Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gift and xmas

This is such a crazy long shot

Aubergine — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:17:56 -0800

Heroin addict decides to face her habit so she moves to the bucolic Scottish (or Irish, somewhere in the UK at any rate) countryside, meets a (decades-older) blind farmer, falls in love, kicks the habit, eventually has to grieve his death, starts writing luminous poetry, publishes... but what is her name, or the name of her book? (last-minute, last-ditch Xmas-gift-filter) Hive mind! If you folks can't answer this, no one can, and at least I will feel like I really tried. Anyway:
I was in the car with my mother coming back from the airport a few days ago, talking about poetry, and she mentioned a poet that made a huge impression on her two years ago at a reading. Of course, she doesn't remember the name of the poet, or the name of her book, but she does remember some especially unique details about this poet's life (see above) on which basis alone I thought it might be possible to identify her.

Also, if this helps narrow it down, this is in Western Mass, so the reading was somewhere around here (Pioneer Valley/Easthampton/Westhampton), it was two years ago (sorry, no specific date), and the poet was not on a book tour by herself- my mom had actually gone to see some other poet read, and it turned out he was on tour with this woman who was also reading her poetry. Needless to say, her poetry really made an impression on my mom, but she didn't buy her book because she was broke. I would love nothing more than to find this book for her, because I have a feeling that the more time goes by, the less my mom is going to remember anything about her and be able to find it. The only things I have to go on, aside from the very general time (2 years ago) and place (Western Mass) that this happened, is this woman's incredible biography, which you'd think would narrow it down.

As my mother remembers it, she was a heroin addict who, in order to face her habit, moved to a very remote area in the countryside of somewhere in the UK, probably Scotland or Ireland (if you are wondering, like I did, what kind of heroin addict has the wherewithal and extra cash to up and move to the bucolic countryside, it seems that she lived somewhere in the UK already so it wasn't an overseas move). While she was living there, she met a man (a couple decades older than her, and blind, I think) that lived there and they fell deeply in love, and she overcame her addiction, but at some point he died, and she started writing poetry.

I am not sure if this is the subject matter of the poems or not (I imagine that at least some of them are about that experience) but the woman's story is pretty incredible and so on that basis alone you'd think it'd be easier to find her name. Unfortunately, all my google searches along these lines have failed. My mother did mention that the book might have been called something like "A Sheepherder's Calendar" but again, I've had no luck with this or any variations (Shepherd's Calendar, Sheepherder's Almanac, etc). I've asked around at a couple of bookstores in the area, and this doesn't ring any bells with anyone, so it seems like it's pretty obscure. If you know who this woman is, then I will be very grateful, and impressed with your wonderful taste in poetry.

Snowboarding Gift Ideas

adustum — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:40:28 -0800

I'm looking for gift ideas for a family member who is into snowboarding. He already has all the basics but I do know he needs a new pair of goggles (which shouldn't be hard to find). I'm also interested in any cool accessories that you could recommend beyond the basic stuff your average snowboarder would have. The price range I'm looking for is around $50. Thanks in advance!

Book-Hungry Mother

Weebot — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:23:23 -0800

[Xmas Filter] I'm doing my Christmas shopping, and I'm a bit stuck on what I need to get my mother. She likes culinary-cultural history books, preferably with recipes. Suggestions? She's been really into these books for a while now, and I was hoping to get some suggestions. She's gone through Salt, Cod, and all the other Mark Kurlansky books, as well as Lizzy Collingham's Curry and David Kamp's The United States of Argula.

She has also been a fan of food memoirs like Tender at the Bone as well as travel books with a strong culinary bent. You get the idea. So, any suggestions?

Help me choose a gift for my 1 year old nephew.

handee — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 04:45:50 -0800

I'd like to get something extravagant as a gift for my (to be) 1 year old nephew. It's to be an xmas/birthday gift. This is serious forward planning on my part, but if I get it now I'll have more cash to spend on it (I'm a little disorganised like that). He was born 2 days before xmas last year so ideally there will be at least two great gift suggestions in the thread to follow! He is of course gorgeous and hugely intelligent, if that helps any.

What do I get her for X-Mas

trox — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 21:18:50 -0800

Okay, I'm stumped. I have no idea what to get my girlfriend for Christmas. I got her some nice jewelry for her birthday in October, and I got her art last Christmas (shortly after we started dating). I'm not ready to be buying any rings, but don't want to trod down the same path giftwise.What do I do? Any ideas (she has an iPod) would be welcome!

Suitable international presents

widdershins — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:03:11 -0800

I live in the US and have a niece (about to turn 6) and nephew (a year and a half) in Norway. Every year I have the same dilemma buying Xmas and bday presents for them and I'd love some ideas... I would love some good suggestions for age-specific presents for them. The requirements are:

1) not too big, heavy or bulky due to international shipping fees,
2) not very fragile since it has to be shipped,
3) nothing that requires a wall plug since the plugs/voltage is different, and
4) nothing with English words or instructions since they only speak Norwegian at this point.

I've already given loads of clothes but don't want to be the aunt who gives the boring presents. My niece has too many dolls, and I've already given every kind of craft item I can think of, including paints and crayons and beads. Games are out because of the English factor, as are most of those neat science/experiment kits (probably not great to ship either).

Bonus points for anything specifically American that they might not have in Norway yet.

Swiss-Army USB Drives

edlundart — Mon, 20 Dec 2004 15:11:35 -0800

More xmas-shopping: Does anyone know of a store in NYC I can buy those swiss army knives with USB hard drives? I know they have them at thinkgeek and amazon etc, but I need it, like, yesterday. Other weird USB devices are also of interest.