Jim Putnam - Thinking Through My Fingers

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Marrianna and I returned home Monday afternoon.  Our weekend in Asheville was almost everything we had hoped for, and Anastasia seems to be doing very well.  Here is one photo I took of her.  She is due in less than three weeks.

The four of us had an interesting discussion of names for the new baby.  They know it is a boy, and they want a name that is unique but not overly so, and one not easily made into a nickname.  I have my favorites of those named, but think it should be their choice, one I don't really expect them to make until the baby is delivered.  They kept saying that the baby may look like a name.  To that, I say not likely.

As we discussed the names, very often a name was offered and one of the three of them would follow it with a literary reference, someone in literature who had the name.  I said that the family was too literary.  Some of the names they rejected was because the name reminded them of a movie or TV person, and any of those would be too common, regardless of their connotation.  My contribution was that they were using references to reject that most other people would never make at all.  In addition, by the time the kid is in school, the children in his peer group will not have the same references at all.

They will be good parents.  There's certainly enough intelligence, humor, and common sense between the two of them to be good parents.  It is going to be interesting watching them.

They are going to call us when they are on the way to the hospital, or thereabouts.  Marrianna is planning on being there within six to eight hours.  She is going to pack a get-away bag to allow us to leave almost immediately after the phone call. and it's a five hour drive.  Anastasia asked that we not get there before she and the baby have time to get refreshed and ready to see people.

So that was our weekend.  We also shopped with them for baby car seats and other paraphernalia.  Anastasia is heavily into organic, so everything about the baby is also. 

We visited with Marrianna's Aunt Thelma for a while.  She wasn't feeling well, so we didn't stay long.  At 90, Thelma is the oldest relative of Marrianna, and a story all by herself.  I purely love that lady.

That was the weekend.  I'll try to get back on track with the blog now that things are more routine here, at least until we get that call.

Out of Town

Marrianna and I leave in just a little bit for Asheville to see our daughter.  Marrianna has enough baby stuff to load the car down.  It's such a quick trip - we will return Monday afternoon - that I'm not even taking the laptop.  I don't expect there will be time available to post anyway.

Have wonderful weekends.

An Example of Good Writing

This mornings News and Observer got me started.  We slept a little late, and were awakened by the phone at 8:00 AM.  We got the paper in and sat at the kitchen table to read it.

I'm sure that there are more impressive examples of good writing than the one that stirred me this morning.  I seldom read articles about hunting because I am not a hunter, never have been, and am not likely to ever be.  For some reason one article caught my eye, and I read it through.  It's by Dennis Anderson and was first published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.  That caught my eye because an old friend, Mac, lived in Minneapolis and frequently quoted the Star Tribune, and contributed letters to the editor.  Mac's gone, but his memory came back, fully refreshed.

There is one short paragraph of two sentences that I think is an example of good writing, and it doesn't matter whether it is published in a book, magazine, or newspaper.  The fact that it is about hunting isn't important.  This is, to me at least, an example of good writing.

A great day

The morning was cool but not cold and in its aggregate, thrilling. Sunbeams bled through clouds above the distant trees, throwing a thin seam of orange, black and blue along the horizon.

It isn't the only well written part of the article, merely the one I enjoyed most.  I brought the Star Tribune up and found that Anderson's article was published October 25th.  The Tribune version slightly different; the sentences I've quoted are two paragraphs in the Tribune version.  There are many more photos, and I especially liked the ones of the dogs.  The video with the article is very good also, unless, of course, you're strongly anti-hunting.

The fact that the two versions of the article are slightly different puzzles me.  Does a newspaper, in this case the N&O, have the right to edit an article from another paper?  To be honest, to me the N&O version, combining the two sentences into one short paragraph, gives it more impact, but I wonder what the author thinks.

It doesn't matter.  It's good writing, and I enjoyed it.  That is what counts when beginning a morning.

Just Thinking, Again

I've been out of sorts for five days, and am just now beginning to feel well again.  That's very good because Marrianna and I postponed our trip to Asheville last week to see our daughter.  We were to go last Saturday, but decided it wasn't worth exposing an eight months pregnant woman to whatever I had.  We are going this next weekend, and I'm looking forward to it.

My computer has been acting funny this week too.  Email didn't work, and it was extremely slow.  Today I felt well enough to find out what was wrong.  I did, it's corrected, and everything seems to work now.

I am happy to read that the Senate has received the Health Care Reform bill from the CBO, and it looks very good.  Following this entire thing through the Congress has been discouraging.  Discouraging because in the political games that are played, the needs and wishes of the people come absolutely last in priority.  Power and ideology are first.  There remains much more to be done before the bill will reach the President's desk, but I do now believe that it will, eventually.  There will, along the way, be many more political shenanigans, posturing, and power plays.

Four and a half weeks from now, more or less, I am going to be a grandfather.  It will be an entirely new experience, and I'm not sure how I'll respond.  I've never been a father when you get right down to facts.  I've married two women with daughters, but have no birth children.  Anastasia is as close to being my own as possible, and I'm so very glad to have her accept me as a Dad, and now Granddad.  I'm not as excited as Marrianna, but I'm beginning to feel it.  I hope I can be a good one.

I want to tip my hat to Julie Heyward of Unreal Nature.  Even while I was feeling terrible, I always seemed to find a bright spot in her blog.  Today's entry sits quietly in my thoughts, especially the Krishnamurti and Harold Evans quotes.  If humanity could answer Evans' last question, we would very likely be closer to resolving many of our differences.  Thanks Julie.

It's time for me to go.  Y'all take care.