Today’s tasty treat? A lovely, buttery bar of shortbread! We get a box of these cookies every so often and are lucky if they last more than two days. Such is the nature of the sweet buttersugar siren song. Anyway, I'm re-reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I first read it many long years ago - it may even have been high school. I had forgotten a lot of it, especially the... Read more →
Santa Claus was very very good to us this year! I got everything I wanted and some things that I didn’t even know I wanted. Here’s a sampling. This is the perfect planner for me. I’m reading this slowly to make it last, but it’s very hard to do. Here’s the piece de resistance - a Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pen! All this loot (and more!) was great, but the wonderful part was spending time... Read more →
When I was a little girl, my Mom read me a story about a shy little black cat named Jenny Linsky. I loved it, so we got another, and another, and another, all of them about Jenny and her cat friends. I recently remembered these books. Don't ask me how or why; how do memories bubble up to the surface anyway? In any case, I decided to see if they actually existed or if I... Read more →
Saturday 9: Bonanza (1959) Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. 1) Bonanza ran on NBC for 14 seasons. Today it's rerun on Me-TV and TVLand. Were/are you a fan? Not particularly, but my Pop loved it. I'd watch it with him to keep from having to go to bed on Sunday evening. We kids got to watch Wonderful World of Disney, but Pop took over the TV afterwards because of Bonanza. 2) The... Read more →
We have a well-worn copy of Bullfinch's Mythology. Among the more famous myths and tales of the gods is the sweet story of Baucis and Philemon. It's my favorite story, so I thought I'd tell it to you on this cold winter night. On a hill overlooking a lake, stand a majestic oak and a graceful linden, enclosed by a low wall. Baucis and Philemon were an old couple. They married young, and spent their... Read more →
On our last day in Dublin, we walked over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. We had "skip the line" tickets -- I was really glad that I got them, too. The line was long and it was drizzling, so the fact that we could walk right up and go in was a real bonus, and kept us from succumbing to damp crabbiness. Still, it was crowded. Trinity has set up the... Read more →
This picture is an iillustration from one of my favorite childhood books, Make Way for Ducklings, written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. It's about Mr. and Mrs. Mallard and their eight ducklings: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack. In the beginning, the Mallards must find a place to build their nest. After their eight ducklings are born, they must brave the streets of Boston to settle in their permanent home in Boston's... Read more →
I've been reading entries from various folks who have listed 15 books that are important to them, and I thought, "Hmm. What would mine be?" So here they are. Some are important because they affected my life; some are important to me because I simply love the story. The Stand -- Stephen King. I first read this book when I was in labor with SonnyeBoy. I finished it in one day. It's still my favorite... Read more →
Since I last wrote in this space, I have: 1. Been furious at, sorry for, sympathetic to, irritated at, amused by, and worried about my mother. She's a one-woman emotional roller coaster! 2. Paid bills and balanced the checkbook. Yep, I balance the checkbook every month, down to the penny. It's the only way I can stay sane -- and keep any money in the bank! 3. Finished Bret Hart's memoir. Of course, he sets... Read more →
Well damn! The Habs just tied it up with 36 seconds left, and I do not like this turn of events AT ALL. I mean, Ovie does have a hat trick, but geez. Oh well -- on to overtime. Wait a sec... WOOO! Ovie scored the winner in overtime! That's his fourth goal of the game and his 43rd of the season and a critical two points for my boys. But hockey is not the... Read more →