The kids and I discovered the wonders of baking our own bread--a great way to pass the time on a rainy day (which seems to be every weekend these days...). Izzy loved kneading and "thwumping" the dough, and she diligently monitored the rising process. |
| From Tubing video |
Halloween is almost here, which in our neck of the woods means it's about time to venture a visit to our neighborly Norbert the Dragon... 
Also on my To-Do list is this Southern Living recipe for Easy Pork Grillades Over Panko-Crusted Grits Patties. Originally published in Glorious Grits: America's Favorite Comfort Food, just reading this recipe makes me hungry.
click here to access podcasts from NPR's official website.
Some of my favorite podcasts so far: Bon Appetit's Podcasts, Epicurious: Food and Drink, Gardenfork Radio, B&N (Barnes & Noble) Meet the Writers, NPR Music Podcasts, NPR Live Concerts from All Songs Considered Podcast, Washington Post Book World Podcasts, CNN Complete Update... the list is soon-to-be endless.
Finding the time to listen to these podcasts is another matter all together.
(P.S. So far, all podcasts I have selected have been free to download &/or subscribe to... haven't figured out yet if all podcasts in general are free.)
"[Danny Gregory] gently instructs us in the art of allowing ourselves to fail, giving up the expectation of perfection and opening our eyes to the beauty around us. The result is...a wild celebration of amateurism, full of humor, passion, and encouragement, sure to inspire every doodler, frustrated writer, wannabe musician, and midlife-crisising executive--in other words, the artist inside every one of us."--Hyperion Books
Excerpt from Everyday Matters:
"...Then one evening, I decided to teach myself to draw...I committed to drawing the things around me, sticking to studies of real things... my first efforts were horrible... But one quiet evening, ... Something about that drawing was different from anything I'd ever done before. I took my time, and then suddenly I zoned out. My mind went blank, my breathing slowed, and when I finally stopped to look at my page, I was amazed that I had managed to create anything so beautiful. At first, it seemed like a fluke... but then I drew the contents of our medicine cabinet (slowly, slowly), and again I saw something new...
What was different was not the drawing but the seeing. I caressed what I drew with my eyes, lingering over every curve and bump, gliding around contours and into shadows. No matter what I looked at in this way, I saw beauty and felt love. It was very weird but it happened again and again. When I slowed way down and let my mind go, I had the same incredibly sensual experience. It didn't matter what I drew. And then I discovered it didn't matter what the drawing was like. In fact, I could simply toss it away, like the skin of a banana. What mattered was the slow, careful gaze." --Danny Gregory, Everyday Matters
P.S. Click here to check out his blog
photo credit: Amazon.com
I remember going to my Japanese grandmother's house when I was little... rarely was she without gardenias in her home. She would cut the blossoms from her front yard, and float them in shallow black bowls of water. The following review is not exactly reminiscent of a trip to Grandma's house, but it left my nose detecting subtle hints of the delicious flower while reading this fan's take on a fragrance called Fracas:
Wow. Intense description... fragrances are fun to fantasize about.
Some more fragrances on my list to experience: Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Carnal Flower, Kai, Creed Tubereuse Indiana, and Voluspa Fleurs de Fete... all are gardenia scented fragrances
The List: celebrities and their fragrances... (I don't really care who's wearing what, but some people find it interesting)
Click here if you are cheap (like me) and would rather learn how to make your own gardenia fragrance from the garden
Click here to read more on Mom's Night Out.
Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants was excellent. It pulled me in from the very first chapter, and I found my mind wandering back into the pages of her novel as I went about my day.
I loved this novel. The author, David Wroblewski, is an excellent story-teller. This novel stayed with me a while after I had completed it, and I still find myself thinking about it from time to time. Though it is a bit difficult to get into at first, it's worth the initial struggle. I won't be surprised if this novel goes to the big screen.
Never mind that it can be a struggle at times to keep up with the daily demands of running a household and parenting two small kids, I still found the time to read this book in less than 3 sittings (feet a-dragging the following morning, laundry piling up...). Sue Monk Kidd is a gifted storyteller, possessing the rare ability to pull her readers into the preexisting world of her novel--in all its depth and clarity. Fictional, yet still powerfully real, I was irresistibly consumed by the lives of her characters, and completed the last half in one night. It was worth staying up until wee hours of morning to experience this story--not sure it would have been quite as enjoyable otherwise.
The kids helped take care of a baby mockingbird a few months ago. While the kids' dad was on a job site, he witnessed a dog picking up a baby bird from beneath a tree. Needless to say, the dog wasn't exactly gentle, and the bird's wing suffered some injuries (an open wound, missing fuzz and feathers). We nursed his wounds and kept him in a cage at home, feeding him meal worms, baby bird formula, and fruit (he loved grapes!). The little guy (or girl?) became quite friendly and was pretty finger-tame. Once he was old enough to fly and his wound was healed, we let him go--much to my son's dismay. He held the little mockingbird in his hand, kissed him, and told him to "fly away!" We spotted our bird on a telephone wire being greeted by a fellow mockingbird with a friendly nudge before flying off together. Here is a story I wrote and illustrated for the kids, with some added dramatizations.
I liked Little Mockingbird so much, that one day I let him sit on my train table while I played trains. He watched as I pushed my steam engines along the tracks, and then he carefully backed his way into the engine shed. “Silly Little Mockingbird,” I said, “that’s not a birdie house! That’s where trains go when they are all done puffing on the tracks!” Little Mockingbird just sat inside looking out at me. 
He was so quiet, I forgot he was there, until he squawked at the train I was pushing around. “You must be bored, Little Mockingbird,” I said. Gently, I scooped him up and gave him a tiny kiss. But, he squawked again! “What are you squawking at, Little Mockingbird?” I asked. He was looking at my toy train. “You want to go for a ride, Little Mockingbird?” 
Little Mockingbird stopped squawking when I put him on top of the train. He just sat right down as if he had been waiting to sit there all along. Slowly, I pushed the train along the tracks. “Toot, Toot!” I said. “Peep, Peep!” said Little Mockingbird.
Little Mockingbird also liked my sister’s tea set. He made himself comfortable and peered out at me as I pretended to pour tea. “Silly Little Mockingbird! That’s not a nest! That’s a teacup!” I exclaimed.
I found out Little Mockingbird liked to “help” me make pictures, just like my little sister. When I was busy cutting up pieces of blue paper and pasting them on green paper, Little Mockingbird started to peck at the pieces that dropped from my scissors. “Silly Little Mockingbird, that’s not birdie food, that’s paper!” So, at lunch time, I shared some of my grapes with him, instead.
After breakfast one morning, Mama told me it was time to let Little Mockingbird go. “No! He’s my Little Mockingbird!” I protested. She explained how Little Mockingbird would have all the trees to land in, and the whole sky to fly in, so his world would be much bigger. He would be a happy birdie.
I cupped Little Mockingbird in my hands, gently kissed the top of his soft head, and said “Fly away, Little Mockingbird!” And he did.
What If You Find a Baby Bird?
First, always tell a grown-up if you find a baby bird before you do anything. Be careful not to touch the bird with your bare hands. Next, decide if the baby bird needs your help. Most of the time, it is best to leave the baby bird alone so the mamma and daddy bird can keep it fed and cared for.
If the baby bird is not hurt and has a fair amount of feathers, just carefully put it in a safe spot in the nearest tree. If it is not hurt and doesn’t have any feathers yet, then you can make a nest yourself and attach the nest up in a safe spot in the tree closest to the spot where the baby bird was found.
Make a nest out of an empty berry basket or cut a water bottle in half—line it with tissue paper. Using duct tape or a nail, attach your nest to the tree in a safe spot out of the direct sun and, if possible, high enough that dogs or cats won’t disturb it. Leave the baby bird in your nest, and watch from a distance, so the parents won’t be afraid of returning. Don’t worry, the mommy birds don’t get scared off by your scent—that’s just an old wives’ tale.
If the baby bird was found injured, weak or shivering, or huddled with its feathers all fluffed out, or if its parents were injured, then it will need your care. Do not give it liquid, because it is too young. Keep the baby bird in a safe, quiet place, like a shoe box with holes punched in the lid. Baby birds are fed up to 5 times in one hour, so it will probably be hungry. To feed it, try soaking dry cat or dog food so it is the consistency of tooth paste, then hold a pea sized ball of the paste over the birdie’s beak so it will gape (look upward with its beak open wide). Stuff the paste in its open mouth. Don’t force the food down the baby birds throat. Generally, if he stops gaping, he’s no longer hungry. There is baby bird formula available at pet stores, which is a powder that can be made into a paste as well.
Contact your local wildlife conservation society immediately for further assistance and long-term care. Remember, even though it seems like it would be fun to keep a wild bird for a pet, they may have special health concerns and are a big responsibility. More importantly, a special permit is required in some states (including California) to raise wild birds.
Between, Georgia (Good ***)
The Pillars of the Earth (Very Good ****)
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was excellent. Loved it--definitely a story that stays with you. It's a little bit difficult to get into at first, but it's worth it. Excellent (*****).
Other books I enjoyed reading (since beginning of 2008):
Kristin Hannah's Firefly Lane was a bit cliche and predictable at times, but entertaining in a "Beaches" sort of way (if you like those kinds of friendship stories). Good (***)
Galaxy Craze's Tiger Tiger is a fairly entertaining novel. It's a story of a mother and daughter's tumultuous journey from an unstable home life in England to an even more unstable life in a cult (as well as the daughter's journey through young adulthood). Don't know if I would want to read more of this author's work. Kind of Good (** 1/2).
Carolyn Parkhurst's Lost and Found was pretty good. I was not too into the soap opera-like drama and the multiple narrators, but the author continuously redeems herself by exploring a deeper perspective on life and its common struggles. Good (***).
This novel by Billie Letts didn't impress me much...From the very beginning, I was hoping this writer had more talent than this limiting story revealed. Mediocre (*1/2).
This is the first book by Anita Shreve that I have read, and it was enjoyable. Although it took me a little while to get used to her writing style, it was still a fast, satisfying read. I'm interested in reading more of her novels, particularly Sea Glass and Pilot's Wife. Very Good (****).
Run was just all right. Page long paragraphs and a not so spectacular plot kept me waiting for more...though the last few chapters were pretty good. Overall, Anne Patchett's writing style tended to ramble and drone a bit too much for me to want to read any more of her novels. Okay--Good at the end (**+1/2 ).
The Mermaid Chair, by Sue Monk Kidd
The Memory of Water was great. I want to read it again, and I'll definitely read more novels by this author. It spoke to me emotionally without being too sentimental and melodramatic, and though it had 4 narrators (4 characters speaking in first person), it worked. One of the characters has bipolar disorder, and for anyone who has experienced the struggle of loving someone with bipolar disorder, this book hits the mark. Very Good (**** +1/2)
Beside a Burning Sea required effort for me to complete, because though the plot was engaging, the presentation of the story was a bit one-dimensional. The author's intent to create a romantically poetic drama resulted in a novel with too much sappy dialogue and descriptive detail. In other words, I really wasn't too impressed with the author's writing style--it felt too much like summarizations and lacked the depth required to pull me into the world within the pages of the book. The engaging aspects of this novel included its historical setting in the South Pacific during World War II, in which 9 survivors of a sunken hospital ship are stranded on an uninhabited island. The plot focuses on how and if they get off the island, as well as the love developing between some of the survivors. Ultimately, it is a love story... just a bit too "overdone" for my tastes. Okay (**+1/2)
Crazy Ladies is a fictional story told by 6 women in Tennessee, beginning in the 1930s and ending in the 70s. The reading feels a bit disjointed (due to the chapterly narration change), until around the tenth chapter when all seems to flow smoothly (yet deliciously bumpy at the same time). Dorothy, the "craziest lady" in the novel, is sadly intriguing once the rest of the "ladies" in the novel tell their side of the story. The author repaints each decade using bits of history (and other snapshots) to cajole the reader's memory banks back into time. Good (***)
I loved reading Molokai, and did not want it to end. It is a great story, and though sad, it doesn't have the "tear jerker" quality one has to be in the right mood to read. It is more of a story of endurance--of the heart and of a culture. I also want to learn how to speak Hawaiian now, because of all the vivid cultural history as well as the lyrical beauty of the language as it is shared in this story. (*****) Excellent!
Entertaining and well written, yet sometimes drags a bit during over-analysis of mundane issues. Not sure Empire Falls deserved the Pulitzer Prize. I kept my eyes peeled for Pulitzer-prize material, and was disappointed. Okay (** +1/2)
Great entertainment, including history lessons on World War II from the candid perspectives of the wives of soldiers. The Future Homemakers of America is a great read one can pick up and put down for a while, yet not lose interest. Good (***)
The Girls is a fictional yet realistic story of conjoined twins: the rare bond between the sisters and the story of their upbringing from birth to death. Good (***+1/2)
Ann B. Ross presents Fannie Flagg style storytelling with all the southern charm. Good (***)
Graphic account of a young addict's life; read "Beautiful Boy" first, and this one will be easier to swallow. Also, the parallels between "Beautiful Boy" and "Tweak" will be more apparent if read in this order, since the former has a more structured series of events as told from the eyes of an addict's father. Both are memoirs (true stories). I'd give both a Very Good (*** +1/2)
Both the Kindness of Strangers and Angel's Rest are tear-jerkers. I loved them both, despite the sadness factor, because both were such beautifully told stories. Both novels are Excellent (*****).
