Bibliófila en Madrid
A warm hello to the ladies back in South Bend!
Sam and I are settling into life and work here in Madrid. We have a very cute, very small flat right in city center near the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Retiro Park, the biblioteca and more. We got lucky. We have been well-cared for by Sam's relatives and our friends here. Sam's aunt and cousins actually found us the flat and had everything lined up before we even got here. Spoiled rotten, I tell you.
I finished Tipping the Velvet while camping in Wyoming and absolutely loved it. I was sad to say goodbye to Nan; I really liked her character. Sam read The Line of Beauty during this part of our camping trip. Imagine us, after having come out of our week in the back country, sitting in the lodge with all the cowboys who had already enjoyed scoffing at what they had to carry in for us on their pack horses (couscous, olives and eight bottles of wine were among the eyebrow raising items....we're no barbarians) and Sam and I are side by side on one of the leather couches heavily engrossed in the last pages of our respective gay novels, waiting for dinner. Now imagine that one of the cowboys, in a room pretty full of not the most liberal men, asks us what we're reading. The room falls silent and we have everyone's attention. I was very happy to share with these men what my book was about, and their expressions were priceless. Some men just looked down at their boots. I think the response from the man who asked me in the first place was, "Oh. Okay. Sounds interesting." I asked him if he wanted to borrow it since I was just about finished yet he politely declined. Too bad. We might have had an nice addition to the book club, though he would have had to join via satellite or email. His name, incidentally, was Cowboy. Just Cowboy. I want a name like that.
I hope you are all well. I'm checking the blog to stay posted on what you're reading. I will be reading Shadow of the Wind next. I figure I ought to read it while I'm in Spain.
Kate, did you make it onto Antique Roadshow? I've been wondering...
Thinking of you all.
Besos y Abrazos,
Amy
P.S. Check out our blog: amagomundi.blogspot.com
Sam and I are settling into life and work here in Madrid. We have a very cute, very small flat right in city center near the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Retiro Park, the biblioteca and more. We got lucky. We have been well-cared for by Sam's relatives and our friends here. Sam's aunt and cousins actually found us the flat and had everything lined up before we even got here. Spoiled rotten, I tell you.
I finished Tipping the Velvet while camping in Wyoming and absolutely loved it. I was sad to say goodbye to Nan; I really liked her character. Sam read The Line of Beauty during this part of our camping trip. Imagine us, after having come out of our week in the back country, sitting in the lodge with all the cowboys who had already enjoyed scoffing at what they had to carry in for us on their pack horses (couscous, olives and eight bottles of wine were among the eyebrow raising items....we're no barbarians) and Sam and I are side by side on one of the leather couches heavily engrossed in the last pages of our respective gay novels, waiting for dinner. Now imagine that one of the cowboys, in a room pretty full of not the most liberal men, asks us what we're reading. The room falls silent and we have everyone's attention. I was very happy to share with these men what my book was about, and their expressions were priceless. Some men just looked down at their boots. I think the response from the man who asked me in the first place was, "Oh. Okay. Sounds interesting." I asked him if he wanted to borrow it since I was just about finished yet he politely declined. Too bad. We might have had an nice addition to the book club, though he would have had to join via satellite or email. His name, incidentally, was Cowboy. Just Cowboy. I want a name like that.
I hope you are all well. I'm checking the blog to stay posted on what you're reading. I will be reading Shadow of the Wind next. I figure I ought to read it while I'm in Spain.
Kate, did you make it onto Antique Roadshow? I've been wondering...
Thinking of you all.
Besos y Abrazos,
Amy
P.S. Check out our blog: amagomundi.blogspot.com
posted by Amy Keenan Amago | 7:52 AM
1 Comments:
Amy! A thousand hellos and as many apolgies for taking so long to respond. I hadn't checked the blog in forever, and once I did, I didn't realize how easy it was to respond just to you. Now I get it, so I'll be much quicker in the future.
You are so sweet to ask about the Antiques Roadshow. The bad news--and the good--is that my stuff is worth just what I paid for it. I had been hoping that my William Fisher painting at least would get me on TV, but no dice. Oh well. Milwaukee is a great town, though, and we'd never have made the trek if not lured by visions of wealth and fame.
My bigger news is that I have an artistic enterprise going that I owe, in part, to you. After our book group at your place, I was motivated to revisit my lamp situation at home. I liked your green table lamp and the globed lamps that diffuse light so well. I also liked the way you had painted your living room and dining room walls. I felt that some of my lamps were blending into the whiteness of our walls, but when I suggested painting them (the walls), John, who is a white-paint-fanatic, objected. Strenuously. Fine, said I, and covered the lampshades of two small lamps on our mantelpiece with Japanese paper. A revelation!! Soon after, a friend suggested that I sell them at CircaArts, and I have--5 there and about 8 others to friends to date (I find vintage bases on ebay). The name I've cooked up for my little enterprise? "Turn-ons."
I've long been searching for an artistic outlet that doesn't require innate talent, so thanks, dear Amy, for providing the inspiration and the medium.
How's your art progressing this year? I'm eager to know that and anything else you care to share, so please write me back faster than I did you :)
We miss you at bookgroup and can't wait till you're back. Wishing you and Sam all the best in the meantime,
Kate
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