Friday Fill-ins 05-01-09

Janet is our clever host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is wear headphones if you’re going to listen to music or talk radio; and don’t wear strong scents.

2. I used to love butter clams; now, not so much.


3. When I think of carnivals I think of cotton candy and roller coasters.

4. Wisteria is my favorite spring flower.

5. Things on my desk include a pile of papers I need to deal with, a photo of my sweetie, a few books and a poster of President Barack Obama.

6. Hearing a show tune makes me wanna sing!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting my voice back (laryngitis), tomorrow my plans include rehearsing with the choir all day and a talent show in the evening and Sunday, I want to rehearse with the choir all day and then go home to sleep! Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where In the World Are You? The Hiding Place

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.




From The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi, page 22:

My mother mixes up a bowl of something grey for Luca, rapidly beating milk into powder. Her fury travels down the spoon and into Luca's dinner. I am breast-fed: I get rage straight from the source.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm in Cardiff, Wales in the 1960s. Life is not altogether pleasant with a father who gambles away the money meant for our food and rent, and a mother who struggles to keep body and soul together.

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Friday Fill-ins 04-24-09

Janet is our clever host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




And...here we go!

1. Apparently there's some sort of aging thing happening to my body.

2. I hope this weekend we’ll have at least one sunny day.

3. 2009 rocks so far.

4. We fell in love and that was it. Well, there was a little more to it….

5. For too long I've been eating foods that aren’t nourishing me.

6. I am not obsessed with blogging and photography; I am not! OK, maybe just a little….

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to being at the women’s music weekend and singing, laughing, and visiting with friends, tomorrow my plans include being at the women’s music weekend and singing, laughing and visiting with friends some more and Sunday, I want to be at the women’s music weekend and sing and laugh and visit with friends some more and then come home for a nap! Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 04-21-09: East of Eden

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.


I'm still reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It's been awhile since it's taken me a week to read a book! This chunkster weighs in at almost 600 pages though. From page 224:

Kate wondered uneasily whether she could read minds, for Faye said, "I still don't like it as well. I said it then and I say it again. I liked your hair blond better. I don't know what got into you to change it. You've got a fair complexion."

Kate caught a single thread of hair with fingernails of thumb and forefinger and gently drew it out. She was very clever. She told the best lie of all--the truth. "I didn't want to tell you," she said. "I was afraid I might be recognized and that would hurt someone."

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I am firmly rooted in the Salinas Valley, California. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 04-17-09

Janet is our capable host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


And...here we go!

1. Join me in a little Kumbaya.

2. Put a little pizzazz in your day! (Hm, I just realized that's pizza with a zz.)

3. Happiness is a good book, a good friend, a good cup of coffee, a good hug, a good meal, a song; and if they all happen on the same day, it's bliss!

4. Confuzzled and confused.

5. I'm waiting for patience, and I hope it gets here soon.

6. Ice cream is hard to resist.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dinner out with Laurie and some friends, tomorrow my plans include a little gardening and some photo shooting, and Sunday I want to rehearse and read!

. Read More!

Teaser Tuesday and Where Are You? 04-14-09: East of Eden

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.



Today's selection comes from East of Eden by John Steinbeck, page 73:

And this slavishness to the group normally extends into every game, every practice, social or otherwise. It is a protective coloration children utilize for their safety. Cathy had none of this. She never conformed in dress or conduct. She wore whatever she wanted to. The result was that quite often other children imitated her.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I've been all over the US so far; right now I'm in Connecticut but California is looking pretty good. Read More!

Happy Easter

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The Sunday Salon

Happy Sunday everyone! I know some of you are celebrating Passover, some Easter and some just celebrating Sunday (that's me, in the latter category).

Here's an update on my go-rounds with Barnes and Noble dot com and Penguin Books:

After a few more email exchanges with B&N (and by "exchanges" I mean I ranted and they sent back another form email), I called the nearest brick and mortar store and talked with a manager. He was happy to take the book and give me a credit as long as I could show him the receipt. I'm notorious at not keeping track of things like that, but, miracle of miracles, I found the receipt and took it and the defective book to The Mall where the Big Box Bookstore is located.

I find malls to be soul-dead places. It's been many years since I've been in a Big Box Bookstore, and I also found B&N to be soul-dead. It had such an artificial, Stepford Wife feel to it, complete with Muzak. Too tidy and shiny for my tastes. But, the manager was very friendly and the staff was accommodating and I did my business with them and left, satisfied.

And then, a couple days later I got an email from Penguin Books telling me they'd be happy to replace the book, I just needed to provide them with the ISBN. I thanked them for their service and told them the matter had been resolved.

So, a happy ending after all. Lesson learned. Thanks for all your advice and commisery!

What I have been, am and will be reading:

This last week I read Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Wow, what an intriguing book! Someone commenting to me about their experience reading it said she felt like she'd dreamed it. That comes close to my experience too. The writing is beautiful (see teaser here), the story compelling, and a United Nations of characters are well drawn. I haven't read Patchett before, but I look forward to reading more of her work.

This weekend I'm finishing up The Master by Colm Tóibín.. This was a well loved book by several of my book buddies and short-listed for the Booker prize in 2005. When I started it, I had no idea what it was about - turns out it's historical fiction about Henry James, an author I've had a smattering of experience with. I'm not sure why I'm finding this book so compelling - it's very slow moving, quiet and written in Jamesian style - but it is definitely holding my interest. I'm regretting that I haven't read more of James; I know I'm missing a lot of allusions and references to his works. Perhaps now I'll go on a Henry James binge.

Up next is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I've been looking forward to this one for a long time.

Until next time ---- happy reading!
. Read More!

Friday Fill-ins 04-10-09

Janet is our outstanding host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.


1. For most of history Anonymous...was a woman (V. Woolf).

2. Life is a witch and then you fly.

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, o sour lemon balls.

4. Flowers are what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when I have my friends.

6. Books MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading, tomorrow my plans include choir rehearsal and Sunday, I want to read!
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Teaser Tuesday 04-07-09: Bel Canto

Should Be Reading - Miz B - hosts this weekly event. We throw out a couple of sentences from our current read (without spoilers, of course) to entice you to read the book.



Today's selection comes from Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, page 54:

How far she must have gone inside herself to call up that voice. It was as if the voice came from the center part of the earth and by the sheer effort and diligence of her will she had pulled it up through the dirt and rock and through the floorboards of the house, up into her feet, where it pulled through her, reaching, lifting, warmed by her, and then out of the white lily of her throat and straight to God in heaven. It was a miracle and he wept for the gift of bearing witness.

It's Tuesday, Where Are You? is hosted by an adventure in reading.

I'm being held captive with a number of other hostages in a large house in an unnamed South American country. Our captors are a somewhat inept group of terrorists whose demands are somewhat elusive and malleable.

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Friday Fill-ins 04-03-09

Janet is our brilliant host for this weekly event.


My responses are in italics.




1. Angel or not, I will have a devil of a time. This makes no sense to me. And it doesn't have to.

2. You can’t have me any way you want me.

3. As my mother used to say, you're full of baloney.

4. I’m often exhausted after I'm done working out or doing something strenuous – and the term “working out” – yeah, not so much .

5. Even in the most crowded of rooms I can feel alone.


6. A day I don’t get my coffee is a day fraught with peril.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a quiet evening, tomorrow my plans include reading and writing and Sunday, I want to write and sing with my friends and then go to a choir rehearsal!

(Photo from Google Images. I do not endorse or encourage the use of disposable coffee cups; couldn't resist this image though!) Read More!