Castle in the Clouds

"The craft of questions, the craft of stories, the craft of the hands - all these are the making of something and that something is soul." - p. 14 I've had this book for a couple years now. I bought it because it had the words archetype and wild woman on the cover. Sounded intriguing. I think I read the first few pages of the intro before I was distracted by...butterflies! Or was it squirrels? Surely it was something bright and shiny... So the poor thing sat on my dresser, neglected and forgotten until yesterday. You see, I had left the novel I'm reading at work and needed something to fill the half-hour drive to the boy's baseball game. Since I didn't really want to get drawn into another novel, I decided to give some attention to something off the "research shelf", aka my dresser. I'm glad I did. Even though I didn't even make it to the first story, I found the introduction to be very engaging. And it spoke to me. The creative me. Th...

I don't know if I'm into family history because I'm a scrapbooker, or if I'm a scrapbooker because I'm fascinated by family history. The point here is that I can be a bit sentimental. Take, for instance, my determination to recompile my great-grandparents' family stories and poetry and make it available to my extended family in a more manageable form. I think the stories about covered wagons coming up to Michigan from Ohio are awesome and fully deserving of surviving another generation or two. There's also my sudden interest in the 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion, Fifth Armored Division, of World War II. My grandfather was part of "A" Company. I know this because of a rather roughed up old book that somehow managed to survive a house fire in the late 70s/early 80s. The book is missing it's cover, the first 14 pages, and who knows how many pages at the rear. What it isn't missing is the brief mention of my Grandfather. "It was while ...

The Hunted

I haven't been writing very much lately. Wait. That's a lie. I haven't been writing at all. Not for several weeks. Months. I'd like to give you a laundry list of excuses, but the truth is that the excuses are only that. Excuses. The real problem is me. Not my busy schedule. It's not work, school, housework, or the boys' sports schedules. No, I'm the problem. Instead of pulling out the new laptop, which I so desperately wanted because I was certain it would motivate me to write, I've been flipping on the TV and checking out the DVR list. Or grabbing a book and finding a comfy place to sit and chill for an hour or so. Not that I'm complaining about all the reading I've done this summer. I'm not! I'm loving the fact that I've actually made a small dent in my to-be-read pile. I've read a variety of genres already and it's only mid-June. Young adult fantasy, historical romance, thriller, bizarro, post-apocalyptic, and ...

This weekend we had yet another Open House (a.k.a. graduation party). This one happened to be for Andy, the very first nephew to graduate! Can't tell you how proud we are of him. Or how grateful we are to have him for a role model to our boys. Seriously. This kid rocks. And I'm not just saying that because I love him. It's totally deserved praise. This kid is smart, sensible, reliable, polite, and slightly mischievous. Here he is with his mom and uncle (my hubby)... Moms always look better with a pair of bunny ears, right? And no, brother and sister did not knowingly coordinate their clothes. It just happened. Whereas wife and hubby did not even bother to coordinate...we're we supposed to? Do couples still do that? And for the record, I really like this picture. At the time, I was worried that my head would be chopped off or the picture would be out of focus. You just never know what you're going to get when you hand the camera off to someone who's ...

I feel like that's my life's theme right now. Crazy busy. Go. Go. Go. This last weekend we took the camper "up north" so we could attend two open houses. And because it has recently come to my attention that not everyone will immediately know what I mean by that, I'm going to clarify. We had two high school graduation parties to attend. Second cousins on my side of the family. I've got some great pictures of the "up north" family and all of us "downstate" people on my Flickr site . To see them, you'll need to be logged in. Sorry...it's habit to put them behind the friends and family filter. However, I know not everyone has access to my friends and family photos, so here's a glimpse at our most recent graduates: Jourdan Tarah with her Mom and Dad It was so nice seeing everyone. Ken and I have decided we need to pull the camper up again, though, so we can have a more leisurely visit next time. The only problem I foresee ...

No time to do a real post. I've got to be out the door and on my way to the dentist in the next thirty seconds. Therefore, I give you pictures.

I'm taking a long weekend, which means today is my Friday. I'll end my work day with a 9U baseball game, some scrapbooking, and a DVRed episode of Glee. Maybe some Final Fantasy 13, if I can outlast the rest of the family. Of course, outlasting the family means staying up way too late, which means I may not be at my most charming when I take the dogs in for grooming at 8 a.m. Why did I think that was a good idea? Oh, right. The camper will need to be packed. Before I trot the oldest boy and myself off to the dentist. Ick. However, there is a silver lining in starting my day so dreadfully early! Waiting for the dogs to get beautified will give me plenty of time to sit at Tim Horton's with my laptop. (Sorry, Starbucks, but you've yet to make an appearance in this po-dunk town). While I'm enjoying a nice cup of tea - not a Chai Latte because they simply don't know how to do it right - I'll have time to work on my writing. I just need to make sure I charge...

The Road by Cormac McCarthy My rating: 3 of 5 stars A fairly easy read as far as the prose itself goes. The strange little quirks like omitted apostrophes and the use of pronouns in place of character names were only a mild distraction. After the first chapter or so, I was more concerned with the story than the presentation. First, I should admit I enjoy reading post-apocalyptic fiction. Always have, so I'm a bit predisposed to favor the genre as long as I can buy into what the author is trying to sell me. This author's post-apocalyptic vision was disturbing only because it is easy to imagine humanity sinking to such feral behavior when the very fabric of civilization has been unraveled and survival is all that is left. Distrusting the generosity and humanity of others, as the father so clearly did, could become second nature. I certainly didn't see his behavior as overly paranoid when enough evidence was presented to support it. Be warned...spoiler alert! The ending...