Tasting Life Twice

Sunday, October 27, 2024
What I've Been Up to...
11:03pm

Yes, I've been having a break from ankh tapestries:

Julia wanted a banner featuring "live long and prosper" in Vulcan script.
I found a pattern online and....

I hope to finish it soon, before starting another ankh. I thought I was done, then another color combo popped into my head.

I hope to have the "LLAP" banner done within the coming week.

Meanwhile, a celebration of reading!

I'd been happily gobbling up Star Trek books, but a year ago, I added new subjects to my literary diet. It began with Patrick Stewart's autobiography, "Making it So". Loving the sound of his voice, I was keen to hear Stewart narrate his book. It was lovely to have a 'read and listen'.

This started me on a new tradition. Loving how he made his characters come to life, I sought out other 'read and listen' experiences. I began with a book Stewart recommended, "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay", by Michael Chabon. It was the thrilling ride Stewart had promised. So I began alternating a Trek book with another type of book, to vary the diet.

In (mostly) chronological order:

Making It So: A Memoir
By: Patrick Stewart
Narrated by: Patrick Stewart

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
By: Michael Chabon
Narrated by: David Colacci

Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements
By: John Jackson Miller
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Moonglow: A Novel
By: Michael Chabon
Narrated by: George Newbern

Second Self: Star Trek: Picard
By: Una McCormack
Narrated by: January LaVoy

The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel
By: Michael Chabon
Narrated by: Peter Riegert

Firewall: Star Trek: Picard
By: David Mack
Narrated by: January LaVoy

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel
By: James McBride
Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman

The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway: The History of the Captain Who Went Further Than Any Had Before
By: Una McCormack
Narrated by: Kate Mulgrew

Wonder Boys
By: Michael Chabon
Narrated by: David Colacci

Pliable Truths: Star Trek: The Next Generation
By: Dayton Ward
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

The Ministry of Time: A Novel
By: Kaliane Bradley
Narrated by: George Weightman, Katie Leung

Pachinko
By: Min Jin Lee
Narrated by: Allison Hiroto

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
By: James McBride
Narrated by: JD Jackson, Susan Denaker

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country
By: John Jackson Miller
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

The last book is in progress. Also, one book is there that didn't have a narrator. Robert MacNeil did narrate Wordstruck: A Memoir back in 1989 when he wrote it. But that narration was on cassette tape and wasn't transferred to digital audio. I was moved to seek this book out when Macneil died earlier this year in April. PBS Newshour did a segment honoring his life.

I was impressed with what Jeffrey Brown said:

"Well, the thing that really strikes me, I want to refer to that memoir that Robin wrote called "Wordstruck."
"That was Robin. Robin was wordstruck. It was even his e-mail address. The man was besotted with words. He loved writing them. He loved speaking them. He loved the history of them. He loved the geography of them, and, therefore, those two wonderful documentaries he did about the story of English and American.
"And that showed up in the journalism. I mean, if you're a person who loves to go out into the world and you're interested in all kinds of things and want to tell stories, and then you have this capacity to use words to write them and tell those stories, and then you have this incredible voice — I remember Jim would always say — he certainly said it to me — that Robin could read the phone book, right, and make it sound like great literature, which was true."

I had to seek this memoir out. I was lucky to find a used copy. I was even luckier to find one that's autographed, to someone named JOAN, no less!

"For Joan Simonds, with best wishes, Robert MacNeil"

How cool is that!

All the books and their respective narrators were great, with one exception. The narrator of Moonglow failed to read the many, many footnotes Chabon used. Those footnotes are actually crucial to the story. So I had to pause the narration many, many times and read the footnotes to Julia, who has been a listener through out this literary journey.

I will seek out more by these authors in the future. I have quite a tall tower of books slated for future read and listens. After the High Country, I have one Levar Burton (of the "The Reading Rainbow") recommended, The Warmth of Other Suns. And Una McCormack has a new Trek book, due out before my birthday, featuring the Strange New Worlds crew.

Note of October 30, 2023:
I just finished Nana Visitor's "Star Trek: Open a Channel: A Woman's Trek Star Trek". This is excellent, too.

So I have more wonderful literary and stitching adventures ahead for us. I may even get back to the (not quite forgotten) tapestry of winged Ma'at:

Where we were back in February...

Monday, November 18, 2024
One Finished, Another Begun
6:10m

Time got away from me. I finished the "Live Long and Prosper" banner back on November 4th, it seems another lifetime ago. I did photograph it "in situ" and in another place to show it in full:

It hangs next to the portrait of Captain Picard that I finished at the beginning of the year.
(Perhaps someday I'll have a 'Hall of Trek'?)

I was going to return to finishing the tapestry of winged Ma'at, but then I got another idea for an ankh. Color harmonies appeared in my mind's eye and I played with the existing scans to approximate what I was imagining:

"Purptest ten" uses the previous pink ankh's scan.

I diverged from the usual 18 count aida to see how big an ankh done on 20 count aida would be.
Will this be the last of the ankhs, or will I do another?