Have you seen the older movie, Stand By Me? It's based on a Stephen King story (The Body) although it's not scary. My son bought a Stephen King novel (The Shining) at a thrift store last week where we were perusing for rollerblades. He read much of the book that night (had to turn all the lights on from his room to the hallway to the bathroom just to brush his teeth. Swore he wouldn't look in the bathtub. Did most of his brushing without looking in the mirror) and the rest of it the next day. He liked it, apparently, a lot. Now he's on the lookout for 'Salem's Lot (via his mother's recommendation. I spent much of my high school daze with my nose in one SK book or another.) So, anyway, all this Stephen King talk got me to thinking about that movie, Stand By Me. So we rented it this weekend and watched it twice. It's such a good movie. If you haven't seen it, or haven't seen it lately, i recommend watching it again.

I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and I started reading it again last night. That's how much I am in love with this book and this writing. From Elizabeth Gilberts website: "When I was writing “Eat, Pray, Love”, I had just as a strong a mantra of THIS SUCKS ringing through my head as anyone does when they write anything. But I had a clarion moment of truth during the process of that book. One day, when I was agonizing over how utterly bad my writing felt, I realized: “That’s actually not my problem.” The point I realized was this – I never promised the universe that I would write brilliantly; I only promised the universe that I would write. So I put my head down and sweated through it, as per my vows."

I also worked a little on Ida3. Just reading through pages I printed off and editing it a bit. Now I need to make the changes on the computer and delete some stuff that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

And my cousin-in-law, Nikki, wrote (thanks, Nikki!) from Brunswick, Maine to say:  "The other day I remembered to take my camera while taking Rusty for a walk, and we often stop in to the Gulf of Maine Books store to get a treat for Rusty (sometimes 2 treats!)  And what should I see on the children's book display table but a very familiar tome!" 


Nikki is an avid reader, genealoger (new word!) and dog walker. You can read her musings at Exile's Return.