tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-374406784798662952024-03-05T16:38:22.051-06:00 Read With Enthusiasm"I cannot live without books."
--Thomas Jefferson--wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-13672502211600589412020-06-19T23:01:00.001-05:002020-06-19T23:01:37.115-05:00 Reading Ourselves To a Better Day
"Spring," she said, "had been a little late that year. It was late because everything was the wrong way round. The world woke up one morning and found that left had become right, up had become down, black was white, and mornings were evenings." from Olga Meets Her Match* (The Olga da Polga series by Michael Bond)
It is a strange time to recommend wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-239971586391276102020-04-01T21:01:00.001-05:002020-04-03T22:39:11.647-05:00 Tea and a quarantine with Jane
"Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience - or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope." Sense and Sensibility (1811) Jane Austen
In the 21st century, we have so many distractions during a time of self-quarantine: disheveled closets, overgrown cold-weary wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-17757547136669122382019-07-12T09:47:00.000-05:002019-07-12T09:47:54.530-05:00 Marriage By The Numbers
"I've lived in all the houses he's built. The one in the air. The one underground. The one in the water. The one on the sand." Carly Simon from We're So Close
I've been married most of my life. That fact occurred to me as our wedding anniversary approached. It also made me wonder just how many times I've asked mywordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-21708282905464015662019-07-04T10:53:00.000-05:002019-07-21T15:25:18.847-05:00 Is it summer yet?
"To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment." Jane Austen, from Mansfield Park
Dreams of summer were, perhaps, never more vivid or more desired than during this past winter. In the Upper Midwest, we expect snow, cold temperatures, cars struggling to start, and wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-33186701004832114762019-02-13T23:59:00.001-06:002019-02-13T23:59:16.717-06:00 Would you have dinner with me?
"Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence." >> O. Henry
It's a reliable cocktail party question, a breaking the ice question, an English Lit 101 class question - what three writers, dead or alive, would you invite to dinner?
And this past spring, when Alison Weir, author of Jane Seymour, wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-87117996659684084902019-01-31T20:37:00.000-06:002019-01-31T20:37:09.000-06:00 It's True. Hell Freezes Over*
"It's cold and it's getting colder. It's gray and white and winter all around. And oh, I must be getting older and all this snow is trying to get me down..." Denver/Taylor/Kniss >1972
The four walls are closing in right about now. Call it what you want - a marshmallow world, a snow globe, or just winter in the upperwordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-17972457364688443282018-06-23T21:05:00.000-05:002018-06-23T21:05:30.910-05:00 We Are Stars and Other History Stuff
"The Earth and every living thing are made of star stuff." from Star Stuff by Stephanie Roth Sisson
Humans divide themselves into usually tidy labels and categories: Southerner or Midwesterner, rap or jazz, Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Fallon, Colonial or mid-century ranch. It's our very own checklist of who we are or imagine wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-50284861123071507392018-05-21T21:21:00.000-05:002018-05-21T21:21:06.746-05:00 America's Favorite Novel is...?
"So many books, so little time." >>>Frank Zappa
Could you choose one, just one, favorite book? Would it be a favorite story from childhood? College reading list? A novel that your book group discussed (and kept you up all night reading?)
I'll be thinking of the best books of my life as I wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-53558658103213872452018-05-14T11:31:00.000-05:002018-05-14T11:31:14.706-05:00 Cheers to the Oxford comma
"I found a great many pieces of punctuation and typography lying around dormant when I came along - and I must say I had a good time using them." >>Tom Wolfe
It's official: shrug, dismiss, ignore punctuation at your own peril.
As reported in Time magazine, a dairy in Maine will pay its drivers a whopping $5 million "wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-58312720651684754112018-05-12T12:27:00.000-05:002018-05-12T12:27:11.513-05:00
Dear Hannah
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." >>Harriet Tubman
Dear Hannah,
This weekend, as you graduate and move forward into the next stage of your life, you'll wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-67688348006157955992018-04-03T16:35:00.000-05:002018-04-03T16:35:31.533-05:00 Is it snowing again?
"Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see, the world hath more fools in it than ever." Charles Lamb, essayist & poet
Hey, Mother Nature, it's time to make the donuts, wake up and smell the coffee, shake a leg.
In other words, it's time to wake up and allow spring to fully bloom andwordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-49022995213057305402018-01-04T20:47:00.000-06:002018-01-04T20:47:37.678-06:00
Ready or not, it's 2018
The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.
&wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-38242203423815065432017-12-19T17:27:00.001-06:002017-12-19T21:08:42.885-06:00
And They Read Happily Ever After
"Promise me you'll always remember: you're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh
I'm a firm believer that we're never too old to read a great picture book. And if we have a baby or toddler curled up next to us, listening wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-1692579442977580212017-12-13T14:57:00.000-06:002017-12-13T14:57:10.932-06:00 Mortalis*
"The curse of mortality. You spend the first portion of your life learning, growing stronger, more capable. And then, through no fault of your own, your body begins to fail. You regress. Beauty withers. Organs fail. As your wisdom and experience are peaking, your wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-70301768892491175422017-12-04T17:47:00.000-06:002017-12-04T17:47:11.737-06:00 Random Word
"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."
&wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-20358377364893326192017-12-01T21:23:00.001-06:002017-12-01T21:23:19.614-06:00 December...it's going to get loud in here*
"...all the Who girls and boys, would wake bright and early. They'd rush for their toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing he hated! The Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! >>Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
It's not every day that you attend a tuba concert at a library. But if wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-64914931804056186602017-11-01T11:23:00.002-05:002017-11-01T11:23:52.187-05:00 November...
which means it's NaNoWriMo 2017
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." >> Ray Bradbury
It's time to gather your ideas, sharpen pencils (and minds), sit down and begin to write.
And write.
It's November, and time to wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-15800720393621315982017-10-02T21:11:00.000-05:002017-10-02T21:11:00.916-05:00 Tell Us a Little About Yourself
"October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace! >> Rainbow Rowell
Introducing ourselves can be tricky. Are we just our occupations? Or zip wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-87879926045620814972017-09-06T20:59:00.000-05:002017-09-06T20:59:05.539-05:00 Summer in the Rear View Mirror
"September days are here, with summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer" >>Helen Hunt Jackson, poet & activist
It wasn't the subtle change of the air getting cooler in the evening or the sudden disappearance of fireflies. It wasn't the calendar with the first day of school circled in red. As awordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-66219866448923204022017-08-01T22:05:00.001-05:002017-08-01T22:05:07.590-05:00 August
"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time." <<Sylvia Plath, poet
August may be an odd uneven month. It has no major holiday or celebration, unless you count a handful of birthdays in my family. We're beginning a month of transformationwordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-79220984691512664982017-07-01T20:25:00.000-05:002017-07-01T20:25:05.392-05:00 Read, White & Blue
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." >>John Adams
Preamble to the U.S. Declaration of Independence
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-66106386195700872472017-06-24T21:22:00.001-05:002017-06-24T21:22:28.626-05:00 Random Word
Lily Tomlin: "Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."
Nonplussed - non PLUSST/noun/1582. A state of utter perplexity in which one is unable to act further. Roget's Thesaurus of Words for Writers and Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
Synonyms: wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-26147394573198163672017-06-21T21:49:00.000-05:002017-06-21T21:49:52.285-05:00
Hot Summer Reading
"Summertime, and the reading is easy...well, maybe not easy, exactly, but July and August are hardly the months to start working your way through the works of Germanic philosophers." Michael Dirda, Washington Post book critic
Just in time for summer reading lists, two new books landed on my desk.
wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-37724423385470543312017-06-05T21:33:00.000-05:002017-06-05T21:33:10.343-05:00 Robusted
"Personally I think that grammar is a way to attain beauty." >>Muriel Barbery, The Elegance of the Hedgehog
If you ever meet David Knopf, a Kansas City Star columnist, please use the word robust correctly. Knopf may not correct you, but he will almost certainly be inwardly cringing. wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37440678479866295.post-6897766080972211972017-05-01T21:37:00.000-05:002017-05-01T21:37:03.804-05:00 Get Caught Reading
"The great thing is to always be reading but not to get bored - treat it not like work, more like a vice. Your book bill ought to be your biggest extravagance." >> C.S. Lewis
May is an ideal month for readers. Sponsored by the Association of American Publishers is Get Caught Reading, a "nationwide campaign wordyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16286048819616179091noreply@blogger.com0