“The creosote and tar smell of the railroad tracks woke him from the dreaming. The cinders made hollow crunching noises under his boots. He had come a long way with them; but it was his own two feet that got him there.” — Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1976) (My version is Penguin, 2006, p. 236.)
Do you ever read something that just takes everything out of you? I didn’t intend to just stop posting, but I read Ceremony this week and it stirred up a lot of things that I’ve been processing. Powerful books can be almost incapacitating. (This is good. Also, hard.)
Boh started to worry about the knitting pile. He told me so.
As you can see, I’m making progress on Bracken. (You can also see that this Jo Sharp Classic DK wool seems to attract Boh hair.)
I made myself a plate of very messy dumplings last night — the only wrappers I could find this week were enormous! I overfilled a few, and they ruptured in the cooking process…but they were still incredibly delicious.
(A few pictures from 2007 seemed appropriate, given Ceremony‘s mostly southwestern setting.)
barefoot rooster 
I know what you mean. Some books just leave you shattered. I think that might be why I’m putting off starting “Malina” again.
But dumplings (yum!), knitting, and a very cute dog seem like a good way to get back into the world.
Some books are so captivating – be it positive or negative – I just can’t put them down. It is exhausting…
Boh, on the job as usual. He’s a steadying influence, isn’t he? :)
I’ve had books do that to me, too. Sometimes they just take time to process. Lucky for you Boh is ever so vigilant – the Bracken is coming along nicely.
Dumplings…Mmmmm, they look good. As for the reading experience…what a gift. Fullness comes in all sorts of packages–sometimes painful and exhausting. Every word read brings you closer to who you are.
I know what you mean about a book affecting you. I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy a few weeks ago and I had a hard time. Your dumplings, Bracken and Boh all look fabulous and restorative.