Wednesday, January 6, 2010

A LITTLE R-N-R



It's too cold to do much of anything spare stare outside my window and loathe my geographical choices. However, I found this book, The Book Thief, and I haven't been able to put it down even though I have course planning to do, a website to design, and a rabble of neglected responsibilities. The book is an unusual structure for a novel - it's definitely postmodern - but it's a story about one who ushers souls "home" and his following of a book thief - a little girl - in Nazi Germany. If you're looking for a good book, the kind that pushes you to think outside of your own life's worries, this is an awesome choice.

I've also been experimenting with music, searching for unusual instrumentalists. Music is a very important part of my life, and my discovery of Andy McKee has added great joy to an already joyful hobby. I just bought his album, "Art in Motion," and this song prompted the purchase:



Though this song has unusual percussion, the rest of the album is just soulful and deep. It's not the sort of fodder you'd hear at a John Tesh dinner party, either. This song, "Into the Ocean" is as beautiful to hear as it is fascinating to watch:



Candyrat Records is fast becoming one of my favorite independent labels. I've got a roster of soon-to-be-acquired albums, and I'm enjoying music without lyrics. You might, too.

On the classical end of things, I'm liking Pepe Romero and Ana Vidovic. She's cooler to watch than dear ol' Pepe:



With the temperature falling below zero and the wind chills hovering at a balmy -16 tonight, I decided to write, listen to music, and bake some of those pumpkin muffins I featured on this very blog. I baked a lean but outrageously good burgundy stew tonight, and I'll post that recipe later this month.

Recovery is slow, but good. I wish the weather wasn't so bleak - I've got cabin fever. But other than these two minor things, life feels pretty good. My focus now is on getting better so I can train to go to Shelf Road in April. Let's hope my x-rays on the 13th are encouraging and my doc gives me the clearance to assume "normal" (whatever that is) activities.

2 comments:

  1. The candyrat stuff is AWESOME - great players

    ReplyDelete
  2. Candyrat is pretty amazing, if you ask me. Though, your performance on your site was stellar!

    ReplyDelete

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