The next day after this picture was taken (it's looking south on Papineau) the scene was changed with the addition of a bunch of wet, gloppy snow which has now frozen into ice and a hard mass of plowed clods that encase unlucky cars parked on the streets. Each day the temperature seems to be dropping. In other words, winter has arrived.
I've barely noticed, I've been so busy, except that the ice on the sidewalks kept me from walking for a few days. Like the rest of my fellow Montrealers, I've retreated inside my furry hood and down-filled coat, unrecognizeable for the next few months. The good part is that -- predictably -- the wet grey day of the storm was followed by high pressure and bright blue skies, which make being out in the chilly air almost a pleasure.
Nearly all of November, J. and I were working very hard on a design job for our main client in the U.S., at the same time as I was finishing Thaliad, launching the book, doing the initial marketing, and placing orders for hardcover copies. Today is the first day I've felt like I could sit back and say, whew! and look around myself a little. So if you were wondering about the dearth of thoughtful, longer posts, that's why.
On the other hand, it's been good to have a break. Oddly enough, while my own writing has been mostly confined to micropoetry, in the evenings I've been reading a very long and wordy book: David Copperfield, about which I'll write more soon. I haven't read any Dickens since the enforced assignment of Great Expectations, which I loathed, in high school. 45 years later, it seems I've changed!
I'm about to go off with J. to the dentist, where one of his remaining wisdom teeth will be removed, and as I sit and wait for him, I hope to finish that book, which I'm reading as an e-book on my phone. I'm already looking forward to the next one -- and to returning to my own writing and art, as well as some Christmas baking, in the coziness of a winter interior.
Hooray for writing and art and Christmas baking! I am hoping to do some baking myself, actually -- just unearthed a batch of frozen gingersnap dough, which is thawing in the fridge, and which I hope will become cookies soon. (I have a tradition of bringing cookies to our mechanic every year -- he is so good to us, and keeps our cars running; it seems the least I can do! -- so I'd better get baking...)
Posted by: Rachel Barenblat | December 12, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Loved reading this report. Congratulations on an exquisitely designed and illustrated Thaliad. It's a real joy to own, look at, read, admire.
I am having a similarly deeply happy day and am hoping for more suchlike in the days ahead. To both of us, more of these!
By the way, Bleak House is the best novel written. Ever. That opening chapter is unparalleled for excellence. A mon avis ;D.
Happy day, Beth.
x,
Laura
Posted by: Laura | December 12, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Glad to see you are coming back to the surface... even if it's frozen! I was so cold walking through the streets of Old Montreal last night! My body was in shock, shaking, refusing to "accepter l'inévitable". Let's drink something warm together soon, when things quiet down a little.
Posted by: Martine | December 12, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Yep, Laura's pretty much right about the excellence of BH, though it's the only Dickens I think I've got a deep affection for, just as Middlemarch is the only George Eliot novel I love hugely. Funnily enough both of them were my A level (end of school at 18) texts, so I was lucky.
Enjoy your busy-ness, and when it stops!
Posted by: Lucy | December 12, 2012 at 12:32 PM
Hurray for the season, even the slush and ice. It also comes with man-made colors to brighten the grey of winter.
I just received "Thaliad," glanced at the first few pages, and lovingly put it aside. Soon I will be finished with two other books (I usually am reading two to three at a time). Thaliad is so special I can tell I will want to be totally immersed in the experience.
Hope the wisdom tooth comes out easily, David Copperfield leaves you sighing in satisfaction, and your holiday season is filled with family and friends.
Posted by: Jan | December 12, 2012 at 01:45 PM
Just dropped in to draw your attention to the inevitability of Bleak House only to see Laura and Lucy have contrived to make its inevitability even more inevitable. As the third wheel on their bicycle please allow me this tiny squeak of advocacy.
Posted by: Roderick Robinson | December 13, 2012 at 12:16 PM
Still can't get over my Dickens phobia after reading condensed versions of Great Expectations and David Copperfield in high school.
Posted by: hattie | December 16, 2012 at 11:52 AM