Thursday, May 3, 2012

A Few Good Things

simple and sturdy, 2012
+ Steaming fava beans, and shelling them with someone I like.
+ Eating fava beans with buttermilk roast chicken, indoor picnic style.
+ Getting lost in Jim Moore's Invisible Strings.
+ Returning to read The Bell Jar again.
+ The simple beauty of the vintage French tea towels we use as napkins.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

23 comments:

  1. very good things, i'd say. i was just thinking of reading the bell jar again. probably b/c of the sylvia plath stamps on my table. have you seen the poet stamps at the usps?

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    1. Hi, Shari. I have not seen these stamps yet, but I wonder if your tweet planted the Sylvia Plath seed in my mind yesterday. I found The Bell Jar while browsing the stacks and decided to read it again.

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  2. All good things. I am especially partial to the vintage tea towels. Lovely photo.

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  3. Those tea towels are lovely in that beautiful light.

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  4. Like the others here, I'm in love with the tea towels - how wonderful they look and i can feel their texture. I too was looking at the Bell Jar the other day and thinking I must return to it. although I'm now reading I Capture the Castle again and it still seems so fresh. Happy birthday to your dad!

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    1. I hadn't read it in a while and forgot just how dark some of it got. Intense, but so good. I finished it today.

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  5. like Emily Vanessa, I can practically feel the weight and softness of those tea-towels.Oddly, I've just been reading Plath's journals again, after picking up a library copy of Erica Wagner's book about Hughes' Birthday Letters (Ariel's Gift).

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  6. You always convey so well a tranquil, thoughtful life, Denise.

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  7. good things indeed. have a wonderful weekend Denise.

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  8. Oh, reading this felt like a momentary vacation. Thank you so much for sharing such a lovely list.

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  9. i've just read the excerpts i found on jim moore. on the bell jar; i think i might haul the movie from under the dust this weekend.
    the fava beans look so yummy. they're not in season here yet. sorry to say.

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    1. Brace yourself for The Bell Jar. See my note to Emily above.

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  10. This post is making me hungry...I think we are going to have roast chicken tonight!

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  11. That sounds good, I think I might revisit 'The Bell Jar' too.

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    1. I believe it was the thirteenth chapter when I started thinking, I should not be reading this novel before bed. I finished it in the daylight today.

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  12. I love that photograph, Denise, and the texture of the wooden table.
    Do you know I have never eaten fresh fava beans before? We usually eat dried fava beans in Greece.
    Tempting.

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    1. I'm sure they are incredibly different. I barely cook the fresh. I wonder if you'd like them. Let me know if you give them a try.

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  13. "Steaming fava beans, and shelling them with someone I like."

    Gosh, how I like this.

    (...and I also use the tea towel as a napkin. Much more accommodating to feasting.)

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  14. very pleasurable things.the tactile of the favas, especially: the fine fuzz on the outside of those thick fleshy jackets, the zip, revealing plump beans, each in its custom cushion.

    and buttermilk roast chicken? Oh, my!

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