A lovely bookish day

One of my favorite quotes in life is from my mom: "The Saunderses would do without food before they'd do without their reads." I pretty much lived up to that last week. January's been a tight month, bringing a cut in my income. I had planned to treat myself to a night out last Saturday, a film festival and the book store in Greensboro. I weighed that against the need for groceries. I had meat in the freezer, a can of milk in the pantry — I decided I could go a few more days without a trip to the store!

I had my mind set on stopping by Jason's Deli, a wonderful "healthy" place near the theatre. But I discovered that the film cost at least $10, and I had $20 in my pocket. Hmm. I decided I really would rather have dinner and a book. I hadn't interested any of my friends in a cultural film outing, so I had no commitment to go.

Earlier in the day I had become frazzled by my mental to-do list and had rested with a book — Roots, by Alex Haley. A pounding at my door interrupted me; it was the mailman with a large box. I happily opened it to find a shipment of Elizabeth Peters' books that I had ordered.

That night I had a lovely salad with chicken pot pie soup and Jason's decadent croutons. Then I went to Borders on the excuse of looking for Bird by Bird — a writer friend told me I must buy it and read it immediately. Their only copy had a bent corner, and I was distracted by several other titles as I wandered around the store. I sat in an armchair and looked over the choices, devouring part of Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense & Sensibility, by Mireille Guiliano. I really wanted to buy it, but could only afford one book this time (the ones I wanted were still in hardback, but I had a discount coupon). I finally decided on The Last Lecture, by Randy Pausch.

It was so lovely just sitting there, looking through books, surrounded by books, a trio of customers visiting nearby, an employee passing through with an armload. A very satisfying evening.

The coldest winter

As I try to fictionalize the story of my real ancestors, just to fill in the gaps, I keep finding that real life is more dramatic than I could ever imagine.

A great frost and famine plagued Ireland in 1740-1741. As if that weren't enough drama, I thought maybe my MC (main character) Joshua might fall through some ice and survive a bout of pneumonia, which would bring him and his wife closer. The first problem with that idea is that there are no loughs (lakes) in Moate, where the English family lived. I could, however, have them go to one of the fairs in Athlone or Mullingar, which have rivers and lakes. But a fair, during the worst of winter? Hmm.

I went back to Jonathan Bardon's A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes (highly recommend it) to read about the great frost. The stories are sobering; about one in five people in Ireland died during the "Year of the Slaughter." (The 19th-century famines were nothing to this, percentage wise.) Even the great ports, like Dublin, were frozen over so that boats couldn't come in. Then I saw, staring back at me on page 249, that the drought brought horrible fires with it, including 20 houses burned "in the village of Moate, Co. Westmeath." What?!!! Moate is not even in the index of this 531-page tome.

Twenty houses gone, in this small village, during two arctic years. How many houses were there? Could Joshua's house have been one of them? I thought that the Quaker records from Moate must mention something, so I checked. Drat! The second book of minutes, which I am indexing, starts in 1743! I looked over my notes from the first minute book, but I was just skimming for the English name during my trip.

I'm not sure where to go with this, yet. I'll have to figure out how many people lived in Moate that year. I do know that in my own 21st-century town of almost 10,000, losing 20 homes would be devastating.

Books of 2009

I feel pretty good about myself when I look at the list of "books I'm reading" on this blog. But let's see how I really did. Here are the books I read in their entirety in 2009:

1. Deep River Friends: A Valiant People, by Cecil Haworth - I actually proofread this as an almost-final manuscript. It was exciting to hold a final copy in my hands last summer!
2. I edited another manuscript, a book of Quaker biographies. I don't want to give out the title until it's closer to publication.
3. The Last Camel Died at Noon, by Elizabeth Peters - I read her Amelia Peabody books for sheer enjoyment.
4. Books, by Larry McMurtry - I enjoyed reading about the life of another bibliophile, especially while camping. In answer to a friend: yes, I sometimes do finish reading nonfiction books!
5. Philippians - in the Bible, but it's called a "book."
6. The Scotswoman, by Inglis Fletcher - my first Inglis Fletcher book, inspiration for my own fact-based historical novel.
7. Stone Cold, by David Baldacci, audiobook - A lot of action, good characters and plot, but I started in the middle of the trilogy, which was probably a mistake. I read The Collectors last year and this was the sequel that wrapped up the storylines.

Now, here are the books that I partly read in 2009:
-- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - Excellent. I read the whole thing, but started it in 2008.
-- Financial Survival, by Kristen Eckstein - Practical advice for a tight budget. I read most of it, but I'm one of those people who will stop and work on the "how to" of one chapter before I read further.
-- Moate: A History, by Liam Cox - I would have read this whole book if it were still in print! A lot of history about the small town where my ancestors lived in Ireland. I devoured the pages that I had copied at the library during my trip.
-- A New History of Ireland - read a few chapters during my research trip to Ireland. Good, but overwhelming.
-- A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes - great anecdotes, so you can eat up history in bite-sized, tasty pieces. I've been skipping around.
-- The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate, by Kevin P. Duffus - impressive research, going back to primary sources the way genealogists do. His style is a little annoying, like a Discovery channel special. I started this after Thanksgiving and I'm still working on it.
-- Swahili - I finally found a decent phrasebook with pronunciation tips. I actually am reading the non-dictionary parts.
-- The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog, by Elizabeth Peters - I just finished this, so it's officially in 2010. Loved it! I felt an extra connection with the plot because of events going on in my own life.

So there you have it, not quite a book a month. I did not have particular goals for 2009 and I'm proud of the editing work this year (in addition to proofreading the news at my office job).
My only reading goals right now are research for my novel. Next up: Roots and The Peaceable Kingdom.

Movies of 2009

Here are my movies and series that I watched in the second half of 2009, with mini-reviews.
I started the year with Heroes: Season 3, but it was getting so dark I stopped watching. I may go back to it sometime, but it seems like another one of those series that will never let the characters be happy because the writers think we need more and more "tension" to stay interested. There's got to be some hope.
Then I watched The Tudors: Season 1 - Historically interesting, and very racy.
Slumdog Millionaire - good, but not for family.
Titanic (again) - one of my favorites.
Titanic Survivor Stories - Documentary filmed in 1982, when several survivors were alive and related fascinating stories. At the end there's film footage of the actual ship leaving port.
Nights in Rodanthe - Better than I expected, and not as predictable as the trailers led me to believe.
Pride and Prejudice - (again) one of my favorites.
Monkey Business - cute, with all four Marx brothers.
The Great Race - I've always liked Tony Curtis, but this was not as good as I expected. Very campy, Road-Runner type violence/humor, and back when making fun of suffragettes was apparently funny.
Spaceballs - for the first time! light humor.
The Other Boleyn Girl - Quite a different version from The Tudors. Not very happy, but I suppose with those historical events that would be impossible. Intriguing.
Airplane! - for the first time in many years! funny.
Pirates of the Caribbean (again) - a favorite. I tried to add in the "deleted scene" where Elizabeth teaches him the pirate song.
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) - Entertaining.
The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice - More somber than the first two movies. Enjoyed it.
The Buccaneers - Miniseries based on Edith Wharton's unfinished novel. Interesting, but not sure I would recommend it. Lots of "dark" (unhappy) scenes. I'm told her books were much better.
Saving Grace - Hilarious! (no, this is not some American series. It's an English feature) This tops my list and I would definitely buy a copy.
The Fifth Element (again) - I had forgotten most of the movie. Enjoyable.
Born Yesterday (1950) - A Pygmalion type story. Liked it.
Holiday (1938, K.Hepburn & C.Grant) - Liked it.
Berkeley Square - I recommend this miniseries, much better than The Buccaneers. Some reality and hardship, but it gives hope. And good historical detail; I now know what a footman does!
Home Alone (1st one) - I hadn't seen this in so long I forgot most of it. Funny.
Star Trek (the new one, DVD) - Good enough to watch again.
While You Were Sleeping (again) - My favorite Christmas movie, especially if you're blue.
Timeline - Entertaining, but turn off your reality switch.
Four Christmases - OK, but don't need to watch it again. It's like Christmas Vacation humor, which isn't me. But I didn't realize it had such an all-star cast! 'like the supporting actors.
Sometime in the past few months I watched Serenity and forgot to write it down. Although I had seen it in the theatre, I had since watched the Firefly series so everything had whole new meanings for me. Would like to watch the series and then the movie again.
Ben Hur - Watching this week (not finished). So far, it's awesome!

Character conundrum - Elizabeth English

(spoiler alert!) As I try to write these chapters about young Elizabeth English, my mental image of her gets confused. After my research trip to South Carolina, when I knew her as an old maid aunt of colonial Camden, I pictured her as tall, aloof, light brown hair always tucked neatly under her bonnet. The sailors on the Hitchcock would have noticed her high cheekbones and lovely face.

I somehow forgot that vision during my research trip to Ireland. When I found out that a very young (14-15) Elizabeth ran away and married either a Catholic or Church of Ireland member, I pictured her as petite, with long, black, wavy hair and green eyes.

About this point, my friends usually say, Oh, you know everybody got married young back then. Not my family. Elizabeth's parents, grandparents and aunt didn't marry until their mid-20s at least! That may have been the Quaker influence and not necessarily what the general population did. I gather from the records that Quakers believed in choosing one's own mate as opposed to arranged marriages - but that mate had better be a Friend, and everybody and their brother had to approve the match, a very lengthy process.

Back to my conundrum. I can't seem to write these new scenes without my petite, raven-haired beauty. But practically, those features do not run in my family (except the green eyes), and she would have worn a modest bonnet all the time. Will that image fit into the second book, when she lives the hard life of an American pioneer?

A treasure trove of genealogy books

Have you ever gone to a research library and wished that you could take some of those wonderful books home? Well, the Historical Collection at High Point Library decided to clean out some duplicates and little-used items. They sent out an e-mail, listing books and pamphlets for about $1 to $3. I came home with an armload for $14.50 - woo hoo!

Now, the major family histories and reference books are still safely on the library shelves for me and other researchers. But here's the fun stuff I collected.

The Pirates of Colonial North Carolina - a gift for my cousin, who loves pirate lore.
a short biography of Inglis Fletcher, "Chronicler of North Carolina" (no year)
A Southern View of the Invasion of the Southern States and War of 1861-65 (2nd edition, 1938)
Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry (1991)
The First Hundred Years of Historic Guilford, 1771-1871 - includes photographs of letters and lists Quakers (possibly relatives) who refused to fight.
A Guide to South Carolina Genealogical Research and Records (1991)
When Racing Was Racing - museum publication with photos of people from my town, and autographs
Several issues of "The Southern Friend" - Quaker history. I chose the ones about Cary's Rebellion, the Clayton family (possibly mine), Centre Friends Meeting minutes, farm life, tanning, the Civil War and Clara Cox (our first pastor).

Advent Calendar - Dec. 24, Christmas Eve

As long as I can remember, my mom's side of the family, the MANESS family, has gotten together for Christmas Eve. Just like Thanksgiving, we have a potluck meal with lots of yummy food. When I was very small, we gathered at Mamaw and Papaw's house, but for many years we have taken turns hosting Christmas Eve at different houses. In 1996 I wrote down what food we had: turkey, stuffing, potato and sweet potato casseroles, artichoke dip, pinto beans, salad, pecan pie "and lots more!"

When my generation was little (school-age), each family branch gave us a gift and got a gift for my grandparents. After we grew up and starting having our own families, we drew names at Thanksgiving to give one nice present on Christmas Eve. Last year, we did away with the present thing. The family has grown and sometimes the name drawn would be almost a stranger. Less stress for the women of the family, who tend to do most of the shopping, and for the breadwinners, who save some money.

Again, when we were little, the church held a cantata and candlelight service late on Christmas Eve. Sometimes we went to the service, but 11pm seemed to feel later and later, and as we stopped going, the church changed to a Sunday morning service the week of Christmas. We had a couple of attempts to incorporate the Christmas story into the family gathering - my little cousin performed his own cantata one year. We enjoyed it, but never kept up with a particular tradition.

In 1992, before I knew about scrapbooking, I bought a Christmas book. Every Christmas Eve, we sign our names in it and write down the big events that happened in our family that year.

We always enjoy being together. Our fourth generation has to leave early to celebrate with in-laws, and some have started staying home with their babies. But many of us stick around just to visit. The women gravitate toward the kitchen with cups of coffee for our "hen party," and the men relax in the living room to talk about hunting or cars.

I think as long as my (3rd) generation is able, we will keep gathering on Christmas Eve. We cherish our time together - and good food! - too much to give it up.