Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: cornbread and oatmeal raisin cookies Sight: fallen evergreen branches and windblown evergreen branches Sound: wind rushing through evergreens; buffeted, billowy, bolstered Smell: cinnamon, vanilla, brown sugar Touch: lint Extra: me rongo "with peace" in Moriori; "There is no truer animal in all creation than a dog. A dog’s heart beats so steadfastly you could set the clock of the universe to it." — Wendy Wagner, " An Oath of Dogs "   Grateful for: dogs; books; veterinarians

Taste:  maple frosting Sight: duck feathers up close shimmering Sound:  sniffles, hacking Smell:  pleasant odors dulled and unpleasant odors heightened Touch:  soft and smooth - duck feathers, strong wings and chests - duck squirms Extra: outside of a barn, doors to the right and left, becoming blind in a downfall of hail or something more dangerous must get inside to my left the animals inside could be dangerous, afraid of the sound. To the left is safer but further. I will fall to my hands and knees and crawl inside, but suddenly I am floating.; an awareness of self in another's perception Grateful for: cold medicine and   ibuprofen

The first book in the Wayfarers series, Becky Chambers' A Long Way to A Small, Angry Planet (2014) was one of my favorite reads, surprises and discoveries of 2017, but I didn't have a lot to say about it. I loved it. I recommended it to friends and they loved it. It was fun. My Goodreads review : Enormously fun and thoughtful Star Trekian space opera. I loved it and have had that wonderful experience of recommending this book and having friends get back to me and say, "Hey, I did love that!"  But I haven't been reading a lot of series or even stand alones by the same author, I like to explore and mix it up. So, I wasn't in a hurry to read A Closed and Common Orbit   (2016). I figured when I needed what I call a "bon-bon book," something I'm going to quickly and happily devour, I'd pick it up. Then, friends started talking about their favorite books read in 2017 and Chambers' Wayfarers series kept coming up so I moved it to the top of...

Taste: homemade mac and yeese; No Bones' Riptide Salad; Wayward's Very Veggie omelet and hot sauce Sight: a full winter rainfall fed creek; a leopard slug Sound: creek flow Smell: a clinical atmosphere - bleach and... Touch: soft warm Extra:  "...the resurrection of Yggdrasill, the ancient, mythical tree than connects and unites the various dimensions of the world." Ecotopia 2121 , Nuuk 2121, The Green Grass of Greenland; "...an evolving ecotopian city will offer citizens a chance to pursue other forms of freedom beyond the superficial freedom of mobility that a car offers. A utopian city....acts to encourage each and every person to learn to adapt to the new or the evolving utopian form. Citizens can thus teach themselves...to be happy—even happier—without cars." Ecotopia 2121 , Oxford 2121, Tranquil Streets of a Retro-future City Grateful for: rain breaks, mizzle and being outside

Taste:  crystallized ginger; sweet potato bread Sight: his soulful eyes; curls of rainbow carrot peels Sound:  whirring Cuisinart S mell:  burning marshmallow candle Touch:  kneading bread; weak wrists E xtra: her body will eventually break down; It's made for snot and anarchy.; habenero vodka, industrial music, black silk strappy shoes, black silk elbow length gloves--sneaking elegantly Grateful for: the New Year's Day sunrise; nature art; dreams; the work clothes store for laborers

I liked this collection of 41 short essays written ( and blogged ) by Ursula K. Le Guin between 2010 and 2016 very much. What I liked:  I liked that my spouse purchased this book for me at Munro's Books of Victoria, B.C. while we were on a trip to see good friends getting married on Dec. 17, 2017 in Craigdarroch Castle . I liked that my spouse somehow managed to purchase the book on the sly and then carry it around the store with him without my noticing (being much distracted by all the wonderful books) and then presented it to me right after we exited. I liked that I also received A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives by Lisa Congdon as a gift from friends on this trip and so came away from the weekend with two books — quite a pair! — that I was looking forward to reading. I liked the design of the book jacket by Martha Kennedy, the pleasing weight of it in my hand, and the introduction by one of my favorite authors, Karen Joy Fowler. And I liked...