Saturday 30 January 2010

Squirrel entering a time warp

Welcome back. Here I sit in my living room with my brand new cherry red lap top. Thank you, Mr. Visa Card. My very first laptop, which I had lovingly dubbed Stephen Fry, is no more. So it goes. Well, the bulk of him still works but his screen is knackered. So I have retired him to the bedroom cupboard, having been lucky enough to take off all the necessary files and store them on my external hard drive before the screen went permanently black.

And now she is here. Her name is Leigh-Cheri, named for the character in Tom Robbins’ Still Life with Woodpecker. If Fry was my symbol of endless possibilities, then Leigh-Cheri is my symbol for…juice. I think I have reached the beginning of the juicy stage of my life. I think of this stage as being approximately 15 years long and containing a fearlessness of expression, a revisiting of that lawless spirit of youth, without the accompanying hormonal melodrama. At least, this is what I like to tell myself. And hey, I’ve always liked a good story.

Being so cut off from the cyber world is strange. Because I have no telly, suddenly being without my computer was like having a lifeline shredded. But it was okay. I listened to Richard E Grant’s Wah Wah Diaries on audio book, which I highly recommend. Grant himself does the reading and he has such a wonderful voice, I think I could listen to him reciting the alphabet for at least an hour before turning him off. I also listened to Slaughterhouse Five, as read by Ethan Hawke - very well done.

Books. I am rediscovering books. I have started MFK Fisher’s The Gastronomical Me, which I adore beyond measure.

I follow quite a few blogs. Often I feel a frantic need to catch up all the time - all the posts keep piling up and suddenly I am like Lucy in the chocolate factory. I have been trying to read so many that by the time I get finished scrolling through them all, I have no time to create anything myself. I need to change this. I don’t know how other folks manage this but I am thinking of trying to play catch up once a week and not worry about the state of my GoogleReader the rest of the time.

A friend of mine will fly in on Tuesday and will be here for two weeks. Cafes and restaurants will be visited. Cheese shops will be perused. Walks will be taken. Laughter will ring out many times.

Tomorrow I aim to make no fewer than three different soups. Wish me luck. Have a splendid weekend, full of adventure. Time warp squirrel signing out.

13 comments:

Zhoen said...

I like your squirrel doing "The Time Warp, Again."

iSabelle is my laptop.

Marie S said...

Oh Hello!! So good to *hear* your voice, you have been missed dear one.
I feel ya about the too many blogs and too little time.
I am trying to visit the ones that are in front of my face when I am on and believe it is all perfect. After all there is life to be lived, yes?
So glad I was here to see you return, see, it is perfect and the path will take me where I need to go when I do.
Love and hugs to you!!
Welcome back!
And congrats on the new and lovely red laptop, such a power color!

ellen abbott said...

What a great post. I like your new stage in life. sounds like it's going to be so much fun.

Lucy in the chocolate factory is the best analogy I've read. I try to read everything but there are days I have to pick and choose and if I don't get back within 24 hours, then likely those particular entries will go unread. doesn't mean I don't still love the authors though.

Cheryl said...

Cherry red! Awesome. Sounds like you managed better without internet than I did a few months ago. There is something comforting about knowing you can log on, check this or that, communicate or share whenever you feel like it.

For me, I read blogs throughout the week but I'll only take the time to respond maybe once or twice a week, unless I feel I really need to respond then and there.

PS - just discovered Stephen Fry's Kingdom series online.

Mike McLaren said...

Lucy in the chocolate factory—that was one of the funniest comedic skits ever filmed! Welcome back to cyberspace. May the web be with you.

Anonymous said...

haha mad we squirrel hes cleary shaking his lil head fast sayin noooo i dont want my picture took lol

Dale said...

:-) whenever I start feeling oppressed by it, I just mark everything as read in google reader. Feels terribly irresponsible, repudiating my blog debts that way: but my conviction is that blogging is, and of right ought to be, an irresponsible activity.

happyone said...

Glad to hear your back online with your new computer.
Good luck with the soup.
That is one fast squirrel

Marcheline said...

1. I have no laptop, but if I did I would have to name it after someone that I would like to have in my lap. But can you really name a laptop "Edilson Nascimiento"? Something to ponder.

2. What on earth are you, in your wee little hoosie, going to do with three whole batches of soup? Are you having a dinner party, or is your freezer HUMONGOUS?

3. Squirrel pics are always welcome, but I think we would all like to see a picture of Cheri! Never having seen a cherry-red laptop, I feel deprived at the moment.

Alexandra MacVean said...

Love that photo of the squirrel and the title is so fitting. Hee hee. :)

And congrats on your new laptop! Woo hoo!

Carol Anne Strange said...

Welcome back and I do so like the sound of your cherry red laptop. I can't remember life without the internet. What a difference it has made! x

michael.offworld said...

If I lived alone, I would disconnect cable and just use the TV for DVD movies.

I feel powerless to its ability to steal my time and turn me numb.

I'm with you on the endless list in Reader. I've decided to stop collecting new blogs. There are more out there than I have time to read. That's OK. I'll read what I can.

Lucy said...

I think we all feel a bit the same, and are all telling each other and ourselves it's fine, don't worry, read what you can and get on with life. But really, it's true!