Wondrous Words Wednesday 7-31

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week.    If you want to play along, grab the button and link up at Diana's blog. 

I am reading Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. As always, Ms. Brooks uses words that are new and unfamiliar. 

1. croft – “When you have been raised in a bare croft, eating with wooden spoons and crude platters, there are a hundred small and subtle pleasures to be garnered in the smooth  slipperiness of a fine porcelain cup under your hands......"

 noun 

Chiefly British

1. A small enclosed field or pasture near a house.
2. A small farm, especially a tenant farm.

2. damascene - "Sometimes, as I polished the Mompellions' damascene chest, I would study its delicate inlays...."

I had trouble finding a definition for the adjective form of this word. The dictionaries just kept repeating the word in the noun form and verb form. I think I understand that it is a piece inlaid with damask or some other material. I did find an image, the link is below. To me it seems very ornate for anything used in the time of this book, the mid 1600's. 

http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/main/A4damasc.jpg

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps: I am very unhappy about the look of the blog today. I did some cutting and pasting of the definitions, but not all and it looks very "scrapbooky".  I apologize. I almost "scrapped" it completely and did not post, but I really like to participate in this meme. It is one of my favorites. 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Into 7-30-13

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph or maybe two of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph (or2) of the current book you are reading.

"I used to love this season. The wood stacked by the door, the tang of its sap still speaking of forest. The hay made, all golden in the low afternoon light. The rumble of the apples tumbling into the cellar bins. Smells and sights and sounds that said this year it would be alright: there'd be food and warmth for the babies by the time the snows came. I used to love to walk in the apple orchard at this time of the year, to fell the soft give underfoot when I trod on a fallen fruit. Thick, sweet scents of rotting apple and wet wood. This year, the hay stooks are few and the woodpile scant, and neither matter much to me. "

This is the first chapter, first paragraph of my current read this week.

Title:     Year of Wonders
Author:  Geraldine Brooks
from our local library


Have you read this book?  Are you interested enough to keep reading?  I have read 2 other titles of Geraldine Brooks and they were both very good. This one has my interest too. Ms. Brook's research is amazing and her prose is so descriptive, almost poetic.

Until next time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy





ps: this title will help fulfill the challenge of reading book titles that spell my name for the Mega Mix Challenge in the Love of Reading group on Goodreads.. This is the "Y"   SCORE!!!!

Mailbox Monday 7-29-13

Nothing in my mailbox this past week except the usual "junk mail".  I did not check anything new out of the library except Season 3 of Downton Abbey. We own Season 1 & 2, but have not been able to find Season 3 for what I consider a reasonable price, so I got on the waiting list at the library. We have watched the first 8 episodes and will finish the last of them this week. It is due back at the library on the 31st. I really like that show. I hope to be able to keep up with Season 4 on our PBS channel starting in January. We do not have a DVR or TiVo, so we need to be diligent with keeping up.

This week I will spend one day with my sister in SD. We haven't had a good sister visit in quite some time, so I am looking forward to  that. It has just been 1 year since our mom passed away and we will probably laugh a lot and cry a little.

So until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

A Week Filled

The past week has been a bit of a blur. Last weekend we took our new-to-us camper to Medora ND to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and to attend the musical

 with our GWRRA friends. Normally we ride our motorcycle. This year, in our camper we included DH's mother and her dog, Emma. It was an experience, one that we are glad we took, but will not do again. We will try to get to Medora again, because we love it there and the camaraderie of all our friends is part of the fun.  But taking an 89 year old, though she is alert and fairly mobile was an adventure we will not repeat. Too many obstacles. Steps up to the camper, steps to the small bathroom in our camper, long walks to the Pitchfork Fondue and the amphitheater. Although the Medora Foundation does an awesome job supporting the visitation of older folks it was just too much for her and for us.

Monday I did laundry, unpacked the camper, and worked on finishing the two nursing covers I was sewing for my granddaughter.

I looked online and after checking out several blogs and pinterest sites, I settled on the tutorial from Sew Much Ado. Her instructions seemed the easiest to follow. I probably could have "winged it" on my own, but I always do better with a "plan". I am please how they turned out and hope my DGD will use them. She is a bit of a shy young lady so hopefully these will help her feel more secure as she nurses her son in public. She doesn't like anything floral, so one is a geometric pattern in gray, cream and beige and the other is a blue,red, brown and green stripe that has dog prints and dog bones on it. She and her dh have 3 dogs, 2 cats and soon a new baby boy. I am so excited.

The rest of the week was spent finishing the laundry, shopping, and nodding as my DH took the camper to have the step re-welded and told me the brakes on the pickup needed to be replaced  - $$$YIKES $$$.

Then Saturday I participated in a fundraiser sew day. A bit over a month ago, the owner of our local quilt shop collapsed and after several days in a coma, died. She was 53 years old. I live in a town of 29,000+ and if you are a sewer or quilter, you knew Bonnie. We all miss her very much, her husband and daughter are going to try to keep the shop going and of course we want them to succeed. Being self employed, the family had NO health insurance. So a group of us has filled some raffle baskets and yesterday had a Sew-In.

 We gathered to sew on any thing we wanted, but pledged money to sew, donated money for bottles of water, donated change if we used our seam ripper,

donated change if we used a "bad"word, donated change to take a cookie or candy kiss off the Treat Table.
 

We had a grand time. Many participants stitched blocks to go in a memory quilt for Bonnie's children and grandchildren.

Needless to say, I did not get a lot of reading done this week. I received no books in the mail, I did not start a new read, I did not discover any wondrous words. My participation in Blog land was at  a minimum. Next week should be better. 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday 7-17-13

 Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.

 
Again today I am sharing some interesting words from the introduction to The Grapes of Wrath. 

He launched in to  "L'Affaire", a vituperative satire aimed at attacking the leading citizens of Salinas, who put together a cabal of organizers called "the committee of seven" to foment the ignorant army of vigilantes (assembled from the common populace of Salines - clerks, service-station operators, shopkeepers). "L'Affaire Lettuceberg" was a detour from his main concern for the migrant workers, already recorded int "The Harvest Gypsies" and adumbrated in "The Oklahomans" rehearsals. 

Vituperative:  adj. - using, containing or marked by harshly abusive censure.

from American Heritage Dictionary


Cabal:  noun -  1. a small group of persons joined in a secret, often political intrigue;

from Websters New World College Dictionary

Foment:  transitive verb - 1. to treat with warm water, medicated lotions   2. to stir up(trouble); instigate; incite;

from Websters New World College Dictionary


Adumbrated: intransitive verb - 1. to outline in a shadowy way; sketch.  2.to suggest beforehand;  foreshadow in a vague way.  3. to obscure; or overshadow.

from Websters New World College Dictionary

 Four new and interesting words in just 2 sentences.  I was a bit overwhelmed when I read the paragraph!.

The language in this book is very descriptive but I cannot say I have found any words that I did not understand. Maybe pronunciations that were strange, but I could easily figure out what was meant. 


Until next time:
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday July 13th

Mailbox Monday  is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their home last week(s) and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is currently on tour, hosted by a different blogger each month. The July host is Tasha @ Book Obsessed

This was a rather slow week:

Only one I picked up from the library. 

This is a reading selection of the Ladies and Literature group on Goodreads. And it meets a challenge of reading books that spell out my name for the Mega Mix Challenge on Love of Reading, another group on Goodreads.  Books with titles that begin with 'Y' are harder to find than 'T' or 'S'. And I have 'J' and 'U' also!.

I have read 2 others by Geraldine Brooks and they have both been really good. So I am looking forward to this one also. 


This week I will be busy getting our new-to-us camper ready to go for a long weekend. We are headed to Medora ND to the Teddy Roosevelt National Park and the Medora Musical. If you ever have the opportunity to travel to western ND or eastern Montana and get close, you really should take the time to visit this awesome little town. The musical is in an amazing outdoor amphitheater and plays every night. The young people that perform are very talented. 

Until next time, 
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Saturday Snapshot 5 Generations Almost

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at  West Metro Mommy. To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky (at West Metro Mommy). Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

 This picture was taken at our oldest granddaughter's baby shower in late June. I wanted a 5 generation picture and I will take one as soon as "little prince" is born. He is due in early September, though this great -grandma thinks he will come early. This is my husband's mother( the great-great grandmother-to-be), my husband (the great-grandfather-to-be), our daughter(the grandmother-to-be) and of course our granddaughter (the momma-to-be). Aren't I lucky to have such a handsome family?

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday 7-10

Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.

Here are three of my favorites new-to-me words from my recent read. 

This week I am reading Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Though so far in my reading I have not come across any new words, in the 38 page introduction written by Robert DeMott  there were many. 

jeremiad - noun     a literary work or speech  expressing a bitter lament or righteous prophecy of doom.

              from American Heritage Dictionary 4

"-The Grapes of Wrath has a home[grown quality: part naturalistic epic, part jeremiad, part captivity narrative, part road novel, part transcendental gospel."

contrapuntal - adj     1. of or characterized by counterpoint.    2. according to the principals of counterpoint

                       from Webster's New World College Dictionary

In The Grapes of Wrath he devised a contrapuntal structure, which alternates short lyrical chapters of exposition and background pertinent to the migrants as a group with the long narrative chapters of the Joad family's dramatic exodus to California. 

despotism - noun     1. rule by or as if by a despot; absolute power or authority   2. the actions of a despot: tyranny   3.a government or political system in which the ruler exercises absolute power.

     from American Heritage Dictionary 4

a quote from Steinbeck in a 1937 statement for the League of American Writers. "I believe in the despotism of human life and happiness against the liberty of money and possessions"

I think in this quote, Steinbeck was using the first definition... the power of human life and happiness over money and possessions

I enjoyed the introduction to this edition. It really gave me a background of Steinbeck and his writings. Since I had not read it in school and did not have the opportunity to learn these details, I am glad I took the time to read the lengthy  introduction. 

How about you?  Did you encounter any new or wondrous words?

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

The Devil in the White City - Non Fiction Reading Challenge 4/5

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My library did not have a print copy of this title, so I chose the audio book. I had a large hand stitching project and decided I could do two things at once if I could read and stitch. Needless to say, I finished the stitching project before the audio book was done. This is a very dark book and at the same time full of interesting historical information.

As now that I have finished this book, I enjoyed the historical references way more than the description of the psychopath's murders and all the details. The author Erik Larson did extensive research in libraries, archives, cemeteries and historical societies.

This was indeed an interesting non-fiction story. So much of our architectural history, and manufacturing history got its start at the 1893 Chicago's World Fair. I gave it 4 stars because of all the history presented that I did not know.


View all my reviews

Mailbox Monday 7-8

E BOOKS ONLY THIS WEEK!!!!

 Mailbox Monday  is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week or weeks and to explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday is hosted in July by Tasha at Book Obsessed

 Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This week only 2 titles came to live at my house. Both were downloaded from Amazon via Book Bub. They are:

The titles and the covers drew me in. They may be "fluff" but sometimes I need a little fluffy read.  Do you ever feel like you just need to read to be somewhere else fun, no pressure to get into any analysis or critiquing? 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Friday 7-5 Still Plugging Away

Good Friday Morning.

I am still sloughing through

Devil in the White City.. is dark and full of historical detail. I have it on an audio book and am using a "boombox" to listen. I set it up in one room and the next thing I know I am in another room and have lost tough. I did not realize I was such a wanderer!.  I thought I would listen and sew but I can't hear it over the sewing machine so I must sit still and hand sew or something today. It is due back at the library today, so I will renew it and try to finish over the weekend. 

I still haven't finished the intro to Grapes of Wrath. I don't seem to get to it until bedtime and have been falling asleep while reading. What's up with that?

Anyway, the holiday is over and I should be able to find some reading time soon. I am cleaning closets, a bit late for Spring Cleaning, but it had to be done. Hopefully our new storm/screen door will be installed this week. Golly I miss being able to have my front door open without letting in all the flies and miller moths. 

Until next time,

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday 7-3-13

 Wondrous Words Wednesday is hosted by BermudaOnion each week. It's an opportunity to share new words you've encountered in your reading, or highlight words that you particularly enjoy.

Here are three of my favorite new-to-me words from one of my recent reads. All definitions started at Dictionary.com and then were expanded upon. 

Last week I mentioned that I was reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and I had not found any new words. I was only on page 71. Well, I continued to read on last Wednesday ( after housework and some sewing) and wouldn't you know I found 3 new words. 

They are:

insouciant:adj    calm and untroubled, carefree and indifferent.

pg 90 " I was taken by her beauty, gregariousness, and insouciant charm"

definition from Webster's New World College Dictionary

fulminating: intransitive verb   
1. to explode with sudden violence; detonate
2. to shout forth denunciations, decrees, etc 

pg 92  "All the energy she had once channeled so fearlessly into architecture, she turned toward fulminating about Seattle,...." 


definition from yourdictionary.com

hagiography: noun  

1. a book or writing, or an assemblage of these about the lives of saints

2. such books or writings as a field of study 

from yourdictionary.com

or

1. biography of saints

2. worshipful or idealizing biography

pg 102 "Because you've taken an interest in Bernadette Fox, here's a bit of a hagiography from the not-yet-published February issue of ARTFORUM. 

I believe the author used the second definition from the American Heritage Dictionary 4. 

from American Heritage Dictionary 4


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps: I apologize for the "scrappy" appearance. I don't know exactly how to fix it. It has something to do with the text background color. 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros July 2

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the first paragraph or maybe two of her current read. Anyone can join in. Go to Diane's website for the image and share the first paragraph (or2) of the current book you are reading.

I hope to start this book today. I tried last night, but there were too many distractions. Do you recognize the first chapter?  I have never read this book, so am anxious to give it a try.

To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and recrossed the rivulet marks. the last rains lifted the corn quickly and scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the road so that the gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover. In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a while they did not try any more.The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves, and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in the red country and white in the gray country. 

 This picture is of the actual book from our public library. It is battered and well worn. I hope that means that it has been checked out lots and has been read by many. There is a notation in the book that it was added to our library 8/2002. But I have no idea if it was new or maybe donated by someone. You may remember from a previous post that it was missing from the shelves when I looked for it a few weeks back. They found it and sent me an email that I could pick it up. I am looking forward to reading the whole thing. It's a big book, 619 pages not including a 38 page introduction.

Have you read The Grapes of Wrath?  When in your life did you read it, high school, college? I'd be interested to know.


Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Mailbox Monday 7-1-13

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week(s) and explore great book blogs. Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at Hooked by A Book (formerly The Printed Page) and is on tour for the month of July, and hosted by Tasha at Book Obsessed

 Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

This week the only new book that came into my house, was a battered copy of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. My library finally found the missing copy and emailed me that it was available. I want to start reading it today. 

I am still listening to The Devil in the White City, which I hope to continue while I clean out closets today. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy