Book and Blog recommendations

Picture this scenario:

Hubby and I are going to the cottage for the weekend. More specifically, for 36 hours. While there, he will wear whatever he keeps there. I have to coordinate my attire and plan for changes in temperature. I hate to be cold. Blue jeans, pink tee shirt, pink sweatshirt, pink and white striped socks. Orange tee for second day....oh wait, that won't go with the pink sweatshirt if I need it. Do I pack a second sweatshirt or look for a different tee?

Hubby patiently rolls his eyes and waits. Biding his time, he asks if all the stuff on the counter is going with us.

The stuff on the counter consists of my laptop (because I MUST stay connected!), my craft bag which usually has two completely different projects in it (I may get bored with one or finish it and need the second!), my book bag containing whatever I am currently reading, a second book (I might finish the first one!) and any new magazines in my possession, and lastly, one small bag of groceries.

This is all the food? Well, yes. I thought we'd eat on the way to the cottage and breakfast is always light and usually lunch is too and besides I haven't really shopped this week. I've been knitting, sewing, reading, blogging, painting and reading some more.

Don't get me wrong, I like to eat, but food is no where near as nourishing to me as creating something and reading. I don't think I've been without a craft project in the works since my teens and haven't been without a book since before I can remember.

For anyone who enjoys reading, please visit Angie at A Book A Day. Her mission is to read a book a day for a year and comment on each book. A reader of her blog asked her how she chooses her books and how she has time for this endeavor. The question and her answer are in the comments of today's (May 6, 2009) post. The post itself contains links to an entry for each of the past four months as an introduction to new readers, and the book of the day is Might As Well Laugh About It Now by Marie Osmond.

My current personal book recommendation is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Here is a review that gives some background:

The Washington Post - Wendy Smith

Though it deals with a dark period in history, this first novel is an essentially sunny work. It affirms the power of books to nourish people enduring hard times—not so surprising, since Mary Ann Shaffer, who died earlier this year, had a long career as a librarian, bookseller and editor. Her niece Annie Barrows, a children's author, finished the manuscript after Shaffer fell ill; between them, they crafted a vivid epistolary novel whose characters spring to life in letters and telegrams exchanged over the course of nine months shortly after the end of World War II…You could be skeptical about the novel's improbabilities and its sanitized portrait of book clubs (doesn't anyone read trashy thrillers?), but you'd be missing the point. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a sweet, sentimental paean to books and those who love them.

If the title alone doesn't make you want to pick up the book and consider reading it, please know that it is a quick read but one that will quickly involve you. Along the way, you will learn what life was like for the people who lived on the island during WWII, but it won't feel like a history lesson as you take in the story.

Happy reading everyone.

Beaded Scarf

We are finally having warm weather here in Michigan, so why am I showing you a wintry beaded scarf now? Because I gathered these photos to show some people in my knitting group and besides, the voices in my head told me to.

I bought this kit on a visit to a knit shop in Anacortes, a city north of Seattle, Washington. If I hadn't seen the scarf on display, I may have passed on the kit, but after all the drool I left on the shop floor, I felt obliged to buy one.

It was the first time I had done beaded knitting, but it won't be my last. Here are close ups of the patterned ends of the scarf and of the fringe. Click to enlarge if you wish.

No one was home to take a photo of the scarf being modeled before I wrapped it as a Christmas gift, so here is the awkward self photo in a mirror shot. This was taken so you could see the length of the scarf.

The pattern and yarn are from Blue Sky Alpacas (blueskyalpacas.com) The store I visited had assembled the yarn, pattern and beads into a kit. There are 631 beads in each pattern end of the scarf and 39 in each fringe, a total of 4538 beads in all. The scarf has some weight to it with all those beads, making it a perfectly wonderful passive/aggressive weapon. Don't care for a comment or look your husband/boyfriend/significant other has made? Whip the scarf around while they are in range. Will the police believe them (Officer! She whipped me with her scarf!) or you, looking demure and oh so lady-like in your beaded scarf.

Most people only think knitting needles could be weapons. Be sly, I say, and get them with a few thousand beads.

Signed,

Your Passive Aggressive Crafter,

Blue Monday with Daisy dishes

Another week has passed, another Blue Monday is here, hosted by Smiling Sally.
Please click on the blue jay to visit her blog. Find out who else is participating and sign up and join us!



So many dishes, so little room....

These dishes make me happy. Blue, white and yellow. Perfect! Until a few years ago, there was a Corning outlet store about 30 minutes from me. Not only were these dishes and glasses reduced from their original market price, they were on clearance at the Corning store!

Here they are waiting for a chicken dinner to come to the table. I should have photographed the glasses with milk in them.

What do eat for dessert when you are full from a chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean and leftover Ramen noodle salad dinner? Peanut M&Ms hand picked to match your color scheme!

Happy Blue Monday everyone!

Dining at Woolworth's

Let's join Sherman and Mr Peabody and step into the WABAC (way back) machine. Are you seated? Is your seat belt fastened? Did you visit the bathroom before you left the house?

Stop fighting back there! Look for out of state license plates or count cows. Yes, we are almost there.

Ok, are you hungry? Cuz here we are!

We're at the fountain at F. W. Woolworth and it is sometime in the 1950s! Order anything you'd like. Not only are the prices so reasonable that I can treat all of you, the 1950s were before we worried over every morsel of food that went into our mouths. Who knew what a carbohydrate was? Triglycerides? Was that an automotive term? Inferior food products coming from other countries? Riiiiight....like that would happen in America (unless you count crazy Aunt Floss who sends what she calls a fruitcake every Christmas from the 'old country')!

(Click to enlarge photo of menu)

I'm having a Super Deluxe Ham Sandwich on toasted bread (40 cents) with a King Size Coca~Cola (10 cents) and then a Super Jumbo Banana Split (39 cents)! Maybe I'll spend the change from my dollar at the penny candy store on the way home.

Hurry up and order! I am hungry and we have to get home before the street lights come on!

Bag it, lady

I like making purses and tote bags. I go through spells were I am inordinately drawn to new patterns and have to restrain myself lest I spend all my money on purse and tote bag supplies and leave none to put in the wallet inside the purse!

These are from my pet screen period. The mesh screen was originally made to be used in pet carriers. It contains no metal in the mesh, therefore is safe for a pet that may chew or claw the screen. Not having metal in the composition and being available in many colors made it perfect for stitchers. No special needle or technique is required. If you'd like information on the pattern, Google "Screen Play" or "pet screen tote pattern". The yellow one with ladybug print fabric is mine and is used all the time. The others were made as gifts.

I wore this purse out. Actually, I wore the Velcro out, not the purse itself. I hope you will trust me that it was prettier than this photograph suggests. It was one of the first projects I made using Batik prints. As you can see in the second photo, the top of the purse was held together with hook and loop tape. When unfastened, you had a zipper to open that fully exposed the inside of the purse. The purse could hold a lot. There were large pockets on either side in the lining and a large deep pocket on the outside.

This tote bag began with a photo transfer onto fabric that was going to be a doll's face. I scrapped the idea, but not the photo on fabric. I made a crazy patch quilt around my goddaughter's face and created a tote bag for her.

The strangest purse I own is this knitted one. A strand of black yarn with nylon in it was worked with the multi-colored hairy yarn. The purse is small, not holding much and I don't use it often, but it is an attention grabber.

This purse was made yesterday. I quilted denim to heavy interfacing before assembling the purse. There are five pockets in the lining and the outer pocket is fully lined with a cuff at the top to tie the print fabric of the lining and the ties on the side together.

If someone tells me to "Bag it, lady!" there is no possible way I can react right away. Which bag do they want me to use? There are more in my closet that haven't been photographed. I would have taken their picture tonight, but Bill is home. Seeing all of them out at once makes his eyes roll and I have to think of his safety. I'd hate to give him a headache or cause him to have permanently rotating eyeballs over my purses.

Joe Cocker, translated

I admit to singing along to lyrics that I never understood. My voice isn't the type that others choose to listen to, so no one ever questioned my garbled words.

Some who were of age when Joe Cocker performed at Woodstock in 1969 may not have understood his words due to being under the influence. Even breathing the air could have put you under influence. Or maybe if you WERE under the influence, his words made perfect sense!

For those of us who don't indulge, and for those too young to know what a symbol of Woodstock Joe Cocker was, here is a clip of (click on the song title) With A Little Help From My Friends with a closed caption translation.



By the way, I can play air guitar as least as good as he did, but don't expect me to play Guitar Hero on any game system. If you thought my singing voice was bad, you don't want to see me play!


Long live tie dye! Peace, dude!

Disappointing authors

Have you liked an author in the past who now consistently disappoints you?

I have respect for an author who develops a character and writes a series that keeps readers interested and wanting more. If an occasional book feels less engaging to me, I don't criticize. For one thing, maybe it was just me and most readers thoroughly enjoyed the novel.

Years ago, a friend told me to read Chiefs by Stuart Woods. I had seen his name all over the paperback best sellers bookshelves but never read any of his books. I checked Chiefs out of the library and really enjoyed it. I mentioned the book to another friend who had a box of his paperbacks, all of the Stone Barrington series. Woods now writes three or four different series with occasional cross-over characters. I sorted the books in chronological order and began reading. I liked the first books. Then sex became a major part of each book. Now his books are, in my opinion, a poor parody of anything he ever wrote that was well done.

It isn't that there is sex in the story line that has nothing to do with the plot. It is that every woman Stone Barrington encounters is thin, gorgeous, wealthy, talented and drops every article of her clothing within 24 hours of meeting him. Perhaps Woods thinks this a tribute to women, portraying them in such a "positive" light. I am fine with escapist fiction. For instance, I love the Stephanie Plum series.

Perhaps if Woods did not take a condescending tone with his readers in the author's note that appears at the end of each of his novels, I wouldn't be writing about him at all. Like much of our dealings in our everyday lives, it isn't the message you deliver, but how you say it.

On the positive side, there are authors whose books I know I will enjoy. They may not be block busters, but the characters are like old friends and I like to catch up with their lives. In no particular order, I enjoy

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels
Debbie Macomber's Blossom Street books
Monica Ferris' Betsy Devonshire/Crewel World mysteries
Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone alphabet mysteries
Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilters series
Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Schulz catering mysteries
Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson cookie mysteries
Ann B. Ross's Miss Julia series
Jan Karon's Mitford books
Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper books
Annie Griffin's Hannah and Kiki books
Anne George's Sister and Mouse books
and anything by Billie Letts and Fannie Flagg

Not to exclude male authors, I like the Alex Cross books by James Patterson, Lou Boldt books by Ridley Pearson, the Prey series (Lucas Davenport) by John Sandford and Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz.

The greater number of female authors wasn't a conscious choice, but their characters, being women, are more identifiable.

Which authors or types of books call to you, and what do you tend to avoid?