It Seemed Important at the Time

"Wow! You've finished all of Mexico!" exclaimed J when he saw the world ghan that I'm knitting for him according to his color specifications. Two reactions: This map is recognizable--goodie-good! And, he doesn't realize that it has taken me an entire month to do this little bit! What with the end of the semester, Christmas, and all! I am now entering Canada, which J has determined to be yellow. This ghan is a fun and easy knit! And---he likes it!!

An odd little book, It Seemed Important at the Time by Gloria Vanderbilt (mother of CNN's Anderson Cooper) is "a romantic memoir" that reads like listening to someone talking into a recording machine. It is very much a romantic view of the lives of the extremely wealthy. Voyeuristic, yet odd somehow in its narrowness, its undeveloped stories. Why did she write this? Then there's a touching section about the death of a son and a husband that almost has depth but not enough. There's a certain thinness, a withholding of the material.

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I think you should take a picture of me eating this cookie! --Little j, age three years