17 July 2012

Yes, I realize it is Tuesday and I have already done the meme for today but I forgot this one yesterday so I am playing catch up -- not an uncommon activity for me.

The questions this week are -- What are you  currently reading?  Is it any good?  Would you recommend it.

I am currently reading "East End Jubilee"  by Carol Rivers.

I am finding it to be one of those books you can't put down.  It  takes place at the time of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.  It is about Rose, her husband, his troubles, their children, her sister -- their lives, everyday and how they cope.  It is a bit like watching a family through their kitchen window or over the back fence.

Yes, I would recommend it.  It is a quiet book but it is compelling and I am quite enjoying it.

17 July 2012

I am still in the middle of East End Jubilee but the next book in my queue is So Far Away by Meg Mitchell Moore.  I seriously wish I could read multiple books at a time but that concept seems to be beyond me but, since this book is next I will "tease" from it.


"It was a Friday when the girl came into the Archives for the first time, the first Friday after they'd changed the clocks.  Spring ahead, fall back:  Kathleen had once learned some rhyme about that when she was a schoolchild, but she no longer remembered it.  It had been some time since she'd been a schoolchild.  This was early November, the leaves mostly down, lying wet and slick all over Boston."

Page 3

Saturday Snapshot -- July 14, 2012

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books

Soon to be history

Booking Through Thursday -- July 12, 2012


Today's question is what book(s) have you read that you are secretly ashamed to admit.


This is an easy answer.  None.  Zip.  Nada.

I guess I was a little shy about my mother finding out that I read "Gidget" when I was about 13.  She questioned the appropriateness.  I guess she hadn't realized that I had outgrown "The Bobbsey Twins" although I still pick one of those up now and then.  My reading taste runs more along the line of historical fiction, a new interest in mysteries, fun books like the one I am reading now, "East End Jubilee" -- books about the human condition.  I am not a big fan of romance -- especially the stuff with the Fabio lookalike on the cover.  I do not like books that contain violence, especially against women and children, and I am not the sort to read gruesome stuff.  If I want that as entertainment, all I need to do is turn on the television.  I do like biographies as well.

Sex in books doesn't bother me, if  not violent, although I don't seek it out.   However, I had a lovely chat with my dental hygienist yesterday about "The Fifty Shades of Grey".  She was completely embarrassed to admit that she had read the trilogy and didn't really want to admit it.  She even archived it on her Kindle so her kids wouldn't find out she had read it.  I downloaded a free sample of it onto my Nook a few weeks back when everybody was talking about it and, honestly, it just didn't grab me.  After the conversation with the girl yesterday, I will have to give it a second look at some point just out of curiosity.  However, I have, at last count, about fifty to-be-read books on my shelf and those have first priority.

Teaser Tuesdays -- July 10, 2012

In the first place, I am not sure how it has gotten to be July already.  I don't know what happened to June.  Oh well.  My teaser today comes from "East End Jubilee" by Carol Rivers.  It was first published in the UK in 2005 under the title of "Rose of Ruby Street".

My teaser comes from page 60.

"On sudden impulse, Rose stood up and went over.  She leaned her back against the cabinet and pushed. Perhaps a little housework would distract her mind.  But, finally, after lots of pushing and shoving, she gazed down at perfectly clean floorboards.  A moment later she lifted one of the boards.  In the recess below there was a shoebox."

Hmm...what could that mean?  I will review when completed.

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Feeling a little witchy today but I need to find a recipe for a natural insect repellent.  We are having a bit of a problem  here in North Texas with an outbreak of West Nile virus and since the Hubs is outside in the yard all the time, and #2 granddaughter loves the outdoors we just have to find something that isn't -- well, poison.

We hosted the Bean's b/day party here a week ago and, since it was an indoor/outdoor party, I supplied our guests with two varieties of repellent -- Burts Bees Natural and Off! with DEET.  I think most of the folks opted for the natural variety, if anything, but it was far from pleasant.  So, this morning I am researching homemade, natural options.  I already have several recipes for homemade cleaning products and homemade personal care products so this will just be another facet of my "do it myself and feel better about the whole thing"  approach.

So, as I grocery shop today I will be looking for a little notebook in which to house all my recipes and as I think about it I am reminded of  a book that I completely enjoyed called "The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" by Katherine Howe, a descendant of one of the ladies involved in the Salem witch trials.

It is alarming how my collection of essential oils is growing -- I especially love orange -- but I am so concerned about what is in the products we use on  an every day basis that I really feel that I have no choice but to concoct my own.  Granted, I am not a spring chicken and I have been doing what I do for a long time from using ready made deodorants to drinking the now-declared carcinogenic Coca-Cola and changing things now probably won't make a difference for me.  However, it will for the children and I think it is my duty to try.

So, I will be creating my own little Physick Book of LissieLou -- hopefully I can find a really cute little book!

Books or Nooks -- what is YOUR pleasure?

I am a complete contradiction.  I pride myself on striving to live a "green" lifestyle yet I love technology.  I don't know what to do with it -- can't program it, can't fix it, can only push buttons, not a geek, but I love the concept.

When the first generation Nook came out I really wanted one.  I looked, shopped, thought, rationalized and then I bought it.  I loved it.  I was happy with my little Nook.  I really liked the idea of being able to rack up sizable credit card bills to Barnes and Noble while sitting in my easy chair.  It was easy to read, easy to hold, easy to put in a purse.  It took a load off my bulging bookshelves because it is clearly evident that I will never, ever quit buying books.

Then the Nook color came out.  Yep, I bought one.  It is very nice for Angry Birds but I don't enjoy reading on it as much because it is glarey.  The battery life is pathetic.

Not long after the Nook color came to live in our house, the Nook Simple Touch was born and up for adoption.  Yep, like a stray puppy, I couldn't resist and I brought it home.  It is beyond cute and lives in a hot pink cover with a quote from Hans Christian Anderson embossed on the front cover.  It is easy to read with the e-ink technology (like the original Nook) and has a phenomenal battery life -- about a month.  So small, it fits great in a purse and is light as a feather.

So, why, with all of this reading (and Angry Birds) opportunity around me do I still want to buy physical books? I had this conversation with a sales person at B&N just the other day.  The books are slightly less expensive on the Nook which is a plus but I think the problem is that if you love books -- not just reading but the actual book, when you use an e-reader you don't feel like you are getting anything for your money.  The sales person told me that while they sell lots of e-readers, their actual book sales aren't being affected at all.  She agreed with my idea that when you buy virtual books you don't really feel like you have anything for your money.

So......Nook has come out with two new products -- a tablet and a Simple Touch with a light.  So far I have resisted both but  I am not sure for how long.  The tablet would be nice for the computer capability rather than the  reading capability.  The new Simple Touch is great for people who  read in bed and don't want to disturb another person.  I don't read in bed so I don't see that I need to replace my first little ST.  However, I do have a netbook that I carry around with me sometimes and wonder if I really need another device, like a tablet, to do the same thing.  I think not.

A couple of days ago I wasn't feeling up to par so I just sort of sat around and "surfed" all day.  By the end of the day I was exhausted and I hadn't done anything.  Visiting FB numerous times was tiring -- I don't think I am really FB material because I don't feel the need to share my every thought with the cyber world but it is nice to contact relatives with.  I did some blog reading which I enjoy immensely and spent way too much time on Pinterest.  Oh, the television was going the entire time as well.  I wasn't watching it -- it was just on.  Noise pollution at its best. Even my husband suggested we turn off the tv and read.

 As evening drew in, I turned off all the devices, lowered the lights a bit and grabbed a new read -- a physical book -- curled up and immersed myself in the life of Rose of Ruby Street at the time of Queen Elizabeth's coronation.  It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and I could relax. It was wonderful and has shifted my attention back to my budding "green" lifestyle which is really where I want to be living.

So, what is it for you -- e-readers or books?  Why? How has technology affected your lifestyle -- better, worse?  I don't think we will ever go back or do without technology but has it taken over too much of our lives?  It is definitely food for thought.

Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh


I have never known much about the gypsy culture except what everybody knows -- colorful caravans, wild ways, untrustworthy, scammers, curses, etc.  There was a gypsy lady who had a fortune telling business in her home at the end of our block.  She walked by our house one day and waved at my mother -- a gesture my  mother chose to ignore -- and the next day our house burned down.  The gypsy didn't have anything to do with it -- a leaky hot water heater was the culprit -- but to my superstitious mother, we had been cursed.  I almost hit the same lady with the car a few years later -- nothing happened.  Maybe she like me?? I don't believe in curses.  In any event, I was surprised when I moved to the Fort Worth area to learn that we have a sizable gypsy (Irish Traveler) community here.  We learned about it when the much publicized story of Madelyn Toogood viciously whipping her child in a parking lot in South Carolina came out. Yep, she is part of Ft. Worth's gypsy community. During that same time period a group of under aged Traveler boys were out joy riding in cars, had a wreck and several were killed.  It was then that I started doing a little reading about Irish Travelers, especially in our area but it was a short lived interest and fell by the way until reality TV gave us Our Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and the American version which isn't nearly as good.

One day, while in my favorite Barnes and Noble, I ran across this book by Mikey Walsh.  I bought it thinking it was going to be the humorous, male version of the tv shows I faithfully DVR so I never miss an episode.  Well, I was wrong.  The book is well written and compelling.  It isn't a long read but it is the most painful book I have ever actually completed.  Most anything I pick up that involves violence toward helpless children either never comes into my possession or is ditched immediately upon discovery of the subject matter.  I had a big problem with VC Andrews books for that same reason.

In any event, I had to finish it to make sure that Mikey came out of it ok.  Spoiler here, he did, but this little boy had such a horrific life that I am completely shocked and baffled as to how he survived, much less flourished.  But, he did.

If you don't get squeamish about pure evil being projected onto small children, then I would recommend this book if you really want to know what life in the Romany world can be like.  It isn't like what is portrayed on tv.  I am not saying that all Romany or Travelers are like this, I am sure they aren't, but one is enough and it is vividly portrayed here.

The book is permanently in my library but I doubt I will be reading it again.  Once is, indeed, enough.

 

Friday Fill-ins -- June 15, 2012

1.  It is always nice when the nighttime rain is over by rush hour.

2.  I like to hear nice comments on my blog but that doesn't happen often as nobody but me reads my blog.

3.  positive -- good, negative -- bad, unless you are talking about weight then it is a whole different story.


4.  This is the oddest friday fillins I have ever done.


5.  What I heard Stevie Nicks say this morning was, in my opinion, sort of sad. But maybe not for her.


6.  Often I search for information on ancestors.


7.  And as for the weekend, tonight I am looking forward to absolutely nothing, tomorrow my plans include absolutely nothing, and Sunday I want to go to church and ponder why my Friday and Saturday are so lame!

Ursuline Academy

Ursuline Academy -- June, 2012


The Hubs and I decided to take a few days to visit our hometown of San Antonio, Texas.  We decided to make a point to visit some of the places that we have wanted to see but somehow have failed to make it to over the last few visits. One of those places is the Southwest Craft Center housed in the old Ursuline Academy building.  I am sorry to say that we didn't see much of the art and crafts of the center but, instead, got caught up in the history, museum, architecture and beauty of the building and the grounds of the Ursuline Academy.  I have included a link at the end of this post if you want to do some more reading on the academy but I think I would like the photos to tell their own story.

Lunch at the Copper Kettle, the cafe that is operated in the original dining hall of the school

Original window facing and hardware in rather thick limestone walls

Hallway seating

Old and new -- interesting juxtaposition

French style architecture and light fixture -- and I really shouldn't try for "arty" photos

Fenced Courtyard

Large Courtyard

Rear Grounds

Very large gazebo now used mostly for weddings and special events.  

Original wrought iron arched sign

Gate in the back garden with large light fixture

You don't readily see this cross but, when you look up and see it, it seems to be silently watching over the entire campus

Turntable to pass items, probably communion wafers, from inside the convent to the outside world

Gothic window

Grotto 

Balcony outside original dormitories

Three sided clock tower -- story goes that there was no clock on the north facing side because there  was nobody on the north side to see the clock!

For more information on Ursuline Academy check out the website below

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbu04

www.swschool.org

www.sanantoniogov.historic/Districts/Ursuline_Academy.aspx

14 June 2012


The question(s) for today is --

Have you ever bought a book, started reading it and then realized you have already read it?  If so, how far did you get? And did you keep reading?




I might have done this once or twice but I usually realize that I already have the book before I begin reading.  I spent a good deal of time over the course of a couple of days alphabetizing my personal bookshelf and ran across duplicates then.  I don't know that I have ever gotten to the place where I have started reading a book and then  realized that I have already read it but, if I did, I probably wouldn't continue because I don't tend to re-read books.