Cold! Books... Chair!!! :-)))

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I am so tired of being cold...

I repeat, I am so tired of being cold...

But I shouldn't complain too loudly.  This latest NE storm, has not even moved our barometer. Nor dropped a flake of snow.  I'll take it!  Although the Weather Report says it's still coming.
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Upstairs, I found a book which I got, when our oldest "Grand" was a little girl, and I was taking "Nana-Day-Care" of her.  "The Fantastic Drawings of Danielle," written and illustrated by Barbara McClintock.  From the art work on the cover, you can see why I loved, loved, loved this book.

Soft!  Imaginative!  Precious!

You know where I'm going, with this, don't you?????  Such perfect illustrations, to try to draw myself!  And water color...  :-)

I readily admit, I just don't have the imagination, to think up interesting drawing topics.  And neither do I have the particular talent, to look at reality, and draw it on paper.  (As Susan Branch seems to have)  So, I do a form of copying.  A form of!!!!!  If I laid tracing paper over the pic and copied it and passed it off, as my own, THAT  would be really COPYING.  I simply look at an illustration, and try to do it, myself.
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I've been working my way through a few books, which I don't read-cover-to-cover.  So they don't go on my "Auntie's Reads 2013" blog.  These books, I skim over.  Reading here and there, gathering the information, which I want.  Non-fiction, of course.  For me, it's fun to have a couple of those, to dip into, when not in the mood for deep immersion into fiction.  :-)
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The Chair!!!  "Uncle A." looks like a happy man, does he not???  :-))))))))))))))

It's Mission Style and I dislike Mission Style.  But that doesn't matter!  The only thing which matters is, that he sat in many, and this was the most comfortable to him.  !!!!!!!!
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This and that and this, too... :-))))

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Imagination...

Concentration...

The curls are fading....   But the static electricity is as strong as ever.   ,-)

I love this illustration...   Of course I do.   It speaks to love of reading books.  And my Dear Readers know that I love to read books.

But.........

The surrounding is a beautiful Spring day.  Flowers are in bloom.  I'm sure the birds are singing.  She is walking by a lovely old fashioned fence.  The kitty is trying to get her attention.  And.........

She has her nose stuck in a book!  Seemingly not noticing any of the beauty, which surrounds her.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, does that have a subtle, but important message?  That of making sure, that we don't become so lost in the world of books, that we fail to see the beauty, of our own life, all around us?  Maybe?  Perhaps?  Possibly?

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And after that little bit of musing..........   I go right ahead, to tell you of a delightful book, I just finished!!!  ,-)   Take from that, what you will.   :-)

"Tea With The Black Dragon"

I loved this little book!!!

Read more... 

At my book blog...

Full Snow Moon, and other interests... :-)))

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Trying for a rather-BROWN  effect here.   I really feel I should tell you, what I am trying to do.  Because who knows what my whole blog looks like, on other computers?   ~~~~~~~~~~~          Which, if we let it, might convince us that it's useless  to try to have different Blog Looks.  -sigh-  What looks pretty good, to us, on our computer monitor, may not look ANYTHING like that, on our Dear Reader's monitors.    ~~~~~~~~~~~         Oh well, figuring out how to make my blog look different, now and then, is a big part of the Fun Of Blogging, for me.  So I shall continue to change!!!!!!!  :-)

And just-because-I-can....    I love, love, love the look of the above illustration.  LOVE IT!  -chuckle-  And I fully expect to not have many Dear Readers who agree with me.  -chuckle-  But, that's fine.  It's my blog.   Oh he makes me happy, just to look at him!!!!!!!!!!!

"Don't be a fool, Bilbo Baggins!" he said to himself, 

"thinking of dragons and all that outlandish nonsense

 at your age!"
~ J.R.R Tolkien

(Source)

Don't forget.  Tonight is the Full Snow Moon...!  I saw it last night, when I got up to "tinkle" about 3AM.  It was so, so, so, so lovely.   Just had to stare at it, a while.  :-)  Which of course, messed-with my melatonin, and I couldn't get right back to sleep.  :-)  But it was...............  beautiful.   Please, if you can see it tonight in your area, please try to do so.

 

No, I don't even know who won the Oscars last night.  :-)  I'll look at Red Carpet pics, on the Net today.  I'll look for a picture of Kristen Stewart, since she was to be a presenter.  But I have no interest in the Oscars.   ~~~~~~~~~~~   If you had fun with the Oscars, hooray for you!!!!  I'm not knocking anyone's fun!  :-)   It's just that we don't. 

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Should ask the "Mistress of....."... :-))))))

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I'm running out of blogging inspiration.  Perhaps it's because I'm getting tired of all the Valentine's Day Stuff.  :-))))   This happens to me often...  After I've done a lot of *decorating* for a particular holiday, I'm sick of it, before the holiday actually occurs.  ,-)   ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥     This is not earth-shaking.  Just an observation.

Dee is going to try night-time-photography!  She is going to use her Night Time Setting, for the first time.   Hooooray!   Please share all you notice/learn, about this, Dee.  Because I have never, never, never mastered it.  But love some of the effects....  Of photos, after dark....  Especially what this does, to how forms of light, appear.    ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥      Hehhh, how about that????   I did find some more blogging inspiration!  From another blogger!  Thank you Dee.

Since I'm on this 'blogging-stuff-kick', I might as well continue.  :-)   Since it's so, so, so near to being finished with Valentine's Day stuff,  WHAT will I choose next?   I've had a couple of ideas, for trying to water-color a new Background.  (Hmmmm, what is the proper way to express that????  How say "DO a water-color"?  It's not "painting" like oils or acrylics are...  It's not simply drawing...  Hmmmm...???)

I suppose I should ask the Master Mistress Of Water Coloring...  Susan Branch.    :-)  I should also ask her, what kind of lighting she uses?  Or rather, what kind of lighting is used, when her Art is photographed???   Here, the best way for me to take a pic of something I did, is to lay it on white board, on the floor, in the full sunlight pouring in Den door....   ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥     But this does not, not, not strike me as the only way!!!  LOL.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

"I don't understand why Cupid was chosen 
to represent Valentine's Day. 
 When I think about romance, 
the last thing on my mind is a short, 
chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon."
~Author Unknown

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
 

WOW!!! A first!!! WoW!!!

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"Byzantium"  is the story of mother and daughter vampires, whose epic drama spans centuries.  Oh wow!  Oh wow!  Oh wow!  By clicking on that click-able link ("Byzantium") ...  You can go to a site, where you can watch a trailer, for the film.  :-))))))))))))))))))))

Yes, I found this on "Gossip Cop" blog.   ,-)   That blog is worth more than just separating 'rumor' from 'fact,' in the world of .......   Those silly famous people.  -grin-

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I took a picture, of my very first attempt, at "painting" my own Background.  -grin-

What do I write/say next, huuuuuu?

Something like;  "I know it's hardly professional, and not up to, what a real water-colorist  can paint/do...."

Or;  "I know that "S.B." is not going to be worried, about being put-out-of-business.  -Ha-ha-hah-"

But!!!

My Wild Woman will not allow such!  She will only allow me to exalt, in accomplishment!  She will only allow me to be so proud of myself, because I actually put brush to paper, and made some sort of a picture!!!   My Wild Woman says that to act *all-silly-little-ol'-me,* and in a self-depreciating way,  is to degrade my accomplishment.  :-((((  She says that I need, need, need to bask in the Happiness and Joy of having accomplished something creative.  My Wild Woman  is the best of Mothers, to me.

I am so happy, that I have begun to find and listen to, even a tiny bit of what My Wild Woman inside, has to share with me.

I wish every woman, the same...

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With my own 'muse,' on holiday..........

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For you many "Downton Abbey" fans...  I thought you might like a link, to a book blog, which I follow.  The Jan. 29 post is titled "Guest Blogger: Charles Todd on the Drinks of Downton Abbey."...

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Looking through old 'Victoria' magazines, I came upon a excerpt from a memoir...  "A Joyful Noise" by Janet Gillespie.  The excerpt made me want to see the book.  So I have it on reserve, at my library.

Some, from a review:
"A stylish and witty recounting of childhood summers in New England in the 1920s, by one of five children in a loving family -- which seemed to possess the wicked knack of enjoying, and exploiting, one another's landmark idiosyncrasies.  There was grandmother Baba, erect and small, bellowing messages from porch to boathouse via a megaphone;  Mother and siblings, at work on.........."

Sounds like-a-bit-of-fun...   Perhaps not to be read cover to cover.  But to be read, here and there, as one picks it up...
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Also in this old 'Victoria' magazine, was the article "On Keeping a Journal," by Phyllis Theroux.

"Every morning just before dawn, I rise, make myself a cup of coffee, and sit quietly in a wing chair in the living room for about an hour.  Waking early without effort is one of the genuine pleasures of getting older.  Life has fewer days in it, but nature compensates by allowing you to greet them sooner."

Sweet essay...  Makes me want to read more of what this woman has written...  And yet again, makes me wish I could Journal.  By pen and paper that is.  Certainly this blog, is a form of a daily entry in a Journal of sorts.  But, typing is not writing.....   -sigh-

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Another page in my 'Victoria' magazine from Jan. 1994, is the above.  About a Children's book,  "Emily" by Michael Bedard.

 

Synopsis:

"A young girl who lives across the street from the reclusive Emily Dickinson gets her chance to meet the poet when her mother is invited to play the piano for Emily. The girl sneaks up to Emily's room and exchanges a small gift for an authentic poem, which is included in the book."

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Btw, these photos I took, of pages in the old magazine, make it look very, very yellowed and ancient.  ;-)  It's not quite that ancient.  But the light I used, is one in the Den, beside my computer table.  It has an ivory tinted shade on it, and I think this adds toooooooooo much 'yellow' to my photos.  Just saying.
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Also 'just saying,' it's quite obvious that my own inner 'muse' has flown.  All I can come up with, to post about today, are the topics here.  We shall see when my muse will return...  :-)

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"Photography........... takes a minute and makes it an eternity."
~Isaac B. Singer
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Inconsistencies, and other stuff... -grin-

Thank you for sharing your views with me, 
in yesterday's comments!!!!!!!!

(Source)

Nothing like inconsistency.  -grin-  Yesterday, I said how I love photos, which give me peeks into a Dear Blogger's life.  So today, I start out, not with my own photo but...  With an image, from The Victorian Trading Co.   But!!!  It is so pretty!!!  :-)   

The newest Victorian Trading Co. catalog had it on the cover, and I was hooked.  ,-)  Even if the colors are not pink, red, green.

BUT!!!   Watch out now!!!  Here comes a typical "Auntie" photo!!!  -grin-
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But also taken, in The Factory restaurant...

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Hey, I actually could do a "What Is It?" for this photo.  Although, it's not all that hard to figure out, What It Is.  When you go to the Lady's Room, you want one available.  And you want it working.  ,-)
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The difference, about this particular kind, is that the tissue comes out, kind of like a pop-up tissue box. Like the tissues, out of a baby wipe container.  Which I think is super!!!  What is popping out at you, has not been touched, by anyone else.   !!!!!!!!!!!!
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I happen to be *Miss Fusssssy Pants* in public lavatories.  Very much so!!!  I don't want to use any piece of tissue, which was touched, by the previous user of the facilities!!!  (Sorry if that's too graphic for you, first thing in the morning or something.  -grinnnn-  But Facts Is Facts!!!)  >;-)

That catalog arrived.  And the Winter issue of  "The Cottage Journal."  Both covers are delightful.  But...  I'm discovering that who ever puts "The Cottage Journal" together, does not resonate with the same colors, as I do.  -sigh-  
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Anyone who has read here for a while, knows I like pinks, reds, wines, not-bright-greens, lace, etc.  But who ever Edits this magazine, goes for lots and lots of browns...  Which is fine, for all the Brown-Lovers out there.  But not for me.   Obviously, I won't renew this...
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But we don't know, unless we try........   :-)

Yesterday, was a "do-nothing-day", because I didn't feel *Up To Snuff.*  But was determined to go to Granddaughter E.'s first home Basketball Game, last night!!!!   For her and for her Coach, who happens to be our middle Son.  And we went!  And they won!  And all is right with the world.  :-))))

But that leaves today, to play catch-up.  :-)  My library finally has my *Cozy Mysteries Set At Christmas Time* in!!!  I'm taking back my other books out, and hoping to love these Cozies.  I'll write down the names of books I have not read, before returning them.  In case I get in the mood for them, later.  
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That and making some G/F Biscuits and regular Biscuits, so we can have them with Chicken tonight.  Etc.  Any day will always fill, with things to be done.  :-)  Hope you have a productive day today, Dear Reader.

 

♥ Happy Harvest Home...!!!

♥

(Lovely 'Old Rose'...)

Happy Harvest Home to you!!!  Happy Autumnal Equinox!  Happy Mabon!  Happy however you refer to this time of the year!  :-)

"The Ghost-Eye Tree"  by  Bill Martin, Jr.  A dear blogger Linda, has posted about this book.  On Halloween, her husband reads this story book aloud, to local children.  This year, he'll be reading it to the new Quads.  :-)  Anyway, it sounded cute and I got it out of the library.  It is great!

For any child or adult, who enjoys a gently scary story, this is perfect.  The story is sweet.  The drawings illustrate the story perfectly.  You would probably enjoy it, if you look for it, in your own library system.  :-)))

Our Pink Spirea bush is trying to bloom again.  Here and there.  :-)))

 Have you read any of the  "Being a Jane Austen Mysteries"?  This is the first one, I have read.  "Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron," by Stephanie Barron.  Now I admit, anything with the name of Lord Byron on it, catches my fancy.  He was certainly an intriguing person!!!

This series is fiction, of course.  Although the author weaves things from Jane Austen's real life, into her plots.  Places she (J.A.) is known to have visited, and happenings in the real life of her family.  I've never read a whole book by Jane A.  So I am hardly a "true fan."  

And "True Fans of Jane A." might sniffff, at my even trying to write this.   -giggle-   And "True Fans of Jane A." would probably sniffffffff at such original stories being spun, around her real self, period.  Perhaps...  I don't know.  I don't belong to any "True Fans of Jane Austen A." sites.  ,-)  (So I am safe...  -grin-)

This book, though kind of long (but I did take out the Large Print version), is not as long and ponderous an undertaking, as Jane's real books.  It is gossipy, and fun along those lines, though.  ,-))))  Lots of characters (of course!), and I get a bit *discombobulated*, by so many of them!  ,-)  But it was fun!

Another of my pictures, of cute little old fashioned illustrations, in 'Mary Jane's Farm' magazine.  I had to cut off some of the drawing, in order to not show the words on the page.  At the top of the picture, there are 2 children, holding poles.  In the full view, there are pumpkins on top of those poles.

Don't sweet old fashioned illustrations like that, make you have nostalgic thoughts, of old fashioned childhood?  -sigh-   ♥   I know!  Like all forms of looking-back...  They show only the "pretty-parts," and not the "not-so-pretty-parts" of life, long ago.   But...  -sigh-  It's nice to dream of simpler times.  :-)

Thinking nostalgic thoughts, makes me remember to get "Mrs. Sharp's Traditions" (by Sarah Ban Breathnach)  out of the library system!  

Now this is a delightfully nostalgic book!  And it shows "traditions," for every season of the year.  Have you, Dear Reader, ever picked this book up?  Did you enjoy it, as much as I do?  ♥

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