The Four-Story Mistake

The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Four-Story Mistake, by Elizabeth Enright. This is another children’s book, one that was originally published in 1942. It’s a delightful story about the Melendy children when they move to a new house called the Four-Story Mistake. It’s full of secrets and enchantments. There is sadness, too, but it’s engaging and sweet. I really enjoyed it and am going to pass it on to my granddaughter. And I am going to put the next two on my wish list and maybe buy them for myself some time soon.

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Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I love you!!!!

Blueberry Salsa Soup

I made blueberry salsa with homegrown tomatoes and fresh blueberries,
onions, garlic, salt, pepper. The next dawy, I cooked the leftovers
amd served it as soup with organic blue corn chips.

Still Life with Crows

Still Life with Crows by Douglas Preston


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Still Life with Crows, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child: In Medicine Creek, Kansas, a town where little changes, where Main Street is a two-block stretch of dusty businesses, a peculiar and grisly murder has taken place. The body mutilated and placed carefully in an elaborate tableau in the middle of the endless cornfields. Now eagle-eyed and even-tempered FBI Agent Pendergast arrives to turn upside down this small community to find the killer who must be one of them. The killings are timed to coincide with the arrival of the Extension agent with genetically modified corn. Can there be a connection?

I was disappointed to walk away with this book on my last trip to the library, but the moment I started reading, my disappointment changed to interest and attention. I was spellbound. The language was poetic, the pacing delicate and well timed, and there was humor among the horror. I normally don’t like this type of novel, but this was so well-written, I truly enjoyed it, despite its ghastly nature. The characters are engaging. And at times surprising. If you’d have told me I’d like this, I’d have laughed out loud—but I did. I was sorry for the book to end and am eager to read another. Also, I found out just now it is part of a series—I vaguely suspected it might be—but it hangs together as an individual unit so well that the fact that it’s fourth in the series sis not diminish it readability! I’m going back tot eh library to get the FIRST one and read them all, maybe. We’ll see how the next one is.

One thing about reading this type of book is that it makes me nervous walking around alone at night in Detroit.

And here’s something more eerie: four dead birds have appeared in a certain spot where I walk every day, appeared, disappeared, and reappeared—I kid you not. It’s under some low bushes where I have to duck into darkness to get through. Four different kids of dead birds, a sparrow, a blackbird, a wood thrush and a starling. Where’s Pendergast when I need him?

One thing I don’t like about this novel and others like it is the expendable people. I’m tempted to write my own novel about their lives. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child would probably consider ME one of the expendable people the could toss into a crevice in the cave or leave in a field surrounded by dead crows.

I didn’t think they answered the question of why the tableaus very well—look at the example Job had of the 45. But that’s just me. One tiny tweak in an otherwise super book. (But scary and horrifying!)

I also finished another book, but no time for more reviews right now.

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Fractal Friday Wednesday

These three fractals, made on Fractalworks, a free download, were made
using different color schemes and were done at different times, but
they look almost identical, except for the color int he third one
(Bird of Paradise). Without looking at the others, it is interesting
that I chose to "photograph" these same ones three separate times, and
if I go through my files, I may find more.

Wordless Wednesday ('Possum)

caddis house

--
I am certain of nothing but the Heart's affections and the truth of the Imagination- John Keats
Mary

Beowulf

Beowulf by Benedict Flynn


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I didn't like it, I think it's a guy thing. All that killing and bloodshed, all that honoring gold. Ick.

It goes back to my earlier discussion of what makes a book good. Just because it's a classic of poetry doesn't mean it's good.

I was going to say that it follows speaking traditions, tell the reader what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. It's rather tiresome. Then I realized it's from a spoken tradition.

There was one part of the book I actually liked, and that was the section where the original action actually took place. That part was relatively well told. The rest of it was just a rehashing. And they should have renamed the characters Tom Dick and Harry, I couldn't keep track of them all.

The Boy Who Killed Caterpillars by Joshua Kornreich


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Once again, it's hard to know how to say whether I liked the book or not.

Is it a good book if you enjoy it? (I did not). (one star)

Is it a good book if it is horrifying and sticks with you and gives you nightmares? It certainly qualifies then. (5 stars?)

It's unusual.

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved this book. It's a kids book, but it held me spellbound. It's more like a series of short stories than a novel, except that it does hang together and progress forward. The four Melendy kids pool their allowance to allow each of them to do something really special. This is the story of the adventures that followed.

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I've been reading a lot when I can't sleep at night.Booklist, 2009, revisited

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

1. Beowulf, translated by Benedict Flynn, 8-22-09
   
2. The Boy Who Killed Caterpilalrs, Joshua Kornreich, 8-21-09
   
3. The Saturdays, Elizabeth Enright, 8-20-09
4. The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James, 8-19-09
   
5. Acorna's Quest, by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, 8-18-09
   
6. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradly, August 16, 2009
7. Jane Eyre, by Emily Bronte, August 7, 2009
8. A Little Book on the Human Shadow, by Robert Bly, July 27, 2009
9. The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich, July 26, 2009
10. Acorna, by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, July 20, 2009
11. The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbs, by Bill Watterson, July 13, 2009
12. The Actress, by Elizabeth Sims, July 11, 2009
13. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
14. Marley: A Dog Like No Other, John Grogan
15. Goodnight, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
16. Bad Dog, Marley, John Grogan
17. The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
18. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
19. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
20. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
21. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
22. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
23. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
24. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
25. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
26. The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway
27. The River King, Alice Hoffman
28. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
29. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
30. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
31. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
32. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
33. I Claudius, Robert Graves
34. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome
35. The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini

Two Fractals (Friday Fractal Thursday)

I downloaded the newest version of Fractalworks, a free download for
Macs. I ade these two fractals and a few others. I don't really have
time to play and it's a sort of endless play that goes on and on.

fresh homemade salsa

What do you do when you have zillions of tomatoes and no one to give
them to? Fresh, sweet, vine-ripered tomatoes. Today, I made
blueberry salsa. I cut up so many tomatoes and sliced all the
blueberries in half and added fresh vidalia onions, fresh garlic,
fresh scallions, red and black pepper, and salt. OH, and a dab of
jelly. I was making "girly" salsa, a little sweet. Yum! We're about
to gobble it up.

Glass Crown

This is one of the many fractals I made last winter with one of my
fractal programs, Fractalworks, a free download for Mac users. I'm
still after almost 2 years a fairly reluctant Mac user and don't see
what all the fuss is about--I find Macs to be difficult and
unintuitive, but I've been told it's because I'm too used to PCs. PCs
stills trike me as so much easier. However, I'm slowly slowly slowly
learning the Mac and it is FAST! Its speed and its ability to
photograph portions of the screen at will are the only two things I
really like about it. That and fractal works. I wish I have a
nerdy-techno-friend who wanted to pour vast amounts of time into
answering my stupid Mac questions 24-hours a day so I could become
more efficient.

Yellow Pancakes (hearty crepes)

the recipe for these is simple:

1/4 c milk, 1/4 c flour and one egg. I used rice milk and ww pastry
flour. Pour in a thin layer and fry in a lightly oiled crepe pan.

I wrapped up fresh garden veggies.

I always forget how delicious and hearty these are--and how quick and simple.

This is one of our new plates. Slightly greasy because I laid the crepe
on it to roll up the ingredients. (This is NOT fancy food photgraphy,
but exactly what I really ate.)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley, by a 70-year-old-first time novelist who want to retain his "youthful enthusiasm" and has succeeded admirably. The book is the winner of the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award. A "stranger" dies in the garden in the wee hours of morning and Flavia, and eleven-year-old chemistry enthusiast discovers him just as he is dying. With his last breath, he says, "Vale!" Flavia's father is arrested for the murder. Flavia tries to confess, but no one will believe her, so she must find the real murderer and save her father.

The action is swift, engaging and humorous. It is written at two levels. It could be read and enjoyed as a child, and it could be read and enjoyed as an adult. There are many allusions that would fly over the head of a child-reader, but not so many as to ruin it. I hate book reviews that contain spoilers, so I will not tell you how it ends. I will simply say I enjoyed it very much, and you probably will, too. It is charming and entertaining. I have a tendency to read multiple books at one time and found myself often choosing to pick this one up rather than any of the others. Note of warning: other than several murders, there is no sex or violence. Readers may find themselves learning about stamp collecting and chemistry.

(I also finished Jane Eyre. It had a good story, but used too many words in the telling.)

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Here is my updated booklist, which is still think is missing some books:

1. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradly
2. Jane Eyre, by Emily Bronte, August 7, 2009
3. A Little Book on the Human Shadow, by Robert Bly, July 27, 2009
4. The Painted Drum, by Louise Erdrich, July 26, 2009
5. Acorna, by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball, July 20, 2009
6. The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbs, by Bill Watterson, July 13, 2009
7. The Actress, by Elizabeth Sims, July 11, 2009
8. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
9. Marley: A Dog Like No Other, John Grogan
10. Goodnight, Gorilla, Peggy Rathmann
11. Bad Dog, Marley, John Grogan
12. The Highest Tide, Jim Lynch
13. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens
14. Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
15. Dream When You're Feeling Blue, Elizabeth Berg
16. We didn't mean to go to Sea, by Arthur Ransome
17. Tara Road, Maeve Binchy
18. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
19. The Worst Witch at School, Jill Murphy
20. Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan
21. The Nick Adams Stories, Ernest Hemingway
22. The River King, Alice Hoffman
23. The Probable Future, Alice Hoffman
24. The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
25. Lucifer, A Hagiography, Phillip Memmer
26. It's a Magical World, Bill Watterson
27. Pigeon Post, Arthur Ransome
28. I Claudius, Robert Graves
29. Peter Duck, Arthur Ransome
30. The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini

Woo hoo--"the end!!"

Today I wrote the words "the end" at the end of my children's novel, Saving Morgan Mountain, the sequel to Frog Haven.  It's not done, because there are a few missing bits and it's only a very VERY rough first draft, but I reached the end of the tunnel and the light is streaming around me,  YAY!  I've been working on it for several months in bits and pieces, almost every day.

I ALSO finished entering all the corrections to Frog Haven from the last set of readers today (from S & E).  I'm very close to be able to send it out, so if you have any further comments, let me know.

Woo hoo I am VERY EXCITED!  Not done, by any means, but it's a HUGE milestone!

New Moleskine Exchange Round

Round two of the first group's Moleskine exchange has started and what this shows is the pocket at the back of the book and two of the many things I put into the pocket for the other members. There are 12 members in the group. I put in twelve small prints of each of the two
art pieces from previous mole. I also put in one print of a muskrat skull because I did a faux-scientific illo of the skull in my book. You can see the work of the group here. My first contribution is here. I will be posting regularly to that site and also to either IMAGIK, IMAGIK ART, or both, if you're interested in seeing what I do.

ML reads to Button Boy

ML reads to Button Boy, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. For Photo Friday's
"young and old" theme. ML is 87 and button boy just turned 4.

My 15 Books

My 15 Books—I cheated and used authors instead of books, and only the ones the popped quickly to mind which means recent reads and old favorites.

1. Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Cree, Teaching a Stone to Talk, etc
2. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, etc
3. Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum, etc
4. Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons, etc
5. Amy Tan, Saving Fish From Drowning, etc
6. Ann McCaffrey, Dragonsong etc
7. Joan D Vinge, The Snow Queen, Psion, etc
8. Alice Hoffman, The Probable Future etc
9. Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
10. Patrick Lawler, Reading a Burning Book, A Drowning Man is Never, etc
11. Linda Pennisi, Suddenly Fruit etc
12. Barabara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible, The Prodigal Summer, etc
13. Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan etc*
14. LL Montgomery, Emily of New Moon, Ann of Green Gables etc.
15. Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

*Yes, I know it's "fake," consider it as fiction.

This is supposed to be a meme, but I'm not taking anyone-it took longer than I expected or wanted, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. If you WANT to play along, that would be fun, but not required or expected.

OH, and also, note: they are not in any order other than how they popped to mind.

broccoli and cauliflower

We've had several batches of broccoli from our garden now, all
realtively small, but good. The cauliflower, however, is not good.
(We ate it anyway.)

My first Smoothie

I just made my first smoothie of the year with white grape juice, rice milk, fresh raspberries, fresh blueberries and a peach--part of one.  Blended in the blender.  I was so hot and thirsty.  It's really hot here today.  I used to make lots of smoothies, but I do not any more because they are very high in sugar even when made with natural ingredients, and I don't need a lot of sugar.   But yum are they good.

gumbo omelet

Yesterday was a day of culinary delights. For breakfast, I made gumbo omelet. We are growing our own okra. We have lots of tomatoes, yellow squash, green squash--more than we can eat or even give away--and some broccoli and cauliflower in our garden. I used to be a vegetarian, but that's harder now that I can't eat beans. This omelet had sausage--hot turkey sausage, chicken, shrimp, mushrooms and a plethora of fresh garden vegetables. And, if I do so says so myself, it was quite delightful.

For lunch, I made "Spanish Rice" with fresh garden vegetables, mushrooms and wild rice. That too was delicious, but I did not record the occasion.

the itransparent knife

At dinner tonight, I noticed that BB's knife looked weird--the
reflection the bread crust was just perfect to make it look as if the
knif was tranparent. I tried to capture it.