It’s Maggi’s birthday! Just another day closer to perfection, that’s all.
I am totally happy and a little freaked out that there are so many L.M. Montgomery fans out there. It’s eerie, innit? How many threads connect us? We love to write. We love to knit. We love grammar. We love librarians and bookmobiles. We love Anne.
Anne was HUGE in my life. I used to, and probably still should, credit her with the way I turned out. I think as a kid I had a tendency to be a little morbid. I worried about the worst, sure it would happen. I couldn’t ride in a car without thinking of how easy it would be to crash. Feeding the chickens meant certain histoplasmosis. Then I started reading the Anne of Green Gables books, and over the course of years of reading all of them (and then re-reading, and re-reading again), I kind of became her. Or at least, I desperately wanted to have her imagination and ability to shift things around until they were Good. And I kinda learned it. A little.
(Huge confession, something not even my little mama knows (but she will now): When I was eighteen, my mother gave me my great-great aunt Lucy’s wedding ring. It’s small and delicate and I rarely take it off. It’s my most precious object. I had “Because of Anne” inscribed inside the band. I know. Incredibly silly. But I loved her that much, and still do. She’s probably the most alive fictional character that I carry in my mind, and the most influential.)
And now, thanks to Grace (OMG, see her comment yesterday, it’s wonderful), I have the first two volumes of the journals arriving from alibris. They’re out of print, so they’re PRICEY, but I don’t care. I know they’ll be much darker than the Anne or Emily books, but I don’t care. It’s just more language from Ms. Montgomery. I gotta go get my spoon, ‘cause I’m gonna eat it up.
(My favorite Montgomery, outside the Anne books, was The Blue Castle.)
Sharon in England sent me this, which I loved. It’s from the UK Telegraph. Someone stole a BUS in my favorite city. It’s police AND Venice related, so she gets two points.
Canal Chase in Venice Fuelled by Vodka and Nostalgia
By Bruce Johnston in Rome(Filed: 02/02/2004)
A police chase broke out on the canals of Venice early yesterday after a Russian seaman, apparently fuelled by vodka and nostalgia, stole a water bus and roared off into the night.
After a 90-minute hunt officers caught up with and stormed the vaporetto as it moved at full throttle and arrested the man.
The man was named as Viktor Sobolev, 36, who officers said had illegally entered Italy and was evidently drunk after consuming “a copious amount of alcohol”.
He later explained his action by saying that he had missed being at sea.
At first the authorities took him for an al-Qa’eda terrorist intent on launching an attack on the huge petrochemical complex at Porto Marghera, just across from Venice on the lagoon.
As a result, the vaporetto’s disappearance from its berth near St Mark’s basin triggered a special anti-terrorist alert which was introduced to protect sensitive targets in Italy after the September 11 atrocities in America.
Venice’s transport corporation ACTV raised the alarm shortly before midnight.
Realising that one of its boats used on route 51 connecting the Lido with St Marks and Piazzale Roma, was missing, it used Global Positioning System technology on board to pinpoint its position. The system is usually used by Venetian authorities to check that water buses are keeping to the city’s strict speed limits.
As police and coastguards set off in hot pursuit the Russian turned his wheel hard, directing the large water bus at a lighter police boat in an unsuccessful attempt at ramming it.
Detective inspector Luigi Petrillo said: “Eventually we managed to force the vaporetto to do a U-turn back in the direction of Venice, and board it as it was moving.”
Sobolev faces charges of aggravated theft, resisting police officers, being without immigration papers, and breaking various navigation laws.
Hee!
**The doctor/date hasn’t emailed me back. Not that I mind so much, ’cause I was ambivalent anyway about the whole Dating thing. Even “You’re not my type” would be cool and understandable. But I think my feelings might get a little hurt if she NEVER emails back. Huh.**
On more important subjects, check this out. It’s beautiful. For my migraines, Sonja very sweetly sent me a flax eye pillow that she made herself. It’s silky and soft, and here it is with two of my favorite things, Proust and Digit.
Isn’t that awesome?
Hi,
have you read “Parnassus on Wheels” (spelling?)? It’s a book about a horse drawn bookshop and reading about bookmoblies reminded me of it. I forgot the author, sorry.
Oh good, you got it. Well, I hope you won’t need it, but if you do, hope it helps. If nothing else, Digit will have fun with it!:) How I adore, Anne of Green Gables. I spent an entire summer on the couch with a broken leg when I was young and devoured L.M.M.’s series. I am indebted to her for getting me through.
Anne of Green Gables! You just can’t imagine the memories you bring back to me by mentionning that name! I just devoured her stories when I was in high school. And I have red hair, you see, so people (from kids to my elementary school English teacher) used to call me Anne! That or Pipi Longstockings, but that’s another story!
You outgrew expecting car crashes? It showed up for me at puberty, and hasn’t really left since then. And Spouse wonders why driving a Volvo (indestructable) is important to me now that we have a kid. It was thinking about the kid, safely in her car seat, inside our toyota / tin can that made me go searching for safe cars. Now I’ve got to sell mine and search for one with fewer repair issues. Sigh.
Thanks for commenting at my blog. I always grin when I see something from you! It was such an easy thing to do for Tasha-dog. I’m really pleased to have read how happy she was!
oh. The engraving thing just makes my heart sing. OPERA. How truly divine. The eye pillow picture is such a sweet composition…what a fabulous painting that would make…..and *hee* indeed for the waterbus adventure….I’m going to go find my copy of ANNE and take a teeny stroll down memory lane (sans gum wall..ewwwwwwwww.)
ok…so *that’s* what would scare me about the internet thing – I’ve even had a little experience with that simply disappearing off the face of the earth thing (don’t ask..). What is it about internet introductions that make people forget basic manners?! It takes a certain maturity and courage to respect someone enough to say “you’re great but I don’t see it going anywhere.” well…also, some people have completely different time tables too – she may show up in a couple weeks or month..but still…manners! I loved your story about the ring. How wonderful!
I want to order the Emily series for my daughter. I just loved Emily of New Moon. And Teddy reminded me of my very best friend Shannon (a boy).
Rachael, the doctor probably hasn’t emailed back yet because she doesn’t know how to politely ask you to knit her something.
You know, I forgot to mention that the one and only thing my first-year college roommate and I bonded over was the adaptation of Anne of Green Gables with Megan Fellowes. (I added the “e” just in case.)
The canal chase story gave me all kinds of giggles.
I always wanted and still continue to want to be Anne Shirley when I grow up. Just about once a season I have an Anne morning, on a Saturday, when I don’t get out of my p.j’s, get warm and cozy under a blanket, watch Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea, knit, and drink hot cocoa. It’s like therapy for me. I always cry at the same spots (like when Matthew dies), always laugh at the same spots (“twenty pounds of brown sugar”), and always get really mad at Diana’s little sister Minnie May says “did you know Gilbert Blythe was dying?”. Idiot. ANYWAY. I love to know I have an Anne connection with folks. Kindred spirits we are. Anne is what makes me dream to be a writer. Hehehe. My parents went to Prince Edward Island a couple of summers back and brought me a bottle of Raspberry Cordial that still sits unopened on my shelf. There’s not much more in my life as soothing as Anne and her Jonah days and her puffed sleeves. Sigh.
LOL, I LOVE the ring story because that is something that I would do… completely sounds like me and I was amazed when I read it. Can’t wait to hear about the journals.
I’m not a huge Anne fan (only liked the first book), but I’ve read all four volumes of L. M. Montgomery’s journals, and they were absolutely fascinating. Darker, yes. I wonder if the fifth volume will ever get published? I’m hooked now!
Ah, a fellow Anne of Green Gables fan. Love it, love it. And I don’t usually like how tv or films adapt books but I think that the Anne of Green Gables mini-series, with Megan Follows, was excellent. She is exactly how I had Anne Shirley pictured in my mind!
I have tears in my eyes reading about all of this love for LMM and Anne Shirley. Michelle and I talk often of going to PEI to do the tourist thing. And I have had it in my mind to reread the Anne collection for a few months now. Of course, I’ll be starting today!
The Blue Castle rocks my world. My twin sis and I re-read that book soooo many times…oh, Valancy, and her dreams coming true. Love it…
We all do have a lot in common, don’t we? Yay knit blogs.
Anne…PEI… sigh. I know we are going to have a fabulous time in New York and DC and Boston if you fly in there, and there really is no time for the extra 16 hours to PEI… but someday, really, even if we are little old lady sister, we have to make the pilgrimage. Actually, it might be even better when we are little old ladies! You, me, and Christy, tottering over the Bridge of Shining Waters.
As for the doctor; it has only been 2 days, right? You’ve seen Swingers! 3 days, baby. After tomorrow you can be outraged at her etiquette.
Thanks for sharing your Anne experiences…I am so moved by the realization that I am not alone in really having been touched by Lucy Maud Montgomery’s books and the spirit of the “Anne girl!” I am still learning some important life lessons from her life adventures…And it’s so wonderful knowing that so many of us share that! Yet another wonderful reason to visit your blog and connect every single day…
OMG- I LOVE Anne of Green Gables! My daughter is reading all the books now and is also a huge fan. There just isn’t enough good literature for girls anymore. Nothing like LMM.
And, geez Louise, I think we were the same child growing up! I always worried (ok- still do) about the worst thing that could happen in the car. Or anytime my parents left the house. My kindred spirit 🙂