Sunday, May 27, 2007

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word...


We had a real good time ridin' ponies this mornin'. Diane's favorite pony "Tiny" had the day off today. Probably out playing a round of golf. (After all, this is Scottsdale.) But she showed Buck who was boss and I discovered that my man looks really fine on horseback. (And mom, looks like that Stetson is finally getting some play! Aren't you proud?)

Also, couldn't help but think of all the souls who crossed this country on horses or in wagons. What an ordeal! You can understand why people liked to stay put when a creature with four legs was the best mode of transportation. I was only aboard "Diamond" for two hours and my rear is definitely sore. I can't imagine if you had to go for days, weeks, months. They must have been brave people, much wilder adventurers than I. I keep thinking of got to read "Little House on the Prairie" again. Something about the west always makes me think of settlers. Maybe because there are still so many vast, untouched wild spaces. I think I'll save that one for China, I bet it would ward off some homesickness.

In the meantime, I just began "Wild Swans" which is the story of three generations of Chinese women set against the backdrop of their revolution. I figured that would be a painless way to bone up on the history and get ready mentally. Lots to do in only a month. We've got tickets to leave from L.A on June 20th. I can't wait.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Becky

I read Wild Swans (I recall it as "Three Swans" but I'm probably wrong) a few years ago. My two main recollections are the binding of the women's feet in the first generation. Mutilation for the sake of someone's view of aesthetics!! The second one was the businesslike view of young people in the Revolution. "Gotta go to work at the Revolution today". And there was all of that work for Communism and life stunk for the people it was supposed to help. It's so much different today now that the government pretends to be Communist for appearances sake but is actually capitalist.

Dad

The Fab Miss B said...

Foot binding is often held up as one of the most barbaric practices women have endured to appease patriarchal symbols of beauty, but by no means the only one; think of genital mutilation in Africa, corsets in the Western world that squeezed women's rib cages together so that they often broke ribs during pregnancy and childbirth (and died pretty frequently too). The equivalent today would have to be breast implants, but we are far less barbaric now, we use anesthetic.

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