of the Alphabet" by C.S. Richardson. It was never in my "currently reading" list because I finished it before I had the time to list it. It's that small - only 121 teeny-tiny pages but thought provoking. I may join a local bookclub but don't want to dissect a book so much that it kills all the enjoyment. Picky, picky.

Uff Da

The Norwegian equivalent of "oy vey!"

In "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls, she writes about how her mother once mentioned Jackson Pollock to a person who had been giving her rides to work. The woman said she had Polish blood and so didn't appreciate hearing derogatory names for Polish people.

That reminded me of a similar misunderstanding. I was responsible for training a new employee who had the habit of asking questions, lots of questions that had nothing to do with her job. It didn't take me long to realize this was her way of avoiding work and when she asked the next unrelated-to-anything question, I told her it was a "moot point." The next day she came to work and resigned telling everyone it was because I had called her deaf and dumb. No one believed I could have said such a thing. They were right and it didn't take me too long to realize that she had confused "moot" with "mute." I explained it to her but she still resigned which was best. She wouldn't have made it through the probation period anyway.

"Uff da" was an expression we heard often while we were growing up. Mother's first language was Norwegian and she would speak it to her brothers and sisters when she didn't want us to understand what she was saying. I always thought it would be fun to learn Norwegian but realized there wasn't much of a demand for it for the amount of work it would take. I once looked up Norwegian sayings and came across one that I recall as "you can't count the pelts until the bears are shot" - or something like that.

The Resort

Uncle's Resort , Minnesota 1947 Another view, also taken in 1947
Every other summer we would make a trip from SoCal to Minnesota and visit relatives. Staying at our uncle’s resort was the highlight of these trips because we could roam and explore pretty much unsupervised. We city kids learned about wood ticks, leeches, mosquitoes and lightning bugs. We had our own cabin which was furnished but ate all our meals with the relatives.

On warm days, our uncle would allow us to select a drink from the chest-type cooler full of ice and sodas in the bait house. We never had sodas at home and enjoyed being able to choose a bottled root-beer, Coca-Cola, Nehi orange or grape, and pull it out of the ice-cold water and open it with the bottle opener on the side of the cooler.

As we got older and the fishing boats our cousins and friends had gave way to speed boats, my sister and I were reined in a little more – don’t go out with the boys in fast boats.