It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? - 1/28/19

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

I took about 20 ebooks to Ireland with me (a girl needs options, ya know?!). And, I read...

very little.

Recently Finished:

Currently Reading:

Bought this while in Ireland, cute but informative!

Started this on the plane home.

Read More

It's Monday! What Are You Reading - 01/21/19

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

What I just finished reading:

Currently Reading:

Street and airport signs in Ireland! Be back soon...

Read More

Orphan Island - Snyder

Title: Orphan Island

Author: Laurel Snyder

Genre: Children's Fiction
Rating: 3/5- Good. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.

Book Source: Library
Recommended if you like: Children's, Fiction, Light Reading

 
What Its About: To a bunch of kids, living on a beautiful island with sunshine, plenty of food and play, and no adults, sounds great. And it is, except when the boat arrives for "The Changing". 

When the boat arrives, a new, younger orphan child is dropped off. But "Nine on an island, orphans all..." means that the oldest must go. No one has ever questioned this before, despite sad goodbyes. But now it's Jinny's turn and she is not ready. So she decides to stay. Will the sky fall, as everyone always says? Perhaps. But if she goes, what happens then? Where is she going? And why?

Spoiler alert: don't expect any answers, just more questions.

The Bottom Line:
I enjoyed this read. I was able to get through it in two days, rare for me. Its simple reading, but it is oh so deep too. 

Read More

Ireland, Again!

If you have been around for a while, you will recall that in 2013 my four-women a cappella group, Purely Vocals, was given the chance to sing at a folk festival in Ireland. If not...well, just trust me on this one. Long story short, some random dude came up to us at a performance and told us that he "knew people" and "wanted us to come [with him] to Ireland to sing at a cool folk festival"...

Uh, yeah, OK... 

Frankly, none of us trusted him (we didn't even sing folk music) and managed to put it out of our heads. Except, turns out the guy was legit - as was the festival.  And after some communication with the organizer, we were booked. It was an amazing experience (I'd never been out of the country) and an unforgettable event. And, as if due to serendipity, one of the gals in my group (who was soon to retire and have a totally free schedule) met her future partner, Brian, at the event. 

Six years later, they are still going strong - as is the folk festival! And with this year's 20th year anniversary fast approaching, the subject came up with the organizer (a close friend of Brian's) of Purely Vocals returning for a repeat performance. After more discussion, it was all worked out. 

Purely Vocals is headed to Ireland to sing at the Shannonside Winter Music Festival

from January 17-21st!

Purely Vocals. We kinda look like street-walkers in this picture...
it was for a performance in a very large auditorium.

We are super excited! This time around we have a couple of extra days (and Brian, our personal escort) to do a little sightseeing. It will be cold and raw, as Ireland is at this time of year, but we know that now and have packed the warm coats and gloves, along with our boas and makeup of course.

Hubby is staying home with the kitties and will have to make due with videos and photos.

I'll update you when we return next week.

Read More

It's Monday! What Are You Reading - 01/14/19

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

What I just finished reading:

Currently Reading:

Read More

In Pieces - Field

Title: In Pieces

Author: Sally Field

Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3/5- Good. Read it, have a good time and move on. Or not.

Book Source: Library
Recommended if you like: Memoirs, Family and Loss, Celebrity Memoirs

 
What Its About: 
Field offers an intensely honest and raw account of her life and career. Her early wholesome early (Gidget, the Flying Nun) were at odds with her home life in which Field was forced to essentially split her herself into emotional pieces to survive emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of her step-father.

Field writes honestly about how her life and career progressed in light of (and perhaps because of) those experiences, admitting failed relationships, bad behavior, and poor decisions. She strives to place those pieces back together one again, like a jigsaw puzzle, to better understand herself and gain a better understanding of her mother, Baa, about whom she had always faced confusion and mistrust. Coming finally to clarity and accepting herself, warts and all, seems to be the tribute to her mother this books strives toward.

The Bottom Line:
This was a wonderful read.

Read More

KonMari Clutter...

Getting rid of books...yea or nay?!?

Marie Kondo...organization goddess or Wicked Witch of the Books?


Personally, I don't think there is one set answer for everyone. It depends on each person and their personal outlook on the written word.

If you are a person who cherishes books, rereads them, or sees them as art or perhaps life-changers...then by all means, keep your books! Let them spark your joy! 

Just be careful to avoid hoarder status - books are heavy and floors collapse.

If you are the kind of person who likes to read a book and move on, or someone who has limited space, read them and move them out (preferably to someone else who will read and appreciate them rather than tossing them in the trash!).

Or perhaps you are like me, I read books...and then put them into a "move on" pile or a "must keep forever" pile. That pile is limited, but it does exist.

Do what is right for you and you will always have just the right amount of books on hand "sparking joy".

Read More

Goodbye 2018 (and good riddance)!

In 2018 I…

• Read only 14 books. (Enter embarrassment emoticon here. For someone like me, that perhaps best shows my frame of mind last year. If I am not reading - I am not centered, not truly living.)
• Produced yet another amazing summer season of arts experiences for high school students. And then saw a shift of those duties to another group in our organization (a blessing and a loss), as well as a shift in my anticipated duties moving forward. Exciting changes!
• Lost (or removed) more than one Facebook friend due to my "attention" to the state of our beloved country and my willingness to call bullshit as needed. No regrets.
• Celebrated my husband's 60th birthday with a surprise party that truly took him by surprise.
• Continued a journey toward healing long-experienced intestinal issues with some success and some failure. Still a work in progress.
• Happily accepted the opportunity to return to Ireland with my diva-sisters, Purely Vocals, this January to perform in the 20th anniversary Shannonside Winter Music Festival. More to come soon! 
• Discovered a love for art and drawing, previously ignored art forms, and purchased a ridiculous amount of supplies so that I can dabble in graphite, charcoal, colored pencil, pastels and water color. OK, my new found love might actually be buying art supplies...but the drawing part is fun too. Again, more to come.
• Saw Dar Williams live, a long-time favorite of mine, for the first time. 
• Celebrated my fifth-wedding anniversary. (Update: Ooops...sixth!)
• Watched two active, adorable kittens come out of their shells and become amazing adult cat companions...and discovered the hard way what "redirected aggression" means (all seems fine now).
• Started learning to play the ukelele after years of not quite getting the hang of the guitar.

It was a rough year, but also just a step on the path to what lies ahead.

”What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven’t even happened yet.” – Anne Frank

Read More

It's Monday! What Are You Reading - 01/07/19

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and er… add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn here at The Book Date.

What I just finished reading:

Up next:

Read More

First Book Of The Year - 2019

Happy New Year! I was thrilled when a library hold finally came in at the last minute giving me the opportunity to make my first book of the year:

I've always loved Sally Field. And now, I just love her more!

Read More

Still crazy after all of these years...

Hello blogverse!

How the heck are ya?!

It's been...a while, hasn't it? And yet, I am drawn back to you all. Drawn back to writing. To reading. To sharing. And the fact that 75 of you are still listed as following me shows me that:

a) you are "still crazy" too!

b) you are really, really lazy and never unfollow old blogs, or

c) you are still interested in my babble (hoping, fingers crossed)

When I went silent a couple of years back, one of the biggest issues was that I was unable to access this blog without logging out of my Google work accounts. Therefore I wasn't able to easily blog (during lunch of course), like I had done in the past. But today, for some reason, it worked! Maybe a new laptop has something to do with that, not sure. But here I am!

Another issue was time. Work-wise, there were no free hours in the day, by evening I was spent, and very few weekends when I wasn't overbooked. I took to watching YouTube rather than reading (seriously, in 2018 I read, gulp, 14 books!). It was easier. But things have finally shifted, hopefully for the better, and I see calmer waters.

I never was a fast reader, and in the past I worried constantly that the blog wasn't enough. Not enough reviews, enough book info, etc. But recently, after visiting a few of my remaining favorite blogs, I realized that I really enjoyed reading about the bloggers' lives more than just the book stuff. 

So... time for that new start!

Moving into 2019, I am resolving to start blogging again. Yes, books will definitely play a role (I WILL read more than 14 books this year!). But I am not going to stress about the content. I will happily blog about everything going on in my life and hope that you find that just as interesting ( a girl's book bag can contain more than books, right?!). Nor am I going to constantly stress about the timing of my blogs. Some weeks it will be more than one, others perhaps none, and that will be just fine.

I will be like an old *blogger* friend...who pops in every once in a while to say "hi", to chat about life, and books, and whatever comes up. 

Here's to an amazing 2019!

Read More

Book Blogger Hop - 11/3 - 11/9

Question of the Week:

 

When reading a book, do you use a bookmark to mark your place in the book, or do you just fold over the top corner of the page? (submitted by Maria @ A Night's Dream of Books)

 

 

 

 

 

My Answer: 

There are two kinds of readers in the world. Those who use bookmarks...

And MONSTERS!

😜

Read More

Tuesday Tunes - 02/21/17

A good lyric is like a great book...

It's Your Song
Garth Brooks, Artist
Benita Hill and Pamela Wolf, Writers


(cover version)

Standing in the spotlight
On such a perfect night
Knowing that your out there listening
I remember one time
When I was so afraid
Didn't think I had the courage
To stand up on this stage
Then you reached into my heart
And you found the melody
And if there ever was somebody
Who made me believe in me
It was you
It was you

It was your song that made me sing
It was your voice that gave me wings
And it was your light that shined
Guiding my heart to find
This place where I belong
It was your song

Every night I pray
Before the music starts to play
That I'll do my best and I won't let you down
And for all the times I've stood here
This feeling feels brand new
And any time I doubt myself I think of you

'Cause It was your song that made me sing
It was your voice that gave me wings
And it was your light that shined
Guiding my heart to find
This place where I belong
It was your song

Dreams can come true
With God's great angels like you

It was your song that made me sing
It was your voice that gave me wings
And it was your light that shined
Guiding my heart to find
This place where I belong
It was your song
It was your song
It's always been your song

Read More

Tuesday Tunes - 02/14/17

A good lyric is like a great book...

The Longest Time
Don McLean, Artist/Writer

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land


Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They did not listen, They did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now


Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand


For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left inside
On that starry, starry night
You took your life as lovers often do
But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one as
beautiful as you


Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frame less heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow
Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
How you suffered for your sanity
How you tried to set them free
They did not listen they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will

Read More

Tuesday Tunes - 02/07/17

A good lyric is like a great book...

Strawberry Wine
Deanna Carter, Artist
Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, Writers

He was working through college
On my grandpa's farm
I was thirsting for knowledge
And he had a car
Yeah, I was caught somewhere between a woman and a child
One restless summer we found love growing wild
On the banks of the river on a well-beaten path
It's funny how those memories they last

Like strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love, oh bittersweet
The green on the vine
Like strawberry wine

I still remember
When thirty was old
My biggest fear was September
When he had to go
A few cards and letters and one long distance call
We drifted away like the leaves in the fall
But year after year I come back to this place
Just to remember the taste

Of strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love, oh bittersweet
The green on the vine
Like strawberry wine

The fields have grown over now
Years since they've seen a plow
There's nothing time hasn't touched
Is it really him or the loss of my innocence
I've been missing so much
Yeah

Strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love, oh bittersweet
And green on the vine
Like strawberry wine
And seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love, oh bittersweet
The green on the vine
Like strawberry wine
Strawberry wine
Strawberry wine

Read More

Mondays - 02/06/17

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been and plan on reading over the week. Recently taken over, this meme is managed by my Kathryn at the Book Date.

Currently Reading

• The Weird Sisters (Eleanor Brown)

Finished Reading 

• The Magnolia Story (Chip and Joanna Gaines)

Read More

Tuesday Tunes - 01/31/17

A good lyric is like a great book...

Haven't Met You Yet
Michael Buble, Artist
Alan Chang, Amy Foster, Amy Foster-Gillies, Amy Skylark Foster, and
Michael Steven Buble , Writers

I'm not surprised
Not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times,
I stopped keepin' track.
Talk myself in
I talk myself out
I get all worked up
Then I let myself down.

I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought, I thought of every possibility

And I know someday that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid, that I'll give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

Mmm mmm mmm mmm mmm

I might have to wait
I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing
And the other half's luck
Wherever you are
Whenever it's right
You come out of nowhere and into my life

And I know that we can be so amazing
And baby your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility

Mmm

But somehow I know that will all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid, I'll give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

They say all's fair
In love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right
And we'll be united

And I know that we can be so amazing
And being in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility

Mmm

And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work, to work it out
Promise you kid, I'll give more than I get
Than I get, than I get, than I get

Oh you know it will all turn out
And you'll make me work, so we can work, to work it out
And I promise you kid, to give so much more than I get
Yeah I just haven't met you yet

I just haven't met you yet
Oh promise you kid
To give so much more than I get

I said love, love, love, love, love, love, love
I just haven't met you yet
Love, love, love, love, love, love
I just haven't met you yet

Read More

Tuesday Tunes - 01/24/17

A good lyric is like a great book...

The Longest Time
Indigo Girls, Artist
Amy Elizabeth Ray, Emily Ann Saliers, Writers

I'm tryin' to tell you somethin' 'bout my life.
Maybe give me insight between black and white.
And the best thing you've ever done for me
is to help me take my life less seriously.
It's only life after all.

Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable,
and lightness has a call that's hard to hear.
I wrap my fear around me like a blanket.
I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it.
I'm crawling on your shores.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain.
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line.
And the less I seek my source for some definitive,
the closer I am to fine. The closer I am to fine.

I went to see the Doctor of Philosophy
with a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee.
He never did marry or see a B-Grade movie.
He graded my performance, he said he could see through me.
I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind,
got my paper and I was free.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain.
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line.
And the less I seek my source for some definitive,
the closer I am to fine. The closer I am to fine.

I stopped by the bar at three A.M.
to seek solace in a bottle, or possibly a friend.
I woke up with a headache like my head against a board,
twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before.
And I went in seeking clarity.

I woke up with a headache like my head against a board,
twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before.
And I went in seeking clarity.
I go to the doctor, we go to the mountains.
We look to the children, we drink from the fountain.
We go to the Bible, we go through the work out.
We read up on revival, we stand up for the lookout.
There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line.
And the less I seek my source, the closer I am to fine.

Read More

Our new world...

“Let us go forth with fear and courage and rage to save the world.”

~ Grace Paley

Thank you Katieleigh, Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Read More

Tuesday Tunes - 01/17/17

A good lyric is like a great book...

The Longest Time
Billy Joel, Artist/Writer

Oh, oh, oh
For the longest time
Oh, oh, oh
For the longest
If you said goodbye to me tonight
There would still be music left to write
What else could I do
I'm so inspired by you
That hasn't happened for the longest time

Once I thought my innocence was gone
Now I know that happiness goes on
That's where you found me
When you put your arms around me
I haven't been there for the longest time

Oh, oh, oh
For the longest time
Oh, oh, oh
For the longest
I'm that voice you're hearing in the hall
And the greatest miracle of all
Is how I need you
And how you needed me too
That hasn't happened for the longest time

Maybe this won't last very long
But you feel so right
And I could be wrong
Maybe I've been hoping too hard
But I've gone this far
And it's more than I hoped for

Who knows how much further we'll go on
Maybe I'll be sorry when you're gone
I'll take my chances
I forgot how nice romance is
I haven't been there for the longest time

I had second thoughts at the start
I said to myself
Hold on to your heart
Now I know the woman that you are
You're wonderful so far
And it's more than I hoped for

I don't care what consequence it brings
I have been a fool for lesser things
I want you so bad
I think you ought to know that
I intend to hold you for the longest time

Read More