{"id":561,"date":"2007-04-01T00:01:47","date_gmt":"2007-04-01T06:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=561"},"modified":"2007-04-02T07:29:40","modified_gmt":"2007-04-02T13:29:40","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=561","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #4"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time for another installment of 7 Imp’s 7 Kicks . . . For those new to our series, this is where we all stop in every Sunday to report seven (more or less is fine) Good Things that happened to you (or that you read or saw or experienced or . . . well, you get the picture) this week.<\/p>\n

*Jules’ List*<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n

1> The poem “Request” by Franz Wright<\/a><\/strong>, which you can read here<\/strong><\/a> at Liz Scanlon’s Poetry Friday entry from yesterday. I am in love with this poem, and I thank Liz for introducing me to it (Poetry Friday is such an excellent thing). Amusingly enough, I read — while trying to find more info on Franz Wright — the following: “A five-year-old Franz Wright once reportedly made the following request of his parents: ‘Excuse me. Do you think, because it’s my birthday, we could not talk about poetry today?'” (I read that here<\/a><\/strong>; his father was poet James Wright<\/a><\/strong>) . . . The poem made me think of another favorite, “The Guitarist Tunes Up,” by Frances Darwin Cornford<\/strong><\/a>: <\/p>\n

With what attentive courtesy he bent
\nOver his instrument;
\nNot as a lordly conqueror who could
\nCommand both wire and wood,
\nBut as a man with a loved woman might,
\nInquiring with delight
\nWhat slight essential things she had to say
\nBefore they started, he and she, to play.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2> My husband got a new job, and he’s very, very happy about it.<\/p>\n

3> Someone I have yet to meet — who is, by all accounts, a true artist<\/a><\/strong> — will most likely be making a Polo doll for my husband and me to give to our 17-mo. old daughter. She loves Polo so (Polo’s wonderful<\/em>, very fun site is here<\/a><\/strong>), and she lugs the heavy, heavy Polo book<\/a><\/strong> around or walks around clutching a piece of paper with Polo on it. And, though I don’t normally like to see book-related merchandise glut the stores, I was wishing for a Polo doll for her to own and cherish and hug. Since no such things are sold, this woman is going to make<\/em> us one. O heaven bless her (and thanks to Courtney<\/a><\/strong> for her help with this Polo quest).<\/p>\n

4> David Slonim’s very droll, very understated, and flat-out weird (this is a good thing) picture book, He Came With the Couch<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (2005), which the very nice author Corey Rosen Schwartz (Hop! Plop!<\/em><\/strong><\/a>) recommended while dropping by 7-Imp. Thanks, Corey! It’s quite unlike any other picture book I’ve read before . . .<\/p>\n

5> The Tom Tichenor marionette shows<\/a><\/strong> for children at the Nashville Public Library<\/a><\/strong> and the three fine performers who constitute Wishing Chair Productions, whose goal is to carry on Tom’s tradition (I’ve mentioned them before<\/a><\/strong>; honestly, I don’t know them and am not plugging their work for any favors. Their work just impresses me every week, and I am always grateful for high-quality, entertaining library programming for children).<\/p>\n

6> Oh, and speaking of Corey Rosen Schwartz chatting with us (though, unfortunately, it sounds like I’m name-dropping, which is not my intent), Kelly Murphy<\/a><\/strong> also stopped by to say hi to us. She is an illustrator whose work I’ve always admired. Woo hoo! And right after I emailed back to ask her what new projects she’s working on (if any), I thought to look at her site, and I see she has a brand new illustrated book out: Fiona’s Luck<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (Charlesbridge Publishing<\/a><\/strong>, January 2007), written by Teresa Bateman. I just put myself on a library hold list for it. Eeeeexcellent<\/a><\/strong>. Kelly Murphy’s work never lets me down.<\/p>\n

7> All the people who come here every Sunday and let us read their lists. I really enjoy it, honest to goodness.<\/p>\n

*eisha’s list*<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n

1* The best thing by far that happened this week:\u00a0 my nephew Miles was born Tuesday, and he is healthy and perfect and gorgeous!\u00a0 I mean, LOOK AT HIM!\u00a0 Can you stand it???\u00a0 I cannot wait to meet him in person.<\/p>\n

2*\u00a0 This makes me an aunt.\u00a0 Aunt Eisha.\u00a0 As in: “Oh, look, Miles, you got a birthday present from Aunt Eisha.\u00a0 Hmm, what do you think it could be… another book?\u00a0 Yep, it sure is!\u00a0 What a surprise.”\u00a0 Yesss!<\/p>\n

3*\u00a0 Since the stork was already in town delivering Miles, he stopped by my cousin’s house and\u00a0dropped off\u00a0Ella Grace on Thursday.\u00a0 This could have been bad news, because she wasn’t due until June.\u00a0 But\u00a0miraculously, both baby and mom are doing just fine.\u00a0 Thank goodness.\u00a0 And that’s one more baby I’ll get to cuddle when I go home in May.<\/p>\n

4*\u00a0 It’s official, so now I can share the mysterious good news from last week – my husband will be teaching Scenic Design at Ithaca College<\/a><\/strong> next fall.\u00a0 It’s an amazing opportunity, and I am so very, very proud of him.\u00a0 And since he won’t be freelancing as much, I might actually get to hang out with him occasionally.\u00a0 The bad news:\u00a0 I’ll have to start packing soon.\u00a0 I’m a terrible mover.\u00a0 And I’ll miss all my Cambridge friends A LOT.\u00a0 And now I have to find a new job, too.<\/p>\n

\"Moosewood\"5*\u00a0 But:\u00a0 I’ll be close-ish to Adrienne Martini<\/a><\/strong> and her husband Scott, old friends who I haven’t seen in person in a couple of years.\u00a0 That’ll be fun.<\/p>\n

6*\u00a0 And:\u00a0 I’ll get to eat at the Moosewood<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 17, so this is like a pilgrimage to Mecca for me.\u00a0 Adrienne tells me “it’s all that they say, and more.”<\/p>\n

\"So7*\u00a0 I have the new Jon McGregor<\/a><\/strong> novel, So Many Ways to Begin<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, sitting on my coffee table right now waiting for me to finish this post and commence reading.\u00a0 If you don’t know how much Jules and I loved McGregor’s first novel, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, then read this<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Then go read it yourselves.\u00a0 Please.<\/p>\n

This has been an amazing week for me and Jules.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 Got “7 Kicks” of your own\u00a0to share?\u00a0 Or even one or two?\u00a0 Please do!\u00a0 We’d love to hear about them, so comment away…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time for another installment of 7 Imp’s 7 Kicks . . . For those new to our series, this is where we all stop in every Sunday to report seven (more or less is fine) Good Things that happened to you (or that you read or saw or experienced or . . . well, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}