I'm waiting for people to get it together to send me the secretary's minutes and other material I need to complete our Hawaii Island LWV newsletter. Thank goodness all but two members have e-mail. I will send printed copies to those two. How much time that saves!
And we are going out to eat at our favorite little hole in the wall Thai place, where we get green papaya salad and kao mun kai, not too spicy, because her medium is extra hot! Her extra hot would set off fire alarms! The owner does all the cooking and food prep.
So, with all this free time, what am I up to? Well, I am immersed in Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall, that's what. I sit in Lazy Boy Central with my Kindle reader and Kindle Fire, reading up in Wikipedia on bios of the figures in the book, (Characters? I don't know if you can call them that, they are more like ghosts.), looking at the portraits available online by Holbein and others, reflecting on this fascinating era. Then reading on. It's a long, long, book that unfolds very slowly, like a curtain drawing back to reveal a lavish panorama.
I must have seen this in Basel. Terry says he remembers seeing it. It's of Thomas More and his family. Mantel's close, intrusive commentary and fictionalization of this painting, the atmosphere, the actors, the interactions, is a massive work of imagination. Did you notice the pet monkey?
BTW: Did you know that there is no reliable portrait of Anne Boleyn?
But I must clean house. It can wait no longer. Fred threw up on the rug, too. I think the sun may hold today, so I can clean the rug and put it out on the deck to dry.
Hopefully her books do not (as some have claimed) try to redeem Cromwell's reign as I just read about the Irish slave trade and Cromwell's part in that.
Posted by: Rain Trueax | February 28, 2013 at 02:15 PM
That monkey certainly looks sad. Of course, the people are just as somber. I love Thai food but like you I want it medium so that I can enjoy all the subtastes.
Posted by: Tabor | February 28, 2013 at 02:59 PM
I'm in the land of sloth, reading Shirley Hazzard's The Great Fire and feeling the urge to do absolutely nothing else, but maybe a look-see later at some fresh DVD's of the series "Breaking Bad' which holds my attention quite well. :)
Sloth is good.
XO
WWW
Posted by: wisewebwoman | February 28, 2013 at 03:12 PM
I want to read Wolf Hall but have postponed it until I have a long period of free time so I don't forget what I've read before.
Took me a little while to find that monkey, a sad looking thing.
Meanwhile, here, if I want to clean a rug I could put it outside for a long wash in the current monsoon and wait for summer to dry it out! :-)
Posted by: marja-leena | February 28, 2013 at 03:31 PM
Rain: In this book, the protagonist is Thomas Cromwell, not Oliver Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell was a complete villain, but Thomas Cromwell was a complex individual, the model of a self-made man who rose to the top in his day and age but whose life was a tragedy.
Tabor: Mantel points out the monkey in the novel, which is why I noticed it. She describes the interactions of the people, as she imagines them, including Thomas More making cutting remarks about the antiaphrodisiacal qualities of his wife.
Wisewebwoman: Well, the weather changed, and my energy returend , and I'm now painting kitchen cabinets.
Marja-Leena: Wolf Hall is a project to read! I'm taking a break from it with more practical matters! Our "winter" is just about over. March is almost always beautiful here. I hope the rain abates by the time we get to Seattle in a few weeks, but I don't have much hope on that score.
Posted by: Hattie | March 01, 2013 at 12:28 PM
Can I get on that list? Would love to "join up."
Weather is fantastic on the Hamakua Coast today!
Posted by: Annie | March 01, 2013 at 04:02 PM