Saturday

[desayunoencama]

Yesterday was a busy day, beginning with an early brunch with my father, grandmother, and sister at The Dish. This is the start of the Weekend Ritual. They used to eat at Cafeteria, which is actually downstaris in my building, and used to provoke occasional twinges of guilt in my father, who'd call and say how he never used to visit enough when I lived in the country and now they're in my building every weekend... But The Dish, which is a bit further away, is a less-attitude and less-expensive place to get equal-or-better quality food, so since I introduced them to it, they've eventually switched to brunching there every weekend.

Afterwards, we did one boutique clothing store on Eighth Avenue (where the clerks were VERY attentive to my father, as often happens in this neighborhood), three thirft stores, and a flea market. (Dad had actually done two flea markets before meeting us at the restaurant.)

Books I bought:

THE NATURE OF THE CHINESE CHARACTER, which I think is fascinating: it's a lavishly illustrated book which has a detailed breakdown of 40 basic characters, explaining not just how they're drawn (they have a row of boxes down the left side of one page showing mark by mark how the character grows) but also talking abotu the poetic leap for how the root elements combine to create that word. For instance, "sea" being composed of the "water" radical combined with "every" because allrivers flow to the sea; compared to, say, "river," which is also composed of the "wateR" radical, but combined with "work" since rivers are used for irrigationa nd transportation in linking the vast Chinese continent.

Anyway, the book looks lovely (although it uses a textured rice paper image which is printed under each of the spreads; you can and feelthat it's not real, although it looks nice).

Patricia McKillip's THE TOWER AT STONY WOOD. (Achim, made me think of you when I found it.)

Elfriede Jelinek's THE PIANO TEACHER (figured I may as well see what the Nobel fuss was about).

Jonathan & Faye Kellerman's DOUBLE HOMICIDE, although I'm not sure I'm going to like it. But I've read all his other adult novels, so... am willing to give it a try.

Amy Tan's THE OPPOSITE OF FATE, to see if her non-fiction is any better than her recent novels. (I loved JOY LUCK CLUB, liked many sentences in KITCHEN GOD but thought it was very flawed structurally, and haven't had the stomach to read books 3 and 4 although I have them in the to-be-read-stack).

Katherine Roberts's SPELLFALL, a British fantasy ya (whose opening reminded me of janni).

And finally, Dorothy Gilman's MRS. POLIFAX ONS AFARI, one of the series I hadn't yet read.

Then home for a nap before meeting my friend and birth mate, Eve (we were born in the same hospital two hours apart; wound up going to University together, where we were inthe same dormitory; wound up both moving to the same section of NYC after graduation, where our zip code was our mutual birthday, etc.).

Comments

[logisticslad.livejournal.com]

I've loved Mrs Polifax ever since I discovered her as a child. I think that her adventures hold up upon rereading them as an adult. She is a wise woman with very astute insight into the minds of children.

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed all the MRS. POLLIFAXes except for CHINA STATION, I think (the most recent I read, although I forget when I posted about it) and actually many of her stand-alones, as well (like THE TIGHTROPE WALKER) but not the Clairvoyant Countess ones so much; perfectly readable but I found them slight/forced in terms of their plots. Still, as I come across POLLIFAX novels I haven't yet read I'm quick to pick them up and hold onto them for when I need a good comfort read.

Off topic question

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

My apologies for my first comment in a long time being off topic, but this came up in conversation last night: Does Spain have national health care, and if so, how long has it had it? Thanks.

Re: Off topic question

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

No worries.

Spain does have free national healthcare, even for illegals who can prove that they are residing in Spain (you need to be empadronado, which more or less means counted in the census, which is independent of immigration status or lack thereof).

No idea for how long they've had it; a while, I imagine.

Re: Off topic question

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This came up in conversation last night: How many first world countries lack national health care. The US is the only one that I know of, and the only other possibility suggested was Spain.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I want to know why the clerks are very attentive to your father, especially "in this neighborhood." C'mon - details!

[desayunoencama.livejournal.com]

As a distinguished-looking gentleman of a certain age, with a full salt-and-pepper beard,and in very good physical shape, well, all the Chelsea boys looking for a Daddy just go gaga.

I remember once when a gay friend had complained (and the joke got repeated to my father) how whenever he (the gay friend) goes to Viceroy on Eighth Avenue, he got seated "in the back with the heterosexuals." Whereas, whenever I've gone there with my father, they seat us in the front window, which always prompts my Dad to make a joke about the irony of the situation.

One morning at The Dish, as we were being shown to our booth, my sister turned around for a better look at one of the guys. My father said to her apologetically, "I hate to say this, but not one of these guys is going to look at you." To which I responded that not one of them had looked at me (which was true, since that mroning they were all muscle queens and I'm a scrawny thing, more or less) and he laughed and said "I felt bad saying it myself"...

Him they might've looked at, though, and often do on our way down Eighth Avenue.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Well, at least you're good-humored about it!