Books

I decided to keep track of the books I read and my reaction to them. So, here are the books I've read lately.

finished reading "Silver Phoenix" very good YA book. lots of action and description.

Silver Phoenix

www.amazon.com

Ai Ling can see into other people's minds and reach into their spirits. But she doesn't know why this power has awakened inside her. She only knows that it is growing. It leads her on an epic journey—one that brings her to the edge of the deepest evil. Chen Yong has a quest of his own, but ...

 

 

 

I also finished "Suspect" Heartbreaking at the beginning, good fast paced story and great ending.

Suspect

www.amazon.com

The explosive new masterpiece of suspense from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author. LAPD cop Scott James is not doing so well. Eight months ago, a shocking nighttime assault by unidentified men killed his partner Stephanie, nearly killed him, and left

 

 

I just finished reading 'The Princess and The Goblin' a sweet old fashioned children's story.

The Princess And The Goblin (illustrated)

www.amazon.com

The Princess And The Goblin by George Macdonald with illustrations by Jessie Willcox Smith in black and white. When her father's kingdom is terrorized by the Goblins who inhabit the underground, a young princess and her faithful companions hatch a plan to defeat the goblins and save the kingdom.

 

 

"The Princess and Curdie" is the follow-up to "The Princess and The Goblin" Interesting story, takes a while to get going and is rather preachy. but I believe that is par for the course with books from this time period.

The Princess and Curdie

www.amazon.com

The Princess and Curdie

 

Food, Glorious Food

Lots of cooking this weekend. I tried a new recipe 'Baked Zucchini Chips', my Mom and I really like them, my Dad didn't. I also made a bunch of old favorites. One of which, Quiche, always reminds me of Jane Wyatt, Catherine Racowsky and the triplets. Jane is the one who introduced me to making Quiche. I also made Pasta Salad and Cherry Delight. Cherry Delight is a kind of no bake cheesecake and my family has served it at countless dinners over the years.  All this food and the memories they invoke brings home how intertwined food is in making memories. Making an old familiar dish can bring back how I felt and the people I was with, when I cook and eat that dish again.

Friday Night Out

I had a very enjoyable evening Friday  with Tara Parker. We attended a reception at the Mesa Contemporary Art Museum where we saw Loran Woods and lots of amazing art. I really like The Dogs of Ron Burns. Had dinner at a Thai place on Main that was very good, and walking around Main for 2nd Friday Night out, found a new artist whose work I like, Annie Dunn. Her website is www.vanAnnies.com, check her out.

vanAnnies Chaos in Color - Fine Art With a Sense of Humor

www.vanannies.com

A gallery of colorful creatures from independent artist Annie Dunn

Update

I always get a bit annoyed by bloggers who don't update in a timely manner and now, look, I'm one of them.

A quick update then. Today on Palm Sunday, I made calls, a Texas sheet cake, rehearsed, went to church, sang at church with my niece Halli (Gethsemane by Melanie and Roger Hoffman), went to choir practice, and about four and one half hours after I left for church. I went home for dinner, helped a bit with cleaning up, did a facial mask, shower and spent some time catching up on my emails and blogs.

That was my day of rest!

air freshener is EVIL and should be illegal! (small rant)

Talk about an unhappy homecoming. We'd just returned from my sisters Deborah and Tara's home, where we had a lovely dinner. Walking in the living room, bam, burning eyes, tight chest, and instantly irritable, a cloud of air freshener. I'd rather smell whatever they are supposed to be covering, then feeling sick and headachey. clean linen and blue sky-my ass.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner is over. It came togather pretty easily this year, no drama, which is always nice...I was in charge of apple and pecan pie and stuffing. I made everything yesterday and I am sure that contributed to the ease of today.

Since this is Thanksgiving Day. I'd though I'd list some of what and who I am thankful for:

Music

Food

The roof over my head

New, Nice FREE clothes

my very cozy bed and room

Mom, Dad, Matt, Laurel, Nicole, Deborah, Tara, Leah, Brandon, Braedon, Jordyn, Bryson, Jack, Jackie, Jo, Grace, Sam and Parker, Colby, Halli, McKinnley,Charlee, Reilly

Charlie, Houdini, KittKatt, GrisGris, Jasmine

My Aunt Margie and Uncle Richard, Kim and Rick and their families, my Aunts Jeanie and Suzanne, Uncle Frank and their families and all my Cluff cousins.

My garden and wild house finches, hummingbirds and the Desert Botanical Gardens

BOOKS, and the wonderfully talented Authors and Editors who created them

Theresa, Toni, Suzanne and Carla, Sheston, Connie, Shannon, Leslie, Mark, Vicki, Lisa

The ability to attend College and the teachers who work there

yarn and floss and the wonderfull people who create patterns

Singing in the choir

The list could go on and on...If I left someone off, it was just because I got tired. I'm thankful for you too!

Happy Thanksgiving.

So...

I'm sitting on my bed listening to Christmas music (yes I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I love Christmas music). I'm trying to decide how to start my essay and know that the only way to start is ...wait for it... to simply start writing.

not that I haven't had plenty of time today to write, but oh, I've had some lovely distractions. My sister Leah and hubby and kids all showed up to visit this afternoon with bags of clothes for me to sort through.

I have better stop and start what I'm really supposed to be working on.

Aude, igitur, semper esse idem! (Dare, therefore, always to be the same (man,person))