Note: the expression ketchup and eggs comes innocently enough via Commatology, in reference to red and yellow tulips. Cute. Except for this: despite having no interest in ketchup at breakfast, I can no longer see yellow and red without thinking of defiled eggs.
So [ahem]… gee thanks, Leslie… this one’s for you!
I love a tour. And so I was especially pleased to be invited to join this mad literary romp, blog-style, where we answer a set of questions in our own merry way. Many thanks to the always madly wonderful Alice Zorn over at Rapunzel’s Hair for asking. Alice is the author of Arrhythmia, the short story collection, Ruins and Relics, and often translator of Grimms fairy tales. Among other things, she blogs about her travels and her beloved Montreal neighbourhood, Pointe St. Charles. Her contribution to the game is here.
So… bon voyage, and here goes…
—What am I working on?
I tend to go through phases of working at more than one thing at a time. Currently I’m revising a few stories to send out, preparing a collection of essays and occasionally checking on the brine in which my novel manuscript is marinating… It often needs more salt.
—How does my work differ from others of its genre?
It occurred to me recently that I’m not a good rule follower. Not because I’m a renegade or anything as quaint as that, but simply because I’m often not aware of the rules. And even when I manage to figure out what they are, I can hardly believe it: those are the rules?? I have a hard time talking with people who want to discuss trends. I have no idea *what* is popular. Nor do I want to belabour any knowing. I recently wrote a story from the perspective of a chair.
—Why do I write what I do?
One of my interests is relationships, especially those within the constraints of family. I realize I’ve been watching various families all my life—my own of course and those that lived on my street as a kid; aunts and uncles that weren’t, or were; the families connected to friends as I grew up; the manufactured ones through marriage and children, or no marriage and no children, or some other configuration therein or thereof. I’m fascinated with the way roles are assumed and played out to various ends and for what reasons and how we judge it all… and how we pretend it doesn’t matter and how it matters so very much. I’m interested in what’s remembered and how in a family there’s nothing even close to a consensus of truth. My writing often pokes about in this tender territory, trying to make head or tail of things. Why?? Who the hell knows.
—How does your writing process work?
A large part is thinking out loud. Also known as talking to myself. I run through scenes, interview myself, ask myself what is the point of such and such… what is the point???… until I either come up with a point or scrap the whole damn such and such. I write in a journal most mornings, about dreams and grocery lists initially, but eventually making my way to the day’s work and what I want to accomplish, which inevitably leads me back to the such and such and the point, and pretty soon I’m no longer writing but talking to myself…
Best places to work through a problem: in the car, on a walk, weeding the garden.
~
The tour continues with Barbara Lambert, author of The Allegra Series, A Message for Mr. Lazarus and The Whirling Girl. And Maria Meindl, author of Outside the Box; Maria’s essay ‘Junior’ appears in the anthology The M Word. Thanks to both for bravely accepting this mission. Am looking forward to visiting their blogs in the coming weeks and will post links here.
Stops on the tour include:
Theodora Armstrong
Ali Bryan
Marilyn Bowering
Janie Chang
Jaime Forsythe
Susan Gillis
Jason Heroux
Cornelia Hoogland
Ellen S. Jaffe
Eve Joseph
Susan Juby
Anita Lahey
Barbara Lambert
Steve McOrmond
Maria Meindl
Sarah Mian
Elise Moser
Kathy Page
Julie Paul
Pearl Pirie
Shelagh Plunkett
Ryan Pratt
Jael Richardson
Devyani Salzman
Cassie Stocks
Ayelet Tsabari
Patricia Young
Julia Zarankin
Alice Zorn
◊♦◊
Other Wordless Friends—
Cheryl Andrews
Allison Howard
Barbara Lambert
Allyson Latta
Elizabeth Yeoman
The path in the park forks into a circle around a small copse.
It doesn’t matter if you go left or right, you’ll eventually come back to the same place. If you go left you get to the bluebells and trilliums sooner. I go right.
I like to save the good stuff.
There’s a tree, a shrub really, in pale pink blossom. A wild thing I’ve never noticed it before. I’ll pay attention this year and see what it becomes.
This reminds me of the apple tree I passed on the way in, how all that windfall fruit last year made good crumble. And a few meals for the squirrels until the ice storm happened. Most of the trees in the area were badly broken but, magically, the apple tree was spared. I make a note to check for blossoms on my way back.
I see that the fiddlehead ferns—ostrich ferns—are past their fiddlehead stage.
It always happens so quickly and I haven’t even had any yet this year.
Another note: find some and eat.
And how does a single daffodil appear on a forest floor unless planted by someone? Well done, someone! Because if you had to be a daffodil, this would be the life to choose. So much better than the claustrophobic hysteria of mass plantings.
I see my first forsythia. Out here anyway. The actual first was in Toronto. But it always is. All that concrete has an encouraging effect on blooms.
And here’s something peculiar: I’ve never noticed the dogwood that lines the creek. How is that possible? I’ve walked here for years.
And this is new also: what looks to be a cucumber among the still-to-be-cleaned-up ice storm debris. Though I think it’s bound to be trampled on well before it finds its way to a crust-less sandwich.
Poor thing. The world needs more cucumbers.
I’m tempted to make a sign…
◊♦◊
Other Wordless Friends—
Cheryl Andrews
Allison Howard
Barbara Lambert
Allyson Latta
Elizabeth Yeoman
One of my favourite new discoveries—The Sketchbook Project.
Such a clever idea by the people at the Art House to share and promote various forms of art—and have fun doing it. Imagine.
Anyone can join for the price of a blank book, which is then ‘arted up’, sent to New York, digitalized, and then sent on a tour across North America with some very nice stops in the process, including both the MOCA and the LACMA in Los Angeles, Toronto’s Distillery District, Vancouver, Portland, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, and others, before returning to its permanent home on the shelves of the Brooklyn Art Library, where anyone can visit at any time.
Here’s a great little write up by Ashville BookWorks, in North Carolina, where the exhibit rolled through (in a custom built bookmobile) in March.
My contribution — I am Somewhere — a collection of dreams (yes, mine) with illustrations in collage. (What else does one do with dreams?? And am I the only one who, when explaining a dream to a friend, begins with that vague sense of being “somewhere…” and if I am [the only such one], what do other people begin their dream-telling with? And if you don’t tell dreams, why not? And if you don’t dream… um, Freud has something to say about that; can’t remember what.)
Anyway, it was a great lark and I thoroughly enjoyed the two winter afternoons devoted to it. Nice to exercise a different muscle. And thank you, dear local library for your abundance of cast off magazines.
Here’s a sample of the madness:
**
I’m somewhere,
reading about owls
and how their wings
make no sound
(there is down involved in this magic)
and then I fall asleep and in my dream I dream about
owls flying in a line across
the sky… but my double dream state
doesn’t believe that they are really owls
even though their chubby cigar shape
is unmistakable.
They fly to the west (my left)
and then disappear bit by bit
in puffs of smoke
or clouds
or swirled air.
More somewheres here.
I set out this morning to see if the bloodroot had opened. I’d noticed leaves and buds curled up near the creek the other day. En route I pass the man who I usually see in his plaid bathrobe taking out the recycling… today in a Canadiens jersey, laying out a tarp to dry on his driveway.
A long-haired Alsatian chases a black squirrel with a brown tail while the dog’s person calls something like Jingles! and a cat in a window looks smug.
There’s a house where daffodils and red tulips bloom—dozens of them—it’s the only place that has more than one or two and, weirder still, they look like they’ve been there for weeks and I wonder how this can be.
Over here a truck delivers a load of sod and topsoil and over there a couple of chairs on a front porch look ready for a mug of tea. Further along, a grease stain in a shape that can’t be overlooked and which I add to my collection.
There are reminders everywhere of December’s ice storm.
And on various curbs, a total of three toilets, one bathtub, two sinks and a countertop.
I notice the hockey net around the corner has been replaced by a basketball hoop and a skipping rope abandoned on a lawn beside a pair of mittens.
There is a thing I don’t recognize.
And a song that I do.
And the Italian man with the garden near the park is walking around his patch of still bare earth, smoking, figuring out where the tomatoes and beans and zucchini will live this year. Rotation is good.
There’s wild ginger.
And tame things.
And then, by the creek, one of my favourite oddly named things…
◊♦◊
Other Wordless Friends—
Cheryl Andrews
Allison Howard
Barbara Lambert
Allyson Latta
Elizabeth Yeoman
‘D’ and ‘T’ are brothers. Twins. I spoke with them separately and intended to post the Q&As separately but I think the brother thing is not to be discounted. There’s something interesting going on with siblings generally, how they can grow up in the same family, with more or less the same values, rules and traditions, the same holidays, the same weird Uncle Waldo… and yet evolve quite differently, with different memories standing out, different versions of the same holiday, and entirely different emotional make-ups.
And then there’s twins, who, it’s said, can be raised in different families on opposite sides of the planet and both end up loving the same movies, books, both collecting Romanian coins and sporting Fu Manchus.
And so, because of my interest in siblings and sameness and difference, I decided to present D&T together… though I do wonder if they, if twins, triplets, etc., ever get tired of being seen as a kind of package in a way that other siblings aren’t subjected to. Or is this ‘package’ one of the best parts of twindom, a gift the rest of us can never know…
Unfortunately, that was a question I didn’t ask.
‘D’
How long could you go without talking? Two hours.
Silence or noise? Noise.
How many pairs of shoes do you own? Ten.
If you won the lottery? Take my family on a holiday.
One law you’d make? Make it harder to get guns.
Unusual talent? Drawing.
What do you like to cook? Tacos.
Have you or would you ever bungee jump? I haven’t, but I would.
What’s the most dare-devilish thing you’ve done? When I was ten, I jumped from the top of a 15′ slide.
Do you like surprise parties, practical jokes? No to parties; yes to jokes.
Favourite time of day? When school is over.
What tree would you be? A big one.
What do you like on your toast? Butter and cinnamon. Or jelly.
The last thing you drew a picture of? Me and my dog.
Last thing written in ink. Signed a document for volleyball.
Favourite childhood meal? Ribs.
What age would you go back to if you could? Four.
*Would* you go back? No.
Best invention? Printing press.
Describe your childhood bedroom. Still in the same room but it used to seem bigger. White walls, posters.
Afraid of spiders? Not afraid, but don’t like them.
Phobias? Solitude, darkness.
Most disliked teacher and why? Spanish teacher gave too much homework.
Favourite children’s story? Green Eggs and Ham.
Ideal picnic ingredients? Water, ham and cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, apples, grapes, Sprite.
Is Barbie a negative role model? Yes.
Best thing about Canada? Have family here.
Best thing about people in general? When they’re loving instead of hateful.
What flavour would you be? Orange.
What colour? Green.
What would you come back as? A person again.
Favourite saying: “Shoot for the moon, but reach for the stars.”
**
‘T’
How long could you go without talking? At most, 3 1/2 hours.
Do you prefer silence or noise? Noise.
How many pairs of shoes do you own? About 12. I wear about 5.
If you won the lottery? Help my mum and dad with whatever they need. Buy cars and a basketball court.
One law you’d make? I’d remove the Stand Your Ground Law.
Unusual talent? Writing, basketball and volleyball.
What do you like to cook? Pizza.
Have you or would you ever bungee jump? I haven’t, but I would.
What’s the most dare-devilish thing you’ve done? Acrobatics on park equipment when I was a kid. Hit my head.
Do you like surprise parties, practical jokes? Yes, both.
Favourite time of day? Afternoon.
What tree would you be? I’d be a strong tree growing someplace on its own.
What do you like on your toast? Cinnamon and butter.
The last thing you drew a picture of? Self portrait in charcoal, to illustrate a story.
Last thing written in ink. Birthday card.
Favourite childhood meal? Rice and hamburger.
What age would you go back to if you could? Four.
*Would* you go back? No.
Best invention? Car.
Describe your childhood bedroom. I remember crawling out of my crib one summer.
Afraid of spiders? YES!!!
Phobias? Arachnophobia.
Least favourite teacher and why? In 4th grade; too slow; ignored people who were able to do more.
Favourite children’s story? Don’t have a favourite but least favourite is a zoo book with large print that I had to read too many times.
Ideal picnic ingredients? Sandwiches (chicken, ham, turkey), hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, pizza, wings, pop, water, juice, basketball, volleyball net, soccer ball, Frisbee, football.
Is Barbie a negative role model? Yes.
Best thing about Canada? The people are friendly and the money is coloured. The loonie and the toonie. I like the houses too.
Best thing about people in general? Humour.
What flavour would you be? Caramel.
What colour? Purple or red.
What would you come back as? A bird, a blue jay or a mourning dove. Wouldn’t want to be a spider.
Favourite saying: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
♦
—the frivolous five, a series of frivolity
◊♦◊
Other Wordless Friends—
Cheryl Andrews
Allison Howard
Barbara Lambert
Allyson Latta
Elizabeth Yeoman
Matilda Magtree 