Various & Sundry
Blogging will be light while I try to hand-dig a swimming pool in my back yard.
At least that's what if feels like.
When I close my eyes I see shovels of dirt endlessly transported by a wheel barrow that occasionally mutates into a barrow (the wheel is falling off). Five soft-drinks, three beers and eight hours later, the pit still looks painfully shallow.
The idea was to put in a paver patio, without using sod-cutters or other fancy-schmancy equipment. My first stab was to just pull up the sod and lay the stones. But after some experiment it became clear I needed to dig down six inches and start with a layer of gravel. Then sand.... So 'nuff said, I'm boring even myself here.
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In other news, got an email from Jeanne whose husband is a non-reader but read "East of Eden". She reports that he stayed engrossed until he finished the book and then commented, "At least there aren't any big words that I don't understand here."
I do like Steinbeck's stripped down, elegant prose. Given John Updike's decorative prose, this is a refreshing change. "East of Eden" is overly long and has some sections that could've been edited, but there a a few passages that have REALLY stuck with me. I recently read TC Boyle's "Drop City" and while I was just as engrossed (if not more so) there is nothing in that book that I marked with a high-lighter and will want to re-read.
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