SUN, SAND, AND SALT WATER

Sea lions stink!

I discovered this last week as our hired sailboat floated past a colony of them a hundred yards off our starboard side, draped over the rocks of San Carlos like tourists at a Turkish bath (ask me about that story sometime!). They reeked up to high heaven and barked at us derisively—rude creatures—as we headed out to open water in search of whales.

And we found them! Greys and humpbacks spouted fountains as we drew near, then breached and dove and waved goodbye with their mighty, double-finned tails. A barnacle-crusted sea turtle surfaced and then sank beneath our hull; some dolphins joined the party for a while; frigate birds and pelicans welcomed us back when we returned to port after a few hours at sea.

I find I love the ocean. I’m useless in the water itself—can only dog-paddle to save my life (though I do give snorkelling a go when in Mexico, choking and panicking whenever a bit of aqua seeps into my mask). But the briny teal depths are so vast, compellingly mysterious to a prairie girl like me.

Some of my shore-clinging friends from other countries seem intrigued by gophers and antelope and the way snow heaps up around the front door in a prairie winter. And the stench of our common skunk is every bit as foreign to them, I suppose, as the perfume of those sea lions to me.

Maybe that’s the whole point of vacation.  A change of scenery for even a week just seems to readjust one’s viewpoint.

Are any of you travelling this winter? Tell me about your trip!

SEWING ADDICTION!          

Apparently the sewing bug cannot be assuaged as easily as whipping together the two beachy shifts I made a couple of weeks ago. So while helping my daughters shop for sundress patterns, I fell in love with their choice of the 1952 retro-style wrap (Butterick 4790) and made it for myself out of this gorgeous teal (shot with black) Dupioni silk. It looks a bit more “buxom” on me than here, disembodied on the floor, but you get the idea. Imagine it with sexy black heels and a sparkly bag!

Now, seriously, it’s time for me to pay attention to my current editing projects and then get back to drafting my new novel. Maybe I’ll complete another chapter before we head to Mexico on January 30th.

          A TOURIST ATRAVEL

I’m soon off to Los Cabos for a week of Mexican sun with my family! Primarily we’re escaping the Canadian snow, of course, but I’m brushing up on my Español in hopes of real conversation with a waiter at the all-inclusive resort or possibly a visit with our friends from Guadalajara. I want a multifaceted experience: Spanish communion, sandy beach, authentic enchiladas, a few bars of Mariachi.

My friend Dallas shared with me a rivetting article, “Reclaiming Travel,” which appeared last summer in a column in The New York Times. The basic thesis is that today’s tourism (modelled by my upcoming vacation with its focus on rest, entertainment, and personal enrichment) is but a faint shadow of real travel (more like a pilgrimage or quest in its cross-cultural and transformational search for meaning). Tourism is largely what we do nowadays; travel is something more rare that changes who we are. The human journey first started, the writers of the piece claim, at our expulsion from the Garden of Eden, when we were condemned to wander—our wandering becoming a wondering about exile and about our true home, with hearts restless for something lost.

(If you’re interested in the biblical ground for mankind’s wandering and wondering about the road, homecoming, and rest, you might be interested in three of my biblical studies I posted in April, June, and July of 2012, here.)

Of course, journey is a frequent theme in classic literature; think of Homer’s Odyssey (telling of the Greek hero’s mythic return home after battle) and Dante’s Divine Comedy (a spiritual travel tale tracing the path from the “dark wood” through hell and purgatory to heaven). The meme continues through to stories written today, from Gulliver’s Travels, Innocents Abroad, and Around the World in Eighty Days to Lord of the Rings, A Year in Provence, and Eat, Pray, Love. I could go on, but you get my point.

The motif of travel is everywhere evident in the late-Victorian writings of G.K. Chesterton. In Everlasting Man he wrote:

There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place.

Then, encapsulating the nature of journey, in What’s Wrong with the World Chesterton wrote a couple of lines that I used as the first epigram in my own novel:

Man has always lost his way. He has been a tramp ever since Eden; but he always knew, or thought he knew, what he was looking for.

My meandering thoughts today have set me on a course of inner contemplation regarding why I love to visit exotic places (Istanbul last year, Japan as a student, South Africa in between) and what adventure really means to me (Is it hearing the haunting Islamic call to prayer, sleeping in a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple, holding a baby lion?). My forebears travelled, in the true sense of the word, to make a home in this foreign land of Canada—largely for religious freedom. So my history connects travel with spiritual life. Yet here I am, a few generations later, transversing the globe for emotional and physical satisfaction.

Much as I’d love to pretend I might just find a life-altering epiphany on Mexico’s shores in a few weeks from now, the truth is that our short trip is more about tourism than travel—this time, at least. I don’t expect great personal character growth (though I might be surprised); I just hope I don’t get a sunburn!

SILK FROCKS

After a month of inactivity, with my arm sling finally off and the surgical site on my shoulder healing, I felt a great need to create something with my hands before I got back to drafting on my novel. So over the past few days I whipped up two sundresses for our upcoming week on a Mexican beach (Los Cabos in February). They’re simple shifts, both made of drapey silk charmeuse—one in vivid tangerine and the other a dusty eggplant with copper sequin trim.

I love to sew! Of course, this is the reason the main character in my novel loves to sew as well, the texture and weight of cloth in her hand bringing her (as it brings me) a deep tranquility:

From the time she was a child playing with scraps that fell to the floor, listening to the drone and punch of Mom’s antiquated Singer machine, she’d hankered to sew. She learned the smell of the flax beneath linen, savored the variance between silk and wool. She had a habit still of chewing a strand each time she laid out a length of yard goods, ready for the shears. She made a sacrament of touching and sniffing and tasting—a sensual adulation. (The Third Grace, page 46)

I used to stitch almost everything I wore, just for the pleasure of creation. It started with a pink gingham cotton apron in 4-H  and progressed through a high school Home Ec project, and then on to a flirty halter top and a “maxi-dress” that I wore during the hippie days. I even planned to sew my own wedding dress out of rustic unbleached muslin (it was the ’70s, remember, and “natural” was in), but thankfully Mom talked me out of that one. I made adorable outfits for my three babies, sewed my rancher husband a double-breasted suit that he never wore (no wonder!), and—like the character in my novel—I designed costumes for rental at a local shop: a wizard, a princess, a little Dutch maid.

But I’ve gotten out of practice lately, and I’ve gained some weight since I last bought patterns, so the orange sundress was a real challenge. I ended up cutting it too small and then having to pick a lot of stitches and replace the back completely. Both garments hang loosely to allow tropical breezes in; I might pair the frocks with heels for a funky look. But even if I wear the shifts only as cover-ups for lounging on sand beneath palapas, the process of creating will have made it worthwhile. Now I feel ready to get back to writing!

A CHILD OF THE SNOWS    

                                            (by G.K. Chesterton)

There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim

And never before or again,

When the nights are strong with a darkness long,

And the dark is alive with rain.

Never we know but in sleet and in snow,

The place where the great fires are,

That the midst of the earth is a raging mirth

And the heart of the earth a star.

And at night we win to the ancient inn

Where the child in the frost is furled,

We follow the feet where all souls meet

At the inn at the end of the world.

The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,

For the flame of the sun is flown.

The gods lie cold where the leaves lie gold,

And a Child comes forth alone.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EACH OF YOU!

       MUKLUKS

These mukluks from northern Canada are over four decades old–a Christmas gift from my brother when I was still in my teens. They tromped me through Manitoba snowstorms and kept me warm when snowmobile joyriding over the frozen Red River Floodway. They journeyed along with me to college in Minnesota, and wandered miles of wintry ranchland Sandhills in Saskatchewan, and now take me into my back yard of the wooded Cypress Hills of Alberta to stroll beneath frosty evergreens. They are fulfilling their destiny of journey, I think–uniquely designed, hand stitched, and beaded by some Native on the shores of the Hudson Bay (back in the day before The Shopping Channel found a source for a poor imitation currently sold for hundreds a pair).

I love these mukluks. They’re made of rawhide and lined with what looks like hand-loomed wool, and used to have rustic inner booties made of the same homespun fabric before I lost one. The glass beads are set individually into patterns–not sewn on as decals–but the fur is fake and I’m thinking of having it replaced with rabbit or coyote or fox. Which would you suggest?

I’ll never give these mukluks away, though daughters beg and my own limbs weaken as I slide towards my sixties (chanting, “These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do!”). My mukluks symbolize an era for me, when father and older brother went off to the frozen north to work on construction sites alongside Inuit and First Nations people, leaving me in urban civilization to read Farley Mowat and Robert Service, and to dream of snowshoe-ing over the tundra.

Christmas is coming. I don’t “feel” Christmasy–recent shoulder surgery has left me in an arm sling, incapable of decorating or baking this year. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit it; after all, I don’t expect to “feel” Eastery or Pentecosty. This forces me to remember that Christmas isn’t a feeling, after all, but a 2,000-year-old recognition and joyous celebration of the gift of salvation come to all mankind–and to me, Deb, in my little cottage on the snowy banks of a country creek.

The willows and pines outside are festooned in ice crystals today, the air hangs soft with fog, and my colourful mukluks are a Yuletide decoration for my heart.

BOOK TOUR 2012

THANKS to all who “accompanied” me on my online VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR during October and November, 2012, during which time The Third Grace was featured on many websites through reviews, interviews, and blogs. You can continue to read these anytime by clicking on the links below: 

Monday, October 1:  Interview at Blogcritics

Tuesday, October 2:  Interview at Examiner

Wednesday, October 3:  Read a chapter at As the Pages Turn

Friday, October 5:  Book Feature at Book Marketing Buzz

Monday, October 8:  Interview at The Plot Thickens

Tuesday, October 9:  Book Trailer Spotlighted at If Books Could Talk

Wednesday, October 10:  Interview at A Bookish Libraria

Thursday, October 11:  Guest Blogging at The Story Behind the Book

Friday, October 12:  Interview at Review From Here

Also: Book signing 2-4 PM at Annie McGuire Interiors, Medicine Hat, AB

 Monday, October 15:  Guest Blogging at Sweeping Me

 Tuesday, October 16:  Guest Blogging at The Book Faery Reviews

 Wednesday, October 17:  Book Review at Colletta’s Kitchen Sink

 Thursday, October 18:  Interview at The Book Connection

 Friday, October 19:  Waiting on Sunday to Drown

 Tuesday, October 23:  Interview at Books Books the Magical Fruit

 Wednesday, October 24:  Guest Blogging at Moonlight Lace & Mayhem

 Thursday, October 25:  Guest Blogging at Literal Exposure

 Friday, October 26:  Guest blogging at Tenacity

Monday, November 5:  Interview at Beyond the Books

Tuesday, November 6:  Book Trailer of the Week at Pump Up Your Book

Wednesday, November 7:  Interview at Between the Covers

Friday, November 9:  Interview at The Dark Phantom

Monday, November 12:  Guest Blogging at Miki’s Hope

Tuesday, November 13:  Character Interview at Beyond the Books

Wednesday, November 14:  Interview at Paperback Writer

Friday, November 16:  Book Feature at Literarily Speaking

Tuesday, November 20:  Interview at Divine Caroline

Wednesday, November 21:  Interview at Parenting From a Child’s Point of View

Friday, November 23:  Interview at The Writer’s Life

Monday, November 26:  Book Review at Celtic Lady’s Book Reviews

Tuesday, November 27:  Book Review at Mary’s Cup of Tea

Wednesday, November 28: Book Feature at Plug Your Book

Friday, November 30:  Guest Blogging at The Writer’s Life

SMOKIN’ POTATO SOUP

My experiment was a success! To drive your taste buds crazy and fill your tummy with nourishing and winter-worthy comfort, try this recipe:

Fry 12-15 thick slices of maple-smoked bacon, retaining drippings

Chop 1 onion and 4 celery stalks; sauté in bacon grease, adding enough flour to make a roux in taking up the grease

Combine onion-celery-roux in a large pot with 5 cups cut-up potatoes and 8 cups chicken stock, black pepper, and fresh or dried mixed herbs (I used savory, basil, and thyme); cook till soft

Purée when well cooked; reheat, adding water to thin if needed, and finish with ½ cup of heavy cream

Garnish servings with chopped bacon, green onion, and grated aged cheddar.

YUMMY!

          LAST-MINUTE, NO-SEW HALLOWE’EN COSTUMES

Resist the urge to buy ready-made costumes this fall—conjuring them up yourself is one of the quickest cheap thrills I know to satisfy the creative urge! My sibs and I grew up trick-or-treating in the flashiest outfits (a skunk that sprayed, a ballerina remade from a pawn-shop wedding gown) and my own kids stuffed their tickle trunk full of disguises they played in all year long (a hula girl, a purple chenille elephant). Like the character in my novel who designs for Incognito Costume Shop, I personally love to sew, but I’ve come across some great ideas that involve nary a stitch—though you might want to heat up your glue gun. Just follow these few principles that ensure costume-making success:

• Check out patterns at your local craft and fabric store or online, but only to ignite your imagination. Don’t cave in to the illusion that, with a bit of luck and a couple of hours, you can fabricate the “Strong Man with Padded Pecs” or “Queen Elizabeth in Historic Honeycomb Collar”! Instead look for strong, thematic images: a woodland nymph can be born of netting and fake ivy attached to a filmy dress already in your closet; a bulbous red nose is synonymous with a clown;white greasepaint and gloves paired with a striped t-shirt screams mime. I once pulled a square of gold-embroidered cranberry sheer silk through a paper cone decorated with sequins for the start of an imperial princess; this same scarf veiling my face beneath heavily lined eyes later transformed me into a harem girl.

• Utilize inexpensive materials you have on hand.For example, a thin, old sheet still makes a great ghost, or add a golden belt and flower coronet for a Greek goddess. Alternatively strips of that sheet or gauzy cheesecloth can be wound around a body for the perfect mummy (ensure eyes, mouth, and bottom can be loosened for seeing, snacking, and peeing!). One year our ranch yard yielded up a deerskin hide, cow horns, and a cone from the tip of an airplane propeller spinner; with a screwdriver and a bit of my husband’s brawn, I remodelled our son into a helmeted Viking warrior.

• Visit the dollar store.Don’t waste money on expensive props;instead go for one oversized item that sparks your imagination. An out-of-season water gun spray-painted black (paired with grandpa’s fedora) has gangsta written all over it. Blow up two dozen green or purple balloons and pin them onto clothes for a perfect bunch of grapes, topped with a cap of curled pipe cleaners as grapevines. Stick softly crumpled sheets of white tissue paper all over your body (or use cotton or quilt batting) and fill a spritzer bottle with water to become a raincloud.

• Consider caricatures. A costume is overblown illustration rather than exact replica. Instead of making a complete furry body for a mouse, for example, dress your youngster in sweats and draw whiskers radiating from a lipsticked nose, add a tail of heavy cording, and pop on ears via headband with pink-lined grey semicircles of posterboard or stiff fabric. Try stuffing four pairs of tights attached to the waist for an eight-legged spider or octopus. Dress up as a sassy Santa’s helper using red toque, short skirt, and tall black boots, and give away candy canes from a Christmas-wrapped box. My favourite caricature costume was one my sister made of a marionette: she dressed in suspenders and shorts, brown ankle boots, perky green hat with feather, and a tie-on Pinocchio nose; she drew “joints” at the knees on leggings and at the elbows on sleeves; finally, she criss-crossed wooden dowels and attached the four ends to her hands and feet with heavy string. It was remarkable!

• Use international souvenirs. Wooden shoes from Holland and a basket of tulips transformed my daughter into a little Dutch maid. The yukata robe, sash, and lacquered geta sandals I brought back from Japan as a young woman still elicits the geisha in me. A sombrero, fake moustache, sandals, and woven poncho say Mexican loud and clear, señor!

• Make a point. Costumes are a great excuse to get up on your soapbox. If you’re a literary buff and want to tell your favourite story, glue on a red “A” and represent Nathaniel Hawthorne’s adulteress in The Scarlet Letter, or carry a large bell and flaunt a hunchback and a limp to bring Victor Hugo’s Quasimodo to mind. If you’re a frustrated theologian, carry a hammer, nails, and a scroll titled “Ninety-Five Theses” to introduce the event that sparked the Protestant Reformation when the German monk Martin Luther posted his opinions on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31, 1517. Or dress in tweeds and hat, clench a pipe between your teeth, and grasp a magnifying glass to celebrate The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, published by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on another Hallowe’en—October 31, 1892.

• Think professionally.Grab a carving knife and dress in auntie’s scrubs and mask and as a surgeon; exchange the knife for pliers and you become a dentist. Snorkel plus mask plus ridiculous flippers and a hint of French accent equal Jacques Cousteau. Transform into a cowboy with Stetson, chaps, boots, and lasso. Here’s a fun one for the artist in you: become an artist’s paintbrush by dressing all in black or tan, adding a tin-foil band around the neck and maybe silver paint to your face, then gel your hair up straight and spray it a vivid colour.

• Don’t discount the humble cardboard box.A shoulder-width, flat box with openings for head and arms can be painted black and then stuck with skeleton bones of shoulders, chest, pelvis, and thighs to imitate an X-ray machine; the same carton painted with Cheerios or Lucky Charms simulates a cereal box. I once made a fabulous robot with a kid-sized box, arms of dryer vent ducting, and battery-powered Christmas lights glinting off the metallic-paint finish. And Rapunzel is a winner: draw stone shapes on a tall hexagonal box and tape loosely crumpled “rocks” of brown paper on the hem to hide the feet; then cut an arched window near the top for your face and attach a long swath of braided blond wool to dangle to the floor.

Don’t give in to purchasing or renting a pre-made costume; designing one is hilariously fun and doesn’t take a lot of expertise—just imagination and a sense of humour!

         STEWED TOMATOES

An antique ceramic bowl of ripening tomatoes-on-the-vine usually sits on my counter, the rich and heady smell tickling my nostrils when I walk by. But if I enjoy the scent too long, they wither, so recently I made a fabulous veggie stew.

Yum!

I tossed the softening tomatoes (including skins) into an enamelled cast-iron pot along with chopped onion, celery, and red peppers (green add more colour, if you have them). I simmered this for about thirty minutes with a bit of sugar, salt, and freshly ground pepper from Istanbul. So tasty hot or cold! For my second bowl, I added a spoon of heavy cream to soften the zing—but I can’t decide which I prefer.

What’s your favourite tomato recipe?