December '14 Charles Dickens

Happy December!

Well last month was so much fun, let's do it again! Charles was an international literary celebrity of his time (and ours!) With almost 80 different books/stories, he made $1.5million in today's currency. Yowza! (www.biography.com)

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
The Pickwick Papers
David Copperfield

***

I think it's pretty convenient that it's December and a Christmas Carol is one of our options! I purchased a collection of Dickens's Christmas stories and A Christmas Carol is one of them. Nothing like getting in the Christmas spirit!

What are you reading?

Mark Twain Wrap-up '14

Guess what we woke up to this morning? SNOW! A whole inch of it:) It has remained below freezing all day today but there has been no further precipitation.

I felt especially badly for the girl at Fairways whose till was right in front front of the open set of double doors. I also felt badly after I asked her, concerned, if she had had a nasty fall (resulting in what I thought was a telltale bruise on one side of her face), and nope, it was a birthmark!

The Ring of Brodgar in the Orkney Islands- way,way North Scotland! Photo courtesy of Monica L.

How did you enjoy reading Mark Twain? 

I really enjoyed reading Tom Sawyer. I found it to be a nice, short, light read. There was a nice combination of adventurousness, fearlessness and innocence in Tom and his friends. The adults in this book were an important part of the storyline but I'm glad the reader gets to stay in Tom's world and gets to know the town, school, streets, vacant lots, forests, graveyards, etc, from his point of view.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!!!

November '14 Mark Twain

Today's the day our book club officially begins!

MARK TWAIN

The Mysterious Stranger

Tom Sawyer

Huckleberry Finn

The Prince and the Pauper

***

I just finished reading the first two chapters of Tom Sawyer... and can't wait to keep reading! The whitewashing fence story made me laugh:) Unfortunately I need to do some laundry first! 

Someone had a good thought... that if we cannot find or have already read the four titles that are provided under the month's author, we can read another of their novels, or simply find another classic that was written around that time period. Why not?! That way we can sneak some Jane Austen in there! 

What are you reading? 

We have a few others that have expressed interest in joining us:)

Auntie Bev

Connor

Evan

Chelsea

PS- The photo was taken from the Astoria Column in Astoria, Oregon! Send me some pictures from your albums and I will use them each month! 

Old classics book club reading list

***We are rather excited that there are others that want to join us in our quest to read a bunch of the classics! So far our troop contains:

Marie

Shanna

Monica

Naomi

Samantha

*** Here is the list of books. I know at least a couple on the list have already raided thrift stores and found quite a few!***Every four months, we are taking a cheat month where we can read whatever we want... or not read at all I suppose! So in 2015, that will be March and August.

Author’s Game

A. Mark Twain: The Mysterious Stranger, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The
Prince and the Pauper
2. Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield
3. William Makepeace Thackeray: Pendennis, Henry Esmond, Vanity Fair, The Virginians
4. Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped, Treasure Island, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, A Child’s Garden of Verses
5. William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest
6. James Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans, The Spy, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer
7. Washington Irving: Tales of a Traveler, Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy
Hollow, The Alhambra
8. Nathaniel Hawthorne: House of the Seven Gables, The Wonder Book, Twice-Told Tales, The Scarlet Letter
9. Henry W. Longfellow: The Village Blacksmith, Evangeline, Courtship of Miles Standish, Song of Hiawatha
10. Sir Walter Scott: The Talisman, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, The Lady of the Lake
J. Alfred, Lord Tennyson: The Brook, Crossing the Bar, Idylls of the King, Charge of the Light Brigade
Q. Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, An Old-Fashioned Girl, Eight Cousins, Little Men
K. Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven, Annabel Lee, Fall of the House of Usher, Gold Bug

Have a good day wherever you are:)

Old classics book club!

       I have this card game, and it hangs out at Mom and Dad's where it is rarely played! It made a comeback at Thanksgiving this year. The game uses well known authors such as Louisa May Alcott, Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Alfred Tennyson, etc. - a different author for each number (Ace through King), and is played like Go Fish. (We say "go to the library" because it seems more fitting!) Therefore, each author is represented by four of their greatest works, one for hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs. 

Of all the 52 different books, I have only read 6! Little Women, Little Men, The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Hamlet. 

       Mom and I have decided to form our own little informal book club! We'll try to read a different book each month, and use the deck of cards as a guide. 

       We will start in November with Mark Twain, and choose between The Mysterious Stranger, Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, and Huckleberry Finn. We've decided we don't need to read the same book! I will choose whatever is in at the library! The following month we'll read something by Charles Dickens as he is the #2 card!

       We are not too big into discussing themes and irony, satire and character development... so won't have monthly meetings or a discussion forum or anthing, but will just use the comments on my blog to keep in touch regarding the status of our reading!

       We invite you, my faithful readers, to join us! What about you, Karmen? No pressure!

       Hope you had a good day wherever you are:) 

Happy hippos

So you feel in the mood to be serenaded to? This is for you!!! 

Just look at those pearly whites!

Music sure does soothe the soul.

Have a good day wherever you are!

xo

Shanna

Iceland pictures

Hello! We are alive and well after our trip to Iceland! I promised a few photos- so here they are! We had a lovely time away, and would highly recommend Iceland as a travel destination for anyone who

a) enjoys remote, rugged, and beautiful landscapes (and maybe has a great camera!),
b) doesn't mind getting a wee bit wet, cold and dirty in order to see all there is to see
c) whose dream destination does not depend on shopping or city life! Although some of that is possible in Reykjavik, you'd run out of things to do pretty fast
d) has a little extra cash (it's a bit pricey)
e) likes to travel to English speaking countries (Icelandic is their national language, but everyone (minus perhaps a few of the older generation) is fluent in English!

We rented some trusty wheels... when I planned this part of the trip, I forgot that although I can ride my bike up hills okay here at home, I'd have all my possessions on my back in Iceland! We biked for two days, and camped in between.  

Icelandic horses are smaller in stature than the breeds we have here in Canada. I photo-stalked all the cute animals on our trip! The ponies and the lambs... they could not escape!

The Blue Lagoon! It's a geothermal spa- part fresh and part salt water with blue algae which gives it the beautiful blue colour.

Imagine standing on a mountain with real life puffins all around you! I was in my element:)

There were so many waterfalls in May- all of interior Iceland is glacial (or most of it), so as it gets warmer all the glacier melts and flows towards the sea on all sides.

A nature lover's paradise.

Some iceburgs calving off of a glacier.

One of Iceland's most loved waterfalls- you can actually walk behind it! See the little black figure in the photo? That gives a bit of scale!

Reykjavik from above. Reykjavik is the largest city in Iceland with about 200,000 people. There are 300,000 people living in Iceland.

I wonder if those people ever get rock slides?

Hope this finds you well, wherever you are! We had a busy weekend with a graduation bar-b-que, helping with setting up the convention grounds at Duncan, doing a fun ropes course, and enjoying the hot weather! Not just warm- hot! Woot! So yes... I am a sun/heat lover. From that perspective, and that perspective ONLY, Iceland was a little lame.    

Bye for now!

Song of the Day

Welcome to my new blog! I anticipate it will be much like my old one... but newer! My other blog will stay up, but likely will become unused space! (Just Cruisin Through). I will continue to write about things I like, things that make me think, memories, music, travel (stay tuned for Iceland!), and will continue to grace the internet with pictures of my day to day life:) More than anything, I just love having a little piece of the internet that is mine, all mine!! So I will try to combine my desire to make my mark on the internet with the journaling of interesting events and adventures, for you, the patient reader's benefit! 

I'm currently sitting in my new home come May 3rd, and so pictures of it will come soon! Both myself and Daniel and are almost moved out of our current places, and we love how cozy our new house already feels:) Thanks in a HUGE part to Diety for the couches! 

More later,

xo Shanna