BIBLIOGRIND
The Life of a Wordsmith — Read … Live … Write
Archive for October, 2010
October 31, 2010 at 7:09 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Last night Cal came over and we read bits of our work, with Asia as added (essential) audience. Cal has found his true métier, I think, with poetry. The narrative is tight, and the images profound.
I read from my new novel, “Of Sirens and Muses”, which is complete as a story and into a soft rewrite. I chose a couple of short scenes that give NYC as the narrator finds it.
As we read, Asia took photos. I can use one of another of her shots for news & advert pieces a la marketing.
Before we read, we opened a bottle of wine Cal brought over, a robust Chillean red for which I had just the right crystal stemware. The wine was a good accompaniment to the marinated cheese & onion/pepper/garlic and rich rye bread.
Later, we had dinner: brown rice with herbs, cauliflower steamed with curry & turmeric and tomatoes, and white wine. We chowed.
Talk of politcal happenstance in USA and Europe made an appearance, and then was discarded. We rather chose to talk art and film and books.
October 26, 2010 at 6:22 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Asia has moved on from the great Project K (knitting a bag) to Project Mini-K … knitting small bags for, say, used pencils or sunglasses or notebooks with a pen. Her knitting is so fantistically inventive, and precise, and professional, that if ever we need to live like trolls in a little hut behind a forest mushroom path, people will know her name around the world.
After seeing her gorgeous mini-bag, I had to have one.
It fits perfectly my notepad and Mont Blanc pen. (mine is the green bag!)
BTW … I’m working on a project myself: Project W (it comes with a cork and a long-stemmed glass)
October 23, 2010 at 7:01 am · Filed under The Prague Blog
It was Friday night, and I’d been running around Prague all day long. No wine on this detox diet? Sorry, Dr … life is even shorter than usual without this ancient elixir.
Nonetheless, the detox program continues: no gluten, minimal fruits, lots of raw veggies, and chicken galore. I’m roasting a bird for lunch, complemented by carrots and onions (roasted onions are the next best thing since RED WINE). Tonight a nice cawliflower & spices recipe over wild rice with a side spring onion & digestive leaves salad.
I think — we think; the Little Fox and myself — that cutting out 80-90% of the toxins is just fine, dandy & GOOD ENOUGH. What does this mean?
Coffee!!!
October 22, 2010 at 11:21 am · Filed under The Prague Blog
Asia and I are onto the 2nd day of a detox diet. It’s purpose is to get rid of all the acid in our bodies, to bring the pH into balance, to flush the gluton, and cleans the liver and kidneys (in my case, singular on the kidney thing).
What are NO-NOs include caffeine, wine, chocolate, bread, most fruits, potatoes, and milk products (but not yoghurt). More or less, then, all the really good things we like, but don’t pig out on any more than usual.
Of course, there is plenty of food available, and this isn’t a diet or weight-loss campaign. Neither of us need that, I’m happy to report. But on the very good side, the inclusion of such purifying and fortifying spices, veggies &etc is good to re-aquaint. Yesterday, for example, I made ginger chicken & broccoli stir fry over brown rice. It’s delicious.
So far, I’m craving red wine and dark chocolate. Asia can’t stop talking about her coffee.
We’ll see how long this lasts.
October 17, 2010 at 7:08 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Prague was supposed to get a good dowsing this weekend. Yesterday turned sunny at 10am; today blue skies raged in a gorgeous middle-autumn colorscape.
We took a walk into new old town, Malastranska, where a nice park sits inside walls. The trees are ablaze, the vines are crimson, few people are here, and its a nice spot to walk & talk and sit & kiss.
Today we found an exhibition of artistic weathervanes from French artists. Some showed highly inventive ideas. Their silhouettes against the mottled gray sky make nice portraits.
 Of course, being near Shakespeare & Son bookstore meant we HAD to stop in (used books must be combed over frequently to find the good stuff). Six-hundred krowns later, I left with five books.
October 16, 2010 at 4:23 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Last week saw the sun shining with arboreal warmth as Autumn had already been visciously swiping gray skies and icy winds at our throats. It was a good day to soak up some VITamin D.
Across the Vltava lies Troja, with its stately homes quite well suited for the old-form commie bastards from the 50s onward. Atop Troja’s hill lies Prague’s botanic gardens, set in the rolling hills and escarpmental rock faces.
The colors are in full redolance now, and with the crisp afternoon air, I’ll let the pictures complete the story:
 
October 16, 2010 at 9:30 am · Filed under The Prague Blog
Catching up on (more) reading at the end of the day is commonplace around the AsiaMark palace apartment. Sometimes many pages get read; other times two lines. Sleep takes hold.
On the occasions I await Asia’s arrival to bed, James Bunny steals into her place and makes telephone calls to all his bunny friends.
What he says is often quite surprising.
October 9, 2010 at 10:07 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
A colleague, Karen Kim, got married today. She looked beautiful in white, as did her fiancée in black tux.
We ate like real Czechs, showing at a non-stop smorgasbord from 4 pm until the chickens cluck at sunrise (we left at 8.30). There was dancing, speeches, a professional belly dancing duo (one of my students, by chance), drinking, coffee, sweets, and walks in a riverside park whose trees are vibrantly autumnal.
Karen’s husband, Tomas, is a soft-spoken Czech engineer with Metrostav, a big construction company in CR. The ceremony took place in Staromestska Namesti (old town) in the town hall: vaulted ceilings, arched benches, a silver pipe organ, and stained glass windows. The ceremony was given in Czech and English. At times both the bride and groom appeared confused: at the “you may kiss the bride” moment of the program, Karen looked around for a translations while her newly minted husband reached for her and grabbed air.
But the crowd was good natured, and it was all fun (yet very ceremonially official). At the processional, the guests stood on either side of the red carpet to accept the bride & groom, men on one side and women the other. Outside the hall (beneath the astronomical clock, in front of two thousand people), Tomas was collared with an ox’s yolk beside his wife, garnering cheers and jeers from the tourist crowd. There was even some mentally deficient evangelist calling out fire & brimstone as the bride & groom ducked into their limosine.
Of course, some Americans showed up from across the Atlantic. Karen is from California, and her kin and some friends came along for the party. It was interesting to hear Americans speak within the otherwise maelstrom of Czech and non-native English speakers.
A hired bus took most of the guests to the reception party, at a restaurant on the outskirts of Prague. The return bus would leave at 1 a.m. The reception saw rice thrown, champagne toasted, beer poured, and hors d’ourves scarfed.
Asia and I caught the public bus back to the metro at 8.30. We’d partied enough, talked plenty, danced a number, and laughed aplenty.
October 9, 2010 at 9:28 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
From the river side of Wawel Castle, needing to get up to the rail station:
Asia: “Is there a shortcut?”
Mark: “Yeah, it’s called a TRAM.”
We laughed like silly ducks for five minutes.
October 7, 2010 at 8:00 pm · Filed under The Prague Blog
Couples by John Updike. After reading this story of infidelity among a group of neighboring couples in a New England town, there’s no wonder this book made Updike famous in 1968. Sex, sex, and more sex … with little enough of it between the husbands and wives. Of course, being human (the frail, corruptible things that we are) makes everything messy after a while. Just as well, Updike leaves no stone unturned when it comes to rooting into the minds, problems, proclivities, and delicacies of his characters.
Tinkers by Paul Harding. This slim volume holds a lot of story. George Washington Crosby lies dying. In this state, he hallucinates and falls into memories of his life, his father’s life, and his grandfather’s life. In reading these stories, we begin to read about ourselves, seeing where all that time we’ve used as gone … and for what good it has done us. Perhaps.
The Stories of English by David Crystal. Linguist Crystal tracks the undercurrents of English language history, going boldly where few have been willing or able to tread and come back with cogent voice, thoughts, even-mindedness, and predictions. We learn why we all talk so funny, and where our words have come from, and how pedantry became the method of grammar control for two hundred+ years.
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