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