The worst thing you can do– if you are me– is read the New York Times’s review of the Oscars afterward. The funny thing is, why do they watch? Why do these stupid, joyless journalists watch, if they don’t have any idea what entertainment is for? I wonder if Alessandra Stanley has any idea how…
Under "The Tent"
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Authors really shouldn’t be celebrities or figureheads. Not really. Instead, they should be heroes. Margaret Atwood just fills a chair, like any other person. She is right there in front of me. She is little. She is older than the image sketched on the side of a Barnes & Noble handbag. But she is epic.…
Lost in Love
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Was it the beer or the sunshine? Or just escaping London for a while that gave me the nerve to talk to Air Supply? Or none of that? I was on my way to Nashville, with three hours to kill in the airport, when I spotted two guys that looked alot like Russell Hitchcock and…
Evening song
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It’s gone, isn’t it? When did it leave us Or when did we leave it? Did it go When the blue light came down? Or the night I said no When you said yes? Did it leave When I said yes to him And you to her? Did it go when I left Or when…
Hobby
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“I have an idea!” I think. And so it starts. I begin something new. Learning guitar Is the latest, That dust collector in the corner. Yoga practice, once a week, once a month, Or sometimes only in my mind. For about two days one February On the steps of the Nelson Art Gallery It was…
Sunny Intervals
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London is blooming this morning. It rained last night, the drops crackling on the plastic sheeting that covers the bricks outside our front window. We fell asleep to the lullaby of water rushing down the black iron downspouts. But this morning, London is dripping with sunshine. It won’t last. In England, this day will be…
London Style
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We live not according to reason, but according to fashion. –Seneca From the beginning, one of the things I liked about London is one simple fact: You can wear anything here! And when I say anything, I mean it. Gone are the polished days of London Fog trenchcoats, black bowlers and Burberry plaids. (Well, the…
Dry Milk
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Frances laughs at me. “You love being poor!” as I reminisce again about my childhood. Now, though, I am not poor. I open the cupboard now and look at that little plastic tub of semi-skimmed dry milk. It’s cheerful, with it’s red cap and coffee and bread imagery. “Ideal for use in breadmakers, cooking, tea,…
Counting Backward from 1000
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It’s black and dull in the room, but my mind shoots through with lights, flashes of bodies, voices shouting, tipping and wheeling around. I roll over and feel the body, warm and snoozing, next to me. I huff and sigh, my eyes following the crack on the ceiling. I could read. I could get up,…
What YES! gave me…
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I did NOT want to go on this ski trip. Go skiing in the Alps? In Italy? No thanks! Some of you may think: That is BONKERS. Some of you may think that is just plain out of character. (Elizabeth LOVES to travel!) Some of you are cursing me for not appreciating the luck I…
Let the Sun Shine!
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For those of you ooohhing and aahhing over the excitement of life in London, I can tell you that there is one downside: the season they call “winter.”This isn’t really a “season” or anything like “winter” (except that Christmas takes place during it); no, it is just a VERY long extension of the worst possible…
Spiral-bound Woman
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I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. — Joan Didion I’m sitting at my oak table, one I use as a desk. I am glancing up, now and then, at the bookcase next to the…
Ghosts in Grey
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I woke from a hard dream this morning. Colin and I were driving on a snowy road, a mountain face along one side, a river rushing along on the other. I must have been half-asleep, dreaming, because even as I dreamed, I could feel him curled against my back. In the dream, the sky was…
Danny speaks!
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I had the nicest e-mail recently from Danny Wallace… the only personal note I have ever received from a king, I must say! After I wrote that last post, I thought it would only be fair to let Danny know I had written it. I am a Joinee and a Lovely citizen afterall… It is…
Perils of a "Lovely" Life
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Colin and I were out Sunday evening to see Jon Stewart in a live performance at the Prince Edward to promote his book, America the Book. You know, I’ve been moaning and complaining lately because I never meet anyone famous around here. Madonna and Gwyneth and Kate all live practically on my doorstep — so…
