summertime
August 12th, 2006 | Uncategorized
I’ve been slowly hacking away at my overgrown thatch of email, but I’ve given up on my lawn. In fact, my mower died. I’m considering getting a scythe, one of those grim reaper things. That seems like it would be a lot more pleasant than a noisy stinking mower.
I feel bad that I haven’t been keeping up the regular posts I was managing on my travels. But I’ve been working, which pretty much precludes blogging, but of course is what ultimately gives me something to blog about.
Here’s a story about me and Fun Home that ran this week in my local daily paper, the Burlington Free Press.
27 Responses to “summertime”
If its scythes you want, look no further than the same paper your own interview ran in: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060811/NEWS02/608110306/1007/PHOTOWEEK
Being in the same town as competitive scythers, you could offer them some serious turf to practise on.
Meow. (Couldn’t resist.)
Snooping around, there is another big cardboard drawing in the Flicker:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zizyphus/213366879/in/photostream/
The Queen Anne’s lace is so pretty. That field really was your “lawn” at one time? I thought you were kidding in your other post.
For sure that is no longer lawn mower material. There are really heavy duty intense butchy gas powered weed whacker things if you are so inclined. I’ve seen ’em in the lawn mower repair shop. But the manual scythe would be more environmentally sound.
and Alison…aren’t you afraid of BUGS?!?! I could never lie there like that! They could climb right on you…into your hair and anywhere they like…bugs and spiders and ticks and yuckies of any sort. (oh, yeah, it’s not like they could hide all that well in your hair…)
Your cat looks all full of herself, like she’s in a deep jungle, hunting wild boar.
I’m not sure if I’m just looking harder since reading Fun Home? but in the last few episodes of DTWOF…your people, Stuart’s expressions this time…the shape of his head even…look more real? more sophisticated? more developed? not that they weren’t excellent before but something looks different, there’s more depth in their faces…is it just me?
Prrrrrrrr. Hey everyone. I have been off site for a bit due to a family reunion and all that. Spent a week on the Oregon Coast w/ family. Its beautiful but freezing! I am glad to be back where it’s summer time, like the above and HOT! I love the new strip and was somewhat dismayed to read the review but thrilled that it was so good and complimenting! Gawd, a movie? MY GAWD, a TV show!? Yikes!
Oh, almost forgot! I love the “weeds”. It now almost looks like an English garden! I also wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of you hauling around one of those “intense butchy gas powered weed whacker things”. So if you HAVE to cut it down, it’s alright! 🙂
what’re those strange turquoise flowers? oh wait! they’re your crocs. will you trade an ankle strap with me?
Awww NOOO!!!
Have been poseesed by the odd urge at 1am to view the wholeDTWOF archive on planet out, ..& you just posted a new one!
That lawn’s no problem- hire a few goats of some sheep for a weekend:-)
there must be someone nearby with a goat or two available for loan. not fast, but quiet and pleasant to watch. used to work for me.
a scythe, eh? hm. i know if sounds all romantic and stuff, but if you can, get somebody WITH a scythe to do it. i mean, unless you’re really, really in need of a serious workout… or else the diesel-powered “weed whacker thing”.
Just wanted to say, I moved heaven and earth to find your book down here in Bob Jones land! I managed to find one copy at a Barnes and Noble (we’ve got TWO of them now!), and fussed at them to stock more. So, if your sales stats show one copy in the Rapture belt, you’ll know it was me. 🙂
Your book rules! I’ve been a big fan since your days at WomanNews. I figured it was time to pay you back for years of free entertainment. Keep up the good work.
http://florene.livejournal.com/
I agree about paying back for all of the years of free entertainment. That’s one reason why I am seeking to buy the whole collection of Dykes To Watch Out For. (A few each payday.) The other reason is that I really enjoy them.
Queen Anne was tatting and pricked her finger…that is why the deep purple flower appears in the middle of the flower. But really, its just a wild carrot.
Your cat is the cutest thing ever! (And I think the goat suggestion is a good idea!)
Ms. Florene, I used to chat via email with a woman from Fountain Inn, SC. Her name was Leah. Know her? She flew out to visit me on Halloween and the first time she saw me, I was dressed up like a pumpkin! ARGH! What a way to meet someone!
I just finished Fun Home, and had to tell you that It is Great. Your command and use of great literature as prismatic overlays (and – to me – obscure vocabulary!) provided gratifying richness. Also appreciated that by the end there was still no single ‘explanation’ for your father, and your relationship with him. Love how you can advance (at least) three different story arcs with each little box.
Read the jacket after I finished it; found the summary’s language contemptably typical and insufficient in comparison. Am looking forward to your Pine Street show!
Alison, when you say you need “down time,” you’re quite literal! corpse pose is a great way to rejuvenate, and you’ve found a wonderful spot.
you can see I’m no Jewish mother . . . I would check for ticks, though. and I don’t know how it is in Vermont, but taller grasses where I live are home to chiggers. if you get too bitten, I guess you won’t spend much more time lying out in the grass, huh?
A movie? Well, I’m not surprised but like most books made into movies, they seem to fall short of the original. And unless you are able to exercise creative control, which few writers can do in the movie industry, the meaning of the story may be lost altogether.
For your lawn, you could buy one of those robotic solar-powered automatic lawn mowers (reminds me of the Jetson’s). It would mow the lawn for you and actually give your cat something to stalk.
Personally, though, I’d let the grass grow, it’s lovely.
 …Love the book. I used to work in a bookstore, and I did do my part to make sure Fun Home was on display in the front of the store for several weeks.
I’m in the middle of winter in New Zealand… your overgrown, lush, green lawn with sunshine filtering between the tree limbs looks like heaven…. Enjoy.
Interesting that the article reports that your house is stuffed with stuff – I was envisioning something as spare and metallic as – well, a submarine! (as your younger self is pictured predicting, when forced to assist Papa with further embellishing the hated bedroom decor in Fun Home)
robotic solar powered lawn mowers, cool.
Alison, that article was… depressing. There was a lot between the lines about the fallout from the fame, and your disconnection with the material of your life, the way your family is really having trouble with it all. Hope things are better overall than the picture painted by the paper.
I’ve been watching the LOGO channel alot…our local cable provides it in their extended digital package…and since I’m such an economiser (or just a miser) I purchase only the extended digital package and not the basic digital package or even basic cable…it’s a bargain and the kid gets the disney channels and I get logo. For those who don’t know LOGO they have a website http://www.logoonline.com.
It would be great to have a dtwof cartoon on logo. And Alison…you could have a whole team of animators…you wouldn’t have to draw it all yourself.
Yeah, well, look out there. Did you ever see any of the “Bitchy Bitch” animations that one company did? They really messed Roberta around to get those made. You might want to insist upon more creative control than you really have time to spare.
do you really want to have fun home turned into a movie? i think it would be rather dull, actually. or if not, it would have nothing to do with your great book, because they’d have to invent all sorts of sub-plots and take out most of the literary references because almost nobody would get them anyway. (or who got the mediocre references to crime and punishment in woody allen’s match point? not the average independent cineast it seemed to me…). plus, if the book makes your family wish the hype would stop, imagine what it would be like with a movie, especially if it has little to do with reality. it’s on screen, therefore it must be true…
I just gave someone I know your book as a birthday present, along with Invasion of DTWOF and the Carbon Based Life Forms issue. She read Invasion and Carbon in one sitting and enjoyed them immensely as she has your previous books.
She is in the middle of reading Fun Home now and I’m sure she is moved by it and can relate to it in some ways.
Anyway, wishing you a great rest of the summer and your lawn looks like a great place to relax and chill out. Even if it’s not mowed. Enjoy !!
Aren’t scythes horribly dangerous?
If you have to mow (and it looks nicer than the cold wet lawn I am looking at) get an enviromower. They are a battery powered rechargeable mower that have serious grunt and no oil is ever needed. And they are an Aussie invention so they are as tough as old boots.
cheers