Scarce

 

Block Island

Yes, I've been scarce around here, and there is a good reason: I've been keeping my little nose to the writing grindstone, and not allowing myself to deviate too much. It's been surprisingly difficult not to draw or paint, because I had gotten in the habit of doing it regularly. I've been pretty disciplined about the usual distractions of social media, surfing, chatting with friends, and posting to the blog and to Instagram. The result, though, has been a productive stretch of writing and editing. There isn't really any other way around it, regardless of the art form or the medium: in the end you just have to show up, close the door, stay at your desk and do the work. It's kind of like these rocks, the ocean reminded me: they didn't become rounded and smooth overnight.

So what is that schedule? We arrive at the studio around 8:30 in the morning, break for a half-hour lunch at noon, and leave around 5:30. Of that time, I've been writing and editing for four or five hours every day. Then I usually make dinner, and after we're done eating might knit or read, plus doing whatever bathing or laundry is necessary, before bed at 10:30 or 11:00. I try hard to get seven hours of sleep. In recent weeks I've nearly finished my green Gansey sweater (it was missing one sleeve and the collar), and have been fooling around with a lace pattern that has taken me three tries to figure out. Reading has been more consistent: in recent weeks I've re-read Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, the fourth book of Karl Ove Knausgaard's My Struggle series, and am halfway through Pond by Claire-Louise Bennett -- have any of you read that? It is strange, brilliant, unique. I've also been catching up on past issues of Brick, an excellent Canadian literary magazine.

Scavenging on the beach -- that's a dead seagull I'm poking at, hoping for bones. (photo by J., of course)

Nevertheless, I haven't felt I had much to show here, and now there is an additional problem -- my phone died and that's where all my photos are. J. is working on it with tech support today, so I'm hoping to be back up and running soon.

Friends.

In the meantime, September has arrived, and with it, cool weather, right on schedule. I've had a good summer, with plenty of outdoors time, a number of visitors as well as visits to friends, and days outside the city, so I am not going to utter one peep of complaint, especially when so many worldwide are experiencing devastating weather.

Where we bought fish.

I'll leave you with these photographs from our August weekend on Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, where we visited friends and enjoyed the ocean's changing temperament, and the vast starry nighttime sky. I foundd those days near the ocean extremely peaceful, and I hope that feeling with continue to stay with me as we embark on la rentrée, as the September "back-to-school" season is called here in Quebec. For me, that means a return to the regular choir schedule, to Phoenicia Publishing, to preparing a talk I'll be giving later this month, a condo committee, the music committee at the cathedral...the list goes on. I'm glad I worked hard this summer, because now my time will be much more divided.

 

Comments

[Mike]

The flowers in the window look like a walking bird. Glad to know you are well.

[Andrea Murphy]

Hi Beth. I read Pond a while back, and heard her read from it. I found it weirdly funny.

[Natalie]

Beautiful photos, Beth. Good to hear you're in full productive swing! I do admire your discipline and will-power. I wish I could say the same but there's been a long period of...what to call it...stuckness? Anyway I'm coming out of it now and there's an interesting commission I'll be starting on shortly - will mention it soon.

Much love to you and Jonathan.

[Peter]

The blond rocks and the mansard roof in the Block Island photos triggered a memory for me of a week we spent with my parents there to commemorate their 50th anniversary. Mom was well into the Alzheimer's by then, but was cheerful and cooperative in spite of being very vague. We explored the beaches and the town, and ate at the various lunch places. I still have some souvenirs and (much disapproved of by my sister) several of those blond rocks.