I deal in dreamers and telephone screamers

[hedda62]

Things:

1) Final big garden show-off event of the season tomorrow. And we are already planning next year's events, which is cool with me; I think I'll need the lead time.

2) I have, however, failed at posting every day on the garden blog. It's hard! Not so much finding things to say, as long as I accept the inconsequential and the inane, but remembering that it is a day and I have to put words online before it's over. Oh well.

3) Both having trouble remembering/scheduling and having trouble making decisions are symptoms for me of mild depression, so I'm watching out and moderating expectations. But it doesn't take much to get me revved up again, and I think what little time I have next week I'll use for working out more book details - I've done a lot; I need to fill in gaps and make a firm schedule now. And the following week Younger Son and I will hopefully be photographing a teacup on the rocky shores of New Hampshire.

4) In the meanwhile I've been editing Time and Fevers more, so that will be ready to go when Time for Tea is out. I think a few months' gap between is reasonable, and then a nice anticipatory wait for Time Goes By. I'm still taking out words; this is good.

5) In TV World, we've just barely started Breaking Bad s3; watched the opening episode of the new season of The Good Wife, which I thought hit the ball out of the park; and of course watched Person of Interest. The first two episodes of this season were strong for character re-introduction, nice ensemble moments, and setting up interesting potential conflicts. And I'm finally watching s2 of Once Upon a Time, which for some reason I dropped the ball on last year; I'm not fannish enough about it to care about being a year behind, and hey, now I finally get all the Lost jokes. :)

6) I'm making regular visits to the library to check out CDs; what they have is totally unpredictable, but it's free music and I am doing a lot of walking and weeding and other activities that require distraction (since I don't happen to be plotting a book at the moment, though I'll need to start that in the spring). There was this great ultra-nostalgic day last week when I picked up Rod Stewart's "Every Picture Tells a Story," which we had on vinyl when I was a teenager, and REM's "Document" and "Murmur" which are uselessly on cassette tape somewhere. Also the soundtrack of "Pippin." Music insinuates itself into your brain chemistry in a way nothing else does, and the physical reaction I have on hearing songs again always amazes me, and the way it stimulates memory, and how well I recall tunes and lyrics that should be long-vanished. Oh, and yesterday: Joni Mitchell's "Free Man in Paris" - wow, I hadn't heard that in *guesses* 25 years? And it's all there.

7) Current state of the Oh, Mr. Finch playlist under the cut, just in case you're interested.


Blackbird - Paul McCartney
The Crane Wife (1,2,3) - The Decemberists
Franz and the Eagle - Yo Yo Ma & friends (Goat Rodeo)
Rooks - Shearwater
Crow - PigPen Theatre Co.
Black Crows - honeyhoney
A Murder of One - Counting Crows
Open Up the Window, Noah - The Seldom Scene
Byrdgrass - The Byrds
The Wren in the Furze - The Chieftains
Bird Song - Hem
Sparrow - Simon and Garfunkel
Who Knows Where the Time Goes - Judy Collins
Lark - Josh Ritter
The Cuckoo - Hem
Nightingale - Norah Jones
Light as a Feather - Norah Jones
The Goose Song - PigPen Theatre Co.
This Flight Tonight - Joni Mitchell
Straighten Up and Fly Right - Nat King Cole
Come Fly with Me - Frank Sinatra
A Slick Chick - Dinah Washington
And Your Bird Can Sing - The Beatles
El Condor Pasa - Simon and Garfunkel
Disturbance at the Heron House - REM
Sing, Little Birdie - Shearwater
Little Brown Bird - Nnenna Freelon
LIttle Bird - Laura Marling
Little Bird - Imogen Heap
Little Bird - Annie Lennox
Learning to Fly - Pink Floyd
Flying - The Beatles
Blue Jay Way - The Beatles
Lost Boys - Shearwater
Glad Bluebird of Happiness - Joan Baez
Vultures - Nicole Atkins
Black-Dove (January) - Tori Amos
Bird on a Wire - K.D. Lang
Skylark - Nnenna Freelon
Norwegian Wood - The Beatles
King of Birds - REM
Johnny Viola - Shearwater
I Was an Eagle - Laura Marling
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
Albatross - Judy Collins
Fly Away - Indigo Girls
I'll Fly Away - Blind Boys of Alabama
Crazy Man Michael - Fairport Convention
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley


8) I have finished all the Rivers of London books that are available in the US, and am tapping my fingers with impatience for February (I mean - February??) but I'll manage. So, any guesses on how Nightingale is related to Finch? *grin* Although the crossover I really want is with the Bryant & May books.

Wow, we just had a little rainstorm. I mean, really brief, and it won't make any difference to speak of in this drought (which has been unusually hard to adjust to after all the rain earlier in the season) but at least I don't have to water things today.

Comments

[philomytha]

We can have some mutual envy vis-a-vis the timings of The Good Wife, Person of Interest and the Rivers of London books, then! I think I might get the TV in January.

The physical reaction of music and the way it stimulates memory - oh yes! I recently heard some music I'd last sung in primary school and it is so immediate. It also reminds me of whatever I was thinking of when I was first exposed to the music. Conversely, I was doing something ridiculously stressful the other day and I deliberately turned the music off so that it wouldn't spoil the music for ever.

Tthe Nightingale-Finch connection does rather founder on the fact that if Nightingale ever met the Machine it would not go well for all those computer chips. But I would love to see Finch and Reese trying to protect someone from New York's demimonde and biting off more than they can chew. You could even try to work poor Agent Reynolds into it. RoL does cry out for crossovers - I am still working on a return trip to Oxford to meet Lewis and Hathaway...

My only association with Bryant & May is matches - say more?

[hedda62]

I think I've mentioned Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May mysteries here before, though it's been a while since I read them. It's The Water Room in particular that makes me think of crossovers. And just the idea that there are two specialist crime units in the London police. Anyway, they're quite delightful books and you don't have to wait for them. :)

And ha, good point about Nightingale and the Machine - or anything to do with Person of Interest, really. I can see Finch getting all huffy about having to take his phone battery out. And ooh, meeting Lewis and Hathaway!

I get flashbacks to places with musical stimulation, wherever I was when I heard it most memorably, I guess.

[brewsternorth]

I know what you mean with regard to 6), and when I saw "albatross" in the cut my mind went to the Fleetwood Mac instrumental that was a staple of long car journeys in our family. Could still make it onto the playlist of 7) if you imagine it as Harold in some of his more carefree moments with Grace or Nathan in the flashbacks. ("I look so -" "Impressionistic?" "Leisurely.")
On 8), I confess I hadn't thought of how Finch & Nightingale might be related, but considering Rivers tend to be power-brokers I could certainly see some PoI/RoL crossover intrigues in that vein. (Also, am glad that the Rivers books got a new US distributor.)

[hedda62]

Oh, it could make it onto the playlist in any case - it's not a Harold-related playlist, but just anything with birds, though interestedly a lot of the songs do remind me of Harold. (The Judy Collins song is great too, though it doesn't actually mention albatrosses.)

[pendrecarc]

Am too jet lagged to manage more than a thumbs-up for good things, but I have a copy of Broken Homes, if you'd like to borrow it? Eager to see what you think about ....

[hedda62]

Ooh. Well, that would be great if you're willing to mail it to me - I'll email you my address!