Snapshot Saturday 8 Dec12

 

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by At Home With Books. 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 At Home With Books). 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 is my old Christmas cactus. Every year I am afraid it is not going to bloom again, and every year it faithfully delivers several bright pink blooms. you can see the buds from at least 4 more. Do you have a Christmas cactus? Is it pink or red. ?


Until Next Time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday 12-5

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, this week both of my words come from The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. I am nearly finished with the book. It is taking me a long time. Less reading minutes this month, with holiday preparations and parties. My definitions come from dictionary.com.

Doppelganger 

“The older he became, though, and the more he grew, the clearer it became to all that he was on a collision course with his fate: to become a doppelganger of Mr. Arthur Smitham.”

Used in the sentence I thought  it was to become a copy. It is from the German  for double, so I was on the right track.

 noun

A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its fleshly counterpart.

Truncheon

“Hand resting on his truncheon, Constable Suckling jostled across the beach.”

My thought was his nightstick. 

noun

1.     OBSOLETE a short, thick club; cudgel

2.     any staff or baton used as a symbol of authority

3.     CHIEFLY BRIT. a policeman's stick or billy

4.     OBSOLETE the shaft of a spear

5.     OBSOLETE a trunk or stem, esp. one with the branches lopped off

The story is set in London during WWII, and the year 2011.  Both words were used in chapters 7 & 8, set in London 1938,  so I guess definition  number 3 is the one the author used.  I don’t think I will be using either of these words in my normal vocabulary, but I like knowing them just the same.

I have come across several new words in reading this book. I love that!! 

Until next time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

 

FCFP Tuesday Intros Dec 4

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

  Well, I have broken the toilet. I flushed, the water rose, the rose higher, too much. I stared at it, told it, "No!" slammed the lid down, the raised it back up again. Water still rising. I put the lid down, turned out the light, tiptoed out of the bathroom, across the hall, and into my bedroom, where I slid under my bed. 

  Now I hear the water hitting the bathroom floor. It goes on and on. Niagara Falls, where the honeymooners go and do what they do. There is the heavy tread of his footsteps coming rapidly up the stairs. I hear him turn on the bathroom light and swear softly to himself. "Katie!" he yells. He comes into my room. I stop breathing. "Katherine!" I am stone. I am off the planet, a star, lovely and unnamed. He goes into my sister's room. " What the hell did you do to the toilet?"

 Would you continue reading?  This series was recommended to me by a friend. A teacher and fellow quilter. I am going to read all three for a book challenge.  Elizabeth Berg is a new to me author, but not to many. I received the first  of the series from PBS after my friend loaned me a copy of the 3rd in the series and another of the author's stand alone books.


Today I am going to finish decorating the Christmas tree, attend my Stitchin' Club Show and Tell, then go to the month meeting of my face to face book club. We are having a bookmark exchange and will discuss The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Another author that I had not read previously. I really liked that one, and gave it 5 STARS!!.

Until next time,
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

December 3 Mailbox Monday

Welcome to Mailbox Monday, a meme started by Marcia and hosted by Susan of Suko’s Notebook in December.  This is where we spotlight the books that came to our home in the last week. Caveat: Mailbox Monday can cause your TBR pile to increase exponentially.

The image above is not really the truth. There has been lots of stuff in my mailbox, but only those ghastly "junk" catalogs that fill mailboxes this time of year. I am hoping for some Christmas cards in the near future. I haven't ordered any books, but hopefully will get to the library to pick up a few this week. I am sending a book to someone through Paperback Swap, so next week she will have a mailbox goody. That makes me happy too. 

I am still trying to get a signature to appear at the end of my blog, that is not surrounded by a box. I have not accomplished that yet. But I will persevere. 

Until next time, 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps: it looks good as I write the post , but when I publish it changes. 

Saturday Snapshot #1 December

Saturday Snapshot

is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books.

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 is a really BAD photo of a really gorgeous lighted bridge at our local college. Every morning when I drive by on my way to the gym, it just makes me smile.

Hooray!!! the tree is up in the living room. It is pre-lit, so that part is done. Now to drag out all the totes full of decorations!  


So Until Next Time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Wondrous Words Wednesday 11-28-12

This MEME is sponsored by Kathy at BermudaOnion's Weblog. It is a place to share new words we have encountered in our reading or elsewhere this week.

My words this week are from The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.  I encountered the first one on page 1 and the second on page 6. I'm going to love this novel if it keeps using new -to-me words.


1.  copse  " A rustic fence hems the house, and a wooden gate separates the tame garden from the meadows on either side, the copse beyond."

I've seen this word before in another read, and because of the way it was used in a sentence, I thought I knew what it was. This time I looked it up.  copse n. A thicket made up of trees or small bushes.


2. Obfuscation "The effort of obfuscation was lost on Rose, whose attention, unreliable at best, had already shifted to a butterfly resting on the fence post."   This word was brand new to me. In fact it wasn't in the dictionary I had in my bookshelf. I had to look it up on an online dictionary.

obfuscation n. from the transitive verb obfuscate. 1) to cloud over; obscure; make darker. 2) to muddle; confuse; bewilder.

3. Proscenium  ",the balcony where they'd hung the old bedroom curtains to form a proscenium arch,"

proscenium  n. 1. the stage of an ancient Greek or Roman theater.
                         2. a) the apron of a stage
                             b) the plane separating the stage proper from the audience and including the arch ( ) and the curtain with it.

Thank you Kathy for sponsoring this MEME.  I am a bit of a Word Freak. I love new words.  Pop on over to Kathy's blog and see what new words everyone else encountered this week.


Until Next Time
Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Judy

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday 11-27

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

                    Helena, Montana – Memorial Day, May 29, 2000   
Joel eyed the remains and laughed at the animal that had caused the carnage. The carnivore had done damage, serious damage, to the thing that covered most of his plate. But even serious damage was not a mortal blow, not to a 24-ounce porterhouse. They would have to leave it behind. Doggie bags didn't cut it on ten-hour drives home.

Heldt, John A. (2012-02-12). The Mine (Northwest Passage) (Kindle Locations 33-39). John A. Heldt. Kindle Edition. 

So what do you think?  Would you keep reading?  I did, the setting of Montana drew me in. I've been to Helena, Montana, even have friends that live there, so I kept reading. The other thing that had me read on, was.. this is my first experience with a Kindle edition. I don't have an e-reader yet, but I downloaded the Kindle app onto my laptop. This book was suggested to me by the author through a message on Goodreads. And it was only $.99, so I took the plunge. Now I must decide what kind of reader I want. Kindle, Nook, or go for broke and get an iPad. ??? Decisions, decisions!!!  Any suggestions? 

Till Next Time

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Judy