Betty Leigh Verbeke

“The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink

This book was recommended to me and I quite enjoy it.  It is the story of a student and his relationship with an older woman who goes on trial for charges from being a guard during the holocaust and pleads guilty to all charges to hide another secret that to her is more shameful than murder.  It is a truly easy read and had an ending that I wasn’t expecting.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“[…] but the windows are so dusty that you can’t see anything inside the rooms, not even the curtains; it looks blind.”

“It was more as if she had withdrawn into her own body and left it to itself and its own quiet rhythms, unbothered by any input from her mind, oblivious to the outside world.”

“But they would lecture me with loving concern, which was worse than being scolded.”

“But behavior does not merely enact whatever has already been thought through and decided.  It has its own sources, and is my behavior, quite independently, just as my thoughts are my thoughts, and my decisions my decisions.”

“When she had fallen asleep lying on me, and the saw in the yard was quiet, and a blackbird was singing as the colors of things in the kitchen dimmed until nothing remained of them but lighter and darker shades of gray, I was completely happy.”

“I felt a great emptiness inside, as if I had been searching for some glimpse, not outside but within myself, and had discovered that there was nothing to be found.”

“I felt weak and light at the same time, and all my senses were pleasingly muffled, cottony, padded.  I floated.”

“But love of our parents is the only love for which we are not responsible.”

“There is no need to talk, because the truth of what one says lies in what one does.”

Meal One: greek yogurt with Tina’s local organic honey and some home-made toasted oats (raw oatmeal mixed with a light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and Tina’s honey set under the broiler until golden brown)

Meal Two: rice melody (pre-packaged) paired with a stir fry of onion, baby portobello mushroom, squash, jalapeno, sweat potato, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, salt and pepper in extra virgin olive oil

Meal Three: (provided by Kerri) pre-packaged barley soup mix (containing barley, split peas, lima beans, mushrooms, and celery), cooked in chicken stock with broad beans, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, thyme, and salt and pepper (discovered later this is really good with bacon, but what isn’t?)

Meal Four: (provided by Kerri) turnip greens, onion, tomatoes, and salt and pepper cooked down in a little h2o and coconut milk

Meal Five: pre-packaged poblano pepper and corn chowder (containing roasted red pepper, cream, various spices, poblano pepper, and corn) with jalapeno, garlic, and onion cooked in some extra virgin olive oil

Holy fuck that was such a good concert!  I love that it was at Austin Music Hall because it is a smaller venue (compared to when I saw them in San Antonio)!  I love that I got to go with one of my best friends, Marissa, (this was our second 30STM concert together!) and my new friend, Tanya! 30 Seconds To Mars is fucking bad ass! Jared Leto is so fucking sexy!  I love that they played a lot of their older songs!  I love that they pulled around 30 people up on stage for the final song!  I love that Jared Leto was so interactive with the audience!  My tonsils feel like they are bleeding!  I probably wont be able to talk much tomorrow and it is totally worth it!  I feel like I have cotton in my ears!  My neck and shoulders and calves and back are all sore from going crazy in the mosh-pit-crowd!  I probably smell more ripe than a peach fresh off the tree and I don’t care because I had such a good time! <3 <3 <3 Love tonight!

This book, like all other Tom Robbins books, is hilarious and thoughtfully written to keep the reader on their toes throughout.  I absolutely love the way he tells this story of indescribable events.  Hints: deals with the meaning of meaning, gypsies, science, sex, murder, the Church, butterflies, mushrooms, baboons, hot dogs, and much much more.  Oh yes.

“Another Roadside Attraction” by Tom Robbins

It is almost impossible to pull just a few of my favorite quotes, but I have chosen a few to share with you instead of scanning in 337 pages of my underlined text:

“‘The function of the artist,’ the Navajo answered, ‘is to provide what life does not.’”

“It was one of those mellow October days that seem concocted from a mixture of sage, polished brass and peach brandy.”

“‘Logic only gives man what he needs,’ he stammered. ‘Magic gives him what he wants.’”

“This did not annoy Amanda for it had long been her theory that human beings were invented by water as a vice for transporting itself form one place to another.”

“In the magnetized space between them they flew their thoughts like kites.”

“The motorcycle engine died with a prolonged series of soft smoky gasps – like a dwarf choking on a burning rag.”

“She felt like frosting left of the spoon that iced the Cake of the World.”

“(Note: the inbreath is willed, the outbreath is automatic.)”

“‘[...] and in the resulting confusion technology itself becomes a surrogate religion.’”

“‘Amnesia is not knowing who one is and wanting desperately to find out.  Euphoria is not know who one is an not caring.  Ecstasy is knowing exactly who one is – and still not caring.’”

“‘I would watch her saying her rosary like maybe a beer can watches the ocean saying its surf, and I wanted to tip toe up to her and kiss her cheek.’”

“When the parachute of love descended, Marx Marvelous was face to face with her enchanted gypsy snatch.”

“‘[...] life is a fortune cookie in which someone forgot to put the fortune.’”

Meal One: avocado, broccoli slaw, roast beef, sharp cheddar cheese, light greek vinaigrette, and pepper on whole wheat ancient oats bread

Meal Two: tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, jalapenos, menage a trois red wine, h2o, and a small can of tomato paste simmered down in a little extra virgin olive oil makes the sauce covering whole wheat pasta

Meal Three: broccoli, cauliflower, avocado, tzatziki sauce, and pepper on walnut multigrain bread

Meal Four: (provided by Kerri) cauliflower, chickpeas, broccoli, shredded romano cheese, garlic, and pepper broiled in the oven just till the cheese melts

Meal Five: canned white tuna mixed with broccoli slaw, avocado, pepper, lime juice, and light greek vinaigrette spread on toasted whole wheat ancient oats bread

My Own Melody by Betty Leigh Verbeke

My heart ticks faster with each new click

Fingertips pressing the keys into the keyboard

I may not know how to play an instrument

But I am creating my own melody

The Toshiba screen the only light left on to illuminate the room

The words flowing from my brain

Through my arms

Out my hands

Onto the screen

To be reflected back

Embedding my own ideas into my retinas

My internal beat keeps tempo

With the uneven metronome I generate

Does any audience read this the same as I type it?

Shallow breathing

Mouthing the words

Hearing soft whispers of voice

Like the shirts of an unsettled audience at a Shakespearean play

Vocals are necessary for this song

So hush up and listen

For I am creating my own melody

Weather by Betty Leigh Verbeke

You lure me into your mind’s world

The weather derived from your mood

On the sunny days I bask in your rays

Frolic and romp in your river and on your green hills

Overcast days are perfects for picnics

Parking my checkered blanket under your trees

Reading a good book and enjoying your cool breeze

When it’s snowing, I build a fire in your mind

Camp till my lips and fingertips are no longer blue

Trying to melt the ice fortress you hide in

I carry no umbrella when it rains

Bathing in your salty teardrops

Heated with your heart’s furnace

At night there is no moon, only quiet stars

They shine with your unspoken thoughts

Entrancing me to live in your mind’s world forever

Waiting to see what the next day’s forecast will be

Potpourri by Betty Leigh Verbeke

Your ideas are bull shit

Stinking up the world everywhere you go

Leaving behind a cartoonish green gas

It permeates the air

Choking out everyone breathing near you

Controlling the atmosphere

Why don’t you go fall down a well?

Maybe it will wash away your stink

Who will save you from drowning in your own sea of stench?

You ignorant fuck

Your life is in the hands of you alone

Maybe your reeking mind will suffocate you

Reincarnating you into something new

Like the potpourri sitting on my desk

It’s quite refreshing