Saturday, June 28, 2014

Saturday Night Fractions

One-half frozen pizza
One-quarter reading water
One-third of a book

Wholly content.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Word Up

Postcards Near the Edge
(of my table)
Happy Friday!

The OED is adding new words to bindings.  Here's a fun little Guardian quiz to test your knowledge.  I hit seven out of ten so a few of my word choices are now validated.  (I'm not sure if that's a good thing.)

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Two Ferns

The Kindle App is brilliant for the last minute flight with hardly any time to pack.  This scenario resulted in my starting We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler.  I'm a few months later than the GBC with this one and am probably the only reader in the group who didn't guess where the plot was headed with Fern.  I'm just over the halfway mark and wondering what's happened to Lowell.  (Don't tell me.)

Since starting the book, I've also not been able to shake the title Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.  It's another book turned movie and I think one of the earliest titles to make me cry from reading (and watching the film).

Monday, June 23, 2014

Icing on the cake

It's been a cake month.

Various celebrations have landed a number of desserts on my table (which means extra miles on my shoes). This NPR segment left me wanting cake for breakfast, for purely scientific research of course.

Happy birthday to you.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Grace Land

Walking in Memphis
June 2014
Summer in the south:  heat, the occasional lethargy, and the season I will add ice to beverages which include tonic.  The June book club was an intimate gathering and by all accounts, delightful.  As I'm enjoying breakfast for dinner with a side of reading water, the GBC meal of  roast chicken, stuffed eggs, and the assorted salads is awakening my appetite.  The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida was the book of the month and GBC P@1ge reports an interesting discussion.  The Beekeeper's Apprentice is next up for July.  

Hope you have great weekends ahead and find ways to escape the heat.  I recommend running through the fountains.

Monday, June 16, 2014

My Cup Runneth Over

One of the most awesome things about working for a multi-national firm is the turn of conversation for events which occur on a four year rotation.  For the last week instead of running, kids, and lunches, it's "the schedule".  Who is playing who and when and how and where are you watching?  Button downs are replaced with jerseys and everyone has extra coffee.  

If you've never lived with a soccer coach and/or don't understand the fuss about a ball rolling across a green field, here are a couple of books lists which might inspire your inner "goal.":


Sunday, June 15, 2014

13 for 15

Thirteen weekend musings that may or may not be related to books or trips around the sun:

* Never underestimate the power of someone handing you a cup of coffee
* Full moons and Friday the 13ths are great combinations for good things
* If you find yourself without formal shoes for a formal dress occasion, wear the pink Converse.  
* Sometimes the best present is an impromptu off-Broadway performance of a recent film for a party of three in a foyer.
* Reading water is always a good gift.
* So are puzzles
* Even late planes are good planes.
* Croquet is under-rated.
* Cookies are a good gift
* Surprisingly, so are small painted pieces of plaster in a Ziploc bag
* My ipod will always select a David Gray song within the first three songs of a new shuffle
* If you play the piano, play it often.
* Sing

Hope you had a great weekend and made good progress with this month's reading!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Spot On

I love the photo included in this Guardian article remembering Eric Hill, creator of Spot the Dog, who has died at age 86.

Hill had said about Spot: "When he shows excitement on Christmas Day and cries 'Yippee', that's me in there. I love the character, he's my buddy and I'm at ease with him."

Thank you Mr. Hill for such a memorable character.

Be at ease today.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Star Bright

One of today's fun moments was trading favorite lines of The Fault in our Stars with GBC P@1ge and discussing traditional highlighter versus the electronic bookmark.  I can't wait to see the film.

She read the book in just over a day.  I think it took me a bit longer but it was a tender break during my Christmas holidays.

I hope you had a great weekend and got a good look at the stars.

Friday, June 6, 2014

The Band Elwood, The Band

The Ryman,
June 2014
This Friday photo brought to you by:

  • a 10 person band
  • hearing your name shouted across a parking lot five minutes after arriving to the city
  • free parking as a result of the above
  • one desperation hot dog, three reading waters, a soda, and caramel corn (though maybe not in that order)
  • an opening act which reminded you of Hardly Strictly (without the Solvang Strand)
  • feet with dancing blisters
  • four hours in the car for four hours not in the car
  • a 2:00 a.m. Hey Jude singalong and a 7:30 a.m. conference call
  • choosing memories over spreadsheets
Have a great weekend!  Happy reading! 

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Summer Dusk

Red clay
Seeds soon hay
Biking through the fields

Ear high corn
Cotton not yet born
Ground still not tilled.

Gentle breeze
Blowing through trees
My lips are sealed.

Sun starts to set
The clouds move west
This is how the heart heals.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Kiitos Tove

The headline of this Guardian article made me click immediately:  Tove Jansson should have won Nobel Prize, says Philip Pullman.  I own four of her books.  I have a Moomin paperweight sitting next to three Iittala dishes on my little shelf.  My spoon rest has a Moomin on it.  [It's likely this dish was not intended to be a spoon rest, but don't tell the Finns.]

Each of the books cost me hours sifting through paperbacks, testing the limits of my Finnish and being mistaken for Russian when I couldn't understand the question "paper or plastic".  [This was a compliment by the cashier in that my Finnish was passable.]   Finland was my first trek out of the US many years ago and I'd venture a guess that I'm the only person in this state that has been to Moomin World to have ice cream (or Finnish equivalent).

Jansson's books are for adults as much (or more) than children.  I agree with Ms. Flood in that the drawings were just as memorable as the tales.  Add the Moomin books to your reading list to share with the kids or simply to enjoy with a Midsummer reading water.