Massachusetts Trip

[osprey_archer]

As I commented in yesterday’s post, I am returned from Massachusetts! An excellent trip! Extra shout-out to skygiants and genarti for letting me show up a day early when my initial plan to stop in Ithaca fell through when my hostess’s son took ill. (This resulted in a fourteen-hour drive and PERHAPS the course of wisdom would have been to stop at a hotel, but no regrets.)

Highlights of the trip, in roughly chronological order:

Two days in Concord! On the first day, I recreated (backward) Georgie’s walk in The Fledgling from her house to Walden Pond. (Did not meet a Goose Prince who could teach me how to fly. Perhaps if I had started at Georgie’s house and walked to Walden Pond rather than the other way around.) Also waded in Walden Pond as it was very warm.

Second day: visited Louisa May Alcott’s house, which featured a video of an LMA reenactor warmly welcoming us into the house, when we all know that the real LMA would have been climbing out the back windows to avoid annoying literary fans. Particularly enjoyed the paintings that May (Amy in Little Women) sketched directly on the wall.

In the evening we watched the Biggles movie, in which a perfectly good Biggles movie has been inexplicably chopped up to introduce a time-traveling TV dinner salesman, who is somehow the main character, even though the movie is called Biggles and also the time-traveling TV dinner salesman actor can’t act. Baffling.

(However it did later on contribute to a conversation about plotting, action sequences, World War I pilots etc. which may have finally cracked the story of the World War I princess fighter pilot and her communist BFF who overthrew the monarchy and is now trying to have the princess executed by firing squad! “It’s not personal, Fritzi.” “If it’s so impersonal, then why don’t you shoot me yourself? Or are you too good to complete the same tasks as common soldiers?”)

On Saturday, skygiants and genarti and I visited the Athenaeum! If I lived in Boston I would be DEEPLY tempted to get a membership. If only I could split in two and the second me could make it her life’s work to read in the Athenaeum all day long… Told them the v. important story about how Josephine Preston Peabody and her BFF Abbie Farwell Brown used to use a specific book in the Athenaeum as a post office to leave notes to each other. Doesn’t that sound like the beginning of a novel in itself?

Then the second leg of my journey began! I went to western Massachusetts to visit asakiyume, and we went to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, where I would happily leave yet another, third self simple to read through the entire picture book library… However, I suspect this third self would eventually finish the holdings (it is a small library, and picture books are quick to read; I zoomed through Christopher Denise’s adorable Knight Owl about an owl who becomes a knight and befriend a dragon), at which point perhaps it would pop over to the Yiddish Book Center (literally right across the street! asakiyume and I went on a tour with a wonderfully knowledgeable guide) and teach itself Yiddish, because if you can subdivide like an amoeba and have infinite selves then why not?

…Curiously enough asakiyume and I also watched Severance, which is about a different and darker kind of subdivision of selves. Amazing. Can’t believe it ended on a cliffhanger like that. Fascinating to see the different ways that these characters have adjusted (or refuse to adjust) to life in this totalizing workplace that their subdivided selves never get to leave.

Oh, and we made an apple pie! I made the crust and it turned out pretty nicely if I do say so myself.

And then back on the road, with a stop in Ithaca after all, as my friend’s son had recovered from his indisposition and it was safe for me to come! I took along the picture books Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Anatole as presents and said son (two years old; obsessed with trains; “Can’t he get to his dinosaur phase yet?” my friend sighed) requested each one read at least twice, so overall successful presents.

And then home again! And then right back to work yesterday, and now I am weary. Today perhaps will be a quiet day to rest, but I do want to get back to writing soon… I rattled off the first chapter of The Princess and the Communist (working title; had to set aside The Flying Princess) while on the road but of course one needs all the subsequent chapters too!

Comments

[asakiyume]

I was talking about Severance with another friend yesterday and appreciating anew how much personality each character in the workplace has.

My dad is super curious about A Garter as a Lesser Gift, so I'm going to get him a copy ^_^

[osprey_archer]

Yes, they're all so vibrant and distinctive! I love how that shines through despite their lack of memories.

I hope your dad enjoys A Garter as a Lesser Gift!

[oracne]

The Eric Carle museum is on my museum bucket list.

[osprey_archer]

I hope you get to visit one day! I've been four times at this point and every time it's a delight.

[philomytha]

The time-travelling tv dinner salesman! All movies should have one :-D. I'm glad to hear it helped unstick the pilot princess, at least.

And Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a great picture book! I think I probably still know it off by heart, I know lots of them by heart now... your apple pie cooking reminds me of my very favourite picture book, Apple Pie ABC, which manages to tell a story alphabetically, it's clever and adorable.

[osprey_archer]

The inspiring thing about the Biggles movie is that after you watch it, you're sure that you can do something better! And you are almost certainly right. (It's quite sad actually because whoever was in charge of the Biggles parts clearly understood Biggles. If had just been allowed to do their thing it would have been a decent Biggles movie!)

[skygiants]

First chapter while on the road!! I'm truly in awe, I never can manage to write while traveling.

[osprey_archer]

I wrote it on the last morning at your place, actually! I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep and I had written some of it in my notebook the night before (after recounting the whole entire plot to you and Beth) and I thought "Let's see if I can bang this out."

That's why I was a bit slow coming over to eat my eggs. Had to wrap up the last couple of paragraphs!

[hedgebird]

The Princess & Communist scenario reminds me of Coup de Grace by Marguerite Yourcenar! But there it's the communist asking the Prussian officer to personally execute her for old times' sake.

[osprey_archer]

"You should execute me PERSONALLY" is an oldie but a goodie!

[troisoiseaux]

which may have finally cracked the story of the World War I princess fighter pilot and her communist BFF who overthrew the monarchy and is now trying to have the princess executed by firing squad!

OOOOOH.

[osprey_archer]

I wrote one chapter on the trip and have since not worked at it at all so this MAY have been premature, but perhaps I am simply RECOVERING from the action-packed trip flanked by extremely long drives and will get back to work soon.

[littlerhymes]

the real LMA would have been climbing out the back windows to avoid annoying literary fans

Her spirit is tsking and shaking her head in disapproval... All is well.

The whole trip sounds amazing, you got to see so many literary landmarks AND progress on your own literature. Would be very helpful to replicate yourself a few more times though, why hasn't anyone solved this yet? (LMA, you could set a version of yourself to fend off visitors and then another to hide away from them.)

[osprey_archer]

"Welcome," the LMA actress said warmly, breaking my suspension of disbelief entirely.

It was a great trip! SO many literary landmarks. I also visited the Old Manse, which is two literary landmarks for the price of one (both Emerson and Hawthorne wrote an important book there), AND from the upper window you can get a view of the Old North Bridge where one of the first battles of the American Revolution happened!

[genarti]

It was SUCH a delight to have you!

I have now told multiple friends about the Biggles movie with the time-traveling tv dinner salesman. Not sure I've ever seen a perfectly serviceable movie shoot itself in the foot so thoroughly and determinedly! Also, I'm still deeply excited about The Princess and the Communist, and I hope it continues to flow cooperatively forth!

The western Mass portion of your journey sounds utterly delightful too. (I love Severance extremely, and the ending sure is a hell of a thing.) I've never been to either of those museums, and I truly should! And also of course asakiyume seems like a delight of a person and a host. :D

[osprey_archer]

The Biggles movie is truly astonishing. It avoids so many of the usual faults of adaptations: the people involved clearly understood what Biggles is all about! You have Biggles and his loyal band of friends and also his honorable enemy with whom he exchanged dry quips and also a slightly bizarre but pleasantly action-packed plot, everything you could want in a Biggles adaptation.

And then they just threw it away to devote 2/3rds of the story to their OC, the time-traveling TV dinner salesman. WHY.

I think you would love both the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the Yiddish Book Center! They are literally right next to each other. And surely now that you are studying Yiddish, visiting the Yiddish Book Center is an important educational field trip?