Lori

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington.

From the back cover: “Pel Dalton leads an uneventful life. His days are spent bluffing his way through an IT job in the university library, pillow-fighting with his two sons, surviving family outings to the supermarket, and finding new things to argue about with Ursula, his German girlfriend. But things are about to change…”

Thank goodness for the glowing snippets of reviews on the book cover (“…wickedly funny…”, “…sharply written…”, etc.) because that back cover summary is lame and doesn’t come close to capturing the spirit or tone of the book. Pel’s life isn’t “uneventful” — it’s teetering on the brink of disaster. He’s consumed with trying to conceal just how out of his depth he is at work, is engaged in a love/hate (but mostly hate) relationship with Ursula and is overwhelmed with the demands of raising young children. It would be really depressing if the writing weren’t so witty and sly.

Millington’s novel is based on his website, which is so ugly and hard to read it makes my eyes bleed, but is very entertaining.

Final word: Highly recommended.

Halloween 2011

Has it already been three weeks since Halloween? What’s that? It’s been more than three weeks?

Oops.

Then I guess it’s too late to show you this:

Here’s Anna as The Most Familiar Sight in Nova Scotia. She even made the sign herself — with a little help from her Dad. Pretty good, huh?

Is it too late to show you this?

This is Foster as Captain Rex (from Star Wars, duh) in a costume made entirely by Foster and me his father. It’s amazing what I they can do with some cardboard and an x-acto knife.

So it’s definitely too late to show you this:

Charlotte’s starring turn in Anne of Green Gables: The Musical in ten years is a given, wouldn’t you say? The Boy Wonder No! I made the braids—me me me, not Whatshisname who tries to hog all the glory—and even went the extra mile to turn them into a hat so that (1) it would provide some warmth under the straw hat during trick-or-treating and (2) could be worn on its own for the rest of the winter. Genius, I know. I only mention it so you can see how humble I am about it. My genius, I mean.

I went as A Woman Who Generally Dislikes Halloween, but Walks Around the Neighbourhood With Her Children for Two Hours Anyway and Is Not-So-Secretly Hoping to Be Compensated in Mini Chocolate Bars. No costume required.

Mud, Sweat and Tears

Mud, Sweat and Tears: Tales from a Country Vet by Bud Ings. Acorn Press.

From the back cover: “Ings’ memoir is a rich, often humourous account of his first decade as a vet, at a time when there were few vacations, no modern tools of the trade, and no request too strange to attend to. It’s also the story of a past era, when PEI’s farms flourished and the animals were not only the backbone of the economy, but part of the family.”

I checked this book out of the library way back in July (yes, I’m slightly behind on my reviews) so I could take it to PEI for our annual week of eating, reading, beachcombing and eating. In an interesting turn of events, however, my father—who generally limits his reading to the newspaper and curling/golf schedules—saw it on the coffee table and snagged it for himself. His verdict? Two thumbs up.

Well sure, I thought, Bud Ings is not only writing about the PEI of my Dad’s childhood, but they also share the same exquisite taste in adopted first names. Would I enjoy the book as much as Bud Cameron?

::suspenseful music::

I did enjoy it. Ings’ details of farm life on PEI in the fifties are interesting, but even better are his descriptions of his encounters with the farmers—true characters, every one. Celebrity and tragedy memoirs are both more popular, I know, but I really believe these “regular person” memoirs are priceless for a glimpse at a world now long gone.

Recommended for fans of PEI, veterinary medicine or rural life in the fifties.

tales from outer suburbia

Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan.

From the back cover: “Do you remember the water buffalo at the end of our street? Or the deep-sea diver we found near the underpass? Do you know why dogs bark in the middle of the night? Shaun Tan, creator of The Arrival, The Lost Thing and The Red Tree, reveals the quiet mysteries of everyday life: homemade pets, dangerous weddings, stranded sea mammals, tiny exchange students and secret rooms filled with darkness and delight.”

The cover of this book beckoned me from across the library one day and – I know I should be ashamed to admit this, but I’m not, or rather I’m mostly unashamed, but still a little ashamed, as with most things, come to think of it, since that’s just the way I am – I almost ignored it since I thought it was a graphic novel. Yes, yes, I know graphic novels are the way of the future and so awesome and revolutionary and whatever. Stop hounding me about how great graphic novels are. I don’t get the appeal, okay? Call me old (true) and inflexible (true) and a snob (somehow also true, despite my shame), but I have zero desire to read a graphic novel. (And don’t get me started on graphic novel versions of the classics because I will become truly unpleasant. What is wrong with WORDS? Words as they were written?)

In any case, I don’t need to rant about Tales from Outer Suburbia because it is a lavishly illustrated book of very short stories, not a graphic novel. It’s a picture book for adults, say. (Not those kinds of pictures for adults. I know where your lecherous mind went.) It would be perfectly suitable for kids and teens too, with its intriguing mix of the poignant and the absurd.

The illustrations are fantastic and I suggest you check out Shaun Tan’s website for samples of his work. Seriously, his talent and creativity make me want to barf. Life is so, so unfair.

Anyway.

Tales from Outer Suburbia: Highly recommended.

summer storm

Before that big thunderstorm the other day, the one that brought the cotton ball clouds, I managed to get a few shots of the storm rolling in.

First, it got a little dark:

 Then it got a lot dark:

That’s quite the contrast between the brightish sky to the east and the clouds overhead, isn’t it? Keep in mind that this was mid-afternoon.

And then this rolled in:

 The bright areas within the clouds are lightning. The accompanying crack of thunder sent me scurrying inside where two small dogs and a snotty cat, all spooked by the storm, tried to claw their way to the top of my head. Whether I was safer inside or outside is debatable.