Sweetness, light

I have nothing very serious today—we all need such a day.

I am reading Sondra Gotlieb’s magnificent comic novel from 1978, True Confections, about a food-obsessed 16-year-old and her Russian Jewish family living in the north end of Winnipeg in the middle of the 20th century. It’s good elements of farce but lots of great vivid detail of the period and the culture. And just teenager pretension and petulance. Very hard to find but an utter delight.

I continue to work to revive Rose-Coloured the First from it’s 15 years of slumber. I have updated the intro blurb and created an About page—the blog never had sub-pages before. Still no pictures. In rooting around in the archives of the old website to pull stuff onto the blog, I have found a bunch of treasures, including this interview from 2008 about my desk at the time, which includes a photo. It’s great, I would not have preserved a photo of my desk 17 years ago for another reason. I mean, I still have the same desk, much the worse for wear, but the setup two homes ago is very different. I also dug up this short story, The Framer, which I published over a decade ago on Little Fiction, which I still think is rather good. The tragedy of publishing things is that it is so hard and then quickly forgotten, and still, most people on the planet haven’t read the thing (yet?) But maybe they will eventually…

And on the topic of literal sweetness, I have been accused (by my doctor) of having slightly high cholesterol, the kind that can be brought down by a higher-fibre diet. So I have been baking bran muffins, specifically this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, which are healthy, easy and good. I thought they were a little boring at first, with the option to sweeten either with maple syrup (too expensive) or honey (not my fave). Then I remembered in childhood my mom made bran muffins with molasses and I tried that and now I am fully content. I mean, my cholesterol issue isn’t fully solved but breakfast is great!

And finally….

Mark and Rebecca Go for a Walk at Lunch

RR: I had such a nice talk with G— this morning.
MS: Oh, yeah?
RR: The problem with her is that she always wants to talk to me when she’s naked. Or half naked. It’s distracting.
MS: I guess, yeah.
RR: I like talking to her, I just wish she would wear a shirt. I am not mature enough to have a normal conversation with breasts in full view.
MS: Uh-huh. This is on Zoom?
RR: What? No. This is at the gym, in the locker room.
MS: Oh, I see.
RR: You thought this was in a work meeting? You thought someone I work with is showing up to meetings nude?
MS: Um? No, of course not. At the gym, at the gym..
RR: …
MS: …
RR: This is further proof that you don’t listen even to conversations you are participating in.
MS: Uh-huh.
RR: In the novel I’m reading, there’s a character with advanced dementia, and she can’t really recognize anyone or interact. But if you start an ingrained social interaction, she can do the other half. Like if you say “hello” she says “hello” back or whatever. Sneeze and “bless you.” It’s an auto response.
MS: What are you trying to say?
RR: Oh, another thing that happened this morning is that I met another guy with a beard who gets up at 4:30am!
MS: Oh wow, really?
RR: yeah. I told him my husband does the same thing and he said his wife thinks he’s crazy and I said I also think something along those lines about you.
MS: And what does this bearded man do at 4:30 in the morning?
RR: His job! Like his main day job job. I didn’t tell him he could find a different job and do that at 4:30 in the morning, in addition to the other job during the day. He seemed happy. He’s cool, I think you would like him.
MS: Er, ok.
RR: Do you feel like a moose who has encountered another moose with a rack of antlers just as big? Almost as big?
MS: That is how I feel, yes.

***

I could just ditch writing these dialogues and just leave you with this most perfect video.