A New Year

Remember my 2013 plans?
Never finished Hugo (it's still on my bedside table). Nope, didn't run a 5km in the fall. I'm not wearing a handmade knitted sweater and my walls aren't decorated by any artwork created by moi. Ask my letter-writing friends if I wrote more than two letters this year… hum….

So, what's in store for 2014?
-Continue to grow by developing my interests: yoga, knitting, reading, piano playing.
-Create seasonal manifestos for my little trio. *
-Create seasonal or monthly personal projects/goals for me. **
-Write one letter a month. I really want to do this!

I would like to learn a new skill or develop a talent. We'll see if that happens. I already have quite a bit on my plate.

* Winter Family Manifesto (this began in December)
One cultural activity per month
One winter walk per month
One toboggan or skate per month
Soup on Sundays

**January: I'm doing a 22-day Yoga Challenge on MyYogaOnline

Playing outside with Margot and Simon is fun! Let's embrace winter 'cause it's going to be a long one!

Playing in the snow. Lying in the snow feels so liberating!

Running down a hill while pulling the sleigh.

Margot makes me laugh!

Words on Asanas, Margot, Books, Knitting, Computer.

YOGA

"How Yoga Can Wreck my Body" by William Bond.

Listen to it here: on Wednesday February 8th's episode  CBC Q

My new found yoga  "resolution": if  don't like it, I'm not doing it. 

From this day forth, goodbye sarvagansana (a.k.a shoulderstand):  I have never liked you from day 1. I tried.  I really did. Especially when I was doing my YTT and one of my teachers was in love with the Queen of the Asanas and we practiced it for 5 minutes a day. She "corrected" me so many times. And yes, there were moments, raised up on 3 blankets, elbows strapped behind me that I did feel calm and in tune. But it's not worth the effort. I can't believe so many people love that pose. I don't get it! Your neck is crunched up, you're trying to keep your elbows together and you're carrying your body weight. It's uncomfortable. I know... I know about all the great benefits. I'll get them in another pose!

Goodbye also to Ustrasana (a.k.a Camel) with dropped head. I hate dropping my head back and exposing my neck. It doesn't work for me. I'll keep doing Camel, but my gaze will remain forward.

Urdhva Dhanurasana (a.k.a. Wheel pose). You feel great and empowering, but you're hard on my delicate wrists.  I will only do you once, out of the usual repeated 3 times. in wheel. I

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MARGOT

Margot is so much fun! She's full of beans and honey ;) She now pretends to cry/be upset. It's hilarious! And it's so obvious that it's fake - I should enroll her in Acting 101. 

Her favorite words these days are: encore, merci, ça, no, down, assis, oui, lait,  Noa.

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BOOKS

I have two books on the go (as I usually do). My Women's Bio Book Club is my downstairs book. Out of Africa is our Winter read. It's easy to pick up, read a few pages, underline a few things and then put down and tend to my little munchkin. My bedside one is Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, a collection of short stories. The first one almost made me tear up. Now that's a good book! Can't wait to read the others.

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KNITTING

In terms of knitting. I'm working on a skirt these days, using Lopi yarn from Iceland. Like books, I have two knitting projects: one for movie watching downstairs (I just finished my own pair of wrist warmers) , and one for hanging out in the living room upstairs (grey skirt).  I just ordered Madelinetosh yarn online for a special hug in March ;)  I worked with this yarn when I made a nutmeg-coloured honey cowl for Bec. It is sumptuous! I knew no other yarn could match it, so I had to use it. There's only one store in Ottawa that sells it and they didn't have the colour I wanted.  Can't wait to begin my new project!

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COMPUTER

We have a new addition in our home: a MacBook Pro. Smooth...

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A Year in Reading in Review

The year is capping off and so is my year of reading. Please refer to my July posting on A Year in Reading:
http://piedsnusenete.blogspot.com/2011/07/year-in-reading.html

As promised  to a dear (and most lovely) pieds nus en hiver avid follower, here are my brief reviews of the books I have read in 2011:

January - 
Woman's World by Graham Rawle
http://www.amazon.com/Womans-World-Novel-Graham-Rawle/dp/1582434638/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1324494027&sr=8-10
-Interesting fact: Rawle assembled 40 000 fragments of text snipped from 1960's women's magazines and created a text collage. It took him five years to produce this book.
-Tone: dark with a certain sadness to it.
-Time:  1960's (epoch of the domestic goddess).
-Overall: There's a twist! I didn't expect it, so it came as a surprise. Visually interesting. Descriptions are extensive, colorful and comedic at times.
-The concept and the story are unforgettable.

February - 
Atonement by Ian McEwan
 http://www.amazon.com/Atonement-Novel-Ian-McEwan/dp/038572179X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494171&sr=1-1
-Tone: tragic
-Format: divided in four parts
-Time and place: England, 1935; Northern France, 1940; London, 1940; London, 1999.
-Style: exquisitely written. Lyrical descriptions. Very visual. Not a lot of dialogue. My favorite parts were Part 3, followed by Part 1.
-Themes: childhood, love, shame & forgiveness, morality, class, war, writing.
-Feel: provoking.


March-
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
http://www.amazon.com/Help-Deluxe-Kathryn-Stockett/dp/0399157913/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494230&sr=1-1
-Time and place: 1962. Jackson, Mississippi.
-Narration: three narrators; all strong women.
-Feel: engrossed by this read. Couldn't put it down.
-Characters: well-developed and complex.
-I shed a tear at the end.

April - 
Millénium 1: Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes de Stieg Larsson
http://www.amazon.com/Millenium-Paperback-Hommes-Naimaient-French/dp/2742793097/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494456&sr=1-1
-Mon premier polar (thriller).
-Malgrès l'immense popularité de cette série, je ne voulais pas trop l'aimer. Aveu: l'histoire m'a agrippée dès le début.
-L'intrigue était contemporaine. Les personnages disfonctionnels. Un mystère à résoudre. Une saveur européeenne.
-Lisbeth Salander et Mikael Blomkvist font une bonne équipe.
-à noter: ll y a des scènes de violences qui sont assez dérangantes.
-The French title is more appropriate than the English one and more similar to the Swedish.

May - 
The Birth House by Ami McKay
http://www.amazon.com/Birth-House-Novel-P-S/dp/B002QGSX7S/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494543&sr=1-1
-Time and place: WW1, Scots Bay, NS. Canada.
-Very Canadian feel.
-Entertaining and quick read.
-Glorifies midwifery (yeah!) and honours women and choices they make.
-A forgettable read. But good for what it was.

June - 
Tempest-Tost by Robertson Davies
 http://www.amazon.com/Tempest-Tost-Modern-Classics-Penguin-Robertson/dp/0143054910/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494625&sr=1-1
-Amateur theatre group is rehearsing The Tempest. Right up my alley!
-Set: Salterton, a fictional place. Kingston? A University town.
-Many characters. I had to keep track of them (jotting notes in the inside back cover of the book). All very colourful and flawed. I would have preferred a focus on another protagonist. Hector Mackilwraith, the math teacher, wasn't my favourite.
-Funny, laugh-aloud lines.
-A great pick for the summer.
-"A theatrical company, however ill-assorted or however amateur, is bound together by ties which are incomprehensible to outsiders".

July - 
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
http://www.amazon.com/Room-View-Edward-Morgan-Forster/dp/146103986X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494775&sr=1-1
-I was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.Perhaps I didn't get the witty humour, I don't know... I'm not really into satire. Was that what it was?
-I wasn't attached to Lucy Honeychurch. I didn't get her.
-Time and place: Edwardian times, Florence.
"Women like looking at a view; men don't."

August - September - 
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
http://www.amazon.com/Never-Movie-Tie--Vintage-International/dp/0307740994/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324494963&sr=1-1
-Moving. I shed a few tears. I went back to the beginning of the book once I finished it. (that's a good sign)
-Intimate narration.
-A portrait of adolescence, childhood dreams, rebellion, acceptance, destiny, lost innocence, mortality.
-Feel: disquieting.
-Reminded me of A Handmaid's Tale; a  "humane" science fiction read.

 October -
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Watch-Sarah-Waters/dp/B000P29HYI/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324495029&sr=1-2
-Format: division in three parts - 1947, 1944, 1942. Going back in time.
-Time and place: London, during the war.
-When finished, I went back to the beginning.(good sign)
-Entertaining. Illicit liaisons. Dark. Secrets. What's not to like?
-A glimpse into the harshness of WWII reality of the women who worked in the city. Really interesting time period and subject. We never think about the women; it's always about the men who fight in the war...

November - 
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
http://www.amazon.com/Waves-Annotated-Virginia-Woolf/dp/B005K5YHVI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324495394&sr=1-1
-Superbly written. Poetic. Lyrical. Just beautiful.
-I pictured it as a stage play. I think that there was a recent adaptation in London, am I correct?
-A lingering book. To be read slowly. To sip.

December - 
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
 http://www.amazon.com/Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0385534639/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324495689&sr=1-1
-Fun. Magical. Makes me smile. What a world!
-I don't want it to end, so I'm dragging it out.
-Format: short chapters. Titled + date + place.
-The plot isn't really complex. I didn't get attached to any particular character.
-This read wasn't recommended. I bought it on a whim after reading a review. I do not regret it. Very Decemberish!



Also, the Women's Bio Book Club* selections this year were:
Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill  by Charlotte Gray. (Winter read)
Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris (Spring read)
The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem by Carolyn G. Heilbrun (Summer read)
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard (Autumn read)

*We read four books a year.

Random September Thoughts

-We signed up for zip.ca . It's a free month trial. I'll let you know how it goes. The concept: you create a "zip list" of movies you wish to see from an extensive list (they have everything!). They mail you (yes, by post)  a DVD. Once you are done watching it, you mail it back and another is sent to you. There are various packages available and right now the free trial is for 3 dvds at a time. If we enjoy the service, we'll probably drop to 1 at a time. The fun part is that you don't know which movie from your zip list you will receive (they try to send them in order of preference). I know the mailing back and forth of dvds may seem prehistoric to some, but I love receiving mail!

-Yesterday evening I went to a yoga class and all I could think of is: "this is such a beautiful evening, what am I doing cooped up inside when Simon and Margot are off on a stroll? " I wanted to share the warm September breeze with them!

-Last weekend, we had our Women's Bio Book Club meeting. The bio for this season (summer read) was Gloria Steinem. I like belonging to a book club. I look forward to chatting and catching up every three months or so.

-Margot's favorite words these days are "woof woof!" (she sees a lot of dogs around. cats are a different, strange pitch sound...) and bébé (anyone under the age of 16) . It's incredible how much she understands - in both languages!
In this video, she is perusing the Sears Wish Book catalogue. Will she find what she is looking for?Watch and see...