50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #136 -- Gwen Roland, Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp, 161 pages.

This turned out to be more a memoir than an ecology book, but what a memoir it was. For about 10 years in the 70s and early 80s, Gwen Roland and her partner lived on a houseboat they built themselves (the house part at least) moored in Bloody Bayou in the Atchafalaya basin, in almost complete solitude, living off the land. Rolands recounts the story of how they decided to live in the swamp, how they built their houseboat, planted a food garden during the dry season, raised chickens in a floating coop, fished and traded their catch for other essentials like milk and bread, and what they discovered about Louisiana and themselves. The book includes pictures by C. C. Lockwood, who stayed with them part of the time he was capturing his famous Atchafalaya photos. It provides a slightly modern glimpse into a lifestyle as old as the Mississippi, but fast disappearing. No one lives in the Atchafalaya basin anymore, and the old ways have almost died out. This book made me yearn once again for the simple life, as much as I can acknowledge to myself that I could probably not live without my computer, TV, and air conditioner.

Progress toward goals: 317/365 = 86.8%

Books: 136/150 = 90.7%

Pages: 39076/50000 = 78.2%

2007 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

(no subject)

You know what I've discovered is really quite disconcerting? When you read a historical fiction novel about a time/place that you are not really familiar with, and then end up encountering the people and places from the novel in an actual history book. I keep forgetting the history came *first* :)

Daily post

Sleep: 12am to 1:30am, 2:30am to 5am, 5:30am to 7:30am

Pain: 7

Weather: clear, 80F, 57% humidity, high 80F

Daily BPAL: BEAVER MOON
Description: wild cherry with vanilla cream accord, and a hint of strawberry.
In bottle: Vanilla like whoah, and a hint of cherry.
On me: A little more subtle, like strawberries and cream.

Daily Tarot: 6 of Cups, Reversed: Closing your heart to the simple pleasures of life. Escaping realities by living in the past. Refusal to grow up and embrace the joys of adulthood. Contempt for acts of gentle kindness. May indicate immaturity or sexual insecurities. May indicate the departure of an old friend.

Reading:
Another Country by James Baldwin
On the Trail of the Women Warriors: Amazons in Myth and History by Lyn Webster Wilde
The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner
Lives of Themistocles, Pericles, Aristides, Alcibiades, and Coriolanus, Demosthenes, and Cicero, Caesar and Antony by Plutarch
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Spelling hang-ups

Does anyone else have particular words that they persist in misspelling no matter how many times they are corrected?

One for me is 'sorcerer'. I keep wanting to spell it 'sorceror'. No matter how many times I remind myself that the last vowel is an 'e' not an 'o' the next time it comes up there I go with the 'o' again. It's very annoying for someone like me who prides herself on her literacy.

50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #137 -- Lyn Webster Wilde, On the Trail of the Women Warriors: The Amazons in Myth and History, 191 pages.

This book was listed as one of the sources for Teresa Tomlinson's The Moon Riders and The Voyage of the Snake Lady and since I liked those so much I thought I'd check this out. It's an absolutely fascinating look at the cultures and traditions that may have inspired the Amazon myth. The author admits she set out to prove that the Amazons did in fact exist but in the end she concludes that the mythic Amazons were a compilation of facets of several different cultures that flourished in ancient times around the Mediterranean and Black Seas and in Northern Africa. She explores women's roles in each of these cultures and how they may have contributed to the Amazon myth. Nor is she afraid to explore the darker side of some of these cultures, including human sacrifice and self mutilation. She also tracks down remnants of these traditions in modern Eastern and African cultures. The end result is a book that celebrates what it means to be a woman, and reminds us that although patriarchy may have been the dominant model for several thousand years, it was not always so, nor need it be in the future.

Progress toward goals: 317/365 = 86.8%

Books: 137/150 = 91.3%

Pages: 39267/50000 = 78.5%

2007 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

Um . . .

Ok, so I'm reading a work written back in 15th century. The author has a tendency to extremely florid description and it's often times difficult to figure out exactly what he means. Tonight I came across the following sentence, as part of the description of a beach:

"There was also abundant evidence of the fragrant coitus of monstrous whales, brought up by the fruitful tides."

WTF? Ok, am I reading this right? Is he talking about finding *whale sperm* on the beach? Am I missing something here? I don't know much about cetacean sexual habits but I can't imagine much 'evidence' washes up on beaches.

The only thing I can think of that he might mean is ambergris, which does come from whales, but is definitely not related to coitus, being instead something similar to a gall stone.

It is accomplished!!!

After much trial and travail, much downloading of conversion software and clipping of mp3s, much touch-tone typing and much bandwidth buying, I have managed to get The Llama Song as my phone ring tone.

I am much pleased.