Unnatural Creatures

Since there’s still no wifi set up at the new place, my attention span has gone way up, and I’ve been working on my very large reading list. I just finished up Donna Tartt’s The Secret History a few days ago (just amazing!), so I had to find another one quickly.

I’ve been wandering my way through Neil Gaiman’s repertoire (not in any specific order), and I managed to get my hands on his collection of his favorite short stories that involve creepy and unsettling creatures, aptly named Unnatural Creatures. I admire everything Gaiman does, and while only one of the stories was penned by him, I knew I had to read it.

So here is my ranking of the stories from my favorite to least favorite. The nice thing about having such a collection is that there’s a little bit of this and that, and there’s probably at least one story that each reader will cling to. So please take this at face value and read the book for yourself if you haven’t already! So good.

1. The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees
2. Moveable Beast
3. The Cockatoucan; or, Great Aunt Willoughby
4. … (the title of this one doesn’t translate to text and is also unpronounceable, but if you read the book, you’ll know why!)
5. The Smile on the Face
6. The Griffin and the Minor Cannon
7. Come Lady Death
8. Or All the Seas with Oysters
9. Ozioma the Wicked
10. Prismatica
11. The Flight of the Horse
12. Gabriel-Ernest
13. The Manticore, the Mermaid, and Me
14. The Compleat Werewolf
15. Sunbird
16. The Sage of Theare

The first 5 are my most favorite ones, and they were hard to rank. The last 3 I couldn’t make myself read all the way through, either due to the writing style or the sentence structures. But I know that someone definitely loves them!

If you read the book, let me know what you think!

A Letter

To whom it may concern,

They were all right, you know. Your mothers and your fathers. Your grandparents, in the way they could see right into your future. They’ve been here already, you see. Right in the shoes you thought belonged to only you.

Your mother had her heart broken into beautiful pieces like that boy did to you all those years ago. Your grandfather gave his hands to his work the same way the callouses on your palms grow bigger by the day.

You’re important. What you do and what happens to you matters. But don’t go out there thinking no one could possibly understand what’s swirling around in your mind.

Let people in. Let people understand. Because they’re the ones who are going to help you through.

With love.

 

It’s Rabbit Season

Or rather, job hunting season. The hunt continues this week, but I’m still feeling good about things. I’ve applied to a handful of places already, followed up with a couple, and I still have more resumes to hand out to whomever will take them. I’m still in that sweet phase of life where I don’t really have to consider a “grown up” job yet, although I suppose that’s looming closer on the horizon, I just try to keep it out of my peripherals. Trying to enjoy these next few years for what they are.

Knoxville has been good to us so far. We haven’t been here very long, but things are settling right in. The boyfriend has had a great couple of first days at his job (his boss even used the word “outstanding”), so I’m not worried about him at all. The apartment gets better every day, and soon enough we’ll be in our little routine.

I’m excited to get back into the Smokies again, the mountains where I grew up. I haven’t had a chance to get lost in those beautiful hills in a while, so I’m impatient to get back out there. The boyfriend and I have a swimming trip planned soon.

All in all, things are good. Life is delicious. And being back home is grand.

Moving Daze

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I’ve let my blog fall behind because I’ve been wrapping up the last days at my job and packing up everything I own into boxes. The boyfriend’s job moved us up to Knoxville, where we managed to find a great apartment that’s right in the middle of everything. We’re close to downtown without having to deal with the downtown traffic. We’re right behind a great bookstore, and we have access to 3 grocery stores and countless local restaurants. We honestly could not have picked a better place to live.

Now, we’re just trying to get everything settled after a bit of a moving disaster (the truck I rented didn’t work out, and we wound up getting a trailer and had to make a couple trips between Chattanooga and Knoxville). The new apartment is feeling like home already, and I think it will be a place we’ll be able to enjoy for a while. (Pictures will come as soon as it doesn’t look like a mess anymore.)

I’m currently on the job hunt. The boyfriend is getting ready for his first day of work today. Things are really looking up!

A little reminder

July 4th

I’m a day late to the party, but I had a very nice 4th of July. Well a nice 3rd anyway. I went home to see my family, and we went hiking in Big South Fork to the Twin Arches. It’s a short hike, but very beautiful. 

We helped a turtle cross the road on the way in, and we saw a rattlesnake on the trail. The arches themselves were amazing as always. 

On the way home, we drove through this tiny town called Rugby. It was settled in the 1800’s by some British people as a utopian society. They have a sweet little library where they have an annual book cleaning to preserve the books and the history. The church is equally adorable. All of the houses there are well kept and still maintain the feel of the Victorian period. If you go, just be sure to keep your eyes peeled because Rugby is so small, you might miss it. 

Later, we picked up my nephew from day care and got to hang out with him for a little bit before my sister came to get him. I constantly miss him when I’m in Chattanooga, so I love getting every chance to see him. 

I worked the actual day of the 4th, but it was a great weekend. And I’m glad to have spent it with my family.