Monthly Archives: December 2015

Blogging the Moments

Christmas Day we took a walk down to the unfrozen lake to catch a beautiful, peaceful and serene sunset.Sunset at the lakeAt least, it looks that way after my efforts in Photoshop.

In actuality that moment, like the rest of our Christmas break, was full of kids (our three plus my two year old nephew), numerous dogs and not quite enough tired adults to field all the whining, barking, “Look at me!”‘s ,rolling in dead fish, crying and bouncing off the walls that was going on.

There has been a huge amount of material written about how we skew our internet presence to make our lives look better than they are. And to that I say, of course! I’m not taking a selfie in the clothes I’m wearing. Nobody wants to see the jeans I’ve been wearing for three days, combined with the top I worked out in, while I sport my “hairstyle” created through the subtle use of pony tails, sweat, and winter hats. Including me.

Including me.

I blog because I’m trying hard not to become one of the ferrets that eats it’s own young.

I blog because, if I look at this picture and squint just right, I can see all the fun, giggles, snuggling cousins and laughter that was mixed in the chaos.

I blog because sometimes, in the midst of the snot and the tears and the stinky dogs and the whining, it’s hard to remember that those happy moments are existing right along side. But if I share a moment like the one above, I’m sure to remember that life with kids is more than just accidents on the floor, snot on my shirt and sleepless nights.

I don’t need any help remembering what sort of mess I look like today, all that takes is a mirror.

 

 

Holiday Reading – A Year of Book Reviews

Need a little inspiration when spending those amazon gift cards found under the tree? An idea for your next library visit? Something to read as you recover from the holiday?

Click on my gargoyle friend in the sidebar to scroll back though a year of book reviews.  The books behind the willowsFollow this link to see the latest of my recommended reads.

Or click on the guy below to browse last five years of book reviews!
book shelf

Then keep an eye out on Twitter over the next day or so as I revisit some of my favorites from the year.

I’ve heard said (from a favorite author of mine no less) that the best gift a reader can give an author is a book review.  So, Merry Christmas to all my favorite authors! May you have a wonderful year of writing.  After all, the best gift a reader can receive is a new great book!

Merry Christmas

The Bee Carol

by Carol Ann Duffyblack and white bee hives

Silently on Christmas Eve,
the turn of midnight’s key;
all the garden locked in ice —
a silver frieze —
except the winter cluster of the bees.

Flightless now and shivering,
around their Queen they cling;
every bee a gift of heat;
she will not freeze
within the winter cluster of the bees.

Bring me for my Christmas gift
a single golden jar;
let me taste the sweetness there,
but honey leave
to feed the winter cluster of the bees.

Come with me on Christmas Eve
to see the silent hive —
trembling stars cloistered above —
and then believe,
bless the winter cluster of the bees.black and white bee hives

Merry Christmas and a special thank you to Annette for sending us this poem! 

Going On Four

Jane: “Mom! Cut this foil and do everything for me that I want you to!”

Me: “Uhhh… No.”

Jane. “Ok, then I’ll do it.”

Jane cutting foil

And that is why three going on four is a pretty fantastic age!

Note: I used this photo with the nicely blurred scissors so no grandma’s would have heart attacks when they saw how pointy they were. Aaaand also because I was so flabbergasted by her response I forgot about things like dark rooms and back-lighting when I went to document the situation.

Cry of the Sea by D. G. Driver

High School Popularity Drama.

Big Oil.

Mermaids.

Three incongruous topics seamlessly melded together in one novel.

I know it sounds implausible, but I assure you not only is it true, but the book even includes a good dose of environmental lobbying, coming of age, and journalism in today’s online world.

I read this novel with what can only be described as awe that the author was not only able to pull off this plot line, but do it in a way that left me thinking, “Well, maybe it could happen…”

Then I got to the end.

I won’t spoil it for you, but it was one of those endings that left you satisfied that the book ended just exactly how it should have.

Would I recommend it? I didn’t much care for all the high school drama when I was in high school. I like it less now. It’s only because of that aspect of the book that I wouldn’t outright recommend it to my adult friends. But, I think back to myself as a teenager, and I would have loved this, drama and all. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to the young adults it was written for!


Rosie's Book Review team 1

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!

Mundane Monday: Corn Stubble

Walk out our door and in three out of four directions you’ll find a field of corn stubble before you find a road. Take the fourth and you’ll need to walk down the driveway and cross the road before you hit the stubble.

This is a good thing, for I am a field watcher.

This isn’t my favorite time of year to watch the fields. It’s not like spring when you can watch to see the mist of green appear when the seedlings first come up. Nor is it like early summer when it feels like you can see the plants grow right before your eyes. The remains of the stalks have none of the sea rippling beauty of the tall plants in a late summer wind. Even late fall when a strong wind can send a twisting flurry of corn leaves through the air is more exciting than the fields at rest for winter.

But I still watch them.

The turkeys have flocked up for the winter. A group of twenty or more is hard to miss in a field of stubble, if you are looking. The deer stand out in silhouette on the field edges. And I am always looking, hoping to see them before they bound into the road.

Some afternoons (crazy, warm, rainy, December afternoons) when a little sun peeks through the dark, grey and blue storm clouds and sets the stalks to glowing, I watch them just because they are beautiful.

corn field A field of corn stubble may be my most mundane-ish thing so far. Head over to PhoTrablogger and see who else is finding beauty in the mundane this week!

You’re It

Clara hurt her foot in the car accident last week. X-rays haven’t shown anything to be broken but with all the soft tissue damage, she’s still unwilling to walk on it. She has been getting around with a combination of hopping on one leg (she’s getting excellent balance out of the situation), begrudgingly using a pair of crutches (And by begrudging-I mean they get thrown across the floor and called stupid at least once a day) and her favorite method, scooting.  Clara leads with her bad foot in the air and zooms around on her butt pushing with her good foot and arms.

While all of these are decent options from getting from place to place when you only have one good foot, she hasn’t yet figured out how to carry much with any of these methods. If we were the kind of family who was ready to go places in plenty of time, it would be no big deal that she forgot the absolutely critical item that she must bring with her upstairs when we are headed out, but we aren’t. We are more of the, hurry-up-we-should-have-left-five-minutes-ago family and so Clara has gotten lots of extra help in the last days, even for things that she could technically do for herself.

The extra attention Clara was getting sat well with everyone for the first few days but now, just over a week in, there are a few people (her older sister in particular) who are ready for Clara to be able to carry her own dirty dishes to the dishwasher.

The evenings are particularly difficult. Clara is extra exhausted from a day of hobbling about and Ivy is extra fed up with being the older, helpful sister. Girls that normally get along are feeding off one another’s grumpiness, mountains are being made of mole hills and fights are breaking out.Ivy and Clara

Except for one night.

One night there was no fighting. Just Ivy watching Clara scootch across the floor and then oh so politely asking,

“Hey Clara. Wanna play tag?

The Prince’s Man by Deborah Jay

Solid.

This book was solid.

Solid in the sense that it was, and I quote from dictionary.com, having relative firmness, coherence of particles, or persistence of form, as matter that is not liquid or gaseous. 

This newly created world is firm, there are no gaps or jumps of reasoning. One creature, idea, magic or bit of history flows right into the next. Characters that appear substantial at the beginning of the book do nothing but grow and evolve as their backstory unfolds behind them.

This is solidly written fantasy tale.

It was also solid in the, and now I quote form urban dictionary, cool or awesome aspect.  .

In this land people play a deadly game that involves lots of spying. Of course along with spying goes the lying. And that’s where the awesome part came in because more than once, just as the main character figured out some sort of mystery, I figured it out too!

Not way ahead of time so that I spent my time reading thinking, “Oh come on! It’s so obvious why haven’t you got that figured out yet!” Or one of those stories where they tell you the big reveal and you think, ” Well there is no way I could have ever figured that out.”

But at the same time!

That’s not only a really cool feeling as a reader but really awesome writing from an author!

Would I recommend it? If you are a fantasy fan put this one on your to read list. There is more of this story yet to tell and I’ll be lined up to read the next one when it comes out!

Also by Deborah Jay: Desprite Measures (Which is, I suspect, why the water sprite was extra… rambunctious…)Rosie's Book Review team 1

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!