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Feb. 18th, 2016 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljI am having a massage in just about an hour, over my lunch hour. Don't sigh with envy. She beats the crap out of me. This is not for relaxation, it's to subdue the knots in my neck and shoulders.
On Sunday I am going to see this. It's a walk through the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and possibly with some views of the city as well. My friend is taking me for my birthday present. It looks pretty awesome. It's also a bit of a walk down memory lane. Nearly 20 years ago (in October) she and I went to Italy, took a bus tour and went to the Uffizi on our last day on the tour. We both really liked Florence, what we got to see of it and the gallery as well. I think perhaps we didn't fully appreciate it, though, because at the end of nearly two weeks, we were a bit burned out. Tired of looking at churches and galleries and pictures and living out of a suitcase. It was a great tour but we were ready to go home. We'd had 4 days in London at the start, plus the 13 or so day tour, then we flew back to London but just overnight until our flight home the next day. Florence is a city I would like to see again, this time spending a few days or more there to just soak up the atmosphere and revel in the amazing art. I remember seeing Michaelangelo's David in the Accademia gallery. It was so realistic that you thought it would take a breath and step off the plinth! It's very impressive when an artist can make something of stone that looks so real.
2016 book catchup
11. Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town - Stephen Leacock
A little book of folksy, chatty stories about a small town in Canada just after the turn of the 20th century. A Canadian classic.
12. Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
A day in the lift of a marriage, including flashback/memories of Maggie and Ira's and their family's dynamic. Maggie creates fantasies, tells lies and exaggerations to fool herself or other people into situations that she feels are more ideal than they actually are. She doesn't seem to realize she's doing it some of the time and she always does it for the right reasons but it often all comes out badly. It makes her very meddlesome. Ira got trapped into running the family business and taking care of his father and sisters instead of going to university like he wanted. Not sure why he doesn't even try to rein Maggie in sometimes. It's an interesting examination of a relationship.
13. A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
A Japanese writer living on a remote island in British Columbia with her artist husband finds a diary written by a Japanese teenager who is, or was struggling with a family in crisis and bullies at school. She also tells stories about her great grandmother, now a Buddhist nun. It's a heart breaking story for her, and a story of discovery for the artist trying to track her down to see if she survived the Japanese earthquakes and tsunami. I really enjoyed this book except for a bit of heavy quantum theory at the end.
14. Unseemly Science - Rod Duncan
The second in a series called The Gas Lit Empire, somewhat steam punky, definitely alternate-history. Elizabeth is in danger of being extradited to the Kingdom where she will be an indentured slave. She tries to help solve a mystery for a woman that clearly has other agendas in the meantime, while trying to avoid capture or escape it. She often pretends to be her own brother, by disguise because in her world, women are pushed to the background and not allowed to do things like own businesses and she's created a way around it. I like this series quite a bit.
15 Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers - Domenic Selwood
A collection of historic essays, mythbusting and background behind events and people you have heard about through (mainly) British history. Quite interesting if you like history.
On Sunday I am going to see this. It's a walk through the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and possibly with some views of the city as well. My friend is taking me for my birthday present. It looks pretty awesome. It's also a bit of a walk down memory lane. Nearly 20 years ago (in October) she and I went to Italy, took a bus tour and went to the Uffizi on our last day on the tour. We both really liked Florence, what we got to see of it and the gallery as well. I think perhaps we didn't fully appreciate it, though, because at the end of nearly two weeks, we were a bit burned out. Tired of looking at churches and galleries and pictures and living out of a suitcase. It was a great tour but we were ready to go home. We'd had 4 days in London at the start, plus the 13 or so day tour, then we flew back to London but just overnight until our flight home the next day. Florence is a city I would like to see again, this time spending a few days or more there to just soak up the atmosphere and revel in the amazing art. I remember seeing Michaelangelo's David in the Accademia gallery. It was so realistic that you thought it would take a breath and step off the plinth! It's very impressive when an artist can make something of stone that looks so real.
2016 book catchup
11. Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town - Stephen Leacock
A little book of folksy, chatty stories about a small town in Canada just after the turn of the 20th century. A Canadian classic.
12. Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler
A day in the lift of a marriage, including flashback/memories of Maggie and Ira's and their family's dynamic. Maggie creates fantasies, tells lies and exaggerations to fool herself or other people into situations that she feels are more ideal than they actually are. She doesn't seem to realize she's doing it some of the time and she always does it for the right reasons but it often all comes out badly. It makes her very meddlesome. Ira got trapped into running the family business and taking care of his father and sisters instead of going to university like he wanted. Not sure why he doesn't even try to rein Maggie in sometimes. It's an interesting examination of a relationship.
13. A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
A Japanese writer living on a remote island in British Columbia with her artist husband finds a diary written by a Japanese teenager who is, or was struggling with a family in crisis and bullies at school. She also tells stories about her great grandmother, now a Buddhist nun. It's a heart breaking story for her, and a story of discovery for the artist trying to track her down to see if she survived the Japanese earthquakes and tsunami. I really enjoyed this book except for a bit of heavy quantum theory at the end.
14. Unseemly Science - Rod Duncan
The second in a series called The Gas Lit Empire, somewhat steam punky, definitely alternate-history. Elizabeth is in danger of being extradited to the Kingdom where she will be an indentured slave. She tries to help solve a mystery for a woman that clearly has other agendas in the meantime, while trying to avoid capture or escape it. She often pretends to be her own brother, by disguise because in her world, women are pushed to the background and not allowed to do things like own businesses and she's created a way around it. I like this series quite a bit.
15 Spies, Sadists and Sorcerers - Domenic Selwood
A collection of historic essays, mythbusting and background behind events and people you have heard about through (mainly) British history. Quite interesting if you like history.
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Date: 2016-02-20 11:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-21 10:16 pm (UTC)