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March 02 Goodwill ShoppingThis past year I have had amazing luck haunting secondhand shops. I've met some friends who are master shoppers and we've shared our favorite locations with one another. We have even gone on a few shopping adventures together! Saturday I was alone and I found incredible bargains, along with gifts for family members. A suitcase, clothes & books! Found a silk jacket dress in royal blue - $4.99! Never worn! My friends have much better success in finding bargains than I do, but it really is an adventure.
We were talking today that back in the 1970's when shops first opened that people looked down on you if you purchased items from secondhand stores. Saturday there was no spaces available in the parking lot. On a Saturday! It is getting much more difficult to find bargains. One of our shops is a free store. One can find incredible clothes there. People in our area are generous to this shoppe. But, people from away have found it too. They come in and take items. Then resell them in their own shops out-of-state. This is disappointing. Where this shop is free and we are not needy, our personal promise is that what we take, we donate items in equal or more value to this store. It is only fair.
This spring I am going to have to weed out my clothes and belongings and donate them to my favorite haunts. This will be a job..... Must make room for the bargains!
February 15 Pam Baker & The SGsWe enjoyed an evening of blues music - Pam Baker & The SGs - at the Magic Lantern. We had seen her and the band perform last summer at the Blues Festival in Naples. A great evening of entertainment. Our own personal concert!
Pam Baker & the SG's
Maine Blues Festival mainebluesfestival.com   January 22 BookmoochIf you love to read - fiction or nonfiction - this site may be for you. http://www.bookmooch.com/ BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books. BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. Give & receive: Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you've read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. No cost: there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only cost is mailing your books to others. January 18 Gran TorinoGran Torino is like viewing members of your family and neighborhood at a picnic - with all their warts and prejudices worn out in the open for all to see. Everyday people living their lives. Heroes? A man standing up for what is right?
Rather than moving he and his wife lived their lives in the neighborhood they raised their children. And by present events he becomes a member of the new neighborhood.
This movie will become a modern classic. Clint Eastwood shows that he understands the regular guy. January 01 Seven PoundsToday I had the opportunity to see Seven Pounds starring Will Smith.
This is a rare time when one wonders throughout the movie "what's really happening?" The acting was excellant. Not a poor performance from anyone, the sets were realistic, and the cinematography wonderful.
This is a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat and emotionally drained after.
Only one complaint, it drags in the middle. The pace could have been speeded up.
I believe this will be a classic movie that we'll be watching years from now. May 16 Spring Has ArrivedThis past winter and spring I just have not felt like writing. Just one of those moods. I began a new job with a great service organization in the new year. It is a 35 minute drive from my home. Of course Old Man Winter visited over each holiday. Before the very last storm we purchased a 4 wheel drive vehicle to make the drive. There were some nail biting moments during each of these events. Have listened to some books on tape on the ride. One set was recorded over itself. It kept repeating itself. Weird. Got the gist of the story. Have never had that happen before.
I have spent much of my time exchanging books thru 2 sites: BookMooch & Title Trader. These are great sites, very different and very similar. I have exchanged books that I have owned for 20 years and have not had one nibble on newer bestsellers. Can't believe how much time it takes.
Just beginning to work in my flower garden. Amazed that I did not lose more plants. They did not freeze or float away. And I have spent time watching my nephew's lacrosse games. He graduates from high school in June. My oldest nephew is moving home. And my youngest nephew tells me that his sport is 4 wheeling. He even found a way to make it a science project! March 15 The Pursuit Of HappynessAn amazing story which is poorly told by the author, Chris Gardner. I expected so much more than a survey of his life. Despite all odds being against him in the world he grew up in, he survived and worked hard to become successful as a person, father and businessman. I wish that he had asked a more experienced writer to author his story. March 11 bookcrossing.comWith this site members release their BCID numbered books into the wild and track their travels across the world. I was introduced to this site from a book that I mooched from bookmooch.com. This community site has members world-wide.
For example a book released at Fryeburg Fair in Maine travelled to Rhode Island. Another book from Virginia was released in Nags Head, NC. Some just set books out at various locations to be taken by readers. Others exchange books with others and track their readership in this manner. March 10 Winter DoldrumsToday I realized that I have hit that point in the winter - it usually happens this time of year - when I can't get out of my own way. Don't really accomplish anything. Every thing is upside down. Haven't really read a book since December. Chores are piling up and our belongings are ready to topple over on us. And now it is raining. Dreary weather.
February 27 BookmoochIf you are a reader and you find purchasing books way too expensive and you never get to the library, then you need to visit Bookmooch.com.
You maintain an inventory of books that you exchange with other reader members.
It is a great way to exchange books you do not want to keep in your collection. The only cost - postage and mailers!
Now I have mooched books I have had on my To-Read List for ages. February 19 Bridge To TerabithiaToday I had an opportunity to watch "The Bridge To Terabithia" at a matinee. An excellant movie for older children and adults. I believe I cried on and off throughout the movie and constantly during the last half hour. Of course I forgot the tissues!
The movie opens with a young boy running in the fields towards home to eat breakfast with his large farm family on his first day of school. You quickly realize they are living in tough times. And it gets worse for him at school.
On this opening day he meets a new student, she lives near him and they soon share a fantasy world in the woods near their homes.
This is a delightful blend of reality and invented characters. One of those rare times when the special effects do not overtake the film. It enhances the movie.
The acting is excellant. Each performer gave their all.
An enjoyable movie.
January 21 The Historian By Elizabeth KostovaIn the past couple of weeks I have been reading the wonderful novel The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. From the little checking I have done Ms. Kostova is a first time novelist. Her first book is excellent! If one enjoys adventure and mystery this story will keep you on the edge of your seat - which translates to sleepless nights! This book is not for the feint of heart - it is nearly 700 pages. The story opens in 1972 in Amsterdam with our 2 main characters - professor dad and 16 year old daughter. Where is mom? The story quickly moves back and forth in the 20th century and locales - USA, England, Central Europe, and a bit of Europe thrown in too. Even communist Russia is mentioned! Clearly dad is on a quest, but just what or whom is he after? The author introduces engaging characters and interesting scenarios. At the moment I have not finished, there are still a couple hundred pages to go and I have not met a vampire yet! Is Dracula alive? January 06 Movies Watched In 2006 - A List!1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Akeela & The Bee 3. An Inconvenient Truth 4. An Unfinished Life 5. Before The Fall 6. Broken Flowers 7. Capote 8. Celestine Prophesy 9. Charlotte Gray 10. Chasing Ghosts 11. Coach Carter 12. Cochise County 13. DaVinci Code 14. Dear Frankie 15. Derailed 16. Downfall 17. Elizabeth Town 18. Finding Home 19. Firewall 20. Flight Plan 21. Four Brothers 22. Goodbye Lenin 23. Happy Texas 24. Head In The Clouds 25. How To Eat Fried Worms 26. In This World 27. Inside Islam 28. Kinky Boots 29. Ladies In Lavendar 30. Little Miss Sunshine 31. Memoirs Of A Geisha 32. Missing In America 33. Monster 34. Mumford 35. Murderball 36. My Brother's Keeper 37. Nanny McPhee 38. Prize Winner Of Defiance Ohio 39. Proof 40. Reading Room 41. Rent 42. River King 43. Road To Guantanamo 44. Secondhand Lions 45. Serenity 46. Stir Of Echoes 47. Take The Lead 48. Talk To Her 49. The Confessor 50. The Departed 51. The Education Of Shelby Knox 52. The Family Stone 53. The Gift 54. The Illusionist 55. The Lost City 56. The Notorious Bette Page 57. The Score 58. TransAmerica 59. Weeds Season 1 60. You Can Count On Me
Books Read In 2006 - A List!
January 01 On My BookshelfDecember has been a hectic month. Not much time to relax and read a good book! I finished reading one book - The Camel Club by David Baldacci - political thriller. Well written. Keeps one intrigued. First in a series. The next book is titled The Collectors.
The remaining books on my shelf are The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - a mystery traversing the USA and Europe with a twist of vampires. Is Dracula alive?
Second Hand Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House by Mark K. Updegrove. Well written and informative. Amazing that another author has not written of this topic.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. Interesting history of the earliest years of our country.
Lost Christianities: The Battles For Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart D. Ehrman. Readable history of the early years of Christianity.
Peter, Paul, & Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend by Bart D. Ehrman.
New on the bookshelf are Great Good Food: Luscious Lower-Fat Cooking by Julee Rosso, The Complete Woman's Herbal: a Manual of Healing Herbs and Nutrition for Personal Well-being and Family Care by Anne McIntyre, and The Bondwoman's Narrative: A Novel by Hannah Crafts and edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |
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