The Road is about a father and son traveling through a post-apocalytpic America. It's pretty intense and also very good. Jon read it first and I think he ought to comment.
The Road actually won the Pulitzer prize this year. I haven't read anything else by Cormac McCarthy. Seems like I tried to read All the Pretty Horses once upon a time, but it didn't grab me at the time.
I don't know why, but some time last year, Wheat Thins started coming with tons of extra salt on them. The first time I encountered it, I thought it was just a bad box. But it's been consistent every time since then, across various varieties (except the low-salt kind). Nabisco, stop it! It's way too much salt! You're killing us. You took out the trans fats a few years ago, which was fine. The crackers got harder then, but that's a minor deal. But seriously, cut back on the salt!
Изгрев (Izgrev) is a neighborhood of Plovdiv. Some people call it a “Gypsy” neighborhood. On the surface it looks like the poorest neighborhood in the city. There is no hard dividing line from the surrounding neighborhoods, but you know you’re here by the decaying buildings, trash, toxic burning garbage, horse-drawn wagons (sometimes carrying new washing machines as seen below!), and lots of people without work. However, there are people working. Some commute to distant jobs. Others run small businesses such as the blacksmiths below who were hammering out horseshoes when we visited, lots of small stores and car repair places, people trying to get by. There are both large apartment blocks as well as small individually-owned homes. In the midst of it all are some freshly renovated nice homes, one of which we heard was funded by family members working in Germany. The last photo is of our friends from church named Христо (Hristo) and Иван (Ivan) who live there and introduced me to some
While walking from the railway station to the Preston LDS Temple , we visited Chorley Parish Church of St. Laurence . It has many interesting exterior features, including a sundial and many carved stone heads and gargoyles. Look for the dog growling down at us: It's an actively used Anglican church and has a large worship area, a pipe organ, drums, and nice stained glass. Most unusually, a 48-star American flag greeted us from the wall! That's because there is a pew there built by Alexander Standish in 1600, who was the son of Myles Standish , a Mayflow passenger, Plymouth colony leader, and founder Duxbury, Massachusetts. Opposite the American flag is a Polish flag and plaque mentioning the gift from Polish families in 1999, if memory serves. Finally, the little footpath down from the church is called Church Brow, a most delightful name for a street:
Oooh, that just made my Christmas list! All the Pretty Horses is one of my favorite books, and probably the only western I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteThe Road actually won the Pulitzer prize this year. I haven't read anything else by Cormac McCarthy. Seems like I tried to read All the Pretty Horses once upon a time, but it didn't grab me at the time.
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