Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
Bookshed: 1Q84
I just did something I never do…… A crime against story-telling, really. But when the book is 920 pages longand there’s a plot summary online – is it really so bad to forgo the last hundred pages in lieu of slogging through the book?
I think the main problem with 1Q84 – the latest release by Haruki Murakami – is that it was originally published as three novels in Japan. For what I’m assuming were marketing and audience reasons, the English-version was released as one giant book – which makes for an uneven arc, and a lot of story repetition in each section. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wish you could have read the books in context – because the alternative world that Murakami creates – rife with magical beings, malevolent cable-service fee collectors, cult-leader prophets, and feminist murders – has lots to offer. But as a single – superlong – novel, it drags.
This Globe and Mail review sums it up best:
Whatever else about 1Q84, it is maximalist Murakami. With its animal allegories and echoes of folk legends, the references to everything from Alice in Wonderland to the Gnostic thinking of Carl Jung, the novel offers the most complete précis of its author’s lifelong preoccupations and eccentricities. For fans, the more is the merrier; for newcomers, the book may be a few oddities, and a couple of hundred pages, beyond the patience threshold.
Though even as a fan, my patience was sorely tested, to the degree that I’ve sought out the spoiler and can now move onto other things. This was obviously a new attempt for Murakami – at more than double the length of anything he’s previously published – and I find myself hoping that for his next work he will return to more condensed surrealism. A world created within 300 pages is frankly a far greater accomplishment than one which takes 920 to explain.
What life is all about…….
Things have gotten busy around the Urban Crow in the past two weeks and I’ve just decided to throw up my hands and go along with it rather than fretting too much. Birthday, tenant-move that went sideways (for us), yard sale coming up, freelance work due today, and because we got a good deal on a painting quote (early in the season doncha know) – we’re also going ahead with that. Not to mention gardening, and hosting a BBQ this weekend.
Totally not what I thought Brian’s 40th birthday would look like as we are full tilt dealing with everything at once since returning from our little holiday with friends on Mesachie Lake over the weekend (that was my gift to him). Between fixing the suite (Brian’s job) and getting everything ready to yard sale (my job) – we’ve got all our free time booked! On a more positive note however – by the end of this month we’ll have a completely refreshed suite, a newly-painted home, a ton of junk moved out of our house, and a garden that is summer-worthy.
Sadly, I am all out of writing energy this late in the day, so I will leave you with a few photographs of the last few days of activity:
On Wednesday and Thursday we got all the plants in that were waiting for the end of the fence construction. We’ve got more to do, but we think this is enough work for this spring!
On Friday, we travelled over to Mesachie Lake (right beside Cowichan Lake) and hung out with some friends from the island for the weekend. You can see from this picture that it was an amazing location and we had a fabulous time:
On Saturday, I baked Brian’s birthday cake – twice – because the first one fell and turned out to be undercooked anyway. This is the successful version and the first Angel Food cake I have ever made from scratch (lemon angel food cake with lemon cream – totally fabulous in the end):
And last night, Mica came home from school early and spent two hours making fajitas with all the fixings for Brian’s actual birthday dinner. Seriously impressed and thinking she should do that more often:
Flying Folk Friday
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPXheIrcKr0%5D
My band – The Flying Folk Army – played a show last Saturday for the first time in seven years. There are video tracks of the whole affair on YouTube – which I am tickled with. The last time we played there was no YouTube! (or social media of any kind).
For those of you remember Flying Folk Fridays at La Quena – I am sharing our ever-popular version of Rasputin to get your weekend started!
Now *you* can hire *me*!
I’ve got admit – lately I have felt more than a little dissatisfaction with my professional life. Not that I dislike what I do – writing and web management are my natural and chosen field – but after thirteen years I wouldn’t mind a little more variety.
When I dropped my workweek down to four days last fall, one thought was that the extra time would make taking on freelance work an option again. It’s been about ten years since I’ve taken on any writing or editing work, and in that time I’ve developed a whole new set of professional skills around social media planning and management – which I would love the opportunity to use outside of my regular work environment (it’s a tad bureaucratic at times). So! Instead of working five days a week at my (kinda boring) job, four days a week there and one day a week on my own seems like a good balance between stability and work-diversity.
Last week I dropped a line on Facebook to let people know I was hanging out my shingle – and pretty much immediately, a good friend contacted me with some work. It’s writing work I’ve never done before – but that’s the point! I’m flexing my wordly muscles! Clearly, I’m a little high on this first contract 🙂
You can check out my rate sheet above at the Slippery Fish link and learn more about the writing, editing and social media services I offer (included blog coaching). If you don’t see a communications service posted that you are interested in, please ask me! (I also have a portfolio available on request.)
Recipe: Dinner Waffles
Apparently, Facebook-posts about having waffles for dinner makes people hungry – or so say a couple of friends who have demanded a recipe for the Cornbread Waffle and Sausage dinner we made for our friends the other night. Perhaps this photo isn’t the most appetizing – I’m not a food photographer – but let me tell you, this was one incredible meal!
The sausages came from the Eat Wild Sausage Seminar which we took the night before (and I will write more about shortly), and the idea for the waffles was inspired by a late-night craving after the Flying Folk Army show on Saturday. This recipe adequately serves four people as a main.
Dinner Waffles with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Feta Cheese
Waffles
3 eggs
2 cups buttermilk (or regular milk)
6 T vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups multigrain flour
3/4 cup corn meal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
Handful of chopped chives
3 tbsp fresh chopped oregano
Whip eggs and milk together. Add oil to wet ingredients. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients, then whip those with wet ingredients until smooth. Stir in chives and oregano.
Make as you would in the waffle iron.
Spinach, Mushroom, Feta Topping
1 bulb of garlic, minced
1 bunch of spinach, torn into pieces
25 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 – 1/2 cup of walnuts, toasted and chopped
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Turn heat onto medium flame and heat up 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil. Add garlic and cook for several minutes, stirring until it is golden and fragrant. Add a handful of oregano leaves and some salt and continue to stir for another minute or two. Add the mushrooms and some more oil and salt, cook down. Add the spinach in handfuls, and continue to cook on a med-low flame until your spinach is wilted but still pretty bright green. At this point, you can take the pan off the heat and leave it until the waffles are made. Once your waffles are ready, bring the mix back up to temperature, stirring continuously and add in the walnuts and feta – stirring just one more minute.
These waffles turn out crispy and are served with the warm topping and extra feta cheese. They are also the best thing I have ever eaten, hands down.
Red Cedar 