"An Old-Fashioned Girl" and Charlie

"An Old-Fashioned Girl" by Louisa May Alcott
Country cousin Polly, the old-fashioned girl of the title, goes to visit rich Fanny and family in the big city for a couple of months. There she has many different experiences. Some she likes and some she doesn't. that's the first half of the book. The second half takes place six years after. Polly is working in the city giving music lessons, meanwhile Fanny's family suffers a reversal in fortune. Polly helps them out.

The book has a lot more going for it then that. If you like "Little Women" you will like this. It's full of descriptions of the fashions and manners of that bygone age. I find it amusing that the same things that a lot of people criticize now, such as children dressing and acting too grown-up, unwholesome entertainment and use of stimulants, alcohol, gambling, spending money they don't have, being indolent, not caring, are the same things that the author is criticizing in her novel.  There is also discussion in the book about a women's role in the world especially when she is single, being and staying happy and useful, and a women's influence.

Continuing on with introducing my boys:
Here's a picture of my Charlie, the $5000 dollar cat. If you want to know the story, it's in my first entry to this blog. Sorry, I can't seem to put a link in correctly yet.

Charlie is a sensitive soul and is often whinny. I sometimes joke that he is saying 'I'm a middle-aged eunuch and will whine if I want too". The vet told me that orange and white cats are similar to natural red heads in that there is no pain tolerance.

Charlie my boy, oh Charlie my boy!

 

 

These two cool cats are Ruby Tuesday and Hotrod, Charlie's litter mates who live with Auntie Theresa.

My Kitty Boys

This is Gris Gris. A very round noisy boy and a champion purr monster.

 

 

This is KitKat. He's long and sleek with the silkiest fur. Sorry for the picture quality.

Have you ever tried to photograph a black cat?

flowers from my garden

the lastest books read

"Eye of the Witch; Detective Marcella Witch's Series, book 2" by Dana E. Donovan
An interesting murder mystery with paranormal underpinnings. lots of references to the first book and the story took a while to get going, but overall a good read. I would like to read the rest of the series.

"Louisiana Lament" by Julie Smith (Talba Wallis Mystery #3)
This is the third book in the fun mystery series. I love that the heroine is a poet and that her poems are in the book. However, poetry does not pay the bills and so, Talba's day job is a PI.

Side note, I'm watching the season finale of "The Following" and just realized that one of the major characters is named "Debra Parker". My third sister is named "Deborah Parker"

What I'm thankful for....

With all the coverage of the destruction in Oklahoma, I felt prompted to make a gratitude list.
 

• I have an intact roof over my head
• a comfortable bed
• lots of good food in the house
• plenty of clothing to wear
• a multitude of books to read
• hot shower
• ice
• diet coke
• Houdini, Charlee, Kit Kat, and Gris Gris-my cats
• Jasmine-Matt's dog
• a beautiful and clean! bedroom
• my Mom and Dad are mostly healthy
• a beautiful garden with lots of herbs and flowers
• fresh tomatoes off the vine
• yummy smelling lotion
• Advil
• zinnias-I love their bright colors and they are amazingly long lasting cut flowers
• fried potatoes
• I finished watching my past season of "Grim"
• my Kindle
• my siblings and my nieces and nephews
• the silly hummingbirds and finches I see from my window, butterflies, fat lazy carpenter bees and busy honeybees

say a prayer

for all the people in tornado alley, esp. Oklahoma.

Tara means Star

A long discriptive paragraph about someone I know that I wrote for a class.

Tara means Star

          A soft-looking woman with blue eyes, very fair skin, and short blond hair with frequent pink or blue streaks in it, her exterior belies a whim of steel. Tara loves to dress up for everyday occasions and wear amazing heels.  She has an elegant, cool air masking strong opinions and a sometimes prickly manner. She will let you know if she’s happy or sad. Tara is the second to youngest in a family of seven children and yes, we all have the same parents. We often joke that Tara had five mommies. With four older sisters and an older brother, the only way to survive in a large family is to be strong-willed. And she is strong in her likes and dislikes. Tara loves her animals and is a devoted pet mom, who supports animal and environmental causes. People, to her mind, are on their own. She swears she dislikes children and she will never have them. However, she will get books and small presents for no reason at all for her nieces and nephews. She often gives gifts just because, but refuses to do birthday or Christmas presents. One family trait we share is no tolerance for boredom. She’s good with money and ran a successful business as a massage therapist until she became bored with it. She went back to school to be a physical therapy technician, got bored with that and then went to work at a lab. She is a talented artist, but stopped drawing because she got bored! I can’t wait to see what she does next. My sister is a voracious reader, loves Chinese food, Halloween, and movies with explosions. She despises ignorance, anything creamy, Christmas, and movies with sex. Tara is a quirky, interesting person to be related to and I quite enjoy being her sister. Oh, I picked out her name, it’s Hindu and means “star”