SE Idaho

Miss you all. Last night I went to a restaurant that was so Eugene. A big rarity in SE Idaho. It was in Pocatello. I invited my friend Joan to go to a piano recital with me, and very typical Rebecca, no one was there! I went up to the building to look at the poster, and the concert was scheduled for the next day. So we drove all the way down to Poky, for no reason. So we decided to go out to eat. It's called the Bistro. A great restaurant that I had forgotten about. When Darin and I lived there, we were poor because of Darin's schooling, and therefore lack of employment, oh the joy. So we went there two times, I had totally forgotten about it. I was so excited. You have to understand there is a famine of decent dining where I live. Sizzler is considered fine dining here. Have you eaten at Sizzler? Have you had there fish? Please don't be tempted if you haven't. I hear they have a good steak. Darin and I order steak about once a decade and always regret it, so we have little to say on the subject. So back to the Bistro. It was a lovely, eclectic atmosphere, crumbling brick walls, wine corks plugging small holes in the wall, and they sat us down right on top of a heating vent. Oh my. That is going to be my new request, "Could we have a table by a heating vent please?" The food was wonderful, they were having a cajun theme that night. I ordered Crawfish Stew over rice. Then dessert was the real showstopper. A chocolate bread pudding, and I swear I couldn't even find the bread. Very decadent. The dessert was definitely made on the premise. I always ask before I order dessert if it was made on the premise. In SE Idaho, I always get the same answer, "Uhhh, we thaw it out the night before?" It's like they don't even understand the question. They actually employ a pastry chef at this restaurant! What an exciting discovery. There used to be a restaurant by the river by the temple that was also called the Bistro, but different owners. It was fabulous, Darin and I ate there all the time, but of course it went out of business, because no one here understands the difference between good and poor food! Oh the drama of my life. New subject. Movies. We saw Miss Potter this week. Love it! Megan if you haven't seen it you have to. Weren't you the one that always checked out the Beatrix Potter books at the library? Beautiful, inspiring movie. My children loved it also. Even though Anna said, "It's kind of a grown up movie though." So I ran to the library to get some of her books to read to Gracie, and they don't have a single original Beatrix Potter. They were all changed. Either the illustrations or the size of the book was huge instead of the little size that children love. I asked the librarian if there were some originals in a different place. She took me to the same books I had been looking at and showed them to me. I said those aren't her illustrations. She said, "Oh these are her's." I said, "No. See here." I found the title page and showed her who the illustrator was. She looked confused. Pathetic. I hadn't even looked at the title page before that, and even though I had just seen the movie, I would have known before what her illustrations looked like because of all the time we spent at the library as kids. Oh I miss the Springfield library. I should send them a thank you card. As mom always said, "They have real librarians." My librarians don't even know what the illustrations look like for the best selling picture books of all time! Sigh. I will endure. Moral of the story, Miss Potter was a wonderful movie. We watched the Illusionist last night. Hadn't seen it. Most of you probably have. Oh my gosh. Talk about entertaining. We loved it. I think we need to watch the whole thing again. So I know you are wondering about school. The short version, I am presently learning the flute, the drums, conducting with a baton, and music technology. Doesn't music technology seem like an oxi moron? Seriously, it is a challenge. Can't I just practice? It's so much easier. I don't want to learn about software. Ughhhhhh... The weather. Very, very cold. Cold in a way you Oregonians, and Cali people, can't even comprehend. It seems unearthly, unnatural, wrong somehow to be so cold. Did Brigham Young send people up here that were unfaithful to weed them out? And I have a heater! They didn't. There are places inside my body that become cold that I didn't even know existed. I feel acutely every part of my bones. The marrow I'm telling you. My marrow speaks to me now, "I am cold. Why do you live here? I will not allow you to be comfortable in these temperatures. I was not designed to endure this." Then I say, "I know. I have no idea why I live here! No idea. I can't remember! I faintly remember using my cute yellow house, as an excuse. But that seems pretty silly now, doesn't it?" The marrow replies, "Silly? More than silly. Ludicrous! Absurd!" Oh the drama of living in the cold. I will persist. I will survive. I will endure this cold, fine dining barren, ignorant librarian infested place that I for some reason love. With love, adieu.

Christmas present pics

Cabin Pictures

Videos!

Jane Eyre, Booklist

Jane Eyre. Oh my. The most romantic book ever written. Definitely. If you have a more romantic book, let me know. Not only romantic, but very moral, right, good, full of truth. I felt like I needed to mark it up like my scriptures. So a few quotes from the book.
"No sooner did I see that his attention was riveted on them, and that I might gaze without being observed, than my eyes were drawn involuntarily to his face: I could not keep their lids under control; they would rise, and the irids would fix on him. I looked, and had an acute pleasure in looking--a precious yet poignant pleasure; pure gold, with a steely point of agony: a pleasure like what the thirst- perishing man might feel who knows the well to which he has crept is poisoned, yet stoops and drinks divine draughts nevertheless.
Most true is it that "beauty is in the eye of the gazer". My master's colorless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, firm grim mouth --all energy, decision, will--were not beautiful, according to rule: but they were more than beautiful to me; they were full of an interest, and influence that quite mastered me--that took my feelings from my own power and fettered them in his. I had not intended to love him--the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected--and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me."
-Jane Eyre
There is an amazing quote by the man, Mr. Rochester in the novel, but of course I can't find it. Then one more quote from the book about temptation. "I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation; they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour: stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. " Jane Eyre
Truly as masterpiece. PBS just aired a new version of Jane Eyre. We dvr'd it and the past two nights, Darin and I have watched it. We probably have two more nights left. We are both loving it. So far it is very true to the book. Anyway, a must read at some point in your life. I know everyone wanted my book club list for the year and I never gave it so here it is.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (yes, they are sisters)
3. Tisha by Robert Specht
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (much better read aloud, Darin and I have read this together, aloud, twice, a book on CD would be a good option, I'm sure your library would have it)
   
5. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley (hoping this will influence some of my liberal friends)
6. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
7. All Moms Go to Heaven by Dean Hughes (short, hilarious, I heard him speak at Time Out For Women on this book, I laughed so hard I almost cryed)
   
8. Red Tent by Nita Diamant
9. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
10. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca by du Maurier was so creepy, I'm excited for this one, ooooo, and it's in October, perfect month for it)
    
11. Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (very excited for this one, tragic, dramatic, Russia, revolution, forbidden love)
12. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (one of my all time favorite authors, easier to read than you would think, and A Christmas Carol is very short, less than 100 pages)
    

All of these books came highly recommended or was researched, so I am confident that most will be very good.
The girls are very good. Disappointed however because school was indeed held. We were holding our breath for a cancellation, but of course it didn't happen. It has been snowing here like it rains in Oregon. A constant flow of very small snowflakes, like a drizzle of rain I suppose. The first real winter we've had since I moved to Idaho. School for me starts Monday. Entirely depressing. I try to be grateful. And I am. But is depresses me so. My drug of choice last semester was food. I don't want to do that this time. I went back to WW. Another very depressing subject. So I need another safe drug to replace the food. Any ideas? More prozac? A combination of antidepressants? Caffeine? So few choices. So sad. Love you all. Signing off until next time.