Author: J. Thorp

Summer Vacation, Day 8: Lazy Bird?

/ J. Thorp / 2 Comments

Saw another eagle as I drove to work today. The radio was running a news story on the man-made lake in Wisconsin that broke its banks and drained, helping to flood the nearby river and sweeping away a number of lakeside houses. Now the lake is just a muddy depression with numerous gasping fish …

What struck me this time, as the eagle swept over the shoreline of a lake beside the freeway, is that raptors have been doing their thing for a long time now. Many of them have adapted to whatever chaos we cause below. Probably the birds around the Wisconsin Dells are enjoying easy pickings in that drained lake. Flexible and opportunistic, but not necessarily ambitious. Maybe ambition is our problem …

I could be lazier.* Could you?

* * * * *

*But perhaps not much.

Summer Vacation, Day 5: Big To-Do

/ J. Thorp / 1 Comment

Today was not like yesterday. No photo shoots. Today I shoveled rocks – the odd-shaped, slate-colored rocks that surround our house as “landscaping” and attract and show all manner of debris – dried leaves, stray grass clippings, acorns, you name it. They are impossible to clean, and so we’ve decided to remove them in favor of flower beds and shrubbery. Because flowers and shrubbery are far lower-maintenance.

And since Jodi, in her wisdom, pointed out truthfully that summer was not the time for reading challenges, I must devote my time to these appropriate summer chores … which means I’m still reading Don Quixote, a delightful, if overlong, tale, which vexes me because, although I’d like to rush headlong for the end, when I read quickly I miss much of the wit and humor. Coach finished it a week ago and will begin her third novel shortly, if she hasn’t already. At the pace I set for myself, I should’ve finished yesterday. I did not.

Thankfully I have a couple short novels on my list that may enable me to catch up with my peers. Ah, well. The ache in my shoulders and back may also serve to keep me awake, so perhaps I’ll read on tonight (and be oh-so-awake for work in the morning).

Here’s my list for 15 weeks:

  1. Don Quixote by Cervantes
  2. The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
  3. East of Eden by Steinbeck
  4. Moby Dick by Melville
  5. Pride & Prejudice by Austen
  6. Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut
  7. Blood Meridian by McCarthy
  8. Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
  9. The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
  10. The Odyssey by Homer
  11. Ulysses by Joyce
  12. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde
  13. As I Lay Dying by Faulkner
  14. The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
  15. The Violent Bear It Away by O’Connor

If I can knock out Fitzgerald in a couple of days, I may be able to get back on pace … but soccer starts for Gabe and Emma tomorrow, running the same days as Bren’s baseball. So, yeah. Whose bright idea was this?

Summer Vacation, Day 4: Kung Fu & Old Books

/ J. Thorp / 3 Comments

Took the older boys to taiji (or tai chi) classes this morning at Dark Raven Studios in St. Paul. Jodi and I and the little kids ran a few errands, then picked the boys up and grabbed lunch. We picked up some landscaping supplies, then stopped by Midway Used & Rare Books,* before returning to Dark Raven for … get this! … a kung-fu photo shoot!

I’ve been working with Dark Raven shih-fu José Figueroa for a few years now on various articles and publicity pieces pertaining to his school; his particular art, the relatively rare and explosive Chen style taiji; and Chinese martial arts in general. The latest article, and the one I’m most proud of, is a piece on José’s unique Chen curriculum for children. This article, and photos shot professionally today, will appear in Inside Kung Fu magazine this summer or fall. Bren and Gabe will be instant kung-fu legends, no doubt!

Of course, in Chen village, lots of kids learn this stuff. Search YouTube using the words “taiji Chen Pengfei” to see the young son of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang tearing it up. He’s cute as a three- or four-year-old, but the video of him as a “tween” (date-stamped August 2000) shows the slow grace of taiji, and later, the explosiveness of Chen style. Beautiful.

*Midway’s site only appears to show the rare books. They have three floors of used books and comics. I picked up Ulysses, East of Eden and Pride and Prejudice for Coach’s Remedial English Lit Summer Project.