Saturday Snapshot

Welcome to Saturday Snapshot event, hosted by Alyce, At Home With Books.
 
To join in, just click on the link.  Share photos snapped by yourself or family/friends.

This is a picture I just snapped this morning.  My seven-year-old daughter and her friend, morning after a sleepover.

Fiona and her friend Caroline -- C. has the solar system on her face.

Book Beginnings & Friday 56 -- My Reading Life by Pat Conroy

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by A Few More Pages. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence, or two, of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

Between the ages of six and nine, I was a native son of the marine bases of Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune in the eastern coastal regions of North Carolina. 

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice. Check out the rules and join in the fun.

Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. Post a link along with your post back to this blog.

One Sunday after the community sing, a young Martin Luther King Jr. got up to preach a homily, and I heard the most electrifying speaker I had ever listened to.  His voice was an instrument of an immense and subtle power.  He spoke without notes, his voice botha spillage of honey and a quiet call to arms.

I'm vaguely aware of Conroy's books (The Great Santini, The Prince of Tides), but have never actually picked one up.  In My Reading Life, Conroy tells his life story through his reading experiences as well as his relationships with other readers and writers.  I think my un-enjoyment of this book came from the cavern of differences between Pat Conroy and I - sex, age, childhood, opinion about political correctness, etc.  It was okay, but I'm probably not his target audience.

What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

Image by ⓥⓘⓣⓐ via Flickr

So Marc and Angel Hack Life had a blog post recently that asked 365 "thought-provoking questions".  I've picked some of the ones that stood out to me and hope to occasionally use them as writing prompts.

What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

I would get tattoos that I loved wherever I wanted to with no concern for whether they are easy to hide with clothing (let's be frank, I may just do this anyway, or would if I had a tattoo line item in my budget).  


I would experiment with make-up more than I do.


I would joyfully sing along to any song that I love, regardless of where I was when it started playing (and music is not where my talents lay -- but I have many songs that I love and singing along to them makes me happy).


I would cut & dye my own hair all the time just for fun and as a creative outlet -- regardless of what the end result seemed like to others.


I would have physical contact with others more often -- hugs, a hand on a shoulder, sitting close together.


It's funny to me how much of my list is appearance related -- I don't think of appearance being a thing I think about a whole lot.   I have a feeling I could make a much longer list given time.  

How about you?  What things are on your list?
 

50+ followers -- Time to check in!

Image via Wikipedia

I decided a while back that every time I gain an additional 25 followers, I'll have a little check-in post.  (I also told myself that's the only time I'm allowed to mess with the look of the blog -- otherwise, I can't stop myself from continual tweaking.  :))

I know there are some followers I've not met and some followers that I've known for years and some readers who are not followers.  I'd love to hear who is out there.  If you'd like, comment on this post and share as much as you'd like -- who you are, how you learned about my blog, if you are new or have been around since the (admittedly not that long ago) beginning, etc.  

Happy almost end of April to all of you!

Teaser Tuesdays -- These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!  

Charm Tullia pushes open the door to Bookends, her textbook list in one hand, her cell phone in the other, in case Gus calls.  She wants her stepfather to be able to reach her at anytime.  She knows the time will come when she will receive the call that informs her that Gus has fallen, has a fever, or worse.  

~ page 42, These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf

I neither loved nor hated this book -- completely neutral --3/5 stars.

Promised Valley Rebellion by Ron Fritsch

I wasn't sure what to expect when I was sent Promised Valley Rebellion by Ron Fritsch.  Then, when I read, on the back cover, a favorable comparison to Jean Auel (Clan of the Cave Bear) I really wasn't sure what I'd think, as I was pretty un-enthused during my one and only attempt to read Clan of the Cave Bear (though, in all fairness, I was pretty young -- I think it was a good 20 years ago).

I put it in my stack for Dewey's Read-A-Thon and it was the second one I picked up.  I really, really enjoyed it. From the back cover:

Prehistoric farmers inhabit a fertile river valley they believe their gods promised them in return for their good behavior.  Their enemies, hunters roaming the mostly barren hills beyond the mountains enclosing the valley, believe their gods gave it to them.

When the farmers' king refuses to allow the marriage of the coming-of-age prince to be the daughter of the farmer who saved the king's life in the last war with the hunters, her brother decides he has to help his sister and the prince, his boyhood friend, correct the flagrant injustice.

That decision leads them and their youthful allies into a rebellion against the king and his officials, who rule the kingdom from their bluff-top town.  The far more numerous farmers in the villages below, who despise the officials but not the king, and who admire the prince, are in a position to determine whether the rebels will succeed or face execution for treason.

Just excellent stuff about being human, similarities, differences, love and acceptance, forgiveness and living life.   Even if Clan of the Cave Bear isn't your cup of tea, you may want to give Promised Valley Rebellion a try.

Just checking in to say goodnight

Cover of Fred Rogers

Fiona is back with me tonight and feeling pretty much herself -- just a little bit of the sniffles.  We are settling in at the house-sitting house and it's lovely to be here.  We took a steam shower this afternoon which was nice for both of our noses!  :)  We've had some dinner (modeled after Mr. Rogers' sandwich on the library dvd (first time Fio's seen the show)) and Fiona is enjoying exploring our young friends' toys.

Tomorrow we may see some friends and I'm thinking I'd like to at least walk by a restaurant that's here in the neighborhood -- they are looking for servers and I'd like to see what it might be like to work there. 

I'm feeling quite sleepy -- didn't sleep much last night -- and we will probably head to the warm covers of our bed in the next hour or so.   Blessings to all of you tonight.