mellow

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Well, it’s still rather soggy in southwest BC, with storm after storm bringing us more heavy rains in the past nearly two weeks than we normally get in the whole month of November, usually our wettest month of the year. More storms coming and no sun in sight on the weather map! Our backyard is a swamp but at least we aren’t flooded by overflowing rivers like in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver. It’s too wet to rake the leaves or dig up the dahlia tubers buried in wet mud. The past few days have gotten colder so I hear the mountains have lots of snow, I just haven’t seen it with my own eyes with those very low-hanging dark clouds. We did manage a walk between showers, finding ourselves stopping for several pleasant chats with neighbours out trying to clean their yards.

As I’ve written earlier, we are enjoying the coziness of the indoors. Saturday evening, we filled and lit the fireplace with logs, put on some old favourite music like Anne Sofie von Otter’s Wings in the Night (Swedish Songs) and sat down with some books. In this relaxing and mellow atmosphere I found myself often pausing in my reading to enjoy the best passages of the music while gazing at the dancing flames.

I’m reading Anita Konkka’s A Fool’s Paradise. I’ve been enjoying her blog Sanat (Words, in Finnish) for some time and have been wanting to read her books but they’ve been out of print until this translation. From her blog, I know that Anita has a deep interest in dreams and astrology, and that shows in the book. To me the writing is minimalist yet very visual as she describes vivid images and actions from dreams and real life, and sometimes the two seem to merge. Something about the mood, the air of mild depression and the slow almost total lack of a plot reminds me of some of Aki Kaurismäki’s films. I haven’t quite finished it yet but it is deep, thoughtful and satisfying reading. I wonder what it would be like to read in Finnish, probably a bit challenging for my rusty vocabulary.

Husband’s book The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles by Bruce Lipton excited him so much that he was reading passages aloud, leading us into some animated discussions. We’ve been turning away from much of traditional Western medicine and pharmaceuticals and looking at alternatives, so this book was very inspirational and hopeful.

Sunday was family day. Our eldest daughter and her partner were in town unexpectedly so we were all together playing with the grand-daughters and then having a nice meal around the extended table. This long weekend felt almost like Christmas, was it the mellowness?

Reviews of A Fool’s Paradise by Anita Konkka at:
Literary Saloon
Now What blog
Guardian
And an interview

November 14, 2006 in Books, Canada and BC, Music by Marja-Leena