scaifea's thread #15

Welcome to thread XV!



Below you’ll find an explanation of my reading habits, which, I warn you, is a bit crazy. Usually I have about 10-15 books going at once, one each from the following groups (and occasionally other books slipped in there, too):

1. A book from the 100 Banned Books book (at least currently. As soon as I finish this list, I'll replace it with another, and oh, I've got tons of lists).

2. A children's book, for Charlie's library. I'm trying to collect books from various award lists, and I like reading them before reading them to Charlie or deciding to add them to Charlie's shelves. For this category, I’m currently working through three lists:
a. 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Die
b. The CYOA books
c. The Newbery Honor books
d. Cooperative Children's Book Center list

3. A book from the Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy List, in chronological order.

4. A book for the Presidential Challenge. Books for this category are read in chronological (presidentially) order.

5. An audio book, which I listen to as I knit/sew/otherwise craft/drive.

6. A list I'm working through together with my best friend, Rob: The Hugo/Nebula/WFA/Bram Stoker (and other) lists (combined, in chronological order)

7. For this category, I cycle through 7 different stacks:
a. A book from my shelves which I haven't yet read
b. Agatha Christie's bibliography (in chronological order)
c. Neil Gaiman's bibliography (in some order other than chronological (don't
ask)).
d. Christopher Moore's bibliography (in chronological order)
e. Stephen Fry's bibliography (in chronological order)
f. The NEH Timeless Classics list
g. The National Book Award list (in alpha order by title)
h. The Pulitzer list (in alpha order by author)
i. John Boyne bibliography (in chronological order, sort of)

8. A read-aloud-to-Charlie-at-bedtime book.

9. An unread book from my shelves.

10. A book from my Classics shelves.

11. A book from our Science Shelves corner.

12. A book on Buddhism or from the Dalai Lama's bibliography.

13. Book-a-year challenge: Two years ago, along with a few others in this group (*cough* Paul *cough*), I made a year-by-year list to see how far I could go back with consecutive reads. I've decided, again, to follow Paul's lead and try to fill in some of those blanks, and so I'm adding an entry here to my lists.

14. An audiobook for the car.

15. A full-on re-read through Shakespeare's stuff.

16. This slot is reserved for books that just grab me and shout that they need to be read Right Now.

And on top of these, there will be a multitude of picture books and easy readers, which Charlie and I read together. I've decided again this year also to list our re-reads, but I'll just list them each day and not number them.

And here's my Summer Reading Challenge, through my local library's summer program:

-Read 262 pages = The Three Musketeers (I have just enough of this one left)
-Read a short story = Memoirs of Hecate County (is a short-story collection)
-Read an essay = The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian (chapter in this one will do nicely)
-Read a poem = The Sonnets
-Read a non-fiction book = Five Days at Memorial
-Read a book about someone who inspires you = The Light of Asia
-Read a book with at least one unrealistic part = The Centaur
-Read a book that is older than you = The Water of the Wondrous Isles
-Read a book set in the past = The Sign of the Beaver
-Read a book set in a different country = Far From the Madding Crowd
-Read a book about someone from a different culture = The Kalahari Typing School for Men
-Read whatever you want = The Gods Themselves
-Finish reading a book series = Silver Dream & Eternity's Wheel
-Read a graphic novel = Sandman Overture
-Read a book about sports or healthy living = The Path to Enlightenment
-Read a book written as notes, letters, texts... = Dear Committee Members
-Close your eyes and pick a book off the shelves = How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare (I may have cheated a bit - I purposely put myself in front of my Read Soon Shelf for this one...)
-Read a picture book = The Heart in the Bottle
-Listen to a podcast = Moby Dick

So, now you've got a glimpse of just how neurotic I am.
Please feel free to post comments, recommendations, or whatever else strikes your fancy. And Happy Reading, everyone!



What I'm reading now:
-The Catcher in the Rye (Banned Books)
-The Worst Witch (1001 Children's Books)
-Water of the Wondrous Isles (The Green Dragon 1001 Fantasy)
-Franklin Pierce (Presidential Challenge)
-Not My Father's Son (audiobook)
-The Gods Themselves (Hugo, Nebula, Locus awards)
-Collected Stories and Other Writings (Pulitzer)
-Toothiana Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies (Charlie's bed-time book)
-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (another Charlie bed-time read)
-Don Quixote (an unread book off of my shelves)
-The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian (from my Classics shelves)
-Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics (from the Science Shelves)
-The Path to Enlightenment (Buddhism list)
-Far from the Madding Crowd (books by year, 1874)
-The Kalahari Typing School for Men (series that my mom wants me to read so we can chat about it)
-Prairie Tale (from the Read Soon shelf)
-Danny the Champion of the World (everyday audio book in the car)
-The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare re-read)
-War and Peace (because Charlie wants me to)

In addition to these, I have some classics-related texts that I'm working through (quite slowly):
-Asinaria by Plautus (reading in Latin)
-Iliad by Homer (reading in Greek)
-Latin Literature by Gian Biagio Conte
-The Cambridge History of Classical Literature Volume 1 Part 1

Books Read:

JANUARY

1. The Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot (Newbery Honor book) - 8/10 = B+
2. Slaves of Quentaris (audio book/1001 Children's Books) - 7/10 = C
3. Runner of the Mountain Tops (Newbery Honor book) - 7/10 = C
4. The Blue Cat of Castletown (Newbery Honor book) - 8/10 = B+
5. Princess Academy (Newbery Honor book/ audio book) - 8/10 = B+
6. Olive's Ocean (audio book/Newbery Honor book) - 7/10 = C
7. The Wanderer (audio book/Newbery Honor book) - 8/10 = B+
8. The Terrible Two (potential Charlie book) - 9/10 = A
9. The Puppy Place: Scout (Charlie's bedtime book) - 8/10 = B
10. A Daughter of the Seine (Newbery Honor book) - 8/10 = B
11. Roller Girl (Newbery Honor book) - 8/10 = B+
12. Abe Lincoln at Last! (Charlie's school library chapter book) - 8/10 = B+
13. How I Live Now (audiobook, 1001 Children's Books list) - 8/10 = B+
14. The Terrible Two Get Worse (loaned to me by a school librarian) - 8/10 = B+
15. Ella Enchanted (audiobook, Newbery Honor book) - 8/10 = B+
16. Echo (Newbery Honor book) - 9/10 = A-
17. Bone Gap (Printz award winner) - 9/10 = A
18. The Ghosts of Heaven (Printz Honor book) - 8/10 = B-
19. George (Stonewall Award winner) - 9/10 = A
20. The Return of the Native (audiobook for the car/book-a-year challenge, 1878) - 9/10 = A
21. Hoot (audiobook, Newbery Honor book) - 8/10 = B
22. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (1001 Children's Books) - 9/10 = A
23. Magic Tree House #17: Tonight on the Titanic (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B+
24. The War That Saved My Life (Newbery Honor book) - 9/10 = A
25. Magic Tree House Fact Tracker: Abraham Lincoln (public library book) - 8/10 = B+

FEBRUARY
26. Crenshaw (public library book) - 8/10 = B+
27. Noah Barleywater Runs Away (Charlie book) - 9/10 = A-
28. The Midnight Dress (Blind Date with a Book) - 8/10 = B+
29. Twilight (audiobook, 1001 Children's Books) - 9/10 = A-
30. Don't Break the Balance Beam! (public library book) - 8/10 = B
31. Hattie Ever After (sequel read) - 8/10 = B
32. A to Z Mysteries: Secret Admirer (Charlie bed-time read) - 8/10 = B
33. A Good Night for Ghosts (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B+
34. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates (audiobook) - 8/10 = B-
35. Zachary Taylor (Presidential Challenge) - 8/10 = B-
36. Books Can Be Deceiving (series I'm reading with my mom) - 8/10 = B+

MARCH
37. The Magic Tree House: Leprechaun in Late Winter (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B
38. Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus (school library book) - 8/10 = B-
39. Bink & Gollie (school library book) - 8/10 = B+
40. The Magic Tree House #3: Mummies in the Morning (school library book) - 8/10 = B
41. The Spoonflower Handbook (just because I wanted to) - 9/10 = A-
42. The BFG (Charlie's bedtime read) - 9/10 = A
43. Circus Mirandus (audiobook) - 8/10 = B+
44. Mr. Pants: Slacks, Camera, Action! (Charlie book) - 9/10 = A
45. Hour of the Olympics (school library book) - 8/10 = B
46. Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim's Birthday (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B
47. The Puppy Place: Patches (Charlie's bedtime read) - 8/10 = B+
48. Black Boy (Banned Books list) - 9/10 = A-
49. The Religions Book (Charlie book) - 8/10 = A
50. The Boy Whom Swam with Piranhas (Charlie book) - 9/10 = A
51. Blizzard at Black Swan Inn (CYOA list) - 8/10 = B
52. The Nest (audiobook) - 8/10 = B+
53. Belle Prater's Boy (audiobook/Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
54. Pax (potential Charlie book) - 8/10 = B+
55. Fleece Navidad (series I'm reading with my mom) - 9/10 = A-
56. Dandelion Wine (NEH Children's Classics list) - 10/10 = A+
57. The Crystal Cave (Mythopoeic award list) - 8/10 = B+
58. The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket (Charlie book) - 9/10 = A

APRIL
59. Stay Where You Are and Then Leave (Jeffers/Boyne bibliography) - 9/10 = A
60. The Naming of Tishkin Silk (1001 Children's Books) - 8/10 = B+
61. Minn of the Mississippi (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B
62. High Tide in Hawaii (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B
63. The Apple and the Arrow (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B
64. My Side of the Mountain (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
65. Rascal (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
66. Millions (1001 Children's Books) - 8/10 = B+
67. The Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown (Charlie's school library book) = 8/10 = B+
68. Davy Crockett (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B-
69. To Be a Slave (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B
70. Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King (Charlie's bedtime read) = 10/10 = A+
71. Serafina and the Black Cloak (book fair purchase) - 8/10 = B+

MAY
72. Detective Gordon: The First Case (CCBC list, easy reader) - 8/10 = B
73. Grimpow (audiobook/1001 Children's Books list) - 7/10 = C
74. Magic Tree House #24: Earthquake in the Early Morning (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B
75. Enchantress from the Stars (Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
76. To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Hugo Award) - 9/10 = A-
77. Millard Fillmore (U. S. Presidential Challenge) - 8/10 = B-
78. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (audiobook for the car) - 10/10 = A+
79. The Arrival (1001 Children's Books) - 10/10 = A
80. Finding Serendipity (book fair purchase) - 9/10 = A
81. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (bought as a potential Charlie book) - 8/10 = B
82. Magic Tree House #44: A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time by Mary Pope Osborne (Charlie's school library book) - 8/10 = B+
83. Ollie's Odyssey (William Joyce bibliography) - 10/10 = A+

JUNE
84. E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth's Core! (Charlie's bed-time read) - 10/10 = A+
85. The Knight at Dawn (Charlie book) - 8/10 = B
86. Moby Dick (audiobook) - 9/10 = A-
87. The Three Muskeeters (1001 Children's Books) - 9/10 = A
88. Memoirs of Hecate County (banned books list) - 7/10 = C+
89. The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection (audiobook) - 10/10 = A
90. A Fine White Dust (audiobook/Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
91. The Sonnets (Shakespeare re-read) - 10/10 = A
92. Five Days at Memorial (from my Read Soon shelves) - 8/10 = B-
93. The Light of Asia (Buddhism reading list) - 8/10 = B+
94. The Centaur (National Book Award) - 8/10 = B
95. The Sign of the Beaver (Newbery Honor Book, audiobook) - 9/10 = A-

The Charlie, Tuppence and Mario Toppers:

Charlie enjoying a root beer float this past week:



And The Gals:

Charlie's Summer Books Read List:
1. Little Mouse Makes a Mess
2. Mr. Pants: It's Go Time!
3. Little Owl Leaves the Nest
4. Three Stories You Can Read to Your Dog
5. I Will Take a Nap!
6. Little Panda Gets Lost
7. Little Duck Finds a Friend
8. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
9. The Friendship Tree
10. Dinosaur Planet
11. Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!
12. Little Puppy's Rainy Day
13. The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!
14. The Knight at Dawn
15. Mona Is Missing
16. Haunted Harbor
17. Stuart Little: Stuart at the Library
18. Amelia Bedelia
19. What Pet Should I Get?
20. Red: A Crayon's Story
21. Stuck
22. Battle Bunny
23. Fly Guy's Amazing Tricks
24. Little Bear

And the bonus question:

Since today is Tomm's and my anniversary, how about this one: How did you meet your significant other? Or, how would you like to meet The One when it happens?

>2 scaifea: Lovely pictures!
>4 scaifea: At the students union (or how do you call it at your place, students from different parts of the universty have a place together) Frank and I met.
First year we disliked eachother, after a year we went out with some others, ended up together, he went home with me and never left :-)

Happy new thread, Amber.

The dogs look fed up that only Charlie has the root beer.

I was working in Johor Bahru and staying in the then only decent hotel in the city along with a couple of my colleagues as we were setting up the site for the power station there. We stayed about five weeks whilst I had negotiated for each of us our own house in the town. I was in charge of the company's money back then and had to pay the hotel bill for the three of us. It came to about $13,800 and I paid the bill to the hotel reception in cash and small notes. The lady cursing me counting all those small notes is my wife, Hani, and she hasn't stopped cursing 23 years on!

>5 FAMeulstee: Anita: Yep, it's usually call the Student Union here, too. And I love stories in which the couple didn't quite like each other at first! So sweet that you ended up together.

>6 PaulCranswick: Paul: Ha! Love that you paid in small notes - v. suave. Clearly it worked...

>7 scaifea: Well yes, you're right, she's really good at counting money!

>8 PaulCranswick: Paul: *snork!!*

86. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (audiobook) - 9/10 = A-
Well, I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. I honestly thought that it would be a huge slog and would take me forever and I'd be hard-pressed to pay attention most of the way through. But it was a romping good yarn! Admittedly, the stretches devoted to detailing the minutiae of whale facts wasn't the most riveting thing I've read/listened to, but the bits that were the actual plot were amazing. And I absolutely recommend the podcast (mobydickbigread.com). I think it helped keep things interesting that each chapter is read by someone new, a mix of famous (to varying degrees) folks.

Happy new thread.

When I was younger, I could have listed dozens of super-romantic ways I'd like to meet my significant other. However, I've since come to the realization that I hate meeting new people. So now I have no good answer. I guess it would have to be a situation where Mr. Future Significant Other is a good enough conversationalist that I don't feel awkward trying to come up with stuff to talk about.

>11 foggidawn: Thanks!

>12 casvelyn: Ha! Good luck.

*Waves* Hi Amber!

>14 Ape: *Kermit-style waves right back* Hi, Stephen!

>10 scaifea: So glad you enjoyed Moby Dick. While it isn't a book I come back to often, it holds a special place in my heart. I'm not even exactly sure why; it's just one of those stories that's always been a part of my mental furniture. I've taught it too, and that was fun. (I came down with mono at the very beginning of the semester I taught it and spent about a week in bed. I spent a good deal of that week contentedly rereading Moby Dick.)

Bonus question: Mike and I first met at the writing center at college. We both worked there, and my shift followed his. We would chat briefly as he was packing up to go and I was settling in. He told me later that he had to talk to any girl who had "Jedi" monogrammed on her backpack. It was a good five years more before we actually ever tried dating (and that took two separate tries to take!), but he told me later (with great exasperation) that he tried to ask me out a couple times right away, but I never cottoned on that that's what was happening. He actually dated one of my friends for most of the rest of college. But we're together now! Married six years last Sunday.

Happy new thread, Amber!

>16 lycomayflower: Laura: It's excellent writing and a good story - what's not to love?! And even the whale facts parts form a sort of love story for whaling, and I sort of loved that, too.

And I LOVE that you didn't notice that he was trying to ask you out! That was so definitely me in college, too. And in grad school, where my fellow grad students used to make fun of me for not realizing that each semester at least one of my students tried to ask me out. I was completely oblivious. Except in Tomm's case, of course. Who was, *ahem*, one of my students... BUT, we didn't start dating until a couple of years after he had taken a class from me.

And happy anniversary!

>17 connie53: Thanks, Connie!

Happy New Thread, Amber!

And Happy Anniversary to you and Tomm!

Love that bookshelf at the top. And Isaac Asimov! I haven't read him in forever.

Meeting Madame MBH: we can tell you the longer version some day. Short version is I was managing a bookstore, and she was the children's storyteller. It was a new store (Barbara's) for me, but we had talked over the phone from her calling me at my previous one with book questions. (We'd also been prepped by friends, who thought we'd be a great match. Turned out to be true). She noticed someone much taller than the kids was in the back attending her story hours - that would be me. We hit it off, and had our first date after a Tom Wolfe book signing. We'll be celebrating 33 years of marriage in August.

Bonus question

Peet and I met when I was 16 and he was 19. Schools were separated in girls and boys schools in those days. The schools were in the middle of the city. In our lunch break the girls would walk on one side of the street and the boys on the opposite side. Just looking at each other and spotting the handsome boys (or girls). Peet spotted me and his friend was seeing one of my friends. She told me there was a boy that liked me a lot and pointed him out one evening in a café. And that was the beginning!

>4 scaifea: Oh and I completely forgot: Happy Anniversary!!!

>7 scaifea: Everyone there knew we didn't like eachother at first, so there were many bets on how long (or better how short) our relationship would last ;-)
We met in 1982, got together in 1983 and married in 1984...

>4 scaifea: Chris and I met my second year in college. We lived in the same dorm, and met when we organized a hayride for our respective floors. My friends warned me away from him, thought he was "too wild." Well, he was wilder than me but that wouldn't take much. We will celebrate our 33rd anniversary in August.

Mrsdrneutron went to college in my home town and I went to college in hers. She was also the accompanist at my parents' church. We met early in our college days, but didn't really socialize much. In our Junior year, she invited me to her parents' house for dinner on Friday night and I stayed the weekend. Haven't left since! :)

Hi Amber, stopping by to get caught up. Podcast version of Moby Dick duly noted! I have had to do a bit of skim reading to get caught up. Sorry to read about the ant trouble. Here is hoping the ant problem has been solved. On the topic of no sidewalks, while I get the municipality/township idea that no sidewalks saves on costs, I hate when I have to walk on the side of the road.... even if it is a cul-de-sec that sees only local traffic. That, and I get frustrated with cyclists that ride their bikes on the sidewalk "beside the bike lane", making me step down into the roadway (or the cycling lane). Crazy as it sounds, this happens more than I care to convey.

Happy new thread! ... darn it all.... now I want a root beer float! ;-)

Bonus question - My other half was a walk in customer to a business where I worked in customer service. He gave me his phone number and asked me to give him a call if I was interested in going on a date. It took me 4 days to get up the courage to give him a call. He wasn't home and I ended up leaving a message with a young girl. Turns out he was renting a basement suite at the time with shared access to the upstairs phone (we are talking back in 1990 folks, pre-cell phone days!). Anyways, he called me back and arranged a date to go to the Calgary Stampede. We never did go to the Stampede.. we went to Banff instead (I know... a total stranger and you went off to the mountains with him? Yes, I did. Gut instinct told me I had nothing to worry about). It was a fantastic date. It was only years later when he admitted that the young girl who had taken my phone message down (I believe she was 10 years old at the time) had grilled him about me and said I sounded like a lovely person. Suffice to say, through good and bad, we are still together 26 years later and no regrets.

Happy New Thread, Amber and belated Happy anniversary.
Thomas and I went to school together so we met there. Since our teens we are a couple (with a few minor interruption). We'll be married this year for 27 years but we always say that we are an old couple of 42 years now.

>20 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe! I've only read a couple of Asimov's books but have really enjoyed them.
And, oh, how much do I love that you and MBH met in a bookstore?! Well, I mean, of course you did. PERFECT.

>21 connie53: Connie, what a sweet story of how you met! Wonderful!

>22 FAMeulstee: Thanks, Anita! And I love those 'we sure showed them!' kinds of relationships!

>23 lauralkeet: Laura: Wild, eh? Excellent! Ha!

>24 drneutron: Jim: Cool! I love that you switched hometowns for college.

>25 lkernagh: Lori: I get that no sidewalks can be frustrating sometimes, and I'm with you on the people riding bikes on the sidewalk, although for now Charlie does that until he gets better/more at ease on his bike. We have taught him, though, that it's just temporary and that while he's on the sidewalk, if he meets someone walking, they have the right of way and he needs to get off his bike and move over to the grass until they have passed.
I admit that I'm a bit concerned, retroactively, that you went off to the mountains with him like that! Ha! Thank goodness he turned out to be a good one, eh?

>26 Ameise1: Barbara: Congrats on 27/42 years! Tomm and I joke that we've been an old married couple from the beginning, since from Day One we've been the kind of couple who go to bed super-early and such. I remember that in the house we rented when we were very first married, that first summer we'd go to bed when it was still sort of twilight-y outside, and about 10 minutes afterward our neighbor would *start* mowing his lawn! Ha!

On the agenda for today:
Tomm plans on spending Father's Day re-sealing our driveway, which sounds awful to me, but he seems content enough with the task ahead. I don't have any solid plans and am looking forward to a lazy Sunday of sewing and reading and hanging out with my two favorite Scaife men.

Dinner last night at L.May was excellent; I had the pork shanks with were so, so tender, the Mai-Tai-Tini, which was delicious, and a dessert which was a layer of chocolate cake with a chocolate-raspberry cheesecake layered on top. Yum. Tomm has some sort of prawn something (ew, I say, but he seemed to enjoy it) and an apple cinnamon old fashioned (which he let me taste and was delicious). Charlie went with the grilled cheese, which looked pretty fancy with several different cheeses on a sourdough-type bread, a Shirley Temple, and the brownie a la mode for dessert. I'm declaring the 12th anniversary dinner to be a complete success.

On the reading front: I finished The Three Musketeers yesterday! Woot! More on that later...

The Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Russell Freedman (Lincoln: A Photobiography, 1988 Newbery Medal) remembers reading The Story of Mankind (1922 Newbery Medal) on the maroon sofa in the living room of his childhood home."

What We Read Yesterday:
-The Science of Air by Sarah Dann (public library book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B+
-Chapter 3 of Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-The rest of chapter 9 in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (in which our heroes find themselves accidentally in the third floor corridor...)

The story of how I met my husband is somewhat less family-friendly than all these adorable meet-cute stories. By which I mean, we have never told family exactly how we met, which has led to an adorable fantastical version made up by his mom. I'm not sure of the protocol for saying "it was a one-night-stand that turned into a marriage."

I was attending the Christmas party for the record store where I worked, which was held at a bar in Oakland. Morgan had a friend of a friend who worked at one of the other locations, so a group of them had sort of crashed the party. Anyway, it was pretty late in the evening (in terms of drinks) when I was at the bar and turned to see this guy sitting next to me, who I greeted with "Well, HI!" and introduced myself. He lived in Denver and was in town for a week over his Christmas break visiting family. I thought he was cute, and it was absolutely perfect that he was only in town for a week because I was 100% not looking for anything involved. After not too long, he had to leave the party because one of his friends was being carried out of the bar, so I gave him my phone number and we got together a few days later, and then a few days after that, after which he was leaving my house to go back to his mom's and pack the car to drive back to Denver.

A couple of hours later, I was driving to work and just couldn't get him out of my mind, so I called his mom's house, not knowing if he'd still be there or what I'd say to him if he was. Well, he was, and I said (and this is an exact quote) that "I wouldn't be opposed to it if you wanted to keep in touch."

Such a romantic.

So yeah, a couple of weeks later he called me from Denver and we started talking more and more, and exchanging more and more emails, and it quickly just got so ridiculous that I moved to Denver 10 months later. Happily ever after.

So I kinda have to laugh when I see things talking about how you'll never meet the perfect person in a bar because well, you just never know.

On the topic of meeting strangers for the first time in remote places, when I was planning my first meetup with Rachel (The Hibenator) I suggested a wilderness walk type of area in Ohio. She declined. :P

>30 ursula: Ohmygosh, I LOVE that story! And I disagree - I think it's absolutely romantic!

>31 Ape: Stephen: *snork!* Hocking Hills?

Happy New Thread, Amber! And Happy Sunday! Hope you enjoy the day!

>33 msf59: Thanks, Mark!

87. The Three Musketeers by Alexndre Dumas (1001 Children's Books, 704 pages) - 9/10 = A
Oh gosh, but I did love this one. Young, handsome and rash swordsmen, daring deeds, surprisingly strong female characters (some of them quite deliciously evil), a wicked cardinal, do-or-die friendships, intrigue, comedic lackeys, goofy cuckolded husbands, and all sorts of hilarity (with a bit of tragedy mixed in for good measure)... What a hoot!

So, for the library's summer reading challenge, one must right a brief review of each book one reads on a slip of paper, which serves as an entry for the various prizes they'll be giving away at the end. This year I've decided, for better or (most likely) worse, to try my hand at haiku and limerick reviews for these. The hiaku I came up with for Moby Dick is pretty awful, but here it is:

Ahab loses leg
chases darned whale all over
Queequeg is my fave.

*snork!*

And here's my limerick review of The Three Musketeers:

There once was a man named D'Artagnan
whose courage was as big as a canyon.
But his temper was fairly fierce;
his friends were the Three Musketeers,
and they all had fair female companions.

Ooof. Wretched, but fun.

>35 scaifea: Hahaha! I really like the Musketeers one, actually.

>36 lycomayflower: Ha! Thanks, Laura!

Happy New Thread, Amber! Mmmmm, I could go for a root beer float about now too! Yum

Great idea the how did you meet bonus question, Amber. I really have enjoyed reading them and they are eyebrow raising, I mean:

Who would have thought
That Joe and Debbi needed Tom Wolfe to bring them together;
That Laura (lauralkeet) lived on the Wild Side of Life
That everyone knew that Anita and Frank didn't like each other (at first)
That Connie was spotted across a crowded room;
That Laura (lycomayflower) was related to Obi Wan Kenobi as well as Linda
That Jim overstayed his welcome from a dinner invitation
That Lori put an extra meaning to customer service
That Barbara was a pupil when she met her husband and is now a teacher
That Ursula's love was from Mile High and she's over the moon
That casvelyn is still looking for her chatterbox

Less surprising is that Stephen's idea of romanticism was greeted with scepticism.

Like the limerick. xx

>38 Carmenere: Lynda: I know, right? I always go for the root beer freeze, though - I like mine all mixed together.

>39 PaulCranswick: Paul: And yet your eyebrows raise not at the fact that I married one of my students? Interesting...

A belated Happy Anniversary, Amber! I was at an all-day show yesterday and didn't get by.

>24 drneutron: Jim, so this means that you are STILL at mrsneutron's parents house? Haven't they asked you to leave?

Love both the haiku AND the limerick!

As for How We Met....My college roommate (also named Linda, btw) was dating Craig's roommate. One night I was in the student union lounge with her and David, playing ping pong. Craig came in, a bit obviously in his cups, black leather jacket and all, and, not to put too fine a point upon it, began hitting on me. I wasn't having it, even though I had spotted him with some interest before this in that damned jacket and longish blond hair... He told me I was hostile...and I shouldn't be hostile... and why was I being hostile... Clearly this was going NOWHERE. This, as I recall was before semester break. After semester break, in the first week or so of classes, I was again in the SUB one afternoon, this time playing a card game with Linda and David, when Craig showed up, joined the game and re-engaged. I decided that, sober, he wasn't so bad. And here we are, about 47 years later, still together and feeling good about it! (The other Linda did not date David much longer; gave me advice similar to what @lauralkeet received from her friends---"he's no good for you; he'll ruin your life"; married someone else before we graduated, and eventually divorced him. Just to make this whole story even more interesting, the guy she married was from the area we now live in, and she ended up teaching in the district where @lycomayflower went to school.)

>40 scaifea: Hahaha, may I say I was trying not to highlight something you have now highlighted severally! In which were you the teacher and he the pupil and you the pupil and he the teacher? xx

Go Three Musketeers!

Love the haiku and limerick!

>42 laytonwoman3rd: There you go Linda you kept Craig sober and I drive Hani to drink!

>41 ronincats: Thanks, Roni, and excellent point about Jim! Ha!

>42 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda! I'm hoping to improve my skills at both as the summer progresses (honestly, it's not as if I could get any worse!). And I love the love story! The leather jacket and long hair is a nice touch, I have to say. Love it.

>43 PaulCranswick: Paul: Ha! Noted.

>44 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe!

>45 PaulCranswick: Paul: *snork!*

I finished up some play shorts for Charlie this morning:

>47 scaifea: Beautiful.

>48 Ameise1: Aw, thanks, Barbara! Charlie picked out the crayon fabric himself, but is also excited about the Mario one and, and I couldn't resist the planets one - so cool, eh?

88. Memoirs of Hecate County by Edmund Wilson (banned books list, 447 pages) - 7/10 = C+
Meh. I just can't seem to make myself like most short story collections. And the actual stories in this one didn't help none too much. Bah. It's me, though, I think, and not the stories, by which I mean I think may folks here would likely enjoy them. They're much more character studies than they are plot-driven tales. So, anyway, if you think you'd like to get this one a go, I'd be happy to send it along to a new home. Just let me know.

Oh, and my haiku review (which is, I warn you, not much better than the Moby Dick one, I'm afraid):

From my 'banned books' list
short stories set in same place
yeah, just not my thing.

Happy new thread Amber and belated Anniversary greetings my dear.

I met Karen in 1982 when we were both out with friends drinking in Wakefield, I thought we were all going to the next bar but as we got to the door I realised my two mate were not with me, I knew where they were and shot off to them. I could not stop talking about this girl I had met and we quickly finished our pints and rushed back to the wine bar, as we turned the corner at a rate of knots they were walking up the hill, we immediately stopped and started walking sedately as if nothing had happened and our romance blossomed from there. I was really lucky that they were still in the vicinity of the wine bar or we may never have met or she may never have given me the time of day if we met up again a week or so later.

>51 johnsimpson: John: Oh, that's a lovely story! I'm so enjoying learning how we all met our partners!

Hi, Amber. Cute shorts for Charlie. I have to get my sewing chops back now that I'm retired.

Jim and I met very prosaically at work, except that he was a good friend of a guy I had dated years before, and they sat together over the cubicle wall from my. It was my first day at work, and his friend Jay popped up when he heard me laughing (I guess it's a distinctive sound). Jim was much more interesting than Jay had ever been, I was very nervous in the new job, and he became my savior of a sort. Eventually, I let him catch me. And that was 21 years ago. Eek!

>53 ffortsa: Judy: Oh no, romance is *never* prosaic! And I love your story.

Happy new threat Amber! I met Tim on Plenty of Fish, which is one of the free internet dating sites. I was only on the platform for a few days when I met him, and then we talked for several weeks before we met up. :)

Lovely meeting stories!
>4 scaifea: mine was a set up, a friend worked with a guy who she termed "the most decent guy I have ever met". I may have fallen in love right then!

Happy new thread, Amber. Interesting stories about how couples got together. Nice that they stayed that way and can look back and say that is where it all began.

>41 ronincats: weeeelllll, I left eventually, but I kept coming back, so they let me marry their daughter. Now she and I have the mom here in Maryland to spoil! :)

>2 scaifea: Must find root beer. Must have a root beer float!

>4 scaifea: Happy anniversary! I met my husband in the University library, where he worked. Perfect, no?

>10 scaifea: So happy you enjoyed Moby Dick. Of course Zoologist me LOVED the whale parts, but I definitely understand why most people don't. :)

>16 lycomayflower: Ha! The first time my husband asked me out, I had no idea. He had to say, "I'm trying to ask you on a date!" Lol He loves to tell people about that...

>55 The_Hibernator: Rachel: Ha! 'Plenty of Fish' is such a great name!

>56 LovingLit: Megan: "Most decent guy" - aw! Love it. And I know, right? It's lovely to read all of these stories and I'm grateful that you all are willing to share them.

>57 Familyhistorian: Meg: Agreed. I've always loved origin stories of all kinds, and this kind is the sweetest.

>58 drneutron: Jim: *snork!*

>59 nittnut: Jenn: Oooh, the university library - perfect!
And I did love how Melville conveyed the whale details with such affection. It was pretty adorable, honestly.

Happiest of Monday's to you, Amber!

On the agenda for today:
Charlie has gymnastics class this afternoon, but before then it'll be a day full of The Usual: a little cleaning, a little laundry, walking The Gals, a little work on the Latin book, possibly some sewing. This evening is the monthly meeting of the knitting club at the library, so if Tomm gets home in a timely-enough fashion, I'll go for some chit-chat and some work on Charlie's Gryffindor scarf.

On the reading front:
I listened to the Gaiman collection yesterday (more on that in a bit), started listening to A Fine White Dust and read a bit of The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian.

The calendar book today: The Son by Philipp Meyer, which doesn't really sound like my cuppa, as it is likened to a western-type McMurtry/McCarthy saga. Anyone read it? Thoughts?

And the Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "While in school, William Pène du Bois (The Twenty-One Balloons, 1948 Newbery Medal) got into a discussion with another boy while they were taking foot baths. They decided they'd take off in a balloon if they knew the earth were about to explode."
Foot baths? Hubbawha?
Also, I *loved* The Twenty-One Balloons when I was a kid! This is a good reminder for me to pull this one from Charlie's shelves (he has my old copy) to read aloud with him soon...

Happy first day of summer, everyone!

>61 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda!

What We Read Yesterday:
-Stuart Little: Stuart at the Library by Susan Hill (Charlie book, easy reader) - 8/10 = B+ (read aloud to us by Charlie)
-Florabelle by Sasha Quinton (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A-
-Chapter 4 of Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-The first half of chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry learns about Quidditch from Oliver Wood!)

Morning, Amber! Looks like another steamy one. Ugh. Wish me cool.

I really liked The Son. It had a nice western epic feel.

>65 msf59: Mark: Ha! My first thought when I read the book blurb this morning was, I bet Mark would like this one. No, seriously!
I'll be wishing for cool for you all day, friend. Here's hoping...

89. The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection by Neil Gaiman (audiobook) - 10/10 = A
This is Neil reading a handful of his picture books, all of which I'd read before (they live on Charlie's shelves, of course), but I saw this at the library an had to check it out so that Mr. Gaiman could read them to me himself. Lovely, of course. And then there's a short interview of Neil, conducted by his daughter Maddy, and it's the cutest thing in the history of ever. So, highly recommended.

Way back on the thread somewhere you mentioned there is a podcast of Moby Dick. I must find that. It's a book I also enjoyed thoroughly, but I'm sure I'd notice more and different points if I listened to it.

>68 ffortsa: You can find it here:

mobydickbigread.com

Morning, Amber!

>70 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie!

>68 ffortsa: and >69 scaifea: - Good timing, Judy! I just added this to my podcast list and hope to start it when I've finished with my current audio...

Good morning, Amber!

Melville - pretty adorable about the whales? Have I stepped into an alternative universe?

Actually, I love that. Nice to get a different perspective. I was aggravated by all the whale detail - what we'd probably call an "info dump" today - and kept expecting the next page to reveal a whale merchandise store tucked away in there. But I like the idea that his fixation and need to tell us all about it was pretty adorable.

>72 katiekrug: Katie: Yay!!

>73 jnwelch: Morning, Joe!
Ha! I just think it's sweet how much love and respect he clearly has for whales and whaling. Moby Dick is, in many ways, I think, an encomium to both. And I liked that.

I finished listening to this one this morning while vacuuming:

90. A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant (audiobook/Newbery Honor Book) - 8/10 = B+
A young boy gets caught up in the spirit of a small town summer revival and in the charisma of the wandering preacher leading it, to the extreme extent that he makes plans to skip town with the man.
The ending was thoughtfully powerful and I did enjoy it, eventually, but most of the way through the story I was uneasy, uncomfortable. I have a visceral reaction to the thought of revivals and blind devotion to that particular brand of 'God,' and so this one wasn't an easy listen for me. *shrug* I do like Rylant's writing, usually, and her picture books are excellent.

My haiku review (which is not as playful as I'd like them to be, really, because I can't really be playful about this one (apologies)):

a boy and his god
small town south in the summer
growth from loss of faith

>73 jnwelch: No, no, no. Not an advertisement for merchandise. Natural history. Perhaps an info dump, but very interesting, particularly given the things we know (more) about whales today in comparison to then. *grin*

>76 nittnut: It was his enthusiasm that had me thinking there must be a merchandise store, Jenn. I know there are a lot of fans - he could have made a mint. :-)

>72 katiekrug: I have about 13 hours left to 'Big History', after which I will endeavor to catch up to you, wherever you are in MD.

>76 nittnut: Jenn: I agree that 'dump' isn't quite the right word, not for something that is clearly so meticulously and carefully and lovingly done. He wouldn't dump whale info, I think. (Ha! That sounded pretty funny in my head just now...)

>77 jnwelch: *snork!* Missed opportunity, clearly.

>78 ffortsa: Oh, I'm loving all the Moby love!

Hi Amber, hope you are having a good Monday my dear, sending love and hugs.

>80 johnsimpson: Thanks, John!

On the agenda for today:
Charlie has his Library Lunch League today, after which we'll bustle on down to Dubuque to meet Tomm at his company's annual picnic for Taco Tuesday. They rent out an entire, ginormous park every year, put up inflatable bouncy houses and all sorts of fun games and such, along with a really nice lunch spread and amazing ice creams. I don't know about Charlie, but *I'm* excited, at least. So, this morning will see a quick version of a normal day: super-quick cleaning (sorry, Mark, but swish-swish it is today), a load of laundry, and hopefully at least a tiny bit of work on the Latin book.

I also, apparently, need to call the local courthouse and try to explain to them that I'm a stay-at-home mom and can't possibly serve on a jury in July, although I'll happily do so, should they call me up between September and May... Honestly, I'm the only person I've ever met who really would kind of like to participate in jury duty at some point - I firmly believe it's a civic duty and I enjoy doing my part round here - but the three times I've been called up, I've either not been able to do so or they've not needed me when I reported for duty. *shrug*

On the reading front:
After finishing another audiobook (see >75 scaifea: above) I read a few more Sonnets yesterday and am nearly finished with those (I'll likely finish today at some point). Gorgeous stuff, those.

The calendar book today is yet another crimey-wimey thriller: A Wanted Man by Lee Child. Not my thing, really.

And the Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "A boy wrote to Beverly Cleary stating he'd read Dear Mr. Henshaw (1984 Newbery Medal) straight through the first day he got the book and five times the following week."
That must be so incredibly rewarding, when a child expresses such love for one's writing. Good for her, eh?

What We Read Yesterday:
-Horrible Bear! by Ame Dyckman (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A
A hoot of a picture book about a girl, her kite, her temper and a bear. Definitely recommended - we certainly liked it lots.

-Little Bear's Friends by ELse Holmelund Minarik (Charlie book, easy reader) - 9/10 = A-
(Charlie read this one aloud to me.)
-Chapter 5 of Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-The rest of Chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Troll in the dungeons!)

Swish-Swish, again? Really?

Morning, Amber! Looks to be more comfortable today. A relief, after a rough one yesterday. Have a good one.

>84 msf59: Mark: I'm afraid so, friend. Try not to be too disappointed in me.
Yesterday was gorgeous here and not too hot at all - here's hoping that's what you've got in store for today.

>82 scaifea: You're not the only person who would do jury duty. I'd love to do it! But when your brother's a prosecutor, they don't really want you.

>86 casvelyn: Ha! Yeah, I can see where that may deter them from choosing you.

Morning, Amber!

>47 scaifea: The shorts look great - and what fun patterns!

No story of a significant other to tell, I'm afraid, as I've been happily single for over a decade.

I'm enjoying your poetry reviews and summer reading stories. My library's summer reading program began on Saturday and my first couple of programs are this week. Similarly, we have a bingo sheet that by reading or accomplishing other goals ("Watch a TED talk," "read a short story," "watch a movie based on a book"). For every square you fill out, you get a ticket for the weekly raffle drawing and for every bingo you accomplish, you get a ticket for the Grand Prize raffle of gift certificates to area restaurants/businesses. My sister - newly eligible for the adult program - was appalled that it was all "chance" whether you got anything or not. She asked me what she would get if she completed a full sheet, so I told her I would personally buy her dinner. She told me yesterday she's already halfway there.

>88 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie!

>89 bell7: Mary: Thanks! It's fun to make things for that kid - he looks so stinkin' cute in everything!
Yeah, our library hands out chances for prizes, too, (I'm putting all of my tickets in the Amazon gift card box, of course), but they also give out free books when you complete your Bingo card (or for this summer, your Decathlon sheet).

>85 scaifea: I would never be disappointed in you, my friend. Swish, swish, away!

>91 msf59: Ha! Thanks, Mark!

>82 scaifea: Count me as another who has never gotten jury duty and would love to. I never expected to be able to do it while I was a working journalist, but I've been out of that biz for 14 years now and still no call! This is what happens when you live in a rural, low-crime county, I guess.

>93 rosalita: Julia: Well, I had a close call this morning - talked to a woman at first who was clearly having a bad day, according to her mood, bless her (she wasn't gonna budge on the issue) who then transferred me elsewhere to a woman who was much more receptive, especially once I said that I would very happily serve in September and asked if she could make a note on my file to summon me again then. So, no jury duty now, but I'll be expecting another letter in the fall.
But yeah, not only do I believe it's our responsibility to participate, I'm genuinely interested in doing it. We'll see what happens in September.

Looky what came in the mail yesterday *cough*Linda (laytonwoman3rd)*cough*:



WE LOVE IT!!!

This seems to be turning into a Thing...

^>95 scaifea: Nice! That's a happy guy.

Good morning, Amber!

You know about the tutored read of the Sonnets, right? http://www.librarything.com/topic/134269 I found it really helpful.

I love Lee Child's Jack Reacher books, but I understand they're not for everyone.

>96 jnwelch: Thanks for the link, Joe, although with Shakespeare I feel that I've analyzed, lit-crit-ed and deep-read him enough during my degree-earning past (one of my degrees is in English Lit., dontchaknow (and you may not - I don't think I talk about it too often), specializing in Grandpa Will (as I like to call him) John Donne and the like), and now I read him just for the pure pleasure of it with no desire for anything but solitary enjoyment.

Dropping in and catching up here before I get further behind. I decided to hit the most active threads before moving to the rest of them. Hopefully I'll be able to read some threads in the airport this evening. I plan to sleep once I get on the plane!

>97 scaifea: Jeez Louise, Amber. You should be the tutor for the next tutored read of the Sonnets. I'll attend.

Howdy Amber! I love the University shirt collection Charlie is getting.

>98 thornton37814: Hi, Lori!

>99 jnwelch: Joe: Ha! I haven't taught Shakespeare in a long time! Might be fun...

>100 luvamystery65: Roberta: Me, too!!

91. The Sonnets by William Shakespeare (Shakespeare re-read, 114 pages) - 10/10 = A
What can I say about these? They're amazing and beautiful and rightly-so-famous. Always a treat to revisit them.

It seems like a special kind of madness to try to write a poem about these poems, but, well...

fourteen lines for each
love and time and death in verse
Will's wordsmithery

>102 scaifea: WORDSMITHERY!!

I am speechless with admiration.

>95 scaifea: I'm waiting for Charlie to inquire why the Warrior looks so much like a wolf. (I'd like to know myself. We once had a very noble American Indian as our symbol, but there was a successful move to drop it a few years back as politically incorrect. Kept the name, changed the image to this Red Riding Hood stalker... Not sure it's an improvement, really.)

>103 nittnut: Jenn: *SNORK!!* I'm so glad that you approve!

>104 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: I think he may be at the age where he takes such things in stride. I admit that I was wondering myself, but didn't like to ask. I do think it's a *very* cool shirt, though. Enough so that I'm already plotting to make something for myself out of it once he outgrows it...

>104 laytonwoman3rd:, >105 scaifea: His name is Lycos. *headdesk* They try to play this as a pun because French settlers called the Native Americans in the area "loupes," but I'm pretty sure someone just forgot that the original Lenape word that got Europeanized into "Lycoming" has nothing to do with the Greek word for wolf. But I, too, like the mascot himself. Sometimes he carries a sword.

>106 lycomayflower: You would know all that. That's a lot of stretchin' to make a connection, methinks. And I still want to know where the original warrior that used to preside over Burchfield went.

>106 lycomayflower: Laura: Oh, ugh. They really should leave the language-ing to the professionals. I mean, yeesh.

>107 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: Yep, I love that she knows that stuff.

On the agenda for today:
Charlie has plans to meet a couple of friends at the public pool today, but with one round of thunderstorms already through, a significant drizzle right now and more storms on the way, I suspect that isn't going to happen. Plan B is to meet at the bowling ally, which the boys seem to think is nearly just as good. So that's this afternoon. Before then, I need to get The Usual done: cleaning, laundry, Latin-Book-writing, possibly get some cookie dough mixed together and chillin' in the fridge.

On the reading front: We listened to a nice little chunk of Danny the Champion of the World in the car yesterday on the way to and back from the company picnic. I love that Charlie loves this one as much as I do and is enjoying the re-listen so much (He's the one asking for it every time we get in the car). I also read a bit of Five Days at Memorial after finishing up the Sonnets.

The calendar book today is one I'd like to get round to eventually: A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy. I do enjoy her comfy reads, which are excellent for rainy days (like this one!) or when you've got a nasty cold and don't feel like heavy mental lifting.

The Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "After Patricia McLachlan won the 1986 Newbery Medal for Sarah, Plain and Tall, she received a letter from a child that said, 'I know you have to write a speech. Try if you can, not to be boring.'"
*snork!!* Fair point, really, and something for which all speech-makers should strive, no?

What We Read Yesterday:
-A Lion in the Meadow by Margaret Mahy (1001 Children's Books, picture book) - 9/10 = A
A wonderful and creative book about the power of stories and imagination. We both love it!

-The Little Red Elf by Barbara Barbieri McGrath (public library book, picture book) - 8/10 = B
A variation on the Little Red Hen story.

-Soccer Star by Mina Javaherbin (public library book, picture book) - 8/10 = B+
A boy and his sister are both passionate about playing soccer in Brazil.

-Chapter 6 of Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-Chapter 11 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry's first Quidditch game!)

>110 scaifea: Did you know... Margaret Mahy is a NZ author? I first heard A Lion in the Meadow performed along with the NZ Symphony Orchestra when my daughter's class went on a field trip. It was magical.

Morning Amber! Looks like I am bringing the raingear today, but the good news is, 2 more work days! Yah!

>111 nittnut: Jenn: Believe it or not, I did, in fact know that! And I know it because it was difficult to get my hands on a copy of the book, so I did a little research...

>112 msf59: Mark: Oh dear, stay dry, buddy. But WOOT for only two more days!

Morning, Amber!
>82 scaifea: "I'm the only person I've ever met who really would kind of like to participate in jury duty at some point" I guess, I'd be the second person who actually gets excited to be called for jury duty! The last time I was called, I amused the other 25 people in the waiting room with my enthusiasm and was saddened when I didn't make the first 12. Luckily, I made it when a couple of the first 12 were sent home!

>114 Carmenere: Lynda: Oh, yay! Welcome to the club!

I took this yesterday at Eagle Point Park, which is where Tomm's company picnic took place. Charlie's looking out over the Mississippi:

Morning, Amber!

>102 scaifea: "Like" the wordsmithery haiku.

I really enjoyed Sarah Plain and Tall and the ones after. She really packs a lot into a spare writing style. I imagine her speech was not boring. :-)

>117 jnwelch: Morning, Joe! And thanks! I think the best I can strive for with my poems is 'entertainingly awful,' I'm afraid.
And I agree about MacLachlan - I can't imagine her speech being dull at all.

I'm abominably late but happy new broken-in thread.

>199 scaifea: Ha! Thanks, Micky!

Catching up here...so first of all, happy belated anniversary!! And many more.

Now, as to the bonus question: we met on a blind date. Set up by our Moms! Hubby was having nothing to do with it and only asked me because his Mom wouldn't stop nagging him. He tried to sabotage the date until about halfway through when he realized I might be a good thing. Most confusing date ever!! My sister said I had to give him another chance. They all took a bow at the wedding. Twenty-five this year. : )

On to jury duty: I have been called 5 times, twice deferred due to children at home, but then I have never made it past the waiting room. Just once I would like to make it into the jury room!!

>121 Berly: Kim: Thanks!
I love that your moms set you up! V. cool.
And honestly I hadn't thought about actually making it into the court room... Huh. I likely won't (I have incredibly liberal views, for the most part, and WI isn't the bluest state there is...)

Man, I lose WiFi for the weekend and you just zip on. Happy new thread!

I'm going to ask if my library has a children's reading challenge I can audit, I don't want the prizes after all. I wandered into the Children's section of the bookstore to reacquaint myself with Middle Grade books and was so pleased... I'm keeping watch for what you and Charlie like, since I'm in need of hip recommendations. ;)

>123 knotbox: Josephine: Good luck with the library challenge - I suspect most of them are just keeping track of books/pages read instead of category challenges, which seem to be more for the adult challenges. I've had pretty great success just asking the children's librarians for recommendations, too, though. But yeah, there are some really great Middle Grade books out there right now.

On the agenda for today:
Charlie has designated Thursdays as our Biking to the Park and Having a Picnic Lunch Day for the summer, although it may be a Rainy Day Picnic on the Floor of the Living Room kind of day, unless the super dense fog lifts and things dry out a bit. Then, this afternoon, I have an appointment for a haircut. Otherwise, The Usual: cleaning, laundry, menu-planning and grocery-listing, walk The Gals, work on the Latin book, hopefully some sewing time. Mole Chili for dinner tonight, I think.

On the reading front:
I started listening to The Sign of the Beaver (I've loved every Speare book I've read, and this one is typically off to a good start) and read more in Five Days at Memorial, which remains tense and shocking.

The calendar book today: Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs. *sigh* Forensic mysteries are not my usual thing, so I'll pass.

The Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Emily Neville's (It's Like This, Cat, 1964 Newbery Medal) father and dog both hated cats. She assumed they were right until she learned for herself that cats can be terrific."
This is another of the few winners I read as a kid. I loved it, except this one scene, which made me pt down the book and physically walk away for a bit. I re-read it a few years ago and did the same thing again.

What We Read Yesterday:
-The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A-
Tells the story, without the help of words, of a farmer who helps a lost little clown and makes an unlikely friend. Very sweet and the illustrations are adorable.

-The Incredible Book Eating Boy (a Scaife Manor favorite)
-Chapter 7 in Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-The first half of chapter 12 in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Christmas at Hogwarts!)

Morning Amber! Sweet Thursday! Last work day. Yah!!

Have a good one yourself.

>127 msf59: Mark: Last work day - woot!!

Morning, Amber! An indoor picnic sounds delightful....no ants!

Morning, Amber!

>129 Carmenere: Lynda: *snork!!* Indeed! And thanks for reminding me to give an Ant Invasion Update: they seem to be gone! WOOT! The outdoor spray business seems to have done the trick.

>130 Crazymamie: Morning, lady!

>124 scaifea: I suspect you're right. I think just reading a lot with be challenge enough for the summer. Thanks. :)

Loving the sounds of your picnics. Charlie seems have an idyllic summer plan!

Hiya, Amber!

>132 knotbox: Josephine: I'm certainly finding it difficult to steal time for reading this summer!
And yes, the picnics are pretty wonderful!

>133 jnwelch: Hi, Joe!

Hi Amber, I am a little late to your "new" thread but I like reading about the bike riding and picnic plans you are making for the summer. We woke up to heavy rain this morning but it does seem to be clearing a little, but certainly not enough for an outdoors picnic.

Regarding your opening question: My husband and I were set up on a blind date. I was living in Victoria and coming to Vancouver for a few days a week for training on the new computer. The lady who was training me knew my future husband and set us up for a date at a company dance. We just continued on from there.

>135 DeltaQueen50: Judy: Wow, I'd call that a *very* successful blind date! Very cool.
And we had perfect weather for a bike ride and picnic today - it was hot in the sun, but the breeze was lovely.

Look what came in the mail today! Charlie is getting such a kick out of all of the postal academic apparel, and Mario is quite keen on this one, too:



Many thanks, Laura!

ETA: Note that you can just see Mario's Hufflepuff pin on her collar...

>123 knotbox:, >124 scaifea: Our children's library has a category challenge---not book categories, but activity categories involving reading, set up like a bingo game.
Fun for readers, and possibly a good way to encourage kids who aren't avid to get into the habit of reading. What do you think?

>137 scaifea: Cute picture! Does Charlie have any views on international schools?

>138 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: Ohmygosh, I *love* this!! Charlie and I may have to do this on our own... Do you mind if I share it round? I'll give credit where due.

>139 charl08: Charlotte: We love all schools, of course!

On the agenda for today:
Grocery shopping this morning, then this afternoon Charlie and I will be attending an author talk, which is part of the library's summer program. Pat Zietlow Miller will be chatting about her new book, of which we'll get a bit of a preview (it doesn't come out until next week, I think), and I'm hoping she'll do some signing, since we have one of her books and love it (Wherever You Go. I'm particularly excited to take Charlie to meet his first author, since he's decided (for now, at least) that he wants to be a writer. Should be fun.
Otherwise, I need to do the weekly bills and photo organizing, work, as ever, on the Latin book, wash a bit of laundry... We get Tomm at home with us today - he's working from home so that he can mow the lawn this afternoon, which he needs to do before leaving tomorrow morning for another week-long business trip (to NOLA this time - I love that town, but don't really envy him it in June, and the poor bloke can't even eat beignets.) Khare Masale Ka Gosht for dinner tonight, I think.

On the reading front:
I managed a few more pages of Five Days at Memorial before conking out last night. Ooof. Not a comfortable read, and I'm just realizing that it's fitting, since Tomm's on his way there tomorrow. Hmm, now I'm even more uncomfortable... And still hungry for beignets...

The calendar book today: The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone and Sky by Ellen Meloy. Huh. Well, I'm certain that for the right person this would be a fascinating read, but because I'm not of fan of the desert (snakes everywhere, at least in my imagination) or turquiose, I'll pass, I think.

The Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "At various times Maia Wojciechowska (Shadow of a Bull, 1965 Newbery Medal) worked as a pro tennis player, a masseuse, and an undercover detective."
Very cool! I officially want to know more about her, now!

What We Read Yesterday:
-The Monkey and the Bee by C. P. Bloom (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A
Not quite as good at The Monkey Goes Bananas but still a hoot.

-The Day the Crayons Quit (another Scaife Manor favorite)
-Chapter 8 of Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-The rest of Chapter 12 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (The mirror of erised!)

>137 scaifea: Whoohooo!

And I love that Mario's sporting her affiliation with Hufflepuff on her collar.

Morning Amber! Happy Friday! Lovely day for a bike ride. It is on the A.M. agenda.

I'm loving the college apparel and Mario getting into the Harry Potter spirit. Our dog Alys has a Kenyon College collar. Maybe Charlie and Mario need matching apparel.

>143 lycomayflower: Laura: Thanks, again, so much! Did I mention that green is Charlie's favorite color?
And yeah, Mario's pin is pretty adorable - we all have one in our house affiliations, of course.

>144 msf59: Morning, Mark! I wish we had time today for a bike ride, but I don't see it in the cards. Too much else to do!

>145 lauralkeet: Laura: A Kenyon collar - I love it! Charlie is already requesting Hogwarts robes for Mario, so I need to put my thinking cap on and get cracking on that...

Howdy Amber!! Another great pic of Charlie and Mario and both donning great apparel!!!

>147 Carmenere: Morning, Lynda! Thanks!

Charlie and I with Pat Zietlow Miller (!!):



She read her new book to us, which isn't even out until Tuesday! Sneak peek! She's as lovely as are her books; we had a wonderful time. Of course, Charlie was excited but spectacularly shy, as he tends to be with adults he doesn't know.

>149 scaifea: Love this!

Gorgeous picture. Hope it was great encouragement for the budding writer?

>150 luvamystery65: Roberta: Thanks - me, too!

>151 charl08: Charlotte: Thanks! Yes, I think it was! She gave a great little talk about how how she became a writer and how she writes and gets things published.

What an awesome opportunity!! And great photo.

Charlie is so cute! Great picture! Charlie looks a lot like you. Oh The Day The Crayons Quit - even I have that and my two sons are adults! :) Hoping for a grandchild one of these years! :)

>153 Berly: Kim: I know, right?! I love that our library puts together such great events. And Miller lives just about 45 minutes from here and said that she was really excited to come because she's driven through our small town a few times and has always wanted to stop and explore.

>154 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb! It's funny, because he looks a lot like me when he's standing next to me and a lot like Tomm when he's standing next to him. He got a fairly even portion of each of us, I guess.
And yes, the Daywalt/Jeffers combo is fantastic - have you read The Day the Crayons Came Home? It's even funnier than the first one, to my way of thinking.

On the agenda for today:
Tomm left early this morning his NOLA trip, so it's a Charlie-and-Mommy weekend (plus week through Thursday). I'm planning on it being a day full of baking, but Charlie may change those plans. If I get my way, we'll be trying out some of the recipes in my Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook - I flipped through and picked out the recipes inspired by the first book and thought we'd try some out this week: Cauldron Cakes (pancakes), Lemon Icy Pops, Lemon Drops, Hagrid's Rock Cakes, and possibly a kid-friendly version of Fruitcake...
Otherwise, a bit of laundry and hopefully some sewing and reading time. Again, we'll see what Charlie's plans are. Leftovers for dinner tonight.

On the reading front:
I'm still plugging away at Five Days at Memorial, and I admit that I'm getting ever so slightly bogged down with the detailing of the investigation. Oddly fitting, though, that Tomm is right now winging his way to New Orleans...

The weekend calendar trivia question: What classic children's book was banned in Russia in 2009?

And the Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Avi (The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, 1991 Newbery Honor Book and Nothing But the Truth, 1992 Newbery Honor Book) almost flunked out of high school during his first term, but continued to read 'everything and anything.'"
I'm not a huge fan of Avi's stuff, although I know that others are very much so.

Also, Happy Birthday to Eric Carle (born in 1929) and George Orwell (1903)!

What We Read Yesterday:
-Lucky by David Mackintosh (public library book, picture book) - 8/10 = B+
-The Day the Crayons Came Home
-Chapter 9 of Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-Chapter 13 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

>149 scaifea: Nice gourds!!

Morning Amber! Happy Saturday! Hope you have a good weekend. My online time will be limited, for the next week or so but you know I'll check in when I can.

>158 msf59: Mark: *snork!* Those gourds are the stars of her new picture book, so it's not as random as it may seem...
Happy travels, friend!

Have a great weekend, Amber.

Enjoy your weekend, Amber. Love the photos.

>160 BLBera: >161 Ameise1: Thanks, ladies!

Amber have you and Charlie come across this one? It just looks so lovely (dog solves book mystery!), might have to gift small relative with it so I can justify buying it...
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/julia-donaldson/the-detective-dog

Thanks for beating me up again at Trivia Crack. I will have to take a break, while on vacation but we'll start it back up again, once I return.

>163 charl08: Charlotte: No, we haven't read that one, but we do really like Julia Donaldson (her Room on the Broom is brilliant), so I'd say go for it!

>164 msf59: Ha! You're welcome, Mark! I usually do okay if I can avoid too many sports questions. Just start one up when you get back, eh?

92. Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink (from my Read Soon shelves, 542 pages) - 8/10 = B-
This one was difficult for me to get through, but not for the reasons you may think; parts of it were intense and disturbing, but these sections were scattered within other parts that seemed to get bogged down in back-story and (what seemed to me, at least) unnecessary histories. It's an important story, I think, but this particular telling could have used a bit more editing.

Haiku review:
NOLA and the storm
a tense but important read
should doctors 'play God'?

>140 scaifea: You go right on and share as you please....credit goes to the marvelous library staff at the Children's Library in Scranton (officially the Lackawanna County Children's Library), which is one of the coolest places in the county. I say this with some newly acquired pride, as I am now on the Board of Directors of the Scranton Public Library, which is also responsible for the Children's Library and the Bookmobile.

>167 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda! Board of Directors, eh? Excellent!!

On the agenda for today:
Some more baking, I think; I ran out of steam after the Cauldron Cakes (delicious!), Lemon Icy Pops (still in the freezer because we forgot that we made them!) and Lemon Drops (tasty but a bit of a disaster, as they stuck to the wax paper - have I mentioned that I honestly detest making candy?). So, today we'll maybe try Hagrid's Rock Cakes and some Nutty Fruitcake...
Then, of course, The Neverending Story (aka laundry) and then sewing time and reading time, hopefully. Baked Ziti for dinner tonight, I think.

On the reading front:
I finished a couple yesterday! Five Days at Memorial (see >166 scaifea: above) and then last night The Light of Asia (more on that one in a bit). I also listened to some of The Sign of the Beaver whilst trying to clean hardened Lemon Drop remnants from my saucepan (have I mentioned how much I *really* don't like making candy?).

The answer to the book calendar weekend trivia question ( >156 scaifea: ): Winnie the Pooh! Weird.

The Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Nancy Willard (A Visit to William Blake's Inn, 1982 Newbery Medal and Caldecott Honor Book) spent much of her childhood eavesdropping on a party line telephone. Her interest in inns grew from one of those overheard conversations."
Oh, man, I remember that we still had a party line when I was little. My mom was continuously irritated at the lady down the road for talking on the phone for so long, and then getting nervous herself when my Aunt Mary would call and talk too long. Ha!
Also, as I think I've mentioned before, A Visit to William Blake's Inn is one of my favorite Newbery winners - both the words and the illustrations are beautiful, plus I love William Blake to bits. Charlie has a copy of the Willard book on his shelves and right next to it is his own collection of Blake poems. Because what sort of mother would I be if I didn't provide him with his own copy of Blake?!
Also, Happy Birthday to Nancy Willard, born on this day in 1936, and Happy Birthday to Walter Farley, born in 1922!

What We Read Yesterday:
-Oh, What a Busy Day (a Scaife Manor staple)
-Stuck

No Harry Potter last night because Tomm's away on business and would be pretty upset if we continued on without him. We may try reading a chapter with him via Facetime this week, but last night he had a late dinner and couldn't.

Morning, Amber!

Morning, Mamie!

Happy baking and happy Sunday, Amber.

93. The Light of Asia by Sir Edwin Arnold (Buddhism reading list, 124 pages) - 8/10 = B+
The life of Buddha in slightly stilted verse.

My limerick review:
There once was a man named Siddhartha
who was destined in life to jump-start a
revolution of thought
his statues are bought
but most likely they're not found in Sparta.

>173 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara!

>174 scaifea: - Love the limerick!

>176 katiekrug: Ha! Thanks, Katie! I'm absolute rubbish at them, but they're fun.

I love the limerick as well, Amber. Enjoy your Sunday. Hot there?

>178 BLBera: Thanks, Beth! Yes, hot and muggy and generally disgusting outside. It'll be an indoors day here at Scaife Manor.

>174 scaifea: I don't know from "good" when it comes to limericks, but that one made me laugh, so it's good in my book!

>180 lycomayflower: Laura: Woot! Then it's at least a little good!

Happy Sunday to you, Amber!! >149 scaifea: Cute grim on Charlie indicates he's happy to be in the presence of an author!

>182 Carmenere: Hi, Lynda! Yep, he enjoyed it, but didn't want to get too close. Ha!

Hi Amber! I paid a couple dollars for a little digital game on my PS4 yesterday and thought of you while buying it. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's called Apotheon. It's a 2D fighter type of game, but the reason I thought of you is because they modeled the art after Greek/Roman pottery art. The idea is that it is literally pottery art coming to life. So, it immediately reminded me of you! Check it a screenshot. :)

>184 Ape: Stephen: Ohmygosh, that's so cool!! I'll have to get Tomm to buy it for our PS4 (I know next to nothing about how to run that thing)!

Well, if you want it, look into it quick! It's normally $15, but there is a flash sale happening right now (until tomorrow) and it's $2.99. :)

>102 scaifea: >166 scaifea: loving the haiku reviews. Seriously, loving them :)
And really happy for you for finishing Five Days at Memorial....I was keeping an eye on that read seeing as a loved it and could not stop reading it :)

>186 Ape: Stephen: Oh, dang! Tomm's gone until Thursday! I'll have to chat with him about it...

>187 LovingLit: Megan: Oh, yay! I'm glad you like the haiku reviews! I'm really enjoying trying to write them.
And thanks for the Five Days cheer - it was tough to get through, but I'm glad I read it.

Yeah, he can log in and make purchased on a computer, by going to Sony's playstation network website. That's what I did. :)

Impressed by the sudden versifying. xx

>189 Ape: Thanks, Stephen! I'll try to remember to mention it to him today - that game looks so fun!

>190 PaulCranswick: Aw, thanks, Paul! I'm no Joe or Cranswick, though, so I'll stay clear of the real poetry crafting and leave it to you talented lads.

On the agenda for today:
Mario has her annual check-up at the vet's office today, and it should be exciting, since today is their first day of business in their brand new office building! ANd I suspect that we're at least one of the very first appointments (9am)! Then this afternoon Charlie has gymnastics, or as I like to call it Mommy's hour and fifteen minutes of free reading time. In between will be more of the usual: laundry, a bit of cleaning, some work on the Latin book, possibly some sewing. Leftovers for dinner tonight, I think.

On the reading front:
I managed a small chunk of The Centaur yesterday. Parts of it are excellent (the writing in particular), but I'm not certain just yet if I've decided if I like what he's trying to do with the story. We'll see how it goes...

The calendar book today: The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. A "sensory meditation" set with a current affairs background in drug-war-torn South America, and praised by Jonathan Franzen? Thankyounothankyou.

The Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Esther Forbes and Lynd Ward, author and illustrator of Johnny Tremain (1944 Newbery Medal), were born two days short of fourteen years apart."

What We Read Yesterday:
-Two Speckled Eggs by Jennifer K. Mann (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A
A sweet story about a girl who had to invite *all* the girls in her class to her birthday party, even the one girl nobody likes. Who, of course, turns out to be the best of friends, in the end.

-Creepy Carrots
-Chapter 14 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Norbert!)
We read this one together with Tomm yesterday via FaceTime!

>192 scaifea: I liked, but didn't love, The Sound of Things Falling. It was an interesting look at Colombia. And I try to remind myself it's okay to like some things even if Jonathan Franzen likes them too (Infinite Jest was a struggle in that way) - even a broken clock, etc. But I do understand looking with suspicion at anything praised by Lord Franzen.

>194 ursula: Agreed about the Franzen bit. I still can't wrap my head around the idea that he and DFW were good friends. Wallace was such a kind person... Ha!

Good Monday to you, Amber!

Ugh. Jonathan Franzen. *shudders*

Morning, Amber!

Morning Amber! Just a quick check in. Hope you had a good weekend.

Sorry, Five Days didn't ring more of your bells. I loved that one.

>196 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda!

>197 Crazymamie: Mamie: I know, right?! I met the guy and he was demonstrably not a nice person.

>198 msf59: Morning, Mark! Yeah, I was surprised that I didn't like it more, knowing how so many of the 75ers really liked it. *shrug*

It sounds like Jonathan Franzen and I would get along. :P

>200 Ape: Stephen: Oh, no. Nonononononopenopenope.

I read The Sound of Things Falling in January. My thoughts at the time were that it was beautifully written but I couldn't say that I LOVED it. I did say that I kept thinking about it and I still am thinking about it. For me, the things that were happening to Antonio in Colombia are the same things that happened to my family growing up on the Mexican border. There was a time when we could travel freely back and forth to Mexico, even day trips to go eat and shop. Now that time has past because the cartels kill anyone, anywhere. It's so sad. They stole our Mexico and our way of life. For Antonio it is the same. Juan Gabriel Vasquez tells his story so beautifully. It's not exciting or heart stopping but it is still a very important story to tell. The more I think about this book, the more I do love it. Don't let stinky poop poo, Edith Wharton hater, steer you from this one.

>202 luvamystery65: Oh, thanks for that, Roberta! I may just put it on the list now, JF be damned! Ha!

On the agenda for today:
Charlie has his Lunch League (summer story time) at the library today, and he's told me that he wants to make bread today (Honey Whole Wheat). Otherwise, the usual, of course: laundry, cleaning, working on the Latin book, sewing, hopefully some reading time.

On the reading front:
I managed a bit more of The Centaur yesterday, but honestly, not much. I go through fits and starts of liking and not-so-muching this one.

The calendar book today: My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit. Anyone read this one? Thoughts?

The Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Esther Forbes won a Pulitzer Prize for her biography of Paul Revere. The idea for Johnny Tremain (1944 Newbery Medal) grew from her research on Paul Revere."

What We Read Yesterday:
-It's Not the Stork! by Robie H. Harris (public library book, picture book) - 10/10 = A
Charlie has been asking questions lately about babies and bodies, so of course we checked books out of the library, and this one is absolutely excellent. Tells pretty much everything but in an easy-to-understand and matter-of-fact way, and without bogging down in too many details. It also talks about good and bad touching in a way that I like (focuses on good and bad attentions and secrets rather than just 'stranger danger') and the diversity of different kinds of families. So glad I found this one!

-I Feel Five! by Bethanie Deeney Murguia (public library book, picture book) - 8/10 = B+
A boy turns five but doesn't feel any different. Sweet story with excellent illustrations.

-Fly Guy's Amazing Tricks
-Battle Bunny
-Stuck
-The Hueys in It Wasn't Me

Morning, Amber!

Morning, Mamie!

>204 scaifea: I have read My Promised Land, Amber, and I gave it 5 stars. My review is here. I highly recommend it.

>208 laytonwoman3rd: Whelp, that clinches it. Thanks, Linda!

I finished Charlie's bookmark this afternoon (and I've included my own here, although I made it BC):

Love those bookmarks Amber! Will you be selling any online? They would make some great stocking stuffers.

>211 luvamystery65: Roberta: No, I wouldn't feel comfortable adding these to my shop, since it's not my own pattern. I may be persuaded to do special orders, though...

ETA: And thanks!! They're a hoot, aren't they?

>212 scaifea: As RD would say OIC! ;-)

"Since today is Tomm's and my anniversary, how about this one: How did you meet your significant other? Or, how would you like to meet The One when it happens?"

First, belated happy anniversary!

Secondly, I met my wife in a high school auditorium, which our church rented for meetings. That doesn't sound too interesting. But the backstory is this:

I had been madly dating women for 10 years (18-28) hoping to meet the "one". After my second engagement was broken off I gave up and said, "God, if you want me to marry, you'll have to pick out the woman; what I want isn't working!" The next month, I met Julie!

That was 32 years ago. We were married about a year later and on June 9th celebrated our 31st anniversary!

>195 scaifea: is Franzen not a nice person? I like his books but have heard there is a section of the population that isn't enamoured with the man, the reasons for that I do not know/have not heard.

>210 scaifea: now that is the epitome of super cool.

>214 jjvors: Happy belated to you, too, Jeff.

>215 LovingLit: Megan: Yeah. If you can't say anything nice, and all that, but I will say this: I met him while I was on faculty at Kenyon and he came to give a talk - he was rude to us, the faculty who met with him, and he was downright insulting to the students as he was giving his talk. I'm happy to say that the students were having none of it and gave back as good as they got, responding in turn to his ass-hattiness with some pretty good zingers. You don't really want to mess with Kenyon students. On the other hand, when I met DFW (when again at Kenyon, on the day he gave his now-famous commencement speech), he was wonderfully kind and funny and all-round amazing.
And thanks! Next up is to make Tomm a Ravenclaw one, and I'll likely make another Slytherin and a Hufflepuff for a couple of friends here.

On the agenda today:
Tuppence has her monthly laser treatment at the vet's office this morning, but otherwise it should be a quiet day at home. A bit of cleaning, some work on the Latin book (I finished editing a chapter yesterday and will get started on editing another today - I like days when I feel there's progress in the making) and hopefully some sewing and reading time. Yesterday I got a bit of both, in addition to some serious Wii Resort competition with Charlie - he's a pro in the sword fighting, let me tell you. I got my butt handed to me several times yesterday afternoon.

On the reading front:
I finished another book (!) (more on that later), and I listened to a goodly chunk of The Sign of the Beaver while cleaning and washing dishes.

The calendar book today is more spy/thriller stuff (sigh): Submerge by J. M. Ledgard

And the Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Harold Keith purposely introduced new characters, a different setting, and a different element of the war in each chapter of Rifles for Waite (1958 Newbery Medal)."
Huh. I didn't notice this specifically when I read it. And now I feel like a lazy reader. Excellent.

What We Read Yesterday:
-Any Questions? by Marie-Louise Gay (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A
An excellent picture book that takes little readers through the process of writing a story in a wonderfully playful way, while also telling an fantastic story. And the illustrations are beautiful. Highly recommended.

-Spare Parts by Rebecca Emberley & Ed Emberley (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A-

-Up and Down

94. The Centaur by John Updike (National Book Award, 299 pages) - 8/10 = B
Hm. I can't decide what I think of this one. While I appreciate what Updike is doing with mythology, I can't say that I understand it fully. And while I recognize that the writing is excellent and the story is at times incredibly engaging, it also frequently took a turn that would jerk me right out of the tale and have me shaking my head in confusion or irritation. I suspect that if/when I read more Updike, this will be a Usual Thing for me.

Limerick Review:
There once was a man named Caldwell
who was hit by an arrow and bawled well
at times human or centaur
a dad's life writ as folklore
a right complex book Updike scrawled well

>216 scaifea: I'm happy to say that the students were having none of it and gave back as good as they got ... You don't really want to mess with Kenyon students.
Oh, I to have been a fly on the wall. I can just imagine.

>220 lauralkeet: Laura: It was nicely satisfying.

Happy belated anniversary, Amber!

ADORABLE bookmarks!!!! Makes these special books all the more special!!!

>22 FAMeulstee: Thanks times two, Lynda!

>210 scaifea: Very nice, Amber. And happy belated anniversary!

>224 EBT1002: Thanks, Ellen!

I'll beg forgiveness for the time differences and sneak in with my Happy Anniversary wishes my dear.

Thank you so much for your kind words over at my pad earlier. xx

Hey Amber, I wondered if you'd seen this press release yet:

"Norton to publish Gaiman's Norse Mythology in 2017"

http://publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/707...

>226 PaulCranswick: Thanks, Paul - and you're most welcome, of course.

>227 casvelyn: Ha! I've already pre-ordered it this morning.

Hi Amber, love the bookmarks my dear, hope you are having a good day apart from dodgy phone calls, sending love and hugs.

hi Amber

>102 scaifea: i've always enjoyed your special kind of madness and still do.

you taught Shakespeare? oh crumbs. i find that un ih maj ih nuh ble. i am not worthy.

>229 johnsimpson: Thanks so much, John! Dodgy phone calls, indeed. Ha!

>230 mirrordrum: Ellie: Oh, many thanks! I'm blushing. And I don't know that I taught as much as gushed about Shakespeare to a captive audience, much like I used to 'teach' Cicero, or Vergil...

Okay, so, news, everyone! (Well, sort of. I mean, I think it's exciting, anyway.)

Background information to Big(-ish, sort of, not really) Announcement:
Our small town library is linked to 29 other small town libraries to form the Southwest Wisconsin Library System, which works more intimately than an ILL system, which we have with the rest of the state including universities but is excruciatingly slow to respond. I use this system *tons* to request picture books and Newbery Honor books and such that our local library doesn't have, and they arrive lickety-split in one or two days. It's a fantastic system and I'm ever-so-grateful for it.

Now, the Announcement:
Charlie and I have decided to take on a summer project to make little day trips to visit each of these libraries this summer, one or two per week! He's excited about it, which makes me even more excited about it! If that's possible because I'm already super-exited about it!! I'll try to take photos and report on our journeys; I'd love for Charlie and me to meet the children's librarian at each library. And then, my grand scheme is to carry this on and visit the local libraries wherever we go on family trips and vacations. I'd LOVE to watch Charlie's face as he looks upon the NYPL for the first time!

Okay, announcement over. Apologies - I'm incredibly woot-y about this little project...

>232 scaifea: “O wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful! and yet again wonderful, and after that, out of all whooping!” (one of my few favorite WS quotes i know by heart.) in other words, totally worthy of wooting. can't wait for the updates.

>233 mirrordrum: Thanks, Ellie! We may go one our first library trip tomorrow!
(LOVE the quote, by the way, of course!)

>228 scaifea: Of course you have... :)

>232 scaifea: I love this idea!

ETA: Hey! I work at a library! If you're ever in the area, you should visit!

95. The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (Newbery Honor Book, audiobook) - 9/10 = A-
A young boy is left behind by his father on their new homestead so that the father can retrieve the rest of the family. While he's away for increasingly too long, Matt (the boy) is befriended by the local Beaver tribe, who teach him essential skills for surviving in the wilderness.
A good one, although not as good as some of her other stuff (The Bronze Bow and The Witch of Blackbird Pond are amazing).

My haiku review:
cabin in wild Maine
Robinson Crusoe reversed
Beaver tribe helps boy

>235 casvelyn: Yes, OF COURSE I have!! Ha!
And oh, oh, OH! YES! We'd LOVE to visit you and your library!!

>232 scaifea: What a terrific project! It should be pure Fun.

I love your summer project. What fun!

>238 laytonwoman3rd: >239 lauralkeet: Thanks, ladies! I think it'll be a hoot. I think we'll maybe try to pack a picnic lunch each time and then also try to find a little park in each town...

>232 scaifea: Love this so much!!!

Great idea to look at all the libraries! And you should cap it off with a trip to DC and the Library of Congress!

Just a fly by hello Amber, hope all is well with you and your family:)

>241 luvamystery65: Thanks, Roberta! Me, too!

>242 banjo123: Rhonda: Yes!! We're planning on DC being our summer vacation in a couple of years!

>243 fairywings: Hi, Adrienne!

On the agenda for today:
As I said yesterday, Charlie and I may make our first library-adventure trip today and take a picnic lunch with us. Also, Tomm gets home this evening, so we'll drive down to the Dubuque airport to meet him, since Charlie loves to watch the plane come in from the observation deck, and they also have just opened up a brand-new terminal building, so we have to go see it. We'll likely go out to dinner in Dubuque, then. Otherwise, I need to do the menu-planning and grocery-listing for the week, a bit of cleaning, a bit of laundry, we'll walk The Gals this morning, and hopefully I'll find some time to work on the Latin book, too.

On the reading front:
Besides finishing up The Sign of the Beaver (see >236 scaifea: above), I read a tiny bit of The Water of the Wondrous Isles and that's it. Not a heavy reading day, I'm afraid.

The calendar book today: The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme by Joe Sacco. Anyone read this one?

And the Newbery/Caldecott Trivia: "Elizabeth Yates's research and persistence led to the discovery of several of Amos Fortune's papers that had been lost for 50 years."

What We Read Yesterday:
-Poor Doreen: A Fishy Tale by Sally Lloyd-Jones (public library book, picture book) - 8/10 = B+
-Gretchen the Bicycle Dog by Anita Heyman (public library book, picture book) - 8/10 = B
-Little Bear
-Sam & Dave Dig a Hole
-The first half of chapter 15 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (detention in the Forbidden Forest!)

>240 scaifea: I think we'll maybe try to pack a picnic lunch each time and then also try to find a little park in each town...
And ice cream, you know like a local shop not a DQ.

>247 lauralkeet: Laura: Oh, I like where your head's at. Excellent idea!

Hey Amber! What an awesome summertime project! Have tons of fun!!

>249 Carmenere: Thanks, Lynda! I'm certain that we will.

Morning, Amber! I love those bookmarks, and your summer project is full of fabulous!

Morning, Amber!

I'm enjoying the limerick reviews.

I didn't expect to have a favorite rhyme of the day: "Siddhartha" and "jump start-a". Love it!

Nice summer project, Amber! I hope that you'll take photos of Charlie in front of each of the libraries.

>251 Crazymamie: Morning, Mamie! And thanks!

>252 jnwelch: Morning, Joe! Ha! I'm so glad you enjoy my painful attempts at rhyming! I nearly pulled something trying to come up with that one, I'll tell you.

>253 kidzdoc: Darryl! Thanks! But, well, um, me? Take photos of Charlie?! Surely you must be joking, Doc.

I nearly pulled something trying to come up with that one, I'll tell you. Oh, you got me. LOL!

>255 jnwelch: Joe: *snork!*

I love your library visit project! As a librarian, I do try and conform to the cliche of visiting other libraries while on vacation. I loved popping my nose in to the Lahaina Public Library during my trip to Maui earlier this year. :D

Well, we're back from our first library visiting adventure and I'm calling it a rousing and absolutely complete success. Oh, so much fun!

So, we decided to visit the Lancaster Public Library first, which is fairly close to us (a 20 minute drive). It has been newly renovated in the last year and it is *gorgeous*! Tons of little nooks and cozy crannies with beautiful and comfy-looking furniture to get comfortable and read in. And they have glass-walled little study areas! And a reading space with cushy chairs and a fireplace! And the children's section was gloriously large and airy and wonderfully decorated. There was a story time going on in a spacious activity room that sounded like tons of fun (wee ones singing songs and such). You can see photos of it on their website: https://schreinermemoriallibrary.org/ But here's a couple that I couldn't resist taking to share with you:

One of the reading nooks in the children's section:



And just look at this fireplace area! I may have to visit this place in the fall and winter for a day of cozy reading while Charlie's in school:



Charlie and I both checked out books (and I snagged a couple from the sale shelf, too), but he was super excited and gleefully shocked to discover that one can check out wii games at this library (our local one doesn't offer such a miraculous service):





And our check-out and sale-shelf haul:

Next stop was a fantastic playground/park just right down the street, for lunch and some playing (Charlie) and reading (me):



I mean, honestly, look how cool this place is!:

And then taking Laura's advice, we stopped at the Blue Boy Bakery (http://www.blueboybakerywi.com/)for some ice cream and other treats (Charlie picked out a Longjohn doughnut and I had a deep fried croissant with powdered sugar glaze(!!)). Charlie's ice cream is Superman flavored; mine was Fat Elvis (banana & peanut butter with chocolate chunks):

>257 MickyFine: Oh, Micky, I bet that was a fantastic library! Woot!

Umm, I want your ice cream... Gimme!

Sounds like a great day :)

>261 scaifea: Katie: Oh man, it was so good. And that bakery is amazing - I picked up some whole wheat bread and some hamburger buns while we were there. That place smells So. Good.

You're killing me, Scaife.

>259 scaifea: Wow! So much fun! I love your library visiting project, and I only wish my library were close enough to you that I could anticipate you guys popping in to visit me some day soon.

>264 katiekrug: Katie: You could come and visit, you know. I heard somewhere that you've got the day off tomorrow...

>265 foggidawn: Oh gosh, that would be wonderful!

>260 scaifea: Ok, I'm curious: what does Superman taste like? I mean, looking at Henry Cavill I assume it's super tasty but... ;)

>266 scaifea: - I'm afraid you heard wrong, my friend. I am working tomorrow :(

>267 MickyFine: *SNORK!* Um, no. I think it was, essentially, a tutti-frutti type ice cream.

>268 katiekrug: Kate: Wha?! Huh.

Hi Amber, what a great idea to visit all the libraries in your area and then when you go off visiting, it will certainly help Charlie no end.

>260 scaifea: as I said on Facebook, this makes me so happy!

And what a fantastic library too. The Chester County (PA) library system is fairly extensive also, with a similar ability to request books and get them in a day or two. It's the greatest thing ever, next to ice cream.

>269 scaifea: - Susan is taking tomorrow off to read. Perhaps that is what you are thinking of?

>270 johnsimpson: Thanks, John!

>271 lauralkeet: Laura: You're genius suggestion is making me super happy, too! Inspired.
And yes, this library is beautiful. The interior seems Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired, as a lot of local stuff is, since Taliesin is just up the road a spell.

>272 katiekrug: Katie: Aha! That's it. I get so confused in the mornings while cruising through the threads...

>259 scaifea: This is clearly the best summer outing ever. Library, picnic, playground, ice cream? I can hardly think of a more better afternoon. Also, everything about Charlie's outfit is the most excellent. Love the boots. If you all are every down Virginia way, I would take you to our new (sometime in the last five years) library. It is also amazing!

What a great summer you and Charlie are going to have! That sounds like a perfect day and I think maybe you should come up to Canada and take me on a library exploration!

I love that you are encouraging Charlie's love of books!

Well, that's what I call getting things off to an excellent start! I hope the rest of your library visits come up to the mark. (Love Charlie's boot myself.)

>274 lycomayflower: Laura: It was, indeed, a *very* good day. And yes, his outfit - his own choosing, of course, is classic Charlie Wear. The t-shirt is one that he won for a contest at our own library - it has the Platteville Public Library logo on it, and he's said that he wants to wear it for every library visiting adventure. The wellies and the hat are just par for his own adorably awesome course.
And we'd LOVE to come and visit you and your library!

>275 DeltaQueen50: Judy: Oh gosh, we'd love to have you along, and I bet Canada has some pretty amazing ones.

>276 Whisper1: Linda: No encouraging necessary, really - I prefaced my idea for the library-visiting with a chat to him about how the library systems work together and before I could even get the proposal out of my mouth he said, "Mommy, we should go visit all those libraries this summer!" I've rarely had such a proud moment. It was followed by whooping and a little dance, with both of us participating, of course.

>277 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: I chatted with one of the librarians, who loved our plan, too, and she said that there are some tiny ones and some more grand ones, and I said that I'm excited for all of them. Sometimes the tiny ones are lovely and cozy.
I don't know if you can quite tell from the photos, but Charlie's boots are partially covered in driveway sealant - he was helping Tomm with that chore two weekends ago. I think it adds a nice touch to the wellies, myself - looks like he's a hard-working bloke.

Help! I can't find the recipe you gave me for brown rice and lentils*hoping you're around the threads* But if not, I will live...

what a great library adventure you had!

>280 RBeffa: Ron: We sure did! I can't wait for the next one!

>279 nittnut: Jenn: I'll track it down and post it on your thread - I'm sorry I didn't see this until this morning!

On the agenda for today:
We're signed up for the After Hours Program at the library this evening, which is a Family Camp In: we can bring our own blankets and pillows to build a tent/fort in the stacks, and Charlie's encouraged to wear pajamas, and the children's librarians will provide snacks and campfire stories. Sounds like a hoot and we're all pretty excited.
This morning Charlie and I will be heading out for the grocery shopping, though, and then there's the usual laundry and cleaning, plus the weekly bills and photo-organizing, and I apparently need to start a new thread... Keema alu for dinner tonight, I think.

On the reading front:
I finally started War and Peace, upon Charlie's insistence, and even made it a few pages in before Charlie was ready to leave the park yesterday and seek out ice cream. I also started listening to Not My Father's Son yesterday, which is a doozy already. That voice, though...

The book calendar offers up an author quote today: "Boredom: the desire for desires."

And the Newbery/Caldecott Trivia (This one contains a spoiler for the Newbery winner it describes, hence the spoiler-hidey-business: "Adult critics objected to the death of Trinket in Roller Skates (1937 Newbery Medal) but children didn't."
I remember reading this one as a kid and loving it, but I don't remember enough about the details to remember how I felt about this bit...

What We Read Yesterday:
-King for a Day by Rukhsana Khan (public library book, picture book) - 9/10 = A-
-Chapter 10 of Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies
-The rest of chapter 15 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Hooray for the Cumming memoir!

Great photos, Amber!

Wow! what a superb outing! I'm open for adoption, just saying :0}

>285 katiekrug: Katie: I know, right?! Love him to bits. That. Voice.

>286 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl!

>287 Carmenere: Lynda: Ha! You're welcome to join us on our adventures any time!

Morning, Amber!

Your young son getting on you to read War and Peace. I like it!

>283 scaifea: How is Charlie doing with War and Peace? Still going?

You know, I started listening to the Cumming memoir a while ago, and although I do love his narration, I wasn't getting caught up in his story. I think I've heard it (not his, but similar sad tales) too often, maybe? The genealogy part will be more interesting, and I really should get back to it.

>289 jnwelch: Joe: Ha! I know, right?

>290 lycomayflower: Laura: He stopped to wait for me to catch up, which is why I started. Far be it for me to be the reason he isn't reading it anymore!

>291 laytonwoman3rd: Linda: I generally avoid such sad memoirs, but he has a relaxed way for telling it. And oh, that voice.

Okay, the new thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/226390

I'm delighted by your library visiting with Charlie. My daughter Olivia loves visiting libraries and I often accompany her. Only in this case, it is the Illinois Library system. I also visited the South Milwaukee library when I was there and sent her pictures from there! That got the librarian asking me why I was taking pictures!