Gakking an Army

Piano Boy is going to Blue Lakes Fine art camp for VOICE (not Piano) for twelve days (13 with travel time) and has been begging for snacks to take. BB asked him to make a list and he made a huge long list of enough snacks and soda to GAK and entire army! I couldn't believe it. Apparently, he intends to eat NONE of the food they provide, but subsist entirely on soda, chips and crap. That is, if BB actually buys all that crap. I won't.

Later: actually, I did. PLUS we gave him spending money to buy yet more crap.

Eager Returns

Eager has probably been here all along, of course, and we'd thought
we'd spotted him several times among the many squirrels at our feeder,
but this morning, he came running up, took a peanut from my hand, and
frantically buried it in the grass. He then returned to take many
peanuts, sunflower seeds and other treats and at one point sat calmly
eating out of my hand. YAY!

The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Educational and engaging, this book really held my attention. It is well-written (and it's the middle of the night and I have insomnia and can't sleep--or think, sorry, will try again later.) It's about a very precocious 13-year old boy who loves the sea and the tidal flats. He makes some exciting new discoveries and becomes and instant "success." which turns out to have its downsides!

View all my reviews.

I am just back from my trip to Maine, and although it is cool outside, it is nearly 90 in the bedroom and I can't sleep. It doesn't help that I had an argument with BB about turning on the air conditioner (we did not). So in addition to being hot, I am suffering from separation anxiety.

So here is my new book list (though I am fairly certain it is incomplete):

1. The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
2. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
3. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
4. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
5. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
6. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
7. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
8. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
9. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
10. The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway
11. The River King, Alice Hoffman
12. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
13. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
14. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
15. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
16. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
17. I Claudius, Robert Graves
18. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome

Packing for our trip:

Packing for our trip:

I just finished, finally, packing (just) my clothes for the trip to NY, Maine and New Hampshire.  It's 12:30 PM and to be sure, I did my exercises and fed the birds and sat in the back yard with Eager, not knowing if I'd ever have the chance again.  But still, since I had previously started gathering things, it seemed to take an inordinate length of time, running up stairs and down, to the basement, to the living room, back to the bedroom etc, to gather everything that was needed.  I was collecting stuff--mainly clothing so far, for BB and for myself.  I have NOT been online, not checked my email or the weather or anything, so where has the morning gone?  Am I the slowest person on earth?  When BB packs, he opens two drawers, counts out x number of socks, underwear and T-shirts, x being the number of days we're going, grabs a spare pair of jeans, and stuff them in a bag--voila, done!  Except, lately, to save him even that time and free him for putting air in tires, oil in the engine of the car and mowing the lawn, etc, I've been doing it for him.  Most of it anyway,  though, for me, nothing is ever that simple!  AK!

I did charge my camera batteries and downloaded the pix on the cards and cleared the cards (all except Giovanna's, which I have forgotten to do--and which I just went and did), but I did all that, except the one, yesterday.  I did locate and print poems and pictures, but likewise yesterday.  Today, all I accomplished so far besides hugging a squirrel, exercises and breakfast was packing the clothes.  Why am I so SLOW?  I hate it.

Oliver Twist, finished

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I will not tell the story or give a regular review, since this book and movies made from it are so familiar, I will only say this:

I finished Oliver Twist today and liked it very much. I really enjoyed it and was quite sucked in.

However, I did not like the black and white view of people where good people were essentially perfect and bad people were all bad. And I did not like what happened to the dog. (Or Nancy, but I guess that was essential to the story--the other was not!)

Here is the list of books I have read in 2009 so far and remembered to write down:

1. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
2. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
3. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
4. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
5. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
6. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
7. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
8. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
9. The Nick Adams Stories, Erneast Hemingway
10. The River King, Alice Hoffman
11. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
12. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
13. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
14. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
15. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
16. I Claudius, Robert Graves
17. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome

I KNOW there are others I've forgotten, but I do hope I have something to present at the end of the year. The ones above are presented in approximately reverse order with the most recent first.

View all my reviews. (they aren't that good!)

Dream When You're Feeling Blue: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I liked this a lot. I'd like to write a review but don't have time now--it was set in WW II and reminds me a LOT of stories I heard from my parents and others from their generation.


View all my reviews.

The Happy Blog Award

Helene at HPY or UNHPY has given me this blog award to do whatever I wish with. YAY! No rules.

I want to thank Helene for her kindness. Thanks so much, Helene! I will come back at some point and offer it to other bloggers--I need to think first.

Eager

Eager is doing well on his own so far! YAY!

But he is still friendly!

Eager returns!

I was very worried--last night was Eager's FIST NIGHT EVER away from
home and we had errible thunderstorms with hard rain. But he returned
safe this afternoon, took two peanuts, and left again. YAY! We want
him to be wild and free, I just wanted to know he was safe!

No Eager

This is a picture two days ago of Eager getting a drink after being
away all day. Last night he did not come back and we had
thunderstorms during the night! :-(

He did not come back this morning, either, and I hope he's okay.

Peony

Just before the storms. They're battered now.

Happy Birthday

And this from Happy Hal:

"Once again , Happy Birthday! It really wasn't that long ago....

"You know what's really beautiful in flowers? They have really gorgeous sex parts!!

"ha,ha

"Hal"

That is one weird picture of me, and I do NOT really like it much.

birthday message

I got this from Leaf Lady!  Thanks, Leaf Lady!