Be Subversive: Read

It's that time of the year again:  Banned Books Week

It's time to be subversive: Read a book or 100 that someone somewhere decided was inappropriate.

What a sad joke to perpetrate on an open-minded populace.

Our world has evolved to the point that one complaint about a thing, be it a book or an expression, or an activity can get it removed from public consumption.

This is wrong, appalling, and comes from a base of fear as opposed to reason.

I'm all for complaining when it's necessary. It's about the only way things change.

But when one complaint comes in and it is acted on rather than sticking with what the majority wants, then it bothers me. If a thing is to be changed, let it come from a groundswell of opinion, not one whiner with hurt feelings.

But, back to books.

I've read many of the books on the list.

Lolita should be required reading for Nabokov's gorgeous use of the language.

Banning The Satanic Verses did Salman Rushdie a favour. It made people want to read it, myself included. While reading a book is never a waste of time, that was close. (NB the whole fatwa thing is bad.)

It's a free country and we should be free to read what we want and form our own opinions about.

That's the other  problem with book banning, some one else's opinion is being forced on us. I don't like being told what to think, and I especially don’t like being deprived of materials which can be used to form an opinion.

Let everyone else and me be free to read as we please.

Gratitude Monday -- Simmering Stock

It doesn't look like much at this stage.
It's a turkey carcass from the depths of the freezer on high simmer on the stove.
But it makes a fine and tasty stock for soup and for that I am grateful.
I am also grateful that it takes limited effort to do it and making soup stock ensures that no part of the bird gets wasted.
But more than anything else, I am grateful for the wonderful soothing, enticing smell of the stock on a cool, autumn day.

Photo-Finish Friday

Autumn has a lot to offer.

Gratitude Monday --New Fall Colours

I love the changing of the seasons. How else can one know how good a season is unless there's something with which to compare it?
Each must be assessed on its own, but to do it there must be a point of demarcation.
I am blessed to live in a land where the change of the season is both obvious and beautiful.
Autumn arrived officially on Saturday. No one told the leaves to wait so they began donning their new fall colours a few weeks earlier.
For as much as we may lament the turn toward winter,  we appreciate the final burst of joy from Nature as she quietens for the cold.
I am grateful for the changes of my world, grateful I can see it and smell and it feel it on my face, and grateful for what each new seasons brings.

***

Regular visitors may find the photo familiar. I take pictures of this train trestle archway each year. Th e above photo was taken yesterday.  For me, it is the portal to the new season.

Photo-Finish Friday --Mountain Mood

Socked in along the Columbia Icefields Parkway.

The Chartreuse Challenge

Today I rise to the challenge. My chartreuse socks:

It was not so much a challenge as request from Bag Lady in yesterday's comments.
The challenge comes about in trying to show chartreuse as it reflects yellow or green depending on its surroundings and how the light hits it.
The top shot has some yellow bias to it according to my eyes.
The bottom shot shows more yellow-green when set beside proper green socks.
Opinions?

Fashion Criminal

Lime socks, because my chartreuse socks were in the wash.

Summer ends soon. This is your last week to inform the Fashion Police about me.
I wear socks with sandals. I always have. It wasn't until a few years ago I learned this was a fashion faux pas at least as bad as wearing white in winter, if not worse.
This did not stop me.
It feels good. My feet tend to be cold and, even though I like to let the fresh air and sunshine on them, naked foot skin makes me uncomfortable.
I go out in public like this. I will continue to do so for as long as it works for me.
Neither am I alone. My husband does the same thing. It is is one of the many odd and unfashionable things we have in common and I'd consider it a blessing if I cared enough to worry about it.
However, I know the socks and sandals fashion scandal comes up often. If you feel you have to do your part to erase this scourge from the face of the Earth I offer myself up.
Come and get me.