Where water comes together with other water by Raymond Carver

This last weekend we spent a fantastic day along Pescadero Creek in the Santa Cruz mountains. Our time along the water reminded me of a favorite poem of mine by Raymond Carver and when we came back I dug it up. It is copied below, in part to remind me to track down the collection next time we're at the library or bookstore.

where water comes together with other water
by raymond carver

I love creeks and the music they make.
And rills, in glades and meadows, before
they have a chance to become creeks.
I may even love them best of all
for their secrecy. I almost forgot
to say something about the source!
Can anything be more wonderful than a spring?
But the big streams have my heart too.
And the places streams flow into rivers.
The open mouths of rivers where they join the sea.
The places where water comes together
with other water. Those places stand out
in my mind like holy places.
But these coastal rivers!
I love them the way some men love horses
or glamorous women. I have a thing
for this cold swift water.
Just looking at it makes my blood run
and my skin tingle. I could sit
and watch these rivers for hours.
Not one of them like any other.
I'm 45 years old today.
Would anyone believe it if I said
I was once 35?
My heart empty and sere at 35!
Five more years had to pass
before it began to flow again.
I'll take all the time I please this afternoon
before leaving my place alongside this river.
It pleases me, loving rivers.
Loving them all the way back
to their source.
Loving everything that increases me.

Singing Shijimi Clams by Naomi Kojima

Vanessa, Leon & Izze just sent this great book to us. I was sold before even opening the cover - c'mon it's about clams for crying out loud! It turned out to a be a really cute book about an aging witch and her cat who attempt to make miso soup with clams but are dissuaded by the sound of the peaceful snoring of the clams. When the clams finally awake they are quite upset to not to be at home, and so the gang works all together to raise money to get them back safe and sound.

SurLaLune Fairy Tales

A great website on all things fairy tale-related (including illustrations, annotated versions, etc.): http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/.

Thanks Mom for passing along this link!

Festus & Mercury

A few months ago at the library we stumbled upon the book "Ruckus in the garden" by Sven Nordqvist and were immediately captivated. The story of a funny man and his equally funny talking cat who attempt repeatedly to grow a garden of vegetables and meatballs while plagued by a variety of animal hazards was hilarious and the illustrations equally fantastic.

Since then we've read a number of books by this Swedish author and have loved all of them (particularly "When Findus was little and disappeared" pictured on the left). Admittedly our relationship is at times strained: Lena loves them so much that it is not uncommon for her to ask for the same book each night at bedtime for days on end. They are really wonderful though and highly recommended.

One small warning: in the first book that we read the man's name was translated as "Festus" and the cat as "Mercury". In translations of other books the man has gone by "Pettson" and the cat by "Findus". In our house it has been slightly hard to give up our dear friends Festus and Mercury and so Morgan and I have become adept at translating Pettson and Findus into their alternative names (quite a feat when very sleepy, but Lena keeps us on task). Here are several of the ones we've read and recommend (unfortunately openlibrary doesn't have covers for many of them so you'll have to take our word on the great illustrations):

Ruckus in the garden
Festus and Mercury attempt to plant a garden of vegetables and meatballs respectively but face one set back after another.

When Findus was little and disappeared
Festus tells his cat the story of how they came to live together and how when Mercury was small he was lost and scared by a badger.

The fox hunt
We've only gotten this one out from the library once but it is fantastic. Festus and Mercury attempt to outfox a fox (and end up outfoxing a fox hunter as well).

Pancakes for Findus
On Mercury's birthday the tradition is to always make pancakes (Lena's favorite breakfast!) yet a couple hurdles arise which result in some outlandish behavior that raises the eyebrows of the neighbors.