I am so thrilled to have discovered this site that I must share it forthwith. There are many books from my childhood of voracious reading that I wish I could remember titles and authors for, but all I remember are vague details about the storylines and characters. Turns out I’m not alone… there’s a whole site, connected to a little independent bookstore in Cleveland, where people submit what they can remember about various children's books, and other people try to determine a title and author for what’s been described.
Isn’t that great? As I prowled the site, I have already found all kinds of books I once treasured. Now I have a list next time I go to the library!
There’s one, though, that I have always wanted to find, and not even this place seemed to have a reference to it. So I impulsively spent the two dollars to submit the following question, which they will post within the next couple of days:
I remember a book where a girl went reluctantly on holiday to the beach. She was hopping along the boards of the pier, and she hopped a certain pattern: forward one, back two, forward three, or something like that. Suddenly she could see a boy who hadn't been there before, who was dressed oddly. He was from another time, and she had travelled back to it. She had to get back to her own time by reversing the hopping pattern (which she almost forgot how to do, causing a certain amount of panic), and afterwards she kept coming back to help the boy and his father with... something... which eventually changes the future, I think. I was fascinated by the hopping-pattern thing, and tried it on several piers. ;-)
I can’t wait to see if anyone remembers it! I loved that book desperately, and it made for a wealth of adventures imagined on the pier in East Tawas.
Update: Mystery solved! It was called Up the Pier by Helen Cresswell. And apparently, alas, it's impossible to find any more.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Introducing the HankTube!
Now you, too, can own a HankTube!Elegantly handmade on a Knifty Knitter (yes, it's meant be a little raggedy and uneven), this unique item will keep your cat toasty... if a little irritable.
I haven't figured out how to close it up at the top, so your HankTube will eventually unravel... but this just means it serves the additional purpose of reminding you of the fleeting nature of all things.
A tube for your cat... and deep, philosophical contemplation for you. You'll wonder how either of you ever managed before the HankTube!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Happy Birth Mom Day!
I celebrated Mother's Day and my own upcoming birthday yesterday with my in-laws.
My mother-in-law had a cake to cover both occasions, and we had a champagne toast for "Birth Mom Day"!
Here's to Miss P.!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Eurovision fever 2007
Well, the Eurovision Song Contest is over. I had Internet connectivity problems during almost the entire voting process, which had me screaming at an uncaring God for half an hour, but I was eventually allowed back online just in time to watch Serbia win. At least I got to watch all the songs being performed, which is the main thing.
It's funny: I originally found "Molitva" rather boring, but it grew on me sometime between Thursday's semifinal and tonight. It's a pretty good straight-up ballad, and I can't deny that Marija Serifovic has a hell of a voice. Besides, Serbia has a lot of bad vuggum to live down, and winning the Eurovision Song Contest with an emotional song about acceptance and love is a way to help do that. I'm okay with it. Even though I only gave their song an 8.
My own top 5 were the Ukraine, whose song almost gave me a heart attack because I was whirling around the room dancing to it, Slovenia, which was represented by the capacious voice of operatic soprano Alenka Gotar, and Georgia, with its Cossack sword dancers and gutsy vocalist. I had to love Germany, too, for pretending so successfully that it's the suave Fifties, back when the song "Volare" made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest. A-OK, Daddy-o. I was quite fond of the odd little song from France, too. Also -- okay, I guess it's my top 6 -- I really enjoyed Bulgaria's high-energy percussion extravaganza. Lots of honestly good songs this time. A good Eurovision harvest!
I was sorry to see Ireland's sweet little traditional ditty come in last. I liked it a lot. And I suspect the U.K. will make a fuss about coming in second-to-last, too: theirs was a cute novelty number, let's face it. Both Germany and France were way at the bottom of the tabulated votes, too: out of 24 countries, they came in 19th and 22nd, respectively. I'm sure there'll be many a disgruntled conspiratorialist viewpoint tomorrow's Western European media.
Nevertheless, I think the fact that there was such an Eastern tilt to the Contest this year has a very simple reason: They had really good songs.
It's funny: I originally found "Molitva" rather boring, but it grew on me sometime between Thursday's semifinal and tonight. It's a pretty good straight-up ballad, and I can't deny that Marija Serifovic has a hell of a voice. Besides, Serbia has a lot of bad vuggum to live down, and winning the Eurovision Song Contest with an emotional song about acceptance and love is a way to help do that. I'm okay with it. Even though I only gave their song an 8.
My own top 5 were the Ukraine, whose song almost gave me a heart attack because I was whirling around the room dancing to it, Slovenia, which was represented by the capacious voice of operatic soprano Alenka Gotar, and Georgia, with its Cossack sword dancers and gutsy vocalist. I had to love Germany, too, for pretending so successfully that it's the suave Fifties, back when the song "Volare" made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest. A-OK, Daddy-o. I was quite fond of the odd little song from France, too. Also -- okay, I guess it's my top 6 -- I really enjoyed Bulgaria's high-energy percussion extravaganza. Lots of honestly good songs this time. A good Eurovision harvest!
I was sorry to see Ireland's sweet little traditional ditty come in last. I liked it a lot. And I suspect the U.K. will make a fuss about coming in second-to-last, too: theirs was a cute novelty number, let's face it. Both Germany and France were way at the bottom of the tabulated votes, too: out of 24 countries, they came in 19th and 22nd, respectively. I'm sure there'll be many a disgruntled conspiratorialist viewpoint tomorrow's Western European media.
Nevertheless, I think the fact that there was such an Eastern tilt to the Contest this year has a very simple reason: They had really good songs.
Friday, April 27, 2007
It all counts!
We started our walking program at work today, and I somehow skimmed right past the part on the e-mail where it said there'd be a lecture. I wouldn't have gone if I'd read it.
For people like me, people who are significantly overweight and who have had unhealthy habits for years, it's really not all that helpful to tell us to exercise an hour every day, avoid all bad things on this earth, and eat bucketloads of dark, leafy greens. We know that healthy, slender people do that, and bully for them. We don't. We need to start slow, we need to start small, and we need to feel okay about that.
I've been thinking about this for a while, actually. I saw Dr. Nancy Snyderman on "Good Morning America" recently, whose advice always irritates me: if I lived the way she recommends I live, I'd spend every living moment buying, preparing, and eating healthful vegetables, and every other living moment exercising. In any case, she was saying that she went for a heart test recently and it wasn't perfect, "most likely due to those cheeseburgers I ate as a teen," she said, with perfect seriousness. I mean...! Here's this spectacularly healthy woman who's made a career of eating dark, leafy greens, for decades, and she thinks choices she made as a teen might have damaged her health?! What does that say to people like me? I'll tell you what it says: Don't bother. It's too late. The changes would have to be drastic, and even then, at this point you've probably done too much damage already. How demoralizing! Makes me want to order pizza. Large. Deep-dish.
I'll participate in the walking program, because I believe that any change is good change. 15 minutes walking during the work day is 15 minutes not spent sitting. It all counts.
But I think I may need to develop my own program, and hey, maybe I'll call it "It All Counts." Something actually encouraging.
Maybe I'll end up on GMA talking with Dr. Snyderman about it.
That could get ugly!
:-)
For people like me, people who are significantly overweight and who have had unhealthy habits for years, it's really not all that helpful to tell us to exercise an hour every day, avoid all bad things on this earth, and eat bucketloads of dark, leafy greens. We know that healthy, slender people do that, and bully for them. We don't. We need to start slow, we need to start small, and we need to feel okay about that.
I've been thinking about this for a while, actually. I saw Dr. Nancy Snyderman on "Good Morning America" recently, whose advice always irritates me: if I lived the way she recommends I live, I'd spend every living moment buying, preparing, and eating healthful vegetables, and every other living moment exercising. In any case, she was saying that she went for a heart test recently and it wasn't perfect, "most likely due to those cheeseburgers I ate as a teen," she said, with perfect seriousness. I mean...! Here's this spectacularly healthy woman who's made a career of eating dark, leafy greens, for decades, and she thinks choices she made as a teen might have damaged her health?! What does that say to people like me? I'll tell you what it says: Don't bother. It's too late. The changes would have to be drastic, and even then, at this point you've probably done too much damage already. How demoralizing! Makes me want to order pizza. Large. Deep-dish.
I'll participate in the walking program, because I believe that any change is good change. 15 minutes walking during the work day is 15 minutes not spent sitting. It all counts.
But I think I may need to develop my own program, and hey, maybe I'll call it "It All Counts." Something actually encouraging.
Maybe I'll end up on GMA talking with Dr. Snyderman about it.
That could get ugly!
:-)
Thursday, April 26, 2007
A movie review from my mother
My mother is not impressed:
Today, Dad and I saw a film called "Sunshine." It's science fiction: the sun is dying, so the earth is doomed, therefore a mission, Icarus 2, is sent to save the sun. There had been an Icarus 1 earlier, but it disappeared without a trace. Well, this movie has impressive photography and lots of overpowering pictures of space and the vehicle itself, but other than that it just doesn't work. Those shots of the vehicle and space are repetitive and eventually boring.The story line is practically non-existent. Just to show you what I mean: I didn't care one whit about what might happen to the human beings on the vehicle, now that's bad, isn't it? And I didn't care whether the mission succeeded, either. I just wanted the whole thing to be finished.
Today, Dad and I saw a film called "Sunshine." It's science fiction: the sun is dying, so the earth is doomed, therefore a mission, Icarus 2, is sent to save the sun. There had been an Icarus 1 earlier, but it disappeared without a trace. Well, this movie has impressive photography and lots of overpowering pictures of space and the vehicle itself, but other than that it just doesn't work. Those shots of the vehicle and space are repetitive and eventually boring.The story line is practically non-existent. Just to show you what I mean: I didn't care one whit about what might happen to the human beings on the vehicle, now that's bad, isn't it? And I didn't care whether the mission succeeded, either. I just wanted the whole thing to be finished.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Read and release!
Every spring, I rediscover BookCrossing, only because it once again becomes fun to run about outside, leaving books hither and yon with notes urging people to take them home.
The only thing is, the books disappear all right, but people rarely journal them, and that can be unsatisfying... even though I tell myself that for all I know they're being thoroughly enjoyed. After all, last year I left a copy of Ken Mikolowski's poetry collection Big Enigmas at the now-closed Oslo sushi bar and club in Detroit. I actually watched a group of people discover it, gather around it, and even read aloud from it (Ken's poems are good for that!), and later I saw it in someone's pocket. They never journalled it on BookCrossing.com, but so what? I know it was enjoyed!
Still, when people do journal a book I've released into the wild, it makes my day. In the heady warmth of yesterday's early spring evening, I dropped off four novels around Depot Town, expecting the usual zero response rate, but feeling good about it anyway. This morning, I discovered the following journal entry for one of them:
I have not read it yet, but am planning on reading it. I saw you drop the book as I was eating at Aubrees. It caught my attention and I told my friend who I was eating with that I read on PostSecret last week about how you leave books for others to read. I was like I wonder if they are doing the same thing. The book as still there when we went out. I was like, "oh my gosh it is." This is too weird. I only read about this on Saturday, and I found a book. I am planning on reading it this weekend when I go home (which is in another state). If I finish, I will leave it somewhere there. It looks really good, I am so excited to read it.
Wheee! Someone who knew about BookCrossing already and was genuinely excited to "catch" a book that had been released into the wild!
Oh, hurrah. It's every BookCrosser's dream.
Now I want to release dozens of them!
The only thing is, the books disappear all right, but people rarely journal them, and that can be unsatisfying... even though I tell myself that for all I know they're being thoroughly enjoyed. After all, last year I left a copy of Ken Mikolowski's poetry collection Big Enigmas at the now-closed Oslo sushi bar and club in Detroit. I actually watched a group of people discover it, gather around it, and even read aloud from it (Ken's poems are good for that!), and later I saw it in someone's pocket. They never journalled it on BookCrossing.com, but so what? I know it was enjoyed!
Still, when people do journal a book I've released into the wild, it makes my day. In the heady warmth of yesterday's early spring evening, I dropped off four novels around Depot Town, expecting the usual zero response rate, but feeling good about it anyway. This morning, I discovered the following journal entry for one of them:
I have not read it yet, but am planning on reading it. I saw you drop the book as I was eating at Aubrees. It caught my attention and I told my friend who I was eating with that I read on PostSecret last week about how you leave books for others to read. I was like I wonder if they are doing the same thing. The book as still there when we went out. I was like, "oh my gosh it is." This is too weird. I only read about this on Saturday, and I found a book. I am planning on reading it this weekend when I go home (which is in another state). If I finish, I will leave it somewhere there. It looks really good, I am so excited to read it.
Wheee! Someone who knew about BookCrossing already and was genuinely excited to "catch" a book that had been released into the wild!
Oh, hurrah. It's every BookCrosser's dream.
Now I want to release dozens of them!
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