Bliss...

Well, we finally made it to Wrinkled Pages. I'm not sure why it has taken so long to get there, but I am so glad we did! Oh, my. It's a wonderful little store filled with delight. I came home with Margaret Lawrence's Roanoke, Lauren Willig's The Masque of the Black Tulip, Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander, Alison Weir's Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Todd McCaffrey's Dragon Harper. And I barely touched the Fiction section at all, really. And there was a whole room full of Historical Romance that I just walked through with my mouth hanging open.

And I was not alone. Bud bought four books about the Vietnam War! We both walked out the door with satisfied little smirks on our faces.

Writing Prompt...

I was posting old family photos on Facebook for the younger gen of the combined clans today when I became entranced by this one of my mother, my aunt, and an unknown young woman circa early 1940s. Mom's a little bit blurry on the right, sassy Aunt Kay is in the middle. They are walking down a Chicago street, likely wartime (WWII). Notice the short skirts (particularly Aunt Kay's - Goodness, almost a mini!).

Mom worked for the 5th Army Quartermaster Depot in Chicago at this time. Don't know what Aunt Kay was about then. But don't they look the trio of young business women strutting along on a beautiful summer's day? Where are they going? Out to lunch? Shopping? What are they chatting about?

Ooooo...I so would love the story....

Passions. . . .

Yesterday, three boxes were at our doorstep when we got home from work. One was for me, two were for Bud. Mine, of course, was from Amazon - books! Oh, yes! I've already started Foxmask by Juliet Marillier, the second in her Wolfskin series. And on deck now I have another of Laura Childs' Tea Shop mysteries, The Jasmine Moon Murder; Jane Lindskold's Wolf's Blood, a Firekeeper book; and The Sparks Fly Upward, another of the Makepeace Burke books by Diana Norman (Ariana Franklin). Ooooo...I'm just itching to get at them all!

But I want to share about another passion - Bud's passion for collecting Occupied Japan figurines. That's what was in the other two boxes.

I've never been much of a collector - except for books, of course. I just can't seem to find anything I feel worth collecting. Oh, I take that back. I do have a collection of baskets. But they were collected with a purpose - filling in the space above the kitchen cabinets. Now, unless a basket reeeeally strikes me as something I just have to have, the collection is done. Complete. Finis.

But for Bud, it's really the process of collecting that is the passion, I think. Not that some the figurines aren't downright gorgeous and beautifully crafted - quite the contrary. Like the Jester here.
Bud lusted after this piece for many years. It is truly exquisite.

One of my favorites is The Recital. I love the delicacy of hands playing the instruments in this one. Lovely things. And I've gotten so that when we are out haunting the flea markets and antique shops I can hone in on what might be a piece of Occupied Japan porcelain. Bud can saunter through the aisles with an eagle eye for the stuff. Remarkable. It's like he has a specialized radar for it. Of course, he's been collecting it for some twenty-odd years now.

But I truly believe it is The Hunt for him. He spends much of his time on E-Bay now. Most of the truly good pieces can only be found there. When we are out hunting we can find smaller pieces, but we never see pieces such as these two now. E-Bay collectors have snatched them all up. It's rather sad.

But then, I wonder. Someday my passion for the feel, scent and delight in ownership of books may be passe. Kindle and its clones are fast making inroads and changing the face of publishing.

Both of our passions may become a lot more expensive in future and really....just not the same passionate feeling at all. *sigh*

Sad. Very sad.

I've been away....

Well, I've not been posting here, so I've been away from here. Actually, I've been very much at home. Too much at home. My hours were cut back at the church from full-time to part-time - 2 days a week. Yes, isn't the economy lovely?

Ah, well. I go with the flow, but one does need to support one's self. Sooo, I've been creating a little free-lance business of my own doing basically what I do at my job - desktop publishing for churches. That's bulletins, newsletters, brochures, flyers, etc. I'm a Virtual Church Assistant! I have also added editing and proofreading services, as well.

It is called Swan Church Services and you may find it HERE.

The Cellist of Sarajevo

The Cellist of Sarajevo
Steven Galloway
Published by Riverhead Books of
The Penguin Group

The Cellist of Sarajevo is a very personal and condensed account of the Seige of Sarajevo (1992-1996) during the Bosnian War through the stories of three individuals - four, if you count the cellist himself. The cellist, however, is more a focus point around which this riveting story is told. Everyday for 22 days the cellist played the same tune at the same site where a mortar attack killed his friends and neighbors. This was a true event.
See photo here.

I vaguely remember those years, ’92-’96. I was a busy working mother at the time. The Bosnian War played like Muzak through the days of my life. I was aware, but hardly conscious of what was going on. Reading Arrow’s, Dragan’s and Kenan’s stories of daily living with sniper fire, no water or electricity, the fear of what the next day might bring, I felt and saw an almost contrapuntal weaving of events during those years - their lives and mine playing totally different and dissonant tunes and yet weaving around one another.

It is a lovely book, a lyrical book. I was drawn into the characters’ lives, walked the sniper-infested streets with them, hid in the shadows of their bombed out buildings and homes with them, heard hope in the notes of Albinoni’s Adagio with them.

My only argument would be with the last three chapters where Galloway gets a little preachy and tells us what we already really know. Arrow, Dragan and Kenan told us. We didn’t need a summation.

But I definitely recommend this book. Read it. Please.

December Wordle

My latest Wordle:

Hmmm...not too much different.

Confession...

I have a confession to make. I am now a Romance reader. Perhaps I'm just getting sentimental in my old age, I don't know. When I was younger I wouldn't touch a Romance novel with the proverbial ten-foot pole. I was above that sort of thing, don't ya know. But now an entire, very diverse, genre has opened up to me that I had dismissed outright. And I have discovered some damn fine writers to boot!

It started with Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Now that series is not solely Romance. Diana's writing touches so many levels and crosses over other genres that it gets shelved in bookstores not only as Historical fiction or Romance, but Sci-fi, Paranormal and Horror. (Though the Horror categorization totally defies understanding!) But the relationship between Jamie and Claire galvanizes the novels and keeps us coming back for more, hence the tendency to call it Romance.

Diana's books led me to the Compuserve Books and Writers Community. And there I was introduced to some excellent writers of Romance. I eagerly await Joanne Bourne's next Spymaster novel and Darlene Marshall's next Pirate adventure. Who'd a thunk it?

I've even stretched myself into Romantic Comedy, aka Rosina Lippi's Pajama Girls of Lambert Square.

I've gone through many different genre stages as I've plodded through my almost 60 years. I read Mystery novels by the boatload when I was pregnant and had toddlers running around. Then I discovered Sci-fi and Fantasy. Ursula LeGuin remains my favorite and most admired writer and Jack McDevitt still gets my imagination traveling into other worlds.

I've recently delightfully discovered Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and found Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policeman's Union one of my all-time favorites. Urban Fantasy, here I come!

I guess the draw is just plain good writing. It doesn't serve for me to be a genre snob. If it's well-written, I want to read it!