Wimpy Wednesday

Short post, gone wimpy. Because I had trouble getting to sleep and when I finally knocked off, I ended up in my recurring nightmare -- The Horror Story of the Humongous House. I think it's a suppressed-desire thing; I feel squashed into my home and long for a bigger house, so I end up dreaming about houses that are so huge, so immense, so mind-bogglingly over-sized that, in my dream (or nightmare; they seem more like nightmares to me) I suddenly realize that I've completely forgotten there's that second kitchen (as if) and it's slipped my mind that there's another stretch of house . . . with 8 or 12 or 20 extra bedrooms. Seriously, how weird is that? I once dreamed I lived in a house the size of a mall, complete with a theater.

Take a bite out of Estella's apple:
Before I shift into prattle mode (oops, too late) I should mention that the latest issue of Estella's Revenge is available for your reading pleasure. It's been up for a few days. Oh, well. Storms and flickering power and all that.

We were freezing, I swear. After Monday's storms, a cold front hit Mississippi and we got all the way down to the 30's. Honestly, we thought body parts were going to freeze and fall off. And, then it warmed up and stormed, again. Meanwhile, in Alaska, it's unseasonably warm. This is bad for the Iditarod racers, apparently. Also, a terrible sign of that global warming thing -- icecaps melting, flood, hurricanes, famine, end of the world. Yes, I actually do believe we humans are destroying our world and that we should plant more trees, but that's another story.

Moving right along . . . I have a lot of fun reading the Anchorage Daily News updates and viewing the Iditarod photos. The news in Alaska is just so different from ours. Where else can you read about and view moose walking in the street, bear stories, whale-hunt photo essays, corrupt politicians? Okay, it's not all different, but some Alaska news is very, very unique.

She's no longer with us, but we still love her. The cat, I mean. No, not the black one; she's fine. My delightful friend Cindi, who named a character after me in her novel (coolness!), told me about the Spay Day photo contest and suggested I enter. The prizes are nifty, but the two that interest me the most are the Nature's Miracle products (because the litter box has been in the house since Sunshine's illness, which was then followed closely by the malfunction of the kitty door) and the $5000 donation to a nonprofit organization participating in Spay Day. Neato. I chose to enter one of my favorite photos of our dearly departed Sunshine, here. And, here is Cindi's baby. Sign up and vote for them, please, if you feel so inclined. You can vote repeatedly. And, don't forget to enter your own fur friend's beautiful mug.

Next up: quickie reviews of Persuasion by Jane Austen and The Last Single Woman in America by Cindy Guidry. Because I'm wimped and it stormed (not conducive to photography) I'm skipping the wahoos for the week.

Currently reading:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (yes, still)
Life Class by Pat Barker
When Lightning Strikes by Kristin Hannah (because I can't seem to concentrate on the others)
and the introduction of The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (which Tara loved and which counts as my March book purchase).

Still can't update my sidebar because of Blogger Fits of Madness. Who knows why these things suddenly cease to function?

Off to bed. Talk later. Will try to catch up on blog-hopping soon. Wave, wave.

Bookfool (aka, Her Wimpiness)

Happy New Year!

I was hoping to try to make it look like explosives were coming out of the hot pepper jar, but then I realized I don't have any kind of program that allows me to tinker on this computer. Darn. So, you get poppets looking at what I can only assume is explosively hot pepper. I don't know because I don't eat it. Note that I've got my new Christmas poppet in this photo. Left to right are Nicola (aka Nikky), Simone, Molly and Poppet (who has informed me that she would like to be called "Poppy"). I snapped this photo at the Nichols Hills Hideaway Pizza restaurant, here in Oklahoma, before ditching my camera, again. A camera is just one thing too many to deal with in a hospital, and there's not much to photograph, anyway. Sad, but true.

Here are the girls with the pizza. Can you say, "Oh, my gosh, talk about a way to shove yourself into New Year's Diet Mode?" Gah. It was soooo good. Definitely look up Hideaway Pizza, if you find yourself in my home state. No wonder I hated leaving.


New exercise plan (aka, "Sneaky Hawaiian Photo Moment"):

Seriously, it looked fun. I probably should have jumped up when they gave lessons, but I'm just a wee bit too shy for that.

Wishing all of my blog buddies a Happy 2008, full of great books, terrific pizza, peak health and excellent booty-shaking opportunities (with or without grass and coconuts in the exercise wardrobe).

Bookfool, about to go on a book- and food- diet (wish me luck)

Some news and the juicy, upside-down turkey

Squirrel chose pecans. There are people who object to that choice, but we won't go there, today.

News, first! I completely missed the release date of the latest issue of Estella's Revenge (wahoo! for Estella) since I was on the road, but the December issue is available for your perusal. It's shorter than usual, perfect for the hectic month of December (at least, it's hectic for some people - not usually so much for us).

And, the ever-delightful and extremely erudite Simon Van Booy is leading a writer's retreat in a redwood forest in May of 2008. He still had some opening slots, as of Friday. Then, I hit the road. You already knew that, though. You can view the information about Simon's workshop (in pdf), here. I wish I could go. I'm tremendously fond of a redwood, you know, and I have no doubt that Simon is an awesome teacher. And, by the way, if you haven't read his book, The Secret Lives of People in Love, you should definitely ask for a copy for Christmas. It's fantabulous.

Speaking of things that have been mercilessly logged . . . okay, really, things that look like logs . . . Violet found the perfect poppety-sized log cabin in my mother's house:


There was, however, a slight problem with the front door:



Violet is still wondering why on earth anyone would create a round front door. It's just not right, you know. Poppets should be allowed to live in proper homes with hinged doors. And, I quote, "Hmmmph," said Violet.

I promised to tell the Tale of the Upside-Down Turkey. This is funny to me because I've been laboring under the misconception that my sister was the perfect daughter, always whipping up something delightful for the family (who ate promptly at 5:00 p.m. - they really did that; I got chewed out for our wing-it cooking style when she came to visit and thought her babies were going to starve to death), with the perfect country-style home (uck, not my thing) and, of course, a well-crafted financial plan to avoid retirement in poverty. So, you know, ignoring all that other stuff . . . let's get back to the perfect cooking bit. Sister spent the night before Thanksgiving in my mother's home, in order to get that bird shoved into the oven, nice and early. It wasn't until she arrived looking just a wee bit frantic and then wondered aloud just how long she should cook the turkey and whether or not she should call the Butterball Hotline that I remembered, "Oh, yeah. I was the daughter to whom everything came easily." Geez, all those wasted years.

Fast-forward to Thursday morning. Early-bird sis shoved the fat turkey into a fiercely hot oven and then concentrated on side dishes. Eventually, her family showed up. Brother-in-law whipped up some mashed potatoes and fussed around in the kitchen (he's an excellent cook) and then they waited and waited and waited. After a few more hours of waiting, out came the meat thermometer. They puzzled over the turkey. Why was it not reaching the proper temperature? And, what the heck was going on with its legs? It just didn't look right, somehow. Finally, my clever brother-in-law realized that Sis had placed the turkey upside-down on its roasting pan and that the thicker breast meat wasn't warming up because it wasn't surrounded by hot air. He pulled the turkey out, flipped it over and popped it back into the oven. At 3:00 p.m., we had a delightfully juicy turkey. Kookie tells me that turning the bird upside- down for an hour actually is a good thing, as it makes the juices run down into the breast meat (and I can confirm that - it was definitely not your typical, dry turkey). Violet just thought that impression of a grid on the turkey looked weird:


For Chris of Stuff as Dreams are Made On:

I don't always get great hawk photos. Sometimes, I get grainy red-tail butt. Photography takes lots of practice and lots of frames - even the pros have photos they throw out. Feel better?

Bookfool, still glad to be home, in spite of the mess

Hawks, prairie dogs and snow: an update from Oklahoma

Hi Everybody!

It's me, Bookfool. Remember me? I'm still in Oklahoma, where I zipped off to help my mother when she was admitted to the CCU unit at her local hospital. She's much, much better. I'll be back and forth for months and I will somehow have to figure out what to do about that speeding ticket I got in Louisiana (my first - and I had no idea I was speeding; I was just a little distracted, for obvious reasons). But, I'll be home soon. In the meantime, my internet time has been limited, due to the fact that my mother's computer is a dinosaur and she has dial-up. Not that it matters what she has, since I gave up after an hour of clickety-clickety-clickety followed by a string of error messages. I have been emailing from Burger King. Gotta love it.

Anyway, I have many stories to tell (like the Story of the Upside-down Turkey, the Tale of the Terrible Traffic Ticket, the Burger King Internet Pervert and the Psychic Dreamer - just remind me), but since the Burger King people look at me funny, after a while, I'm just going to post a few photos and tell you all is well. I don't have the ability to stick around long enough to blog-hop, but I hope to do so when I get home in a week. I miss you guys!!

Here are some photos. A hawk spotted on the drive up to Oklahoma (I counted 73, in all):



A prairie dog at an undisturbed, natural prairie-dog village near Kaw Lake in Oklahoma:




It snowed, last night!!!! My car, on my mother's driveway:




I only brought one poppet, Violet. She danced in the snow:




On Thanksgiving, my niece Michelle posed with Violet - more photos of Violet and her travels around the house will be posted, once we return to MS. My brother-in-law (who is a really funny guy with a terrific dry wit) said, "You know, I'm stopping just short of calling you weird," as he watched me pose Violet on shelves and next to the infamous upside-down turkey (great story - you'll love it, but you have to wait till I have more time). Aren't Violet and Michelle cute?




I hope everyone has been happy and well. I've bought a stack of books and have finished 7, since I got here, so Violet has to do some posing with books and I hope to do a massive books-read-and-bought update when I return.

Love to all!

Bookfool

Where on earth has Bookfool been?

Bookfool has been very busy, dashing around to various kid events. Miss me?

On Friday, after the usual chauffeuring duties, I hibernated because of a migraine and finished reading Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson, which is an excellent young adult novel - Anderson has yet to let me down. On Saturday, we went to a swim meet followed by a band contest and then I reached the end of a very short children's book called Ghost Eye, by Marion Dane Bauer. I meant to write up a review of that as a short-story Sunday entry; but, alas and alack, I was just too darn tired. So, instead, I did load upon load of relaxing laundry and then finished reading The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico, last night.

I am now 4 book reviews behind. May I just say, "Argh!"? But, hey, it's been a great reading week. And, the swim meet and band events were extremely fun. And, a green dragonfly landed on my leg at the swim meet, which is supposed to be good luck, right?

To aid in catching up, I believe I'll continue to steal Dewey's book review format, which I snitched for my review of The Collection. Answering questions is just a wee bit easier than my normal method. Then, hopefully, I'll get back to my usual chatty review style.

More, later . . . at least, that's the plan.

25 Years and not a single bullet

You can see we had a Baptist wedding from the toast (punch - very good punch, actually).

I have to run the kiddo to the music store in Jackson because the school has not managed to purchase enough lyres and he kind of needs his music for marching, as it's not yet memorized. Hopefully, I'll get a review of Lesley Castle posted, later this evening. Hubby and I are going to the French restaurant for bad service and decent food in celebration of having survived each other for a quarter century, after we drop kiddo off at swim practice, tonight.

Our secret for wedded bliss: When we married, we agreed that we'd give our marriage a 25-year trial run and if things didn't work out, we'd give it another 25. Also, it really does help not to keep any guns in the house.

Gotta dash!

How on earth did they come up with this number?

My blog is worth $76,777.44.
How much is your blog worth?

Book Quiz

You're The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!

by Douglas Adams

Considered by many to be one of the funniest people around, you are
quite an entertainer. You've also traveled to the far reaches of what you deem possible,
often confused and unsure of yourself. Life continues to jostle you around like a marble,
but it's shown you so much of the world that you don't care. Wacky adventures continue to
lie ahead. Your favorite number is 42.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I'm seriously in the minority on this one. I love my answer and feel like it fits in many ways. Plus, I really love the book and (big wahoo) it was my good fortune to attend a reading by Douglas Adams when we were living in Ann Arbor. If there's ever a Hitchhiker's character quiz, I know which character I'd be.

Anecdotal diversion:

When my husband and I were dating and he was working on his bachelor's degree, he loaned his copy of Life, the Universe and Everything to a grad student he worked with while I was reading the book. Yes, he never got it back and we eventually had to buy another copy. What is most memorable about that grad student, besides the fact that he walked off with a book I really, really wanted to finish? He had a bumper sticker on his wall that read, "No man is an island, but I can be a peninsula if I want to." I don't remember his face or his name, how tall he was or much else - he did have dark, curly hair and wore jeans all the time - but I remember the sticker on his office wall.

Thanks to Gentle Reader and Jenclair for leading me to this quiz.

One Word Meme

Stolen from Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza

1. Where is your mobile phone? Purse

2. Relationship? Steady.

3. Your hair? Curly.

4. Work? Pardon?

5. Your sister(s)? Bartlesville.

6. Your favorite thing? Nature.

7. Your dream last night? Weird.

8. Your favorite drink? Coca-cola.

9. Your dream car? Bond.

10. The room you're in? Office.

11. Your shoes? Barefoot.

12. Your fears? Defeat.

13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Content.

14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Cats.

15. What are you not good at? Housewifing.

16. Muffin? Tim-Tam.

17. Wish list item? Confidence.

18. Where you grew up? Oklahoma.

19. The last thing you did? Photography.

20. What are you wearing? Shorts.

21. What are you not wearing? Jewelry.

22. Your pet? Two.

23. Your computer? Functional.

24. Your life? Yeesh.

25. Your mood? Zen.

26. Missing? Excitement.

27. What are you thinking about? Heat.

28. Your car? Camry.

29. Your kitchen? Outdated.

30. Your summer? Hot.

31. Your favorite color? Green.

32. Last time you laughed? Yesterday.

33. Last time you cried? Friday.

34. School? Waiting.

35. Love? Knot.

Pass it on. Bellezza doesn't mind. I'm not sure about Paula, from whom Bellezza stole the meme.

Finished: While I Live and Angels of a Lower Flight.

Reviews: Forthcoming

Also forthcoming: Eldest son. So, it may be a little quiet for a couple of days.

Putting off: Harry Potter. Kiddo slammed his door when I said I'd like to wait till the crowd thins. Sigh. I hate crowds.

Off to clean the pit. Or, in British: This place is a tip. Pit. Tip. Funny.

Bookfool, who'd rather read

What Happens When a Bookfool Can't Sleep . . .

This is just so funny I had to share immediately. You've probably already seen this a million times, but there's this thing going around . . . where you type your name and the word "needs" into a Google window and hit "search". Have you seen it? Okay, I typed in "Bookfool" and it was soooo boring. Totally dull. So, I tried my real name and here's what I got:

1. Nancy needs to learn what the moon is. Honestly, I really do think I know what the moon is. It's cheese, right? A big wheel of cheese.

2. Nancy needs to check her own links. No comment.

3. Nancy needs help choosing a snake to breed. I'll just walk out the door and see what I can find. The last snake I saw was on my porch.

4. Nancy needs some vino photos. I should have just stopped at "vino", but either way it cracked me up.

5. Nancy needs prayer. Always true, I promise.

6. Nancy needs to find the stairs in Mattie Jensen's. (?)

7. Nancy needs to wake up. No, really, she needs to go to sleep.

8. Nancy needs to take a step back. Usually, that has to do with the fact that there's a snake on the porch. Okay, just kidding. I like this one.

I'm going to stop right there because #9 is about a loan and #10 . . . a boob job and I just don't think it can get any funnier.

I'm on #40 of my list of "100 Things About Me". It's getting harder every minute.

Hubby is back in communication. Wahoo! He sent me a picture of a very big, very toothy crocodile and says he didn't see a single snake. But, he didn't roam around in the desert; he stayed with other people. The croc was spotted on a boat ride.

Okay, off to get some shut-eye.

Someday, I'll finish that last chunkster and the usual chatter

Angela, aka SciFiChick, and I are in the same boat, this month - balancing perhaps a few too many books at once and not finishing much of anything. I immersed myself in Great Expectations, this afternoon, and still have 100 pages to go. But, I'm absolutely loving it and hope to have a review posted, soon, very soon. I'm also nipping away at Solo Traveler, a book I bought on a whim after dropping the spouse off at the airport (while thinking, "Enough of this being left behind!!) and Dedication by the Nanny Diaries co-authors. I'm enjoying all three. Held at a Distance will not defeat me, but I haven't touched it. Don't tell Andi. Okay, Andi, I'll get to it. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

The spouse has arrived safely in Melbourne, is ensconced in some hotel or other and called me first from:

1. A noisy airplane terminal in Los Angeles, then
2. A noisy baggage claim area in Melbourne, then
3. A noisy hotel lobby.

Seems like this has been a noisy, but uneventful trip, so far. That's good, I think.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch-style home, the kiddo declared himself "completely bored" and fiercely hungry. We trudged (by car - not really so much a trudge as a glide) to the Mexican restaurant, where I discovered that I really like being called amigo. It's a feel-good word, don't you think? And, then, I told youngest son that it would be fine with me if he helped out with the housework. There's no reason to be bored with all that cleaning to do, said I. The teenager immediately declared himself full of ideas for preoccupation. Miraculous.

We were both stunned, shocked, amazed, and many other surprising adjectives, at the fact that I actually managed to get up at 5:30 am - in plenty of time to haul kiddo to swim practice!! Just for the record, I am not a morning person. And, now, at 9:30 pm I feel a bit like this:

A few product-sample memos:

Snuggle's new wild orchid & vanilla Exhilarations fabric softener smells lovely and works great. Fluffy towels, pleasant smell. Since I recently bought some clearance bottles of fabric softener and then brought them home and discovered why they were rejects (the laundry did not smell good - in fact, it was offensive, so I gave away the fabric softener), I've learned to appreciate a light, pleasant scent.

Cascade Action Pacs with Dawn got the dishes clean without leaving a residue.

Aveeno's SPF 55 lotion sample struck me as awfully heavy and strongly scented (it would be heavy, though with SPF 55). And, it made my skin burn. So, that looks like a reject.

Eucerin Calming Creme is light, maybe too light because my skin sucked it right up and asked for more. And, it may have gone off a bit - not sure; it might just be unscented. Sometimes it's hard to tell with lotion.

L'Occitane's Verbena soap is lemony heaven - love it! And the eye cream is soothing.

And, a thought . . .

I was visiting In Spring it is the Dawn and noticed that Nat mentioned to Lotus that she should ask me for tips on nature photography. Which, of course, is nutty because Nat is brilliant. If you haven't seen her iris photos, you must dash right over to In Spring it is the Dawn, right now. But, anyway, I do have a few pointers I could share - just things I've learned by doing. Are you interested? If so, I'll do a post on that, some time.

Gotta go immerse myself in water, soap up, sneak in a few pages and snooze.

Happy Weekend from Bookfool!

Strike up the band 'cause Bookfool's back!!! Did you miss me?

What a week!!! I'll be doing some major blog-hopping, tomorrow. I've had limited internet access, this week, and yada, yada on the no-time thing. Now that I'm back, I can tell you why I had such a busy week. I've been on vacation in Ann Arbor, Michigan!! Wahoo! I had such a blast. Kiddo attended swim camp at the University of Michigan and loved it. We spent plenty of time at the pool and were very impressed with the organization of the U of M swim camp (two of us were on vacation; the youngster was hard at work). Those calves in my most recent Wahoo Wednesday post belong to Olympic gold-medalist Michael Phelps (who is featured in the July issue of Men's Journal magazine). He and several other top Michigan swimmers dropped by for an autograph session on Tuesday.

Best of all . . . . I met two fabulous authors, this week!!! Our own bloggy wonder, Colleen Gleason, met me for lunch on Monday (waving to Colleen!). If you think she's wonderful on the internet, you really must go to one of her signings of Rises the Night and meet her in person. Colleen is loads of fun and a total sweetheart! Here's a link to her website.

And, on Thursday, I met Simon Van Booy for . . . well, it was supposed to be "brunch", but we got a late start and I guess it turned into a long lunch, instead (waving to Simon!). Simon is utterly captivating and he's also touring, right now, reading and signing The Secret Lives of People in Love. Anglophiles, take note: he has a lovely accent and he is a total charmer (that bit's for the females).

I'll be writing up interview articles of both for Estella's Revenge and will post links when the time comes. Photos forthcoming when the husband isn't nagging at me to please hurry up and finish so we can go to bed because we left for the Detroit airport on Friday morning and didn't arrive home till tonight (Saturday) at 7:00 pm. After numerous delays and a night in a skanky hotel (yeah, yeah, more on that, later), hubby managed to get us on a direct flight to Jackson. I loved the way the pilot, Dan, introduced our flight attendant: "The one, the only, the incomparable Sue!"

We had only one big bump, caused by "wave turbulence from another plane that flew in this area, quite some time ago." Have to watch for those disturbing air currents, you know. And, then we actually sat in the plane on the tarmac for nearly an hour, upon arrival in Jackson, because there weren't any gates available. Our pilot asked us to kindly open all the air vents - it was 97 degrees outside. No point in baking while we waited.

We ran so much that I was hardly able to read at all, this week, apart from The God of Animals (hope to post a review of that, tomorrow) and most of Simon's book, which I reread so it would be fresh in my mind when I spoke to him. I had a million questions; his stories are incredibly thought-provoking. I also managed to get about halfway into Kathy Little Bird, during the flight home.

Our other flights were really interesting - loads more stories to tell but I have to run!

Hope everyone's having a terrific weekend! I missed visiting your blogs and can't wait to catch up!

There is no news like good news . . .

Not that we've gotten any terrific news; I just liked the thought (in my subject line). I am awaiting news from my mother, who had surgery and was told that the mass removed "looked like cancer". But, we won't know till Wednesday. Medical people are so cruel. However, they've saved her life three times, so I guess I'll give them a break.

What do you think of the highway patrolman's posture? Excellent, eh? It makes me want to walk around balancing books on my head to improve my posture. That's an old photo, by the way (as in about 8 months old), taken as we were returning from a band contest in Copiah, Mississippi. We were warned that there was a "serious accident" holding up traffic and deliberately altered our course. But, the road we chose just happened to feed right back onto the highway we were trying to avoid. Hence, the opportunity to photograph a highway patrolman with excellent posture, as well as a heck of an automobile mess.

Here's our very last Italian Kinderegg:

Pictured are a few of my favorite toy surprises. We're always fond of the little cars. The green alien-looking thing, at right, is a top - and a very good one. The blue toy - rather like a marble run - is my all-time favorite. Behind it is a pirate ship. Unfortunately, I dropped one of its tiny plastic parrots on the way down the hallway to photograph it and haven't seen it, since. Oh, well. It was nice while it lasted.

Just finished: The Pearl Diver by Sujata Massey

The Pearl Diver was one of my bargain finds. From the appearance of the cover and the blurb on the back of the book, as well as its size, I was under the impression that I was buying literature with a touch of mystery. Nope, it's a mystery - the kind I'd have expected to buy as a mass-market paperback rather than trade paperback (which I do like better, as they're more comfortable to hold). But, anyway, I enjoyed it. It's no great work of literature, by any means, but the mystery is a good one. It appears to be the 7th of 8 mysteries, but stands alone well. Full review later, if I can summon the energy.

I'm about to lose my mind over the migraine medicine fiasco. As I suspected, my primary physician won't slot me in for a 5-minute medicine appointment because he's getting ready to leave town and I'm undoubtedly being punished for missing my appointment. Bastard. I didn't say that. So, I called to see if they have a new neurologist at the other clinic (owned by the big, nasty medical corporation, where they happily take your money and grudgingly credit your account six months later). We currently do not have a neurologist in Vicksburg at all. Not one. Calgon, take me away. Okay, so the clinic gave me the number of my old neurologist - now on the Gulf Coast. And, of course, he can't call in refills because you have to visit him (plus, he doesn't have my records). Can I just say, "Aaaaaaaaaaargh!" Okay, thanks. I feel better, now, although my head doesn't.

Click on this to enlarge and view the funniest little insert that ever dropped out of an album:


So much for sticking to books only.

Apologies for the static sidebar. I'll try to get that updated, later, so it no longer appears that I'm reading the same books over and over and over.

End Tuesday Twaddle

Life is not fair and a book update

These are some of hubby's photos from Florence, in a collage I made while he fell onto the pillows after exhausting himself by spreading dirty clothing as far as conceivably possible. How do they do that? Left to right, handsome husband making one of three types pasta his class cooked up at cooking school, the Ponte Vecchio and one of many David statues with a bird on his head and his more sensitive parts cropped out. The spouse had a lousy camera he checked out from his workplace and he complained vigorously; but, I thought he still managed to get some nice shots. Obviously, Florence was not a miserable experience for him.

But, hey, I got photos of a heron, some bamboo and magnolias. So, I had some fun, too. Not quite the same but life is funny that way.

Did someone ask me how I made the previous collage photo? I recall being asked somewhere, but now I can't figure out who asked me and where the question was posed. Just for the record, I used Picasa's collage feature and since I just figured it out this week, I'll be happy to share how to assemble a collage if there's someone who wants to know. I'm really tired, so you'll just have to forgive me for being a bubblehead.

I'm almost finished with Prescription for Adventure and began reading The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Hopefully, a review of Prescription for Adventure will be posted by tomorrow evening.

Since hubby is going to have a very, very busy travel schedule, this summer, it occurred to me that I'd better quit being a hermit and reconnect with some old friends. On that note, I drove to Jackson, aka The Big City, to attend my old writers' group's monthly meeting, today. It was great to see old friends. Sadly, one of the ladies was at the vet with her favorite kitty, who is dying of kidney failure due to contaminated pet food. Please send positive thoughts and prayers to Penny.

Because the husband arrived home rather late and the youngster attended a dance that lasted till midnight - the former making an explosive mess and the latter arriving home so hyped up that it took two hours to settle down - we had a late night and I made the jaunt to The Big City alone. There is much to be said for a few hours of controlling your own destiny, including the ability to decide where to eat lunch. How pleasant. I forget what it's like to make your own decisions without anyone else's opinion involved, since I'm usually tied to someone else's schedule.

Poppet and I stopped by the spillway in order to attempt to spot herons. I plunked her in the sand and on rocks to pose. Poppets are much more accommodating about being posed than, say, family members, I've discovered. We had a merry little chase in order to try to pose her near a butterfly and it turns out butterflies are about as cooperative as family members. But, I had fun just following a butterfly through the clover. I'm not certain whether Poppet found it enjoyable; more than likely, she would have liked to hitch a ride. Hopefully, photos will be posted to Poppet's blog within the next few days.

May your weekend be restful and full of good reading,

Bookfool

Pardon that unfinished post

I'm experiencing a bit of blogger weirdness, here. I suddenly could not view my post, apart from "preview" mode, and became unable to edit. So, to finish up . . .

My rating for We Are All Fine Here by Mary Guterson is 4.5/5.

I think probably hell will freeze over before anyone does something as intense as building a courtyard in our little backyard.

And, I'll be back later. Have a fun day, bibliophiles!

Bookfool

I'll be back soon

My husband is in town only briefly, then he'll be taking off for Italy (without me, yes), tomorrow. Since he's only home for the day, we're scrambling to accomplish a long list of tasks that simply cannot wait until his return. I've finished another book, Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt and loved it - couldn't put it down, in fact, and I have a bit of a reading hangover. As soon as I have a few minutes, I'll write up reviews of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Open and Shut. I'll return as soon as possible, tonight if I can and Sunday at the latest. Thanks for visiting me!!!

Update: Just taking a few minutes off and I've gotten my lovely Poppet (thanks to Chris). I took her on a tour. She nearly got sniffed to death.

Back later!

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Look what Gavin taught me how to do!

Thanks Gavin!!!! That's Gavin of Digital Life, if anyone's wondering. I begged my eldest (who is in IT) to teach me how to put text on photos for months. This is one thing I love about all you wonderful bloggy people! I'm learning new things!