Long-listed for [the coveted] Nancy Awards

In this year when I could not find a creative project to propel me, and felt the lack all year. I tried to fill the hole with books. Fortunately, there were some great reads crossing my desk. These are ones that have stayed with me long after the last page. Thank heaven for these books, fiction and non. In this dark year I am so grateful for sagas and modulated voices and atmosphere, for science and reason and introspection, for fresh viewpoints and researched history, for ambiguity, poetry, and scenic vistas, for close observation, moral dilemmas, context and humor, and especially for breathing room. The world is so much bigger and more beautiful than the shouting and harassing, the propaganda, the rats and the overalls.

  

    

      

    

  

No knees, no hips, no shoulders?

Major contraption.

The TSA-Pre screener asked the question fast, "No knees, no hips, no shoulders?"

Huh? I thought he said "sore knees, sore hips, sore shoulders," and answered "yes." How did he know I'd been sitting on the floor with my grandson playing Legos and Lite-Brite for two days?

"No, wait," I said as it dawned on me he was asking if I was titanium-free. He stared and slowly asked, "All   original   equipment?" like I might possibly be hearing impaired. Nodding and miming that I was creaky but manufacturer parts only, he waved me through the machine.

Our solar system and another solar system nearby. Pluto is far left.

Remember when Barbie was unbendable and needed a metal stand? Nobody told us it was our future!

  

© 2013-2017 Nancy L. Ruder

The belated but still Coveted Nancy Awards

The judges have finally announced the 2015 recipients of the Coveted Nancy Awards for fine literary consumption at the breakfast table and on the morning commute. I do much of my best "reading" while inching along on the expressway. My new office is a grown-up version of the private cereal box reading fort.

Recollecting the reading of 2015 is easier now with Goodreads.com. The website can be a time suck, but it's been better than my previous list attempts.

The 2015 awards go to:

• Audiobooks narrated by Patti Smith -- as addictive as jalapeno/sea salt peanuts.
• Author of the Year Award to Erik Larson -- 4 titles including the
• Nonfiction Award to Dead Wake
• Fiction Award to Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
• Most Unrewarding Slog Award to Anna Karenina

Previous recipients can be found at the links below:

2014

2013

2012-2013

2012 link not working, but the memorable titles were The Tiger's Wife, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, and Quiet: The Power of Introverts.

Goal for 2016: To spend more weekend morning time reading bundled between quilts and pillows the way I did as a kid. My mom, Fritzi, just required us to be up and dressed by noon. Someday I will have to write about books shared with Fritzi who passed away eleven years ago today. O, Best Beloved!

© 2013-2016 Nancy L. Ruder

Lest we falter in our resolve

I make pretty darn good minestrone soup. Once decades ago when I had to write up personal life goals, I listed "learn to make minestrone soup". Probably not what the counselor had in mind when assigning this exercise, but it was an achievable goal. (The secret is the parmesan cheese rind.)

Achieving that goal continues to bring tasty satisfaction, unlike the New Year's resolution I made to match the plastic food storage containers and their lids. This is the Sisyphusian Rubbermaid resolution that can never really be completed. Still, life requires the repeated efforts.

Did I ever learn to make pie crust? No, but I learned to make savory potpies with refrigerated pie crust dough. Close enough.

As for last December's vow to construct a Lego version of the NYC High Line for my composting worms in 2015, sadly no. It's been a hectic year. The resolution made for some high quality daydreaming, even if the worms did not get an elevated urban park. My grandson is finally old enough for Santa to bring him Legos. That bring joy to his father, and joy to me.

Hereby resolving in 2016 to master the requirements of my new library cataloging job.

• achieve goals and replicate results
• take daily vitamins for the uphill boulder-rolling tasks
• know when close enough is good enough
• know when to take shortcuts
• understand when excellence is the only acceptable outcome
• apply creative approaches to stale routines
• keep whimsy in my mental toolkit
• know when to follow the printed directions and when to design my own tower

And always eat a healthy breakfast!


© 2013-2015 Nancy L. Ruder

You oughta be in pictures

The morning could not be captured in a Power Point or even a big screen movie. This moment was a motion picture projected in a drowsy classroom full of dust motes. The red-haired kid in his red baseball cap. Monarch butterflies and queens and painted ladies all flying and feeding at the purple mistflower, dipping and swirling just above the kid with the cap. His smile widening. The fluttery-puttery sound of the projector reels turning. Opie and Aunt Bea.



I've never been happy with explanations of the butterfly" word origin. True, butter-yellow butterflies are very common. Do they hang around milk pails? I doubt that.

The monarchs look so lovely on the flowers the color of...? The color of... Why, that is just the color of the purple shoes worn on its ears by the very vain tiger!

And that tiger ran in circles around and around a tree until it turned into melted butter for pancakes! The little red-haired kid in the baseball cap is unlikely to encounter resourceful Sambo, that Clever Boy Odysseus. It's kinda sad since kids today have so many more tigers to outwit than I did.

 

In the butterfly swirl there were many Painted Lady couples. Talk about having some explaining to do! I think I'll go with the Victorian house definition of a "painted lady" having three or more paint colors to emphasize the architectural details.

And the skipper sips on.

2. 
   

© 2013-2015 Nancy L. Ruder

Dense fog on Memory Lane

Sitting there in America's best airport staring at the carpet while my Kindle recharged and my fish tacos digested, I gradually noticed folks in my gate having way more fun than usual. Their jackets said "The Spinners", and their guitars gave my brain a little poke. Musicians. What decade? What hits? What recent casino gig? Headed back home to Detroit by way of Dallas. Couldn't just walk up and ask them. If I had a smart phone I could google, but deferred gratification is a sign of maturity.

So back to my eBook, Olive Kitteridge. It was fitting to read about old married people and old widowed people, especially blunt and abrasive ones this month. And you know, that amazing actress was in a tv show I didn't watch based on the novel. That "Fargo" pregnant actress who was married to Bill Murray and in love with Bruce Willis in "Moonrise Kingdom", but I kinda think is married to a Coen brother. Can't google her either, so I'm feeling more mature by the moment. I might even wait until I finish the novel to google the actress!

I sense an S in her name and a Mc slowly rising from my deep subconscious. The Magic 8 Ball says It is decidedly so. About the Spinners all I get is memory fog, Oregon drizzle and, "Your call is important to us, please stay on the line..." 

So I'm working my way back to the answers:

Seventies

Could It Be I'm Falling In Love 

Spirit Mountain Casino January 18

BONUS: Yes, I had suede sandals this color that year

 (and even double-knit wide-cuffed bell-bottoms)

© 2015 Nancy L. Ruder

Before this year is out...

...we will send a worm to the High Line and return it safely to the worm bin.

Hey! I'm  way behind on Christmas, but I've got that New Year's resolution done and signed in ink. Yes, in 2015 I will build a Lego replica of the High Line for my red wiggler demonstrations. No more of that floss daily, get fit, read Russian novels, save the world, clean out closets stuff. It's time for the big aspiration.

The worms love the challenges of Lego maneuvering almost as much as kids love the combo of composting worms and Legos. And I love amazing architectural replicas made of mashed potatoes, sushi, and recycled boxes. It's time to push myself to infinity and beyond.

Are you with me? Do you secretly need to make Lego landmarks for invertebrates more than you need to fight lime and mildew? To go where no eisenia foetida have gone before! To the big Lego gelato stand above the Manhattan hustle and/or bustle!

I'm going to have to pace myself, breaking the resolution into manageable sections spread over twelve months. After all, I still have two to three jobs. I need to deposit paychecks and unload the dishwasher. This stuff takes precious hours from work toward my goal.

Thanks to those who have inspired me to begin this mission:

• The son formerly known as the Woolly Mammoth for sorting the family collection of Legos by color into handy plastic storage drawers.
• The crazy storytime lady who introduced me to the High Line.
• My siblings for participating in hundreds of hours of Lego camper construction for Tonka pickup trucks and Liddle Kiddle dolls, plus Lost in Space Chariot astro-RVs.
• My preschool director and Bentley for humoring my creative endeavors with composting worms. You might still be able to get a Red Worm Composting tee shirt in your stocking.
• The Carrollton children's services librarian for convincing me kids would enjoy a worm program and bringing out my hidden stand-up (yet invertebrate) comedian.
• Howie, my structural engineer father, for keeping it practical.
• Fritzi, my mom, for her early commitment to recycling prescription bottles in the service of early childhood art.
• The son formerly known as Danger Baby for his dedication to dumpster diving in the pursuit of excellent styrofoam for building replicas.
• To my son formerly known as Speech and Debate for his keen sense of humor from birth pretty much.
• To my grandson, Mr. Short Stack, for convincing me the next generation needs recycling and crazy grandmothers.
• And to all the little red wigglers... who want to visit the big, decaying apple.

  

  

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder

Short list due to falling asleep with the light on an awful lot

Picture book most likely to inspire art class projects:

 

• Some bugs / words by Angela DiTerlizzi ; bugs by Brendan Wenzel.
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• Movie of the year. I've seen it five times. It delights every time.

 Most Addictive Series 

with a note from the prize committee

   

  
In stressful times, I read series. Life stress. Extreme. Full to the brim. Moving. Divorce. Junior High. Finances, don't ask. Multiple job changes. Death in the family. That kind of stuff. Sue Grafton mostly alphabetically. Janet Evanovich in numerical order. Tony Hillerman probably saved my life. Thank you, too, Nancy Drew. Clive Cussler cured my fear of flying, so don't be dissing Dirk Pitt. Pre-adolescent chemist, Ottoman Empire eunuch, and Scandinavian hoodie detective, Thank you very much for taking me away better than Calgon in 2014!

When life is most stressful, I revert to sudoku and crossword puzzles. Will Shortz becomes my favorite editor. 

Most convincing narrator as an autism spectrum character

Dan O'Grady for The Rosie Project

• 2013 Coveted Nancy Awards
• 2013 Short List
• 2012 Nancy Awards

Hoping to sell gold foil stickers for book jackets in 2015. I'll be rich!

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder

Two out of three tadpoles agree...

...Legs are good.

Personality is next to nonexistent. Tadpoles don't do much. They are not nearly as exciting as cannibalistic dragonfly nymphs. Still, I am astounded that I netted three amphibians for today's wetlands presentation. The event was a grand success and all had a great time, except for maybe the tadpoles. They declined to answer a brief online survey questionnaire after they had been returned to their pond of origin.

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder

Froggy trading cards

Collecting,
comparing,
contrasting,
cataloging.


Too tired for words.
Just thinking I'm
way overdue for a post.

Sent my grandson a packet of
froggy photos. One tadpole
photo is from early afternoon
today.

Stay curious even after your tail is
gone.

 

Oct. 16, 2014

© 2014 Nancy L. Ruder