featured
-
Thoughts About Two Books–Mrs. Miniver And Chatterton Square
I read two books I loved recently. One was a reread. It is Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther. My local library has a bad habit of getting rid of older books so periodically I check out ones I particularly like in the hopes of preventing their culling. The last time I read Mrs. Miniver was before I started blogging so it was definitely time to check it out again. I was tempted to check out Dickens’ entire oeuvre in order to protect them as well. They looked like they hadn’t moved from the shelves in years. However, I thought the librarians might have some questions if I staggered up to…
-
Recipe For A Snow Day
Take one heaping serving of a surprise snowfall. Mix it in with the luxury of not having to go anywhere. Feel very slightly sorry for your children who only had a two hour delay instead of a cancellation. Ignore the fact that the snow is turning to rain. Insist on still calling it a snow day in your head. Rain day does not have the same ring. Add in a cup of tea. This is not the time for cups of tea that have been made and abandoned on the kitchen counter because you are too busy to drink them. Make a pot of tea. Use a pretty mug. Drink…
-
Twenty-Six Years
We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. Supposedly that is a Dr. Seuss quote. Did he really write that or does Pinterest just say so? I don’t know but I like the quote. I think there is a lot of truth in it. My husband and I celebrated our twenty-sixth wedding anniversary this week. We didn’t do anything big or amazing. Life is busy and crazy as usual. We left the kids at home and went out for Chinese food. We…
-
Growing Up and Letting Go
My son turned sixteen earlier this month. My son, who not that long ago was sitting on the floor playing with Thomas the Tank Engine, is now old enough to drive. That is a scary thought. The kid who frequently doesn’t seem completely sure who his body belongs to and where those huge feet came from is old enough to be put in charge of a huge hunk of moving metal and allowed on the road. Excuse me while I go lie down for a minute. My son tells us that he thinks getting his license is practical because then he can get a job during shop cycle at school…
-
Books As Our Identity
It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you want to be my friend you have to like Jane Austen. Tell me that you don’t like one of her novels and I will judge you. Ask me, as someone recently did, who Jane Austen is and I will pass out from shock, recover and judge you, and then I will pass out again. As with many book mad people, the books I love have become part of my identity. Tell me you don’t like Jane Austen and you are telling me you don’t like part of who I am because I can trace Jane Austen and her novels back through…
