Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Wahoo! Wednesday

Yesterday was a terrific day full of natural beauty. Today, the hawks have been taunting me (just as they get almost close enough to snap, they swoop away - meanies). That's okay. I think yesterday's wonders were great enough to have a lasting after-effect.

This week's list of things I think are worth saying "Wahoo!" about:

1. My newest little pile of books (in the front).

Top to bottom:
Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Plane Insanity by Elliott Hester
Photography by Tom Ang
Gah, too tired to type that title - the Audubon Insect Guide (I hate looking at bugs, but it's informative and our only bookstore didn't have a butterfly guide)
The Next Century by David Halberstam
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Ticket to Tomorrow by Carol Cox
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Frangipani by Celestine Vaite
. . . The Secret Lives of People in Love just happened to be sitting there; it's not new (but I loved it).

They're totally out of order. Several came from Paperback Swap, one from the library sale (the Halberstam), and I bought the photography book a while back but forgot to mention it. Ticket to Tomorrow is a book I won at Callapidder Days in one of Katrina's wonderful drawings. In case you're wondering, I plunked the books in front of another pile so you could have fun squinting at more books in the background, although you can click on the photo to see a larger image.

2. Remember me?
I grew and grew and now this is what I look like. I'm about to bloom:


3. On the fence and looking for love (a green anole lizard):


5. Pretties. I'm thankful for pretties.

6. I still haven't killed my orchid!!! Can you believe it? Over a month and I have two last buds about to bloom. Now, I just have to locate my orchid book so I can find out what you do to keep them alive when they're not blooming.

Happy Wednesday from Bookfool!

26 comments:

  1. Nice stack of book, lady. I can't wait to hear what you think of "The Wind-up Bird Chronicles", I thought parts of it were haunting and beautiful and other parts weird and confusing. After all that I still loved it.

    I see from your post yesterday (that I didn't read until just now) that you are trying to finish 'Great Expectations' before June is up. I'm reading that right now. Weird coincidence. I love Dickens but I haven't read nearly enough of him. Good problem to have.

    Nice lizard.

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  2. That lizard looks like he could bite my face off. Very cool pic, though!

    And the flowers are goooorgeous!

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  3. Kookie,

    It'll be a while before I'm ready to read my Murakami, but I'm excited to finally get a copy. I came perilously close to buying The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, twice.

    Yep, I need to get back to reading about good old Pip. I really was enjoying Great Expectations, but some books aren't meant to be juggled with three other reads, apparently. :)

    My lizard thanks you.

    Andi,

    Methinks you're not so much into certain aspects of nature, oui?

    Thanks. I went lazy, today, posting all those pics - low on text because I need a nap. A big nap. You know, one of those 48-hour naps? This next week is going to suck.

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  4. I've heard a lot about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Looking forward to what you have to say about it!

    I see you finally got your lizard neck thingy pic :) It's a good one!

    Beautiful, beautiful plants and so happy to hear that your orchid is doing well. We just got a orchid here as well and I think we may have found the perfect spot for it. It seems to be hanging in there nicely.

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  5. Chris,

    Me, too. I've read a lot of positive reviews. I flipped through it in the store twice - both times I had to restrain myself from buying it immediately.

    Yes! I was so happy to capture that lizard showing off. I was looking around for a brown girlie lizard, but I didn't see one.

    The second plant is from the city pool - part of the landscaping. I can't remember what you call those things, but they're interesting plants. I hate it when I can't remember things. They've bloomed blue, in the past, and the bloom color apparently has to do with the acidity of the soil. I guess they've done something about the soil at that pool! LOL I can't wait till my lily blooms. I'm not sure quite what color it's going to be.

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  6. Looks like a great stack of books. And how cool to be able to see little creatures like this guy in your yard.

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  7. Juliann,

    Thanks, I think it's a pretty exciting little stack of books. I waited nearly a year to acquire I Am the Messenger, so that book is particularly exciting to me.

    It's very cool to have such a wide variety of wildlife living near our home! I have sort of a mental laundry list of creatures I want to photograph well. Just when I think I've seen everything, along comes something new. I love that. :)

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  8. I was just going to comment on the great stack, but then came across the lizard! I posted a picture of one doing the throaty thing on Bayou Quilts today...just a little while ago. Yours is so much better, though!

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  9. We have little brownish green lizards around where I live. My husband likes to chase them around the yard to get them out of our garden. I told him they don't hurt anything, but he's a city boy and doesn't really believe me. I think it's pretty funny. Maybe inspiration for a picture.

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  10. Glad your orchid is still hanging in there. And while I'm not too fond of lizards, that's a very cool picture!

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  11. Gorgeous pics! You and Les never cease to amaze me.

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  12. Jenclair,

    Thanks. I'll pop over to see your lizard. Love those lizards. :)

    Nik,

    Your husband sounds funny. Tell me he doesn't whack the poor lizards with his combat boots. LOL And, tell him they like to eat insects. :)

    Nat,

    Thanks. I guess I've always been okay with lizards. I've been sitting here trying to remember and I don't recall a time they bothered me. Funny.

    Bellezza,

    Thanks. I love looking at Les's photos, too. She finds so many pretty things to photograph!

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  13. Such pretty books. Very pretty. I want to pet them.

    All your pictures are lovely actually. And congrats on the living orchid! You're doing better than I am!

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  14. Oh yeah, and I can't wait to hear what you think of I Am The Messenger and Julie & Julia. I'm still trying to score that one on BookMooch!

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  15. You can pet my books if you ever drop by Vicksburg, Heather.

    Thanks. I'm so happy my orchid isn't dead! I've been killing things, this year.

    Julie and Julia looks really tempting; it might have to move closer to the reading and snoozing place. I've been dying to get my mitts on I Am the Messenger since you raved over it.

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  16. Anonymous1:07 PM

    Such a beautiful orchid! I'm terrible with plants and flowers. I kill them all :(

    Enjoy the new pile of books!

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  17. Iliana,

    That's not an orchid, but I still can't remember what you call it!! I'm sure it will come to me, eventually. I took that shot of the pink flowers at our city pool. I've improved at growing things tremendously since I got a few books on growing plants specifically in our area. Two things I look for in a gardening guide book: names of plants that thrive in our area and the word "hardy". They have to be tough to survive me. :)

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  18. Awesome pics, once again. I sound like a broken record, but you truly are a talented photographer! I love the lizzard and orchid shots.

    I'll be curious to hear what you think of Julie & Julia. And, I really, really, really need to read I Am the Messenger. You should've heard me squeal with joy when I saw that B&N has picked The Book Thief for one of it's Discovery selections this month! Whoohoo for Mr. Zusak!!

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  19. Me again. Thanks for the sweet compliment - both of you (Nancy & Bellezza). And too funny that Heather wrote pretty much my thoughts about your stack of books. I honestly didn't read the comments until after I posted mine. :)

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  20. Julie & Julia is a good read. Even as a vegetarian - skimming over the bits about gutting fowl - I enjoyed it. She's an entertaining writer, certainly. Hope you will too! Thanks for the wonderful flora & fauna photos you inspire us with.

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  21. Anonymous6:12 PM

    I love looking at stacks of books.

    Wow, that pic you took of the brown thrasher is just amazing!

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  22. Les,

    Thanks. You don't sound like a broken record. Broken records are all scratchy and annoying. :) I think I got Julie and Julia because you liked it (it's been a while since I put it on my wish list).

    Yippee for B & N for selecting Zusak!

    I'm a great admirer of your photographs and I wish I could cook like you do (and enjoy it) and garden so well - I can get things to grow, now, but I'm not a landscape architect at all. Actually, I think I kind of envy you - you're so good at everything.

    So funny that you and Heather commented on the same books!

    Melanie,

    Super! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed J & J. Gutting fowl - ugh. I can't do it. I'd rather eat grass. When I'm on my own, I buy processed, pre-cooked, or frozen meat (for the kiddo - he's a meat eater). I could totally do without it, although I love fish.

    Oh, thanks, what a sweet thing to say! Inspiring. Wow. That's going in the warm fuzzy file. :)

    Carrie,

    Me, too! I don't even care if they're not mine - I just love photos of books!

    Thank you. I liked that thrasher pic so much that I printed him out and turned him into a bookmark. LOL

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  23. That's a nice stack of books you have there. Just curious...how many are currently in your TBR pile? Enquiring minds want to know. :-)

    Like you, I'm thankful for pretties too. I'll be visiting my sister soon and I can't wait to see magnolias again.

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  24. Indigo,

    Thanks. There's no way I could begin to count my TBR books. Hundreds, I'd say. It's embarrassing, but hundreds.

    The magnolias are blooming, right now! I heard on the radio that they've got some kind of pest or disease, this year, which explains why the leaves look sickly. But, some of the blooms are just as lovely as ever. :)

    Hope you have a fun and safe trip.

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  25. I'm a big fan of the Wind-up Bird Chronicle - it got me hooked on Murakami. Also, I haven't read it myself but the premise of Julie and Julia sounds fantastic. I hope you enjoy and happy snapping- they are some great shots!

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  26. Acquisitionist,

    Great! I'm always so happy to hear someone loves a book I've just acquired. :)

    Can you tell I've been having fun snapping? I just drained my camera battery . . . again.

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