Wondrous Words Wednesday June 22, 2016

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! If you want to play along, grab the button at Kathy's blog, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!

My words today come from Broad Influence: How Women Are changing the Way America Works by Jay Newton-Small.

"One of the oldest boys' clubs in the country resides in the West Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a bastion of male power so obdurate that is has been among the slowest to open to women."

obdurate:  adjective

    : refusing to do what other people want: not willing to change your opinion or the way you do something. 

I feel like I should have known this word. It reminds me of obstinate, which also means refusing to change your behavior or ideas. 


Speaking of the 20 women in the Senate in the 2012-13 session -

"The women were hardly monolithic. They ranged in ages between 45 - 80." 

monolithic: adjective

  : constituting a massive undifferentiated and often rigid whole
  : exhibiting or characterized by often rigidly fixed uniformity 

What wondrous words did you find this week? 


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - 6/21/16 The Quilter's Homecoming

Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts this Tuesday meme. It is a place to share the first paragraph in the first chapter of a book you are reading or hope to get to soon. It is a great place to see what others are reading and add to your ever growing list of title to explore. So let's share. Write a post and then go link up at Diane's blog.

The Quilter's Homecoming
Jennifer Chiaverini
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks 2007

Chapter One
1924



As her father's car rumbled across the bridge over Elm Creek and emerged from the forest of bare-limbed trees onto a broad snow-covered lawn of the Bergstrom estate, Elizabeth Bergstrom was seized by the sudden and unshakable certainty that she should not have come to this place. She should have stayed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to help her brother run the hotel, even though business invariably slowed during the holiday week. Or she should have offered to help care for her sister's newborn twins. Even celebrating Christmas alone would have been preferable to returning to Elm Creek Manor. Her lifelong feelings of warmth and comfort toward the family home had suddenly given way to dread and foreboding. She would have to pass the week next door to Henry, knowing that he was near, and waiting in vain for him to come to her.

What do you think?  Continue or pass?  This is the 10th in the series of Elm Creek Quilts  by Jennifer Chiaverini. I enjoyed the first nine, and then did not continue. Not for lack of interest or want, there are just so many books that catch my interest. But I was given a copy of The Lost Quilter, #14 in the series and I must read them in order.  That's just me. So off to the library I went to check out #10, #11, #12, #13.

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?  is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. Share what you are reading, what you read recently or what you hope to get to in the coming week and then link up with Kathryn at Book Date. It is a great place to see what is going on in the blogosphere and to add to your reading lists.


On my nightstand:

Surprisingly, I am liking this book. I am learning some things, and discovering some new words.

A favorite quote so far:  " Women aren't necessarily less partisan than men, but they are more inclined to listen and try to understand the other side." 


On my Kindle:

I am finally engaged in this one, well the first in the collection anyway. The main character, Wilhelmina Chance, is the proprietor of the bookstore in her hometown of Mystic Notch, New Hampshire.  And of course, she has discovered a body, the body of Lavinia Babbage the head librarian in her hometown.  And there is a cat, Pandora.  I'm hooked!

Not sure how my reading will go this week. Our granddaughter is in early stages of labor and Mr. Busy and I are in the wings to take care of the almost 3 year old, soon to be big brother.  Reading time could be at a premium. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

The Cat Sitter's Whiskers by Blaize and John Clement

The Cat Sitter's Whiskers by Blaize Clement
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Dixie Hemingway lives in Sarasota Florida. She is a cat/dog sitter for the mostly rich and famous who live on Siesta Key, a sliver of sand that hugs the shoreline of Sarasota. She lives in the upstairs apartment over the garage of her older brother's house. Micheal and his partner Paco, are her port in a storm. And she has had a few storms. She used to be a police officer, but after her husband and young daughter were killed in a car accident, she couldn't go back.  That doesn't keep her from having a cop's instincts. She reads people well, most people like her and she is fearless. This can help or hinder her in the situations that seem to surround her.

I really enjoyed this book. Even though it is the 10th in the Dixie Hemingway series, I did not feel as if I had missed anything. The author uses the main characters, memories and thought processes to add her back story to the current story. I will read more of this cozy mystery series. Thanks to Cathy at Kittling Books for the giveaway.

I am linking this up to

You can find this challenge here,

Cruisin' Thru the Cozies 2016 is hosted by Yvonne at Socrates' Book Reviews

 And you can check out this challenge at The Worm Hole, this link will go to the page "Profession".

Or you can see all my challenges by clicking on  the 2016 Challenges tab at the top of my blog page.

Saturday Snapshots Father's Day 2016 Random photos.

To participate in Saturday Snapshot: 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 on Melinda's blog, West Metro Mommy Reads .  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



Today just random photos of the Dads in my life. In no particular order.

 Grandson-in-law helping his almost 2yo son on a Stryder bike.

 My granddaughter's significant other holding their son blowing candles out on Grandma's birthday cake.

Watching a movie, eating pizza bites with his Dad. ( our great grandson)

 My brother-in-law, the turkey hunter. I did not have a photo of him with his two sons(both grown now)

  My nephew teaching his daughter how to hold a golf cub!  Don't you wish you had her outfit!

 Our ex-son-in-law at our youngest granddaughter's graduation. No matter what, the Dad's are still in your life.

My brother (on the right) with his two sons. Not sure what they were celebrating here!

 Our son, his son and our daughter-in-law at family photo day.

Great Grandson #3, Kai with his adopted "Da". They now live in Tim's home in Melbourne, Australia. 

 

       My kid's dad, playing Mahjong on his iPad. Don't tell him I took this picture, I think he is also asleep!


And last but not least, Mr. Busy's dad with our granddaugher, his first great grandchild, about 1989.

 And my Dad, walking me down the aisle in June 1964. He was killed in an automobile accident 5 years later.

Hope your upcoming weekend is a good one. 

Wondrous Word Wednesday June 15, 2016

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! If you want to play along, grab the button at Kathy's blog, write a post and come back and add your link to Mr. Linky!

A friend on FB, mom of a 7 year old , he'll be 8 in July, posted this with a picture of him reading the computer screen of a game he is interested in playing. I had to look up redacted also!

"Proud (geek) Mom moment. Isaac read the entire character description without stumbling and only needed the definition for redacted."

redact - transitive verb

1: to put in writing : frame

2: to select or adapt (as by obscuring or removing sensitive information) for publication or release; broadly : edit

3: to obscure or remove (text) from a document prior to publication or release

During my deputy training, we were subjected to a lecture by a retired medical examiner visiting from Orlando who had made a name for herself in the field of forensic osteology

From my current read, The Cat Sitter's Whiskers by Blaize and James Clement

I could figure this one out, because of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. But I was unfamiliar with the word.

osteology - noun

Medical definition of osteology

1: a branch of anatomy dealing with the bones

2: the boney structure of an organism

Did you find any wondrous words in your reading or listening this week?


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

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First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - 6-14-16 Broad Influence

Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea hosts this Tuesday meme. It is a place to share the first paragraph in the first chapter of a book you are reading or hope to get to soon. It is a great place to see what others are reading and add to your ever growing list of title to explore. So let's share. Write a post and then go link up at Diane's blog.

Broad Influence - How Women Are Changing the Way America Works
Jay Newton-Small
Time Books 2016


1
THE WEST WING

One of the oldest boys' clubs in the country resides in the West Wing of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a bastion of male power so obdurate that it has been among the slowest to open to women. In the 216 years from the country's founding until 1992, just 14 women served in the Cabinet; in the next 23 years, there's been some acceleration, with 20 women in Cabinet positions. When President Obama took office in January 2009, his secretaries of state, labor, homeland security and health and human services and the director of the Environmental Protection Agency were all women, as was his United Nations ambassador. 



I really wanted to share the introduction to this book too, but could not decide which paragraph would be more attractive. Do you read much non-fiction?  Do you ever read non-fiction?  This book was introduced to us by one our book club members who listens to a lot of NPR. She is also a recently retired social studies teacher from one of the Junior Highs in our small conservative city.

So would you read this one?  Regardless of which side of the aisle you sit on, women are moving from critical mass to broad influence in our country.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy