This Past Week ...

I wrote another new poem, hallelujah. The (horrible) working title is "The Language of the Sea."

 

I started reading Sheila Kaye-Smith's memoir All the Books of My Life. Delightful, fascinating,   informative, often funny. I haven't yet read any of her fiction, but Joanna Godden  and Susan Spray  sit on my TBR shelf.

 

I received two books: The Indiscreet Letter  by Eleanor Hallowell Abbott, one of those turn-of-the-twentieth-century, quaint, forgotten, and very brief novelettes penned by a forgotten lady writer who contributed stories to ladies' magazines. And The Wilder Life  by Wendy McClure, published last year and recommended by my sister. It's the true account of the author's journey following the route Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family took in the "Little House" books.

 

I also received a CD of English madrigals sung by The King's Singers, and a DVD of the indie film The Anniversary Party  starring Alan Cumming, Jennifer Jason-Leigh, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, Jane Adams, Gwenyth Paltrow, Parker Posey, and Jennifer Beals.

 

I listened to this wonderful interview with David Hyde Pierce on the American Theatre Wing website. It's an older interview (2006), but worth listening to if you are a DHP fan—and even if you're not. In fact, the whole site is worth browsing.

 

I watched the premiere of Dancing with the Stars All-Stars Season on Monday, and, of course, the first elimination on Tuesday. All I can say is, the right person went home Tuesday night. And I'm rooting for both Gilles and Kirstie, even though Emmett will probably win.

 

I regretted putting too much Newman's Organic Marinara Sauce on my pasta, and

 

I wondered why on earth I don't make my own sauce.