whoa, bokeh

I absolutely refuse to believe Christmas is less than a week away. 

NONE of THESE PHOTOs ARE MINE (unfortunately!)


Maybe these photos will make me feel more Christmassy.

hey look, the moon!

   I

    THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
    The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, 
    The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
    And the highwayman came riding—
                      Riding—riding—
    The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

*sigh* ah, lack-a-day...

I should be a better blogger.

to quote...

Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.


~ Albert Einstein 

some great literature!

I'm reading a book. Don't you EVER interrupt me---or ELSE! (Think violent, gruesome and nasty death, accomplished without my eyes leaving the page)


Then, I'd like to review some books I've recently read. Particularly, Alice Adams, Seventeen, and The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington, as well as Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Tarkington was a G.A.W. (Great American Writer) but sadly has been all but forgotten these post-modern times due to the occasional word in his books considered racist by the hyper-sensitive, self-proclaimed politically correct "censors" of our age. Mr. Tarkington had a style of his own, and incorporated many interestin' little-used words for the vocabulary sharks (I just coined this descriptive word!) like myself.






Alice Adams featured the saga of a manipulative, conniving and selfish 1920's era girl of plebeian position who strives to be accepted by the patrician upper-class families in a midwest town. Her attempts to do this are at times sad, at times funny, and you get a sense of her maturing throughout the book. The rest of the Adams family are all different, with different faults which lead to the demise of the family fortune. Alice eventually entangles Arthur Russel into thinking she is different than she actually is, however after his disillusionment  at the end of the book, he shuns her, and she has to move on. NOTE: this is NOT a romance, and I did a bad job reviewing it. See this for a too-wordy but more descriptive synopsis.The end of this book was sad, yet beautiful. Four stars.


The Magnificent Ambersons was a slightly dramatic epic which to quote an reviewer on Amazon.com was "an Horatio Alger story backwards." It tells of the demise of the awesomely rich Amberson family as the world changes around them.  Basically, it is about "being things" as opposed to "doing things". I won't attempt a synopsis, but let you read it for yourselves. The beginning chapters are slow, and overall it is a sad book, but very interesting historically.


Seventeen is a hilarious story. It is about...young love, which is very funny to me, despite my being a youth myself, rather than a wizened geriatric. 


And guess what??? All of the above books are FREE on Kindle or the Kindle app. 
  <---- Perhaps uncalled-for smiley face, again to appease the populace, and to make me appear extra enthusiastic.   Whee.


Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery


                     ........Nice cover!


EONM contained Montgomery's usual failings: over flowery descriptions (which seems to be a failing especially of female authors, but Lucy Maud takes the cake for them. Some are quite beautiful.), unrealistic characters, "kindred spirits", fairies (and I don't mean Artemis Fowl fairies. Pu-leez!!!) and similar plot lines. But I liked Emily better than Anne (in some ways) because she was less Pollyanna-ishly happy, and Emily's aunt was MEAN to her, as was her teacher and some others. Emily seems to be sort of psychic too, but this was minimum. The plot was similar to Anne, but with much darker themes, and a neat mystery thing going on. Oh, and Emily can bake a cake. She's less dreamy than Anne, and must have been party-autobiographical for L.M. Montgomery who wanted to be a writer as did Emily. 
Three point five stars.


Somewhat randomly, I would like to mention briefly that I want this shirt. 


..Farewell, readers. And as this is Sunday, don't forget to spend time reading the greatest book, and indeed the only one we need for life, the Bible. 






 A book is like a garden carried in the pocket. ~Chinese Proverb


There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read.  ~G.K. Chesterton


Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.  ~ Attributed to Groucho Marx

longum verborum

Hmm. So they actually didn't find the longest word in the English language?

"O, they have lived long on the alms-basket of words.
I marvel thy master hath not eaten thee for a word;
for thou art not so long by the head as
honorificabilitudinitatibus: thou art easier
swallowed than a flap-dragon."

                                                              ~ Shakespeare, Love's Labor Lost

*Brownie points if you can pronounce it. 

For those wishing to improve their non-academic vocabulary with *usable* (even if no one else knows what the heck you mean--join the club) try reading some O. Henry short stories. Or a Booth Tarkington novel. Or any classic book, or well-written poetry, really. Finding new extensive words in a good, well-written book is like chocolate chips in a cookie for me. 

*****************************************

My mom wishes the earthquake which struck D.C., Virginia and New York today had taken some politicians with it! Can't say I blame her, as the politicians do a lot of damage down there.....

the blogger returneth......

So I did! Just got back from L.I. Long, boring trip. But the baby shower was pretty nice; I'm glad I went, for the sake of my as-yet-unborn niece. *insert smile here* And we had a nice visit with some old friends, and I got to go to the BEACH!!!! 


Anyway, I just wanted to inform my readers of the aforementioned fact, and of an interesting idea, at least for the eccentric amongst us. Notice that I mean a REAL eccentric, who chooses not to follow the herd, not a pseudo-eccentric who follows the eccentric herd. It seems being weird/eccentric/odd/nerdy/geeky/you-get-the-idea is the *cool* thing now.
 On Facebook you regularly see things like "Im insane and proud of it!". (Note the incorrect spelling) You shouldn't be proud of being insane....and if they really were insane, why would they be on FB? Oh. That brought up another train of thought....

Rather than being proud of being eccentric, I suppose we should strive to be "normal" in God's eyes: doing what is right and living the way we believe instead of taking the easy route and following the herd, like sheep. Except for sheep, following the herd is life or death. For us, it is also life or death; but the other way round!


Alright, time for a quote break!!!!!!! [An excess of exclamation points: sure sign of an enthusiastic young female humanoid!!!!!!!!!!!] 

"Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative."

~ W. S. Gilbert

"But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head."
                        ~ Psalms 3:3


[Side note: I have an incurable tendency to spell Psalms "Pslams!" Very annoying word to spell!]


"If you were me, then I'd be you. And if I were you, then I'd hide somewhere far, far, away."
                       ~Artemis Fowl 


[Yet another Side note: only one of the above quotes is meant to be taken seriously!]


What?!?! No photos?!?!? 





The above is Fire Island, NY. I've been there myriad times. I do like lighthouses!
I've also been to this one:



My gracious, that was very random.
So, auf weidersehn, my dear readers, I must depart. 


~ Diana

duck naming contest...weirdness...

If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust.
But if we work on immortal minds, if we impress on them high principles, the just fear of God, and love for their fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which no time can efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all Eternity.    
~Daniel Webster


.....And now, for the Official DUCK Update. *theme music starts*

....*theme music ends* 
And there you have it, folks. A display in irrational cuteness as illustrated by a a Muscovy duckling. 
Who STILL doesn't have a name!!! 


If you can think of a good name for this duckie, please LMK in a comment. I'd like a cute, sophisticated, not too sweet, and special name for the only duck in the flock. Preferably female, as I am 75% sure s/he is a ducklet. (Ducklet=young female. Drakelet=young male)


Andromeda? Ducky? Miss Covy? 
Person to suggest the name I pick will win.....something. Once I decide what that is. A prize!!!!
 





I'm still reading AF. I've found I like the third, fifth, and sixth books best. 
It is much to hot to write deep thinking or relevant cogitations, so...

Auf Wiedersehen!  ~ D

shakespeare! whee!

"To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?"                 ~ Hamlet Is it better to die and end all the misery or to live and "suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"?  Good question! Now for a bit of Gilbert and Sullivan wittiness:

BUNTHORNE: "Did you ever yearn?"

                                   PATIENCE: "I yearn my living, sir."

Yeah. So, that is life.........I wish I knew how to surf, man! 

"Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, His wondrous works in the deep. For He commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea."

Psalm 107:23-25 

A quick pet peeve: Bible versions which don't capitalize the He and His. If it is pertaining to God it should be capitalized. Period. It just shows respect, even if you aren't a believer. I personally prefer the Thee and Thou, because it is more beautiful. However, I do think newer, more accessible versions of the Word do have their places, mainly for helping less-literate people understand it, and read it. Jesus didn't come to help the well-read people (only)--he came for the illiterate, the slobs, the poor, the destitute. 

Adios, my dear readers, for now! I trust all of you are having at least a reasonably tolerably fun summer 2011.....

~ Diana