Done!

Once again, I berate myself for not starting the tax form preparation process as soon as I get all the necessary information from various entities.  Thanks to TurboTax(R) software, it took me just over an hour to complete, and print, both federal and state income tax returns this afternoon. 

As anticipated, I'm getting small refunds from both Uncle Sam and Uncle Arky.  These monies will be used to pay my real estate and personal property taxes which, although not due until mid-October, will be paid as soon as these refunds are in the bank -- a financial revolving door.

Now I can start reading, again.  This time, the book is Julia Spencer-Fleming's Through the Evil Days, the most recently published book in a series which I've been following for some years.


Tomorrow is also a day.

A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Image: Wikipedia

Yes,  I know I shouldn't fool around with things about which I know only a little bit and not near enough to do what I need to do. However, I recently completely ignored that understanding of myself and jumped feet first into a technological problem I should have left alone.

My cell phone had been "acting up," as I mentioned in my last post.  I occurred to me to access the phone's online user guide and find out how to fix the problem.  I read through pages of (mostly) non-understandable language until I found the section which referred to the problem I was having, and proceeded to follow the slightly-fuzzy directions for correcting the same.

I clicked here and there; deleted this and that, presuming that I was making progress.  I made progress, all right.  I progressed myself into a completely non-working phone with which I could do nada, zilch, bumpkis -- a piece of junk fit only for the trash-bin.

I took said junk to the dealer from which it came. "Uh, Lady. What in the world did you do to it?" 

After a prolonged visit, I came away with a new phone, which is working beautifully, thank you, and which has many more "bells and whistles" than my old one.  Thanks to Christmas gift cards from generous relatives, I didn't even have to shell out any of my hard-earned Social Security income.

I've made myself a promise that if this one should go wonky on me,  I won't try to fix it, but head straight to the dealer for, I would hope, a more educated approach to problem solving.

OTHER STUFF

One
I've read four books this past week, all actual hold-in-your- hands, turn-the-pages books.  The first one, a referral from Arkansas Patti at her The New Sixty blog, was The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson, a Swedish author.   The title is a mouthful, but the story is absolutely delightful, and highly recommended!  Thank you, Patti! 

Due to budgetary constraints, I'm really tight-fisted -- about almost everything, including e-books for my Kindle. Although Jonasson's book was available in the Kindle edition, it came at a price, so I requested the paperback edition from my library. After a wait of a couple of weeks --the book seems to be very popular at present -- it arrived and was picked up. It took me several days to read it. I didn't rush; I savored it.
  
On April 4, while I was at the library to return it,  I browsed the Mystery section (my favorite) and selected an armful of books -- four "cozy" mysteries and one not quite so cozy, and have read three of them. 

Why the reading binge?  I'm sorry to say it's my one of my favorite avoidance tactics.  I need to be working on my taxes!

I did make myself pull together some of the more detailed information I need for my tax filing; I'm not completely ignoring the task, just dragging my feet.

Two 
What has the image of a hummingbird to do with this post, you ask?  Gardening Daughter called me last evening to report that hummingbirds are at her feeders. Too soon!  Too soon!  It's not even warm, yet!


Tomorrow is also a day.

1999 Books Read - Last Installment!

The last day of 2011 is almost upon me, and I have recorded neither November nor December books read in 1999. I am a procrastinator, I admit,  but had I not so rudely interrupted myself for the last three months with things other than blogging, I already would have been finished with the (seemingly interminable) list of books I read in 1999.  

Fear not; the list is not long. As I have written previously, I was a voracious reader until I discovered rubber stamping in September that year. The number of books read in a month declined precipitously from there on.

Without further ado:

November -

China Trade - S.J. Rozan

Concourse - S.J. Rozan

Mandarin Plaid - S.J. Rozan

Payment in Blood - Elizabeth George

Well Schooled in Murder - Elizabeth George

A Suitable Vengance - Elizabeth George

Rewrites (audio) - Neil Simon

Catnap - Carole Nelson Douglas

Brewing Up a Storm - Emma Lathen

December - 

Dakota - Kathleen Norris

The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris

Amazing Grace - Kathleen Norris

At least I finished the year with something other than murder mysteries.  If you are interested in things of a spiritual nature, I recommend Kathleen Norris' work to you.

 

                           THE END!

                                 

Back later with different stuff.  Tomorrow is also a day!

Books - October, 1999

I've been away, both physically and mentally, for about six weeks. Not only have I not posted, I haven't done my usual and pleasurable visiting of others' blogs. My apologies to my friends; I've not forgotten you but, perhaps worse, neglected you.  I would like to say that I'll change my ways immediately, but that would be more of a wish than an actuality.  I will say that I'll try to be back on a regular schedule as soon as I can.

This post will finish 10/12ths of the (seemingly) interminable list of books I read during 1999.  Aren't you glad the year is almost over?

I must have had some time on my hands that month, as I count 17 books and 1 book-on-tape on my list.  You may be relieved to learn ahead of time that the list drops off significantly, with only twelve books read during the remainder of that year.  I didn't keep reading records after that, so you'll be seeing no more similar posts.

Dover Clip Art

Without further ado:

Watchers - Dean Koontz
Last Days of Summer - Steve Kluger
Thrones, Dominations - Dorothy Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh
Murder at St. Adelaide's - Gerelyn Hollingsworth
Murder & Other Acts of Literature -  an anthology
The Sixteen Pleasures - Robert Hellenga
Candle for a Corpse - Ann Granger
Murder at the Watergate - Margaret Truman
Dr. Nightingale Comes Home - Adamson
So Faux, So Good - Tamar Myers
Quaker Testimony - Irene Allen
Murder Among Us - Ann Granger
Dead Over Heels- Charlaine Harris
Biggie and the Mangled Mortician - Nancy Bell
The Pilot's Wife - Anita Shreve
Lucy - Jamaica Kincaid
A Torrid Piece of Murder - C.F. Roe
ICON - (audio) - Frederick Forsyth, read by Stephen Lang

Links lead to Amazon.com, with which company I have no relationship other than as a customer.

Tomorrow is also a day. Thanks be to God.

Books and More Books - September, 1999

I've been so busy with "card stuff" and church duties that I failed to post my regular installment of books read in 1999.  Having somewhat of a breather this evening,  I decided I'd better get with the program before the month is over.

The Zero Hour - Joseph Finder
Something To Kill For - Susan Holtzer
Curly Smoke - Susan Holtzer
The Dancing Floor - Barbara Michaels
The Bestseller - Olivia Goldsmith (not actually read, this was a book on tape)
The Face Changers - Thomas Perry
The Coffin Dancer - Jeffrey Deaver
Murder Must Wait - Arthur W. Upfield (one of the numerous Detective Napolean Bonaparte ("Bony") series set in Australia. "Bony" is half English, half Aborigine, and a very clever fellow)
Rattlesnake Crossing - J. A. Jance (A Joanna Brady mystery)
Bleeding Maize & Blue - Susan Holtzer

It was a treat to remember many of the plots, if not the fine details of most of these books.  I was (and still am) a fan of the "Bony" mysteries.  Looking at the long list of Upfield books while I was copying the link to this particular book made me want to read them all again.  Perhaps I shall do so, one of these days.

All links lead to amazon.com, with which company I am associated only as a customer.

I'm currently reading (on Kindle) Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart.  This came  recommended by Arkansas Patti of The New Sixty and I'm really enjoying it.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Bits and Pieces

The early morning air is humming with the sounds of lawnmowers as neighbors take advantage of the still-under-sixty-degrees weather.   The cats have found a warm spot on my small patio and are stretched out, getting their daily dose of sunshine.  I leave the doors into the house ajar so that they can flee to safety when startled by the bark of the neighbors' dogs.

We've had a lovely weather week, with morning temperatures ranging from the high forties to low fifties.  The humidity is low and it's a pleasure to be outside.  I need to enjoy this break in the weather while it's here; while we've had highs only in the low 80's for the last few days, a warming (or should I say "hotting") trend is on the way, and central Arkansas will be back into more seasonal weather all too soon.

* * *

While I should have been outside more during the wonderful weather,  I've been doing other things, indoors. My stamping buddy and I will host a Stamp Camp on Sept. 16. I designed three cards and cut and packaged materials for twenty of each.  I'm also leading the make and take sessions at two other stamping groups, one on Saturday the 17th and the other on Monday the 19th .  I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess!  While we have several Stamp Camps during a year, I teach only once a year for the other groups.  I usually select September as my teaching months, since it's easy to remember that my responsibilities fall around birthday time.

* * *

I have four wonderful children, three daughters and one son.  Son and two daughters have lived within a few miles of me for many years, while youngest daughter has roamed the world with the U.S. Air Force until her retirement to Nebraska two years ago.  Son has recently accepted an excellent job in a small southeastern Kansas town about 5 hours away.  He and his wife have purchased a lovely older home there, and are in the process of moving their household goods. Daughter-in-law has stayed here to cope with packing and real estate agents and the like, and Son comes back to Arkansas on weekends to help with the heavy stuff.    To their delight, even in a very slow real estate market, their Arkansas home has sold, and they will vacate the premises by month end. I'm looking forward to visiting them in their new digs, but will miss having them close by.

* * *

I marked the milestone of yet another birthday this past week.  My natal anniversary falls on Labor Day every few years, and this was one of them.  The whole nation took a holiday to help me celebrate  Ha ha!  I had a lovely dinner with my children on Sunday night, followed by a quiet Labor Day/Birthday with absolutely no hoop-la --  my kind of day.  I even got in an afternoon nap.  The evening brought a small gathering of my closest friends. One of the ladies also has a September birthday, the day before mine, and we have a joint celebration.  We enjoyed a good visit, exchanged gifts (with the other birthday girl and I on the receiving end of gifts from the others).  We also shared a delicious cake that has become "our" birthday cake.  The cake, called "Summer Fruit Tart," is made by Silvek's European Bakery in Little Rock (look here for a photo of our cake and other delicious treats they prepare), and it's been our birthday treat for the last four or five years.  Birthdays do have some nice things about them.

* * *

When not doing card stuff, I've been reading. Light reading only; I'm not up to material that requires a lot of brain power to digest.  I'm finally comfortable with my Kindle, and have read seven books in the last ten days, four of them, by the same author, in two days. If you're interested, the seven "cozy" books I read were by authors Robert Spiller and Judy Christie, and are listed in "Books Read in 2011" on my sidebar.   Other than tiring my aging eyes a bit, I've thoroughly enjoyed the quietness of entertainment that doesn't require sound. I had been watching far too much television.

* * *

Speaking of TV's -- my Gardening Daughter's husband gifted me with a huge surprise for my birthday, a new-to-me wide screen HD TV!  He's a "latest and greatest" techie and a big time movie buff, and recently acquired one of the 3-D televisions.   Having no room in their home for another wide-screen TV, something had to go, and the sweet boy was kind enough to replace my old, beginning-to-get-fuzzy television..  The television set that used to be in their living room is now in my living room.  I'm still getting used to being able to read all the fine print on the commercials!  Gardening Daughter assures me that it was entirely his idea to pass the still good-as-new TV on to me, and he delivered and set up the unit (and a new DVD player) while I was away from home for a day.

Guess that's about it.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Books - August, 1999

The Spoken Word -  Robert R. Irvine
Barking Dogs - Robert R. Irvine
Staggerford - Jon Hassler
First Cases (an anthology) - editor Robert Randisi
The Seville Communion - Arturo Perez-Reverte
The Gifts of the Jews - Thomas Cahill
The Man Who Loved God - William X. Kienzle
Los Alamos - Joseph Kanon
The First Eagle - Tony Hillerman
Extraordinary Powers - Joseph Finder
The Bohemian Murders - Dianne Day
Emperor Norton's Ghost - Dianne Day
The Ape Who Guards the Balance - Elizabeth Peters

Provided links will lead to Amazon.com where you can find further information about the books, should you be interested.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Books - July, 1999

Dover clipart

Continuing with my monthly installment of books read in 1999:

Tears of the Moon -  Di Morissey

The Alienist -  Caleb Carr

1 Ragged Ridge Road - Leonard Foglia & David Adams Richards

The Chatham School Affair - Thomas H. Cook

Murder Makes Waves -  Anne George

Murder Gets a Life -  Anne George

Pillar of Fire -  Robert R. Irvine

Called Home - Robert R. Irvine

Baptism for the Dead - Robert R. Irvine

Deal Breaker -  Harlen Coben

Flight of Eagles - Jack Higgins


I'm currently reading from a number of Kindle books, sporadically and as I have an interest.   I've been hopping between Dutch Fairy Tales for Young People; The Message: The Book of Proverbs (Eugene Peterson); The Bittermeads Mystery (Ernest Robertson Punshon);  Murder in Passy (Cara Black);  and The Mystery of the Big Ben (Fernando Trujillo).

Could it be that I have attention deficit disorder? Or, do I just seek variety?As usual, all links lead to Amazon.com.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Books - June, 1999

Dover Clipart

For those who might wonder, I've not fallen off the face of the earth; I've been engaged in other things outside the world of blogging. I've finally started trying to construct a post or two regarding my recent visitors -- my youngest daughter, her son and a very large Afghan Hound by the name of Thule (as in Greenland). 

In the meantime, another monthly installment of books read in 1999.  

Chromosome 6 - Robin Cook

Plum Island - Nelson DeMille

Murder in the Chateau - Elliott Roosevelt

Larceny & Old Lace - Tamar Myers

Gilt by Association - Tamar Myers

Night of the Dog  (a Mamur Zapt mystery) - Michael Pearce

The Girl in the Nile - (a Mamur Zapt mystery) - Michael Pearce 

The Poet - Michael Connelly

Murder and mayhem evidently occupied my reading list this month, none of which I would recommend for the young lady of still tender years pictured above. Not being of tender years at the time, I enjoyed them all.

I'm currently reading, when I stop to take a breather, the Kindle Edition of an old, old story by H. Rider Haggard, The People of the Mist.

All the links above lead to Amazon.com, with whom I have no association other than an occasional purchase.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Books Read - May, 1999

Dover Clip Art

As I promised (threatened), here is yet another list of books I read in 1999, this particular list being for the month of May of that year, and except for one (I'll let you guess), all 'light' reading.

Lethal Practice - Peter Clement

The Prophetess -  Barbara Wood

Murder on the Silk Road - Stephanie Matteson

Murder at the Falls - Stephanie Matteson

Delilah Doolittle and the Purloined Pooch -  Patricia Guiver

Blind Descent- Nevada Barr

The Club Dumas -  Arturo Perez-Reverte

Days of Drums - Philip Shelby

The Monkey's Raincoat -  Robert Crais

No Use Dying over Spilled Milk - Tamar Myers

Just Plain Pickled to Death -  Tamar Myers

All links are to Amazon.com, a company with which I have no association whatsoever beyond an occasional purchase for my personal library.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Yet Again, 1999 Books Read

(Dover clip art)

Books I read in April, 1999:

Goose in the Pond - Earline Fowler
Pope Joan - Donna Woolfolk Cross
Eater of Souls - Lynda S. Robinson
Twenty Blue Devils - Aaron Elkins
Blood Line - (audio book) - Sidney Sheldon
The Water is Wide - Pat Conroy
Flower Net - Lisa See
Numbered Account -  Christopher Reich
Blood Work - Michael Connelly

Cozy; historical "fiction?"; ancient Egypt;  forensic anthropology; intrigue; non-fiction; mystery; intrigue; thriller. I do enjoy a wide variety of subject matter.  The links under the books' names will take you to Amazon.com (with which company I am associated in no way whatsoever.)

My books in progress are listed on the side bar of my blog page. I'm finding the Edgar Allan Poe a bit daunting. His work is 'spookier' than I remember, or perhaps I've just become more tender as I've aged.

I'd welcome the opportunity to learn what you are  reading right now.  Why don't you tell me about it in the comments section?

Tomorrow is also a day.

More 1999 Books

(Dover clip art)

The books I read in March, 1999:

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Strange Brew - Kathy Hogan Trocheck
The Cobra Event - Richard Preston
The Eleventh Plague - John Marr, John Baldwin
Name Withheld - J.A. Jance
Pest Control -  Bill Fitzhugh (funny, funny, funny - my opinion)
Curses - Aaron Elkins
Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing - Lynda S. Robinson
Stone Angel - Carol O'Connell

Murder, mayhem, comedy, psychological drama, ancient Egypt, medical thriller/mysteries, and the intriguing life of a geisha.  What a mix!

I don't know why I didn't think to provide links to the books I listed in my previous posts, here and here, but you might be curious enough to check them out.  The links are to Amazon.com, but your local library should have, or be able to obtain, a copy of any book in which you might have an interest. 

Tomorrow is also a day.*

* A short, closing sentence I picked up from reading about Luis Mendoza, Detective Lieutenant, Central Homicide, Los Angeles Police Department, a fictional character in the (now sometimes politically-incorrect) police procedural novels by Dell Shannon (Elizabeth Linington.)  There are, I believe, 37 books in the series, published from 1960 - 1986; I've read them all.  Lt. Mendoza didn't have a lab full of  CSI-type folks analyzing minute traces of DNA in things left at the crime scene; forensic investigation was limited to fingerprints, ballistics, and blood-type analysis. Lt. Mendoza, like Agatha Christie's  Hercule Poirot, used his "little gray cells" to bring criminals to justice.

A Treasure Rediscovered

Ceylon Elephant Sculpture - Designed by Carolyn Kinder
Image - Amazon.com

Both of my parents were avid readers. As far back as I can remember, there were always shelves full of books in our homes.  As soon as we children learned to read, we were given full access to the family bookshelves, and were allowed to read anything that was there. If my parents had any books that our mother didn't think quite suitable for us to read (yet), she kept them in her cedar chest or another 'off limits' place.  Most of my father's books were theological, mathematical or scientific; however, his collection did contain a number of volumes of classic literature.  Mother's books were fewer in number, and tended to be books of poetry, literature, and current fiction.

Among the family books that I loved to read when we lived in New Mexico was a volume containing a collection of prose and poetry.  I don't remember if my mother started reading aloud to us from this book and thus piqued my interest, or whether, when I was a young teenager, I just picked it up one day and started to read.  The book contained many amusing stories, poetry (some of it of the tear-jerker variety,) and many writings of an 'inspirational' nature.  One of the poems I especially liked, and read it again and again, until I had memorized it.

When we moved to Arkansas in 1950, the book came with us.  It stayed on my mother's bookshelf after my father died, and eventually came to have a place on the bookshelf in my own home. I read from it many times over the years.

It came as sort of a shock to me when one day several years ago I was looking for this book and I couldn't find it. I looked in every nook and cranny where a book of standard size could have been. No book. After a few days, I quit searching, and the loss of the book gradually faded from my mind. (I still have no idea where it might have gone; I'm quite sure I would not have given it away.)

A couple of weeks ago, the poem that I had loved as a teenager suddenly popped into my mind. That made me want to have again the book that I no longer possessed.  Truthfully, I had forgotten the title of the book, but not the first lines of the poem.  What to do?  Answer: Google!  And, there they were!  With the title of the book in which the poem was contained and a helpful link to Amazon.com, as well.  (Have I told you how much I love the Internet?)

Click. Click.  The book,  Ted Malone's Scrapbook (used, but in 'good' condition with slightly damaged dustcover) could be mine for a few paltry dollars.

Click. Click, again. The book is paid for and on its way to me.

It arrived this past Saturday.  I learned from examination that it was first published in February, 1941 and had its tenth printing in March, 1944. The material for the book was selected from Ted Malone's radio programs and a feature column in Good Housekeeping Magazine, both of which (radio program and feature column) bore the name of "Between the Bookends."

I could hardly wait to find 'my poem' (which I did; it's on page 181). I'm going to copy it below.  As you read it, please keep in mind that I was only 13 or 14 years of age, and probably in the angst of my first infatuation with a member of the opposite sex, when I read and memorized this poem.
 
You've been champing at the bit to ask me, I can tell.  Just what does the photograph of an elephant have to do with all this?  It will become clear; read on.

BITS OF LIFE I'VE MISSED

While walking down an avenue, I came upon a shop;
'Twas small, exclusive, quiet, dim, what could I do but stop?
I saw an ivory elephant up high upon a shelf,
"I'd like to have that elephant," I murmured to myself.

I priced the ivory elephant and sadly sighed to see
That little ivory elephants were never meant for me.
Sometimes I pause before the shop and there upon the shelf
The lonely little elephant still stands all by himself.

For you, O Unattainable, my love is much the same;
I know I dare not love you, but I thrill to hear your name.
I dream of your lips pressed to mine, although we've never kissed.
You... and my ivory elephant ... are bits of life ... I've missed.   ~UNKNOWN

Tomorrow is also a day.

Books - 2

Photo taken in the Esther D. Nixon Library - Mystery Section

In an earlier post, I wrote about unearthing an old pocket calendar/journal in which I had noted the books I read in 1999.  It was fun to look at my notes and to try to remember not only something about the story line, but why I chose to read some of them.

Many of the hundreds of books I read during the slightly over three year period of August, 1996 to October, 1999, were brought to my attention through a volunteer job I had with AOL.  I was one of many 'hosts' for a book-readers' chat room named Bookaccino.   I usually hosted the chat room two or three evenings a week, for two hours per shift.  Although it was sometimes work, it was interesting and a great lot of fun, and I had the opportunity to meet, if only online, not only readers of all genres but, frequently, well-known authors, as well.  Hosting the chat room was an unusual experience that broadened my reading interests, and one I will not soon forget. 

I  resigned from my hosting duties within a few weeks after I developed a passionate interest in rubber stamping.  When I left Bookaccino, I also left my long-established habit of reading several books a week.  I found that it's impossible to hold a book when you've got your hands full of papers and stamps.  I suppose I could have turned to audio-books, but listening to someone else read is a slow and discomforting process for me since I can read faster than any one can speak, at least intelligibly,

From my calendar/journal: Books I read in February, 1999.

Mortal Fear - Greg Iles
The Body in the Belfry - Katherine Hall Page
Medusa's Child - John J. Nance
The Body in the Bouillon - Katherine Hall Page
Rites of War -  Cyn Mobley
Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth - Tamar Myers
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Crime - Tamar Myers

It seems to have been a month for 'cozy' mysteries, as over half of the books listed fall into that category.  It must have been a cold February, just like this month.

Right now, my plan is to create one post each month (for the remainder of this year) in which I list the books I read for the corresponding month in 1999.  Forewarned is forearmed!

Tomorrow is also a day.

"Wild Goose, Brother Goose, ...

...which is best? A wandering foot, or a heart at rest?"

Even from childhood, I had the urge to wander -- to see faraway places about which I read in books, or saw in the movies.  I dreamed of going all over the world, and my 'I want-to-go-there' list included well known and often visited places as well as those explored by only a few or, perhaps, existing only in fiction.

My earliest remembered wishful destination, -- when I was about 8 years old -- was brought on by reading a multi-volume world fairy tales collection housed in the children's section of the Albuquerque Public Library.  I wanted to go into the deep forests of Russia, to seek out the witch Baba Yaga who traveled through the trees in a hut which strode about on chicken legs.  How cool is that!?

Reading Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze* made me yearn to visit China.  The Trumpeter of Krakow* (the first book I ever read that was shelved in the 'bigger' folks area, although I was still under 10 years of age), created vivid mental pictures of the Late Middle Ages.  Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was longing for the ability to travel through time.  * Note: both these volumes were Newbery Medal winners. I was steered, early on, into good literature by the watchful librarians.

In later years, I became fascinated by stories from Egyptian history, both fact and fiction. I longed to float down the River Nile and explore the pyramids and the tombs of the Pharoahs.  Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki made me dream of drifting westward with the Pacific Ocean currents from the coast of Peru to Easter Island,  and beyond. John Master's riveting tales of India set during the 1820's, The Deceivers and The Nightrunners of Bengal, chilled my blood and yet made me wish to be able to visit that mysterious and dangerous continent.  [Note: now that my granddaughter has a husband from India, and they travel there with their children to visit his family, I'm not so sure I would want to go... too many mental images from those old books. Of course, it's not like that, these days, but a dangerous place for the uninitiated, none the less.]

I've been fortunate enough to do a little bit of 'world-wandering' although my travels didn't start until I was in my 40's.  I still have a long held wish to visit New Zealand and Australia and, perhaps I shall yet do it, but my chances are getting slimmer by the year.

I leave you with this video of the song that encapsulates all my 'wandering' dreams.

I'm away, now, to read some fairy tales from around the world that were no-cost downloads to my Kindle.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Mother Nature Fluffed Her Down Comforter ...

... but she didn't know there was a hole in it!

Just before noon, huge feathery flakes started falling from the heavens even though the temperature was a couple of degrees above the freezing mark.  The flakes gradually became smaller and ceased shortly before sunset.  We have no snow accumulation on the sidewalks, driveways or streets, and probably only about 3/4 of an inch on the ground.  However, what snow remains will still be there in the morning since it's well below freezing now.  The forecast calls for continuing chill for the next few days, but the precipitation has moved on.

The birds -- cardinals, juncos, sparrows. doves and grackles -- came to the feeder areas in droves as soon as it began to snow. Is there anything prettier than a bright red cardinal sitting on a bare branch with huge snowflakes falling around him?

I did stay bundled up and, except for filling the feeders, inside all day.  I played with my Kindle, successfully downloading a few free books, and managed to read about 60% of one this evening. It's fluff, but it was free, and is proving to be a relatively quick read, once I became used to the Kindle screen.  I've put a few books for which one has to pay a small fee ($0.89 to $2.99) on my wish list. 

That's it for this 20th day of 2011.  Tomorrow is also a day.

Books, Books, Books

This shelf of reference books is located within an arm's reach behind me as I sit at my computer desk.  I, being of a curious and inquiring mind, have turned to them many, many times.  Some, like the tattered dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus are well worn, others not so much.

Lest you think, by looking at the book titles, that I'm overly interested in "English Literature," let me haste to tell you that my day-to-day reading is eclectic, to say the least.  I have become enthralled by a highly suspenseful thriller, intrigued by a well-crafted mystery, amused by an English 'cozy', and have spent hours reading non-fiction (usually scientific) books, works of a religious nature, or other more serious tomes.  While I readily admit to being a murder mystery fan, I soon learned that there are books in that genre that I do not care to read.  Many an otherwise potentially interesting and well-written story has been ruined (in my opinion) by gratuitous violence, unnecessarily coarse language or entirely too descriptive sexual activity.  If I encounter any of the above "ruiners," that's the page on which I stop reading, and the book goes back from whence it came. These days,that would be the library.

I have no idea how much money I have spent on books in my life time.  More than enough, I'm sure, had I diverted the same amount to a savings account, to keep me in much more comfortable circumstances than I currently enjoy.

When I moved to my present (small) home, I placed thousands of boxed books in a rented storage facility, where they sat for several years. Many were sold (for a pittance) at our church's annual rummage sales, and I donated well over 1,000 to the local Friends of the Library.  My personal collection has been pared down to a few choice 'keepers,' probably fewer than 100.

In a long-ago post, I admitted to being a pack rat.  I keep all sorts of things, most of which are non-essential but which I cannot bring myself to throw out.  While rummaging in my favorite rat's nest, looking for something else, I ran across a combined monthly calendar/address book from 1999.  I re-discovered that, in the notes section for every month, I had recorded the books I read and, like a school teacher, gave them a grade. The grades are only a reflection of my personal enjoyment of the book, not intended to indicate in any way the skill of the author -- I am not a literary critic.  So, I won't share my "grades" but I will share with you what I read in January, 1999.

The Great Deliverance - Elizabeth George

Pandora's Clock - John J. Nance

The Last Family - John Ramsey Miller

Rose Cottage - Mary Stewart

The Last Day - Glenn Kleier

The Cold Heart of Capricorn - Martha C. Lawrence

The Gourmet Detective - Peter King

Spiced to Death - Peter King (I must have liked his first one)

The Ming and I - Tamar Meyers

Bad Medicine - Aimee Thurlo

Bonjour Miss Seeton - Hamilton Crane

Snow in August - Pete Hamill

January, 1999, was filled, for the most part, with literary fluff.  But I least I was reading.  In January, 2011, I have completed not one single book.  Shame on me!

KINDLE -  I wrote here that my sister had gifted me with a Wi-Fi Kindle.  Not having a wireless setup in my home, I needed to exchange it for the 3G model, which I did today. The new one is due to arrive on January 19.  Amazon was so nice about the exchange that I gave them a bit more business by purchasing a lighted book cover for it.  I've already been perusing the list of FREE books available for the Kindle.  With limited discretionary funds, I don't think I want to pay for a book that I can obtain from my library.  But --- we'll see! 

Tomorrow is also a day. 

Ecclesiates 1 - Post 90

Hi! I'm still around, but have been having some "Ecclesiastes 1" moments for the past week or so (I've been reading Eugene H. Peterson's contemporary language Bible, The Message, although I grew up on the King James Version.)

Politics (bah and double bah!), the financial markets mess (bah!), unrest in my chosen religious denomination (not at my own small church, thank you, Lord) and a variety of other disquieting goings on are bothering my brain and robbing me of my rest. I have to keep reminding myself that I need to 'let go and let God.' Also, I had let myself get involved in too many things at one time, and sort of wore myself out. While I might like to think that I'm not "old," and the Good Lord has seen fit to let me live past my three-score years and ten, I'm paying the toll for the physical mileage I've racked up.

Weekly Wamblings

(I don't want to steal rhymeswithplague's Tuesday Ramblings)

I've enrolled in a Basic Photography course hosted by a local retail camera & video establishment. The instructor is quite knowledgeable and the presentations are excellent. The students range in age from late 20's (I'm guessing -- mothers of young children who want better photos for their scrapbooks) to two of us who are over 70, and all seem as interested in learning as I am. I'm enjoying it immensely. I'm hopeful that at some point I'll be able to do more with my digital camera than just take snapshots in full "automatic" mode. The photo below is the one I submitted for my first homework -- an easy task since the only requirement was that it be the sort of photo I like to take. I photographed this group of colorful leaves outside the library where we have stamp club meetings.




This week's homework, which has to be turned in tomorrow, Wednesday, the day before class, was more complicated; not because I didn't know what to do, but finding a suitable subject to photograph was a challenge. I don't care to go off very far when I'm alone, and what I had in mind was a bit hard to find locally. I took 52 shots this afternoon, and am not completely happy with any of them, and have to turn in only one. Ah, well.... if the critique session Thursday evening doesn't beat me up too badly, I'll share it, but I can tell you ahead of time it's not nearly so colorful as the one above.

Last weekend I attended the 50th Wedding Anniversary party of a dear friend and her husband. It was a joyous occasion in a beautiful venue. Both my friend and her husband are in general good health, have a wide variety of interests and are delightful to be around. I was happy to be invited to share this occasion with them.

I've also been on a reading marathon, and while not stamping, blogging nor reading (many) blogs, I've managed to go through 10 books in the last 10 days, and I have a stack of nine more sitting on my desk ready to pick up. Most of them (all, actually) are literary bon-bons; all sugar and no substance, not mentally nourishing but mind-occupying, which is what I've needed lately.

I've picked up my crocheting, again. I finished one prayer shawl and started on another, but have only ten rows or so done, so far. Our church maintains a cabinet of prayer shawls which are available for members to give to others, such as new mothers, new brides, persons who are ill or distressed. Each shawl has been blessed at our altar with a special prayer asking God's blessings upon the recipients in whatever circumstance they may find themselves. Since this ministry started last fall, I have completed 15 shawls. I think cooler weather may be more conducive to having a lap full of yarn.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Caught in the Web of Words - Part One - Post 33

I can't remember a time when I could not read. Neither do I remember being taught to read; one day I just could, and did, and have continued to do so, for about 70 years. The first book that I truly remember was one used in the kindergarten class I attended in El Paso, TX, in 1939. Bi-lingual education in the USA is nothing new, folks. My kindergarten primer was in Spanish and was titled Juan y Maria en Casa.

Our family moved to Las Vegas, NM, where I completed the first grade. Shortly thereafter, during the early summer of 1942, we moved to the much larger town of Albuquerque so that my mother could seek employment, my 55 year old father having been conscripted by the U.S. Army to be an instructor of automotive mechanics almost immediately after Dec. 7, 1941. That's another story for another time.

By the summer before I turned 9, I was spending my school vacation time in the Albuquerque Public Library. Albuquerque was still a relatively small town at the time, and it was quite safe for me to walk alone for the some 8 or so blocks from where we lived. I would stay at the library for as long as it took me to select as many books as I could carry (6 -10) from the children's section (and they weren't "picture-books," either); then I'd lug them back home and read. And read, and read, and read. My two younger sisters and my brother were being cared for by a housekeeper/baby-sitter, and I'm sure she was most happy to not have me under her feet as well.

In a day, two at the most, I'd be finished with those books and back to the library I'd go for another load. Before we moved (1944) to a new home about five miles from the library, I think I had read every book (of any interest to me whatsoever) in the children's section. The librarian also allowed me to browse in some carefully selected sections outside the children's area, and helped me select books that were not 'too adult' for me.

After we moved, I didn't have easy access to the library so I read my mother's books. I remember that she was quite flustered when she found me reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith -- promiscuity, several stillborn babies, and like ilk; Mama did not think I needed to read about that when I was 10 years old. However, I don't think she took it away from me. Truthfully, I don't remember much about it. It must not have warped my psyche too badly.


My father had a very large number of books, which were stored in boxes in our garage since there was not sufficient bookshelf space in our new home for them. Most were theological tomes from his days at Seminary and books of a religious nature he acquired while he was an active church pastor. I think I must have attempted to read some of them (readers must have books), but they were not the sort of thing that would hold a young girl's attention for very long, I'm sure. However, he did have some books of poetry (notably The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), some Shakespeare plays, and a few other non-theological books that I did read.

At that age, however, I was more interested in Carolyn Keene's 'Nancy Drew' books, and novels such as Lew Wallace's Ben Hur, Lloyd C. Douglas' The Robe, Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal, and The Magnificent Obsession. NOTE TO MY READERS: If all you know about The Magnificent Obsession is the 1954 film staring Rock Hudson, do yourself a big favor: Read the book! And Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal, which is directly related to The Magnificent Obsession. They're a pair.
To be continued. Part Two: in which we move from Albuquerque to a small Arkansas town, population 400 (if you count the cows), and my literary and vocabulary education continues.

PLEASE NOTE: The spider web photo is not mine. I got it from a Wikipedia article on Spider Webs. The photographer is Michael Hartl, and the photo is in the public domain. For a more close-to-home, and beautiful, photo of a spider web, check out Dot's blog, Strolling through Georgia (and sometimes Alabama), here.