Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. -Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s been a little bit since I’ve posted. Almost everyday I think of things that I want to post about and I keep them all written down on a piece of paper on my desk. I’m going to try and get through mentioning at least a couple of these things today.

First off, the biggest news of all:

I got in to the Master’s program I applied to at the University of Toronto! That’s the University above; I also did my undergraduate here. I got into the Master of Information program, and the grand plan is to be a librarian. I may also take some courses from the archival stream as well; I find archives and collections very interesting (I also used to work at a museum here in the city). I’m super-excited and can’t wait for fall. I am also a little stressed and am worried about whether or not I’ll get a scholarship; I’ll find out in a few weeks or so. I’ll be leaving my job at the end of July, and then possibly going to a cottage in Quebec with Alex and his family for a couple of weeks.

I also wanted to post a picture of the pillow that Alex got me as part of my Valentine’s present; I just think it’s so gosh darn cute and kinda quirky. It’s from Urban Outfitters.

I had the pillow case(s) that you can see underneath for as long as I can remember. They’re really pretty, and have doves and ribbon and little flowers embroidered along the opening.

My Mum brought me my new (not actually new obviously, but new to me) sewing machine that my Grandmother gave me in February. It’s a Singer Stylist 513, and it is definitely better than my old clunker. It also has its case, which makes it easier to move around and less likely to get dusty. I realized after my Mum left that she had brought me the wrong manual for it, so she’s ordered one for me from the Singer website. They have a really neat system there – if they have an original copy of the manual they’ll send it to you. If they don’t have an original they send you a spiral bound facsimile. I think that’s pretty neat. Here’s my machine, she ain’t much to look at but I love her.

I’ve almost finished up Alex’s new owl; he’s been christened Hemingway (I even embroidered his name onto a piece of felt and attached it to his backside). I have so many ideas in my head of the things I’d like to sew and craft, but find it difficult sometimes after work to motivate myself because I’m just so darned tired. Hopefully I get Hemingway done soon; I feel kind of bad that he’s not done.

One of my best friend’s, Jenna, is getting married in July and I’m in the process of getting the materials I need for her wedding present. I can’t say what it is here, because I’m not sure if she’ll read this or not. I’ll post after the wedding though and let everyone know what it is.

I think I’ve finally got the fabric all together for Alex’s quilt (although I have no idea when I’m going to find the time to get it done). The center print is Alexander Henry’s Spotted Owl in white, and I think it will go very nicely with the yellow gingham, and green, white and blue plaid. He’s already seen all of the fabric, so this isn’t giving anything away (good plan: iron fabric).

Now onto books! I’ve read a few books since I last posted about them, except for the life of me I can’t remember what all of them were. It’s driving me a little crazy; I can only remember two. I know that I finished up Maeve Binchy’s Heart and Soul, which I had mentioned that I was reading last time. It was pure Maeve Binchy – no pretense, no soppiness, and I love how characters cross over between books (but you don’t have to have read the others to get the story; the stories are deeper if you have though).

The last book I finished was Alistair MacLeod’s collected short stories, Island. It was fantastic. I love the way that MacLeod writes, everything is real and harsh, but beautiful at the same time. He’s a born storyteller, and it was even better reading his work after hearing his voice and seeing him in person. I love his stories and I know that I’ll some back to them again and again.

Currently I’m reading three books. The first is one that I first read in the 4^th grade (I believe) called Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. It’s super short, but so well written. A movie of it was made a few years back with Alexis Bledel (Rory from Gilmore Girls) as Winnie. I’ve been reading it before falling asleep every night (interspersed with doing the New York Times crossword with Alex). For light fun I’m reading The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie Jones, which is based on the premise that Jane Austen left memoirs which reveal a personal love story that was the inspiration for her novels. My heavier reading is centered on Elizabeth Waterston’s Rapt in Plaid: Canadian Literature and Scottish Tradition. Waterston has written a lot on L.M. Montgomery and that is how I first became interested in her other works. I will admit though that I started the book by reading the chapter on Montgomery and J.M. Barrie, and then went back and started from the beginning. I’m like that.

I’ve been mulling over ideas for the paper I want to submit for the 2010 L.M. Montgomery conference at the University of Prince Edward Island. The abstract is due in June, so I better get motoring. Alex and I did a little bit of research the other night and talked over some ideas; hopefully I’m on the right track.

That’s about it for now! Have a wonderful day everyone!

The Recipe Box Swap: Tea Biscuits

I wanted to take part in the Recipe Box Swap this month and lucky me it was no-theme month so I got to choose whatever I wanted to share. This recipe comes from one of my all-time favourite cookbooks, The Purity Cookbook. The edition I have is a 2001 reprint of the 1967 edition, but the cookbook has been around for a long time. The maker of Purity Flour, Western Canada Flour Mills Co., was founded in 1905 and I believe the first edition of the Purity Cookbook was released in 1917. I believe that you can still get the 2001 reprint and I highly recommend it.

A tea biscuit dough should be soft but not sticky. A little kneading improves the quality of the biscuits, but should be done with a gentle touch as too much handling tends to make them tough.

Tea Biscuits, BASIC RECIPE

Preheat oven to 450F
Blend or sift together
2 cups Pre-Sifted PURITY All-Purpose Flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cut in finely
1/3 cup shortening
Add
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
Stir with a fork to make a soft dough.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 8 to 10 times. Roll or pat to desired thickness, (biscuits will be doubled in height when baked). Cut out with a floured cutter.

Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet, close together for soft-sided biscuits or about 1″ apart for crusty-sided biscuits.
Bake in preheated 450F oven for 12 to 15 minutes.
Yield: 18 to 20 - 1 3/4″ biscuits.

You have no idea how good these tea biscuits are. They may sound simple, or even bland, but they are really homey, cozy, and perfect. Also remember that since this is the basic recipe that you can add whatever you want (raisins, berries, cheese, etc) to change them up.

Follow this link to see who else is swapping this month: The Recipe Box Swap

“Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.” -Robert Bennett

One of the new things that I have decided to do with this blog is to write about people, blogs, or ideas that I find inspiring. Not only do I hope to introduce others to these wonders, but it actually helps me to feel even more inspired when I write.

Today I want to introduce you all to a very lovely lady named Paula Prass. You can see a link to her blog, Show + Tell, on the right. I don’t really remember how I first heard about Paula, it may have been through Heather Bailey, but I have come to admire her greatly! Paula is a designer, artist, and an all-round inspiring woman. If you go to her blog you will find links to her other websites/stores.

Now I will tell a little story that has to do with the above fabric. This is one of Paula’s; it is Par Avion in Ocean. Last month I showed it to Alex online and told him how much I loved it. What do you think he did? He ordered me a few yards as a surprise! I think I may have the sweetest boyfriend in the world, he’s pretty great. The fabric is even better looking in real life. I decided to contact Paula to tell her this little story, and also to tell her how much I love her blog. She got back to me within about 10 minutes I’d say and left a comment both here on my blog (on the Alistair MacLeod post) and an even longer one in response to my comment on her blog. I thought that that was very sweet of her.

This fabric has got to be one of the best designs that I’ve seen in a long time, and Paula actually has a few other items in her line (photo frames, note cards, etc) that coordinate and I’ve been thinking about getting a couple of things for myself. I will post a picture of what I sew with this fabric when it’s done. Right now I’m thinking block quilt because I don’t want to ruin the pattern of this fabric by cutting it up too much.

If any of you out there are in need of a little inspiration, do visit Paula’s blog and check it out.

"...but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl." -Ernest Hemingway

Since I have been lagging in the reading department (I have been reading, just not as often) and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with this whole blog-thing, I’ve decided that I’m going to write about other stuff too. There are a lot of other things that I’d like to share. Whether these things are the projects I’m working on, the little things that I make, stories about the very talented people I’m meeting along the way, or (continuing on with) the books I’m reading, I just want to share more.

First things first, whaddaya think of my new blog design? Did it myself I did. I brushed off some of my old HTML skills and fiddled with one of Blogger’s templates. I think it turned out nicely. I may still tweak some things (mainly colours right now), but all in all I’m liking it. The background graphic is from Squidfingers. That little birdie at the top I love especially, it’s by Ida Waugh and appeared in a little book called Holly Berries (1881).

I guess before I continue on I should at least mention the books that I have in fact read since last posting. It would be rather mean of me to ignore them. The first book that I finished after last posting was The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin. This has got to be one of the most amazing books that I have read in a long time. Toibin is a beautiful storyteller and I felt really connected with the main character, Helen (to the point that I was shocked at times by commonalities between her and I). While some have said that they’re tired of Toibin writing books about gay people (especially gay people and AIDS), I felt that because of his personal experience (write what you know) Toibin was cleverly adept at making the whole story come alive in a way that was compelling and didn’t rely on heart-pulling to keep the reader occupied. I see no problem with writing about the theme of homosexual identity, especially since it is a theme that needs to be openly explored and accepted.

Next up was Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair; this was a fantastic book again! I didn’t really know much about it before I picked it up and I hadn’t seen either of the movies, but I had heard good things about it and decided to give it a shot. I must admit that I have never been through a situation even remotely close to that described in the book, but I still really felt connected to the characters and to the story as a whole. I think that this is because much of the book is at least loosely based on Graham Greene’s own experience. It was a fairly sad book, but still very beautiful and well-written.

I started Night Letters by Robert Dessaix, and while I think it will be a very interesting read, I wasn’t able to get through it at the time. I’ve put it aside for another day, hopefully I do return to it.

I’ve been reading a lot of poetry, short stories, and journal articles instead of full-length books too. One of the best articles I read was The Victorian Sickroom in L. M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle and Emily's Quest : Sentimental Fiction and the Selling of Dreams which was written by Kate Lawson (a professor at the University of Waterloo) and published in the September 2007 issue of The Lion and the Unicorn. I just love reading journal articles, especially about Maud, and The Blue Castle is one of my favourites!

Currently I’m reading Heart and Soul, Maeve Binchy’s latest. Maeve Binchy just has such a way of making everyday life so interesting. Nothing fantastical or really crazy happens to any of her characters, but I would never say that their lives are boring. They’re normal people with normal lives, but I have always found everyday life interesting and I guess that’s why I love her books so much. I’m just about finished up with this one and I think the next will be Alistair MacLeod’s short story collection, Island.

Now that I'm done talking about books, I wanted to share this little guy that I made. His name is Ollie, and I made him for Alex. I based him off of a Christmas Ornament pattern that Anna Maria had posted to her blog (you can see a link to her blog on the right), I just changed a few things. Alex has also suggested that he'd like a bigger version (think decorative pillow-sized), which is what I'm currently working on. I'll post a picture of him when he's done. Oh, and the quote-name of this post was at Alex's request. He loves Hemingway...and owls...and stuff.

What else? I'm waiting for some fabric to arrive in the mail. I'm very excited about it all! I ordered Anna Maria's Dance Floor in burgundy and Mingling in rose, Heather Bailey's Tiled Primrose in rose, Alexander Henry's Spotted Owl in white, and Tina Givens' Silhouette Polka in pink. I can't wait for them all to arrive!

Tomorrow, if I have the time that is, I'm going to tell you all about Paula Prass and what a nice lady she is!

All of us are better when we're loved. -Alistair MacLeod

On Saturday, Alex and I went to the live recording of CBC’s Saturday morning radio show, Go. The episode was called “Tiptoe Through the Titles”, and there were three independent booksellers competing in a trivia contest to win a sleepover with Alistair MacLeod. When Alex and I found out that the prize was a sleepover with Alistair MacLeod we were talking about how great it would be if AM was actually there at the recording.

I love Alistair MacLeod (so does Alex). I first read No Great Mischief in a Celtic Studies class I took at UofT and fell in love with it immediately. Whenever I see a copy of this book I have an urge to buy it just so that I can have a copy on hand to give to anyone at some point; it’s one of the few books that I feel that way about. I actually have an urge right now to read it again (but I already have a couple other books on the go).

Continuing on with my story: Alex and I got up super-early Saturday morning (we had to be there at 8:20 am) and took the streetcar to CBC. There weren’t a lot of other people there (only about 20-25, I’d say) but there were a couple of people that Alex knew from his program. We were all funneled into an elevator - super scary for my by the way since I have a tendency to be claustrophobic with that many people in a small space – and went to the studio. As we were walking into the studio Alex looked into the green room and who do you think he saw? Alistair MacLeod. I was so happy; I don’t think I stopped smiling through the entire show. The host kept referring to him as Canada’s cuddliest author, and I have to say that I agree!

It was really great, and even though neither of us got to speak with him it was just nice to see him and hear him talk in person. I took a picture of him as he was leaving the studio, but it’s a little blurry (taking pictures with Blackberry while in motion = not good idea), so I’m not posting it here. I *heart* you Alistair MacLeod.

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. -Mark Twain

Ah yes, I know, the writing is slipping again. I haven’t been reading as much for the past couple of weeks; I’ve been up to other things (shenanigans if you will), one of which has been getting everything together to apply to the MA program I want into. I have, however, been buying lots of books…heh, I have a serious problem.

I finished How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young and I must say that I liked it as much at the end as I did when I started. Young is wry and witty, all topped off with that British humour that I still sometimes don’t understand. He didn’t really “play the game” while working at Conde Nast, specifically Vanity Fair (no wonder he was fired!), but that’s a big part of what I like about him. He also seems to have read a lot of the same books as me (the Evelyn Waugh mentions continue throughout the memoir, yay!), which was nice because then I understood a lot of his references. In general, I just liked the way that he wrote about himself. He didn’t pretend that he was some great writer that was misunderstood (okay, he actually does say that, but it was sarcastic); he’s open about his faults, writes in detail about embarrassments, and is so ridiculously funny when he’s being self-deprecating. I recommend it!

Up until yesterday I was reading three (sort of four) books at the same time, but then I finished Magic Island: The Fictions of L.M. Montgomery by Elizabeth Waterston. Elizabeth is a Professor at the University of Guelph (which houses the Lucy Maud Montgomery Research Centre – see sidebar for link), and she knows so much about Maud that it’s crazy. In this book (it’s considered literary criticism) Elizabeth breaks down each of Maud’s books in chronological order, starting with Anne of Green Gables of course, and marks out how the plotlines were inspired by incidents in Maud’s own life, as well as societal and political issues. It’s really fascinating. Most people don’t know that the eight Anne books weren’t written in sequence (I’ve mentioned this before) and it’s really interesting to note how Maud’s life and depression affected the books that were inserted in the series (Anne of Windy Poplers and Anne of Ingleside). It was just neat to read about each of them in chronological order that way, so different from how they’re usually written about.

The other books I’m reading include Fishing the Sloe Black River which is a collection of short stories by Colum McCann, a book on applying for graduate school, and I am still reading Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd by Barry Clifford, except I’ve misplaced it (which is why I said that I was reading “sort of four” books). I have to pick out another one for the subway rides to and from work.

I would write more (like about the books I’ve been buying), but it’s about that time to leave work and I don’t feel like staying late.

A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend. -Author Unknown

Wow, I cannot believe that it’s been a month and a half since I last blogged! It’s kind of funny actually; things have been way crazy-busy in my life as of late, yet I’ve actually been finding more time to read (probably because I’m on the subway more often going here-there-and-everywhere).

Let’s see…I’ll begin where we last left off. I finished up Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. I don’t really know what to say about it since I’ve read it before, and Jane Austen is always amazing. I will say that I find a lot of people think that Jane Austen is old-fashioned (the number of people who think this is probably directly proportional to the number of people who think Jane is sheer awesomeness), but I don’t think Jane Austen is old-fashioned; I thinks she’s witty and intelligent, and I find that even though circumstances are different now, her plotlines still hold a strong resonance with the modern situation. I can’t rank Mansfield Park; Pride and Prejudice is my favourite, Emma is my least favourite, and all of Jane’s other writings are tied in the middle.

After Mansfield Park I read The Coffee Trader by David Liss. Liss sort of has his own unique niche-genre; he writes (for the most part) suspenseful historical fiction that revolves around the stock exchange, and commodities trading and speculation. The Coffee Trader is set in 17th-century Amsterdam, and centres on a Jewish immigrant named Miguel Lienzo. Miguel loses all of his money in a sugar scheme gone wrong, and wants to regain his position in the community. Being Jewish, in 17th-century Amsterdam, Miguel is directly under the influence and power of the Ma’amad (the Jewish governing council), and must keep his money-making scheme, and dealings with the Dutch, secret in order to not incur their wrath. Miguel becomes involved in coffee futures (coffee was a little known commodity in Europe during this period), and must lie, plot and connive in order to get what he wants. The whole complex story is way too involved to get into here (plus, I don’t want to give it away since it’s so good), but it’s quite a bit different from anything I’ve read before. The book was a little longer than I thought it needed to be, but I also think that it would have been very confusing and difficult to enjoy if Liss had shortened it and not spent the time plotting out the steps. I really did enjoy it, and look forward to reading his other books (which are on my Christmas list).

After finishing up The Coffee Trader, I felt that I needed some non-fiction so I decided on False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes by Thomas Hoving. Hoving is the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and has some great stories, but dude (and I love him) he’s got a huge ego! His ego however is a major part of the reason that I find him so enjoyable to read. Hoving styles himself a fakebuster, and in this book he recounts how he started in his career, the fakes and con artists that he’s encountered, and how museum politics affect the world of art forgery. I just love Hoving; the fact that he uses words like “chicanery” makes me love him even more! Hoving is definitely not a born writer; he has a tendency to jump around a bit whenever something pops into his head, but all of his stories are so interesting! I also have another book by him, Making the Mummies Dance, that I have to read; it’s sort of a memoir about his time at the Met.

Now onto my traditional Christmas reading! I didn’t read Dickens’ Christmas Books this year, because I just wasn’t in the mood, but I fed my yearning with three others. First off was The Christmas Tree, authored by Julie Salamon and illustrated by Jill Weber. It’s a cute little tale about finding the Christmas tree for Rockefeller Center, and the special relationship that a nun, Sister Anthony, has with her Norway Spruce (which is eventually picked to be the Rockefeller tree). It is a very sentimental story, I really like it, but it doesn’t have a lot of real substance; the pictures are cute though!

No Christmas would be complete without a little Lucy Maud Montgomery! Every year I read Christmas with Anne and other Holiday Stories, which is a collection of Maud’s holiday themed stories and holiday chapters from the Anne books. There are two chapters taken from Anne books (one from Anne of Green Gables and one from Anne of Windy Poplars), the rest of the stories are ones that Maud had published in turn-of-the-century magazines. My favourites are “Aunt Cyrilla’s Christmas Basket” and “The Josephs’ Christmas”. These stories (I know it sounds cheesy) fill me with warmth, and happiness, and just pure bliss! I love Maud, I love Maud!

My last Christmas-themed read for the season was Maeve Binchy’s This Year It Will Be Different and Other Stories. Maeve Binchy is great; I haven’t talked about her books here yet, because she’s only released one book since I started blogging and I haven’t read it yet. I’ve read everything that she’s written, except for Silver Wedding (only because I bought it, but the pages were all screwed up and I haven’t found another copy yet). Maeve Binchy’s stories and books are always about people and situations that could be real, but she writes in such a wry and witty manner that even mundane daily details become amazingly interesting!

I started reading Measuring the World: A Novel by Daniel Kehlmann (translated from the German) and found it intensely boring from the beginning. I tired to get through it, I really did, but just couldn’t. I’ve put it back on the bookshelf for now, and maybe I’ll try it again someday. Maybe it’s better in German.

After that boringness, I decided on Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Marquez is never boring! I just finished it yesterday, and it was fabulous. I know that I’m reading him in translation, so I can only imagine how poetic it would be to read him in Spanish; everything he writes is so wretchedly beautiful that I don’t really know what to say. It’s more of a feeling that I get when I read, it’s nearly impossible to put into words, but it’s as if Marquez knows something I don’t or has seen something beyond beauty that I will never see. I loved this book (even more than I loved Love in the Time of Cholera, and that’s saying something!); I know I’ll read it again.

I’ve been shuffling along through Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd by Barry Clifford (with Paul Perry). It’s one of those books that I can only read when a certain mood strikes, so I grab it whenever it does. Clifford is an archaeologist and he’s pretty famous in the marine archaeology community for his devotion to finding shipwrecks. He is best-known for finding the wreck of Black Sam Bellamy’s Whydah (Black Sam was a pirate), and the Whydah is the only shipwreck discovered that has been conclusively identified as a pirate ship. In Return to Treasure Island, Clifford and his team go in search of the burnt and sunk remains of Captain Kidd’s The Adventure Galley. Clifford and his co-writer Perry also give a thorough background history on the islands themselves, how Kidd came to be a pirate, and how his story inspired Stevenson’s Treasure Island. So far, so good.

After I finished Of Love and Other Demons last night, I grabbed Toby Young’s memoir How to Lose Friends and Alienate People off my shelf. I’ve heard some really good things about it and got it used, so I figured I’d give it a shot. He’s hooked me already: he mentioned Evelyn Waugh twice, Woodward and Bernstein, and the Whaleship Essex all within the prologue and first ten pages. So far he’s a man after my own heart, if he wasn’t my Mother’s age…anyways; I think it’s going to be a good one!

Okay, I’m done for now (and out of [metaphorically-speaking] breath). Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivas/whatever-holiday-you-do-or-do-not-want-to-celebrate to everyone!