December 4 - Soft

Today's prompt (soft) makes me wish I had my cat. She's so soft and cuddly, but not close by. So I used my sister's lovely hair instead.

December 3 - Crumbs

Crumbs.

Talk about a random prompt! Haha.

It took me a while to figure out what to photograph, but I ended up liking my picture for today a lot.

I took my camera to dinner with me and I'm sure I provided quite the spectacle for the other people in the restaurant as I clicked away at my freshly-arrived food, throughout the meal, and at the empty dishes.

December 2 - Glitter

My day two prompt was glitter.

When the time came to take pictures, I discovered that my house is severely lacking in glittery things, but I was able to find a few suitable subjects. Halfway through, I had an epiphany which led me to taking way over my self-imposed limit. So much for that. Haha.

Oddly enough, the one I ended up choosing was a spur-of-the-moment picture I took while setting up lighting.

December 1 - Faith

For the month of December, I'm taking a break from the usual programming here and trying my hand at a photo-a-day challenge.

Here's how it'll work: every day at midnight my lovely sister sends me a prompt and I have twenty-four hours to take my photo. I'm trying to get the shot in fifty frames or less, but I don't know how long that will last.

My goal is to have fun and hopefully improve my photography along the way. I thought it'd be fun to share my progress.

For December 1st, my prompt was faith.

Any thoughts?

The Lost Entry

A.K.A

"A Summer Book Sale"

Over the summer, I was able to make it to one book sale (the other one I usually attend has been postponed for a year due to construction) and I took lots of pictures of what I came away with and had a post all organized and ready to go...but then my laptop decided to go wonky and in the end I had to get a new one.

So, after much reorganization and sorting of files, and losing and rediscovering this entry, I've finally remembered to post it.

So.

Allow me to share what I found:

First up are three books by Robert Louis Stevenson. They're from the early 1900's and in pretty good condition. About six years ago I read "Treasure Island" by Stevenson and I really liked it, so I can't wait to try these.

Next is a set of five books by J.M. Barrie. They date from 1912.

"A Concise Dictionary of English Slang" from the 1950's. Not only will it be useful for writing, it's pretty entertaining to read. There was certainly some interesting slang back then.

It apparently was given as a gift in '56 from a man named David. Usually I can decipher handwriting pretty well, but I'm having the hardest time reading the last part of this. Is that an "and" symbol in the middle, there?

"Reed's Word Lessons". There's just something about antique schoolbooks that I love. There just seems to be so much history behind them and I can only imagine how many little hands held this book as they learned from it.

What makes this book even better is the writing I found inside. Somebody went through and translated a lot of the words into different languages. Most of the ones on this page are translated into Norwegian and German. It struck me as interesting how this spelling book uses so many foreign words as examples. Like "Czar" and the "far" at the top of the page. What does that say about the school and students that used it?

And finally, this book, "The Family Book of Home Entertaining", was really interesting to flip through. It's from the '50's and some of the ideas are really cute. There are pages and pages of fun themes for just about every party you can imagine.

So, I had a lot of fun at the fair that hosted this book sale. There was a good selection, good prices, and I even got my picture taken for the paper!

New Book – "Viva Jacquelina!"

 I’ve been waiting for Viva Jacquelina!: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Over the Hills and Far Away for almost a year now and I was so excited when it came in the mail last week.

 

The cover – lying on my bed.

This series is definitely at the top of my list. I’m on book ten and the stories keep getting better and better! L.A. Meyer is such a great storyteller – there’s never a dull moment!

 

Opening the cover for the first time!

I pre-ordered it and waited (im)patiently for it to arrive in the mail. When it came, I cracked it open and smelled the pages and, lo and behold, it didn’t have that usual new-book-smell. It smelled of fresh cut lumber! Haha!

Well, back to – as I called it the other night – Jacky, sweet Jacky. Happy reading!

Thirteen Confessions

Four months.

It's been almost four months since I last made a blog post and I sincerely apologize. Getting back into writing posts, I thought I'd start with this:

 

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Inspired by this website: bookfessions, I drew up a list of thirteen of my own confessions.

 

1.       In high school I carried my purse around not to look cool but so I could keep it on my desk and read behind it during lectures.

2.       My bookshelves are so full they are actually beginning to collapse.

3.       The largest number of books I’ve bought at one time is 83.

4.       Most of my books I’ve bought for a dollar or less.

5.       I don’t like reading the summaries on the cover flap or the back for fear that the plot will be ruined for me. I don’t like it when I see things coming.

6.       When I go shopping with people, I bring a book. I read it while I’m waiting on others in the changing rooms.

7.       I once borrowed by best friend’s copy of Pride and Prejudice in middle school and accidentally ripped the back cover in half. I felt so guilty for damaging it I told her I had lost it and bought her a new copy instead. She still doesn’t know the real reason.

8.       I memorized my fourteen-digit library card number years ago.

9.       One of the things I hate most is finding a typo in a book.

10.   In tenth grade my English classroom was across the hall from the library. During the five-minute passing periods I would run to class to have enough time to check out a new book and get to my seat in time.

11.   My favorite books are the ones with a unique history behind them.

12.   My cousin told me she wants to have as many books as I do some day. I hope she does; I think it’s awesome.

 

13. When I was little I often got in trouble for staying up late reading instead of adhering to "lights out" times.

What are yours?