"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Sunday Salon, December 20th

BELIEVE. Photo by D. Gorman, used with permission.
Weather: Dark and rainy. The snow level is at 2000 feet. That means lots of snow on the mountain passes between Western and Eastern Washington. The Washington DOT is predicting the snow level will fall to 200 feet for Christmas Day. Hmm. Could be interesting for us, but I won't hold my breath. It rarely snows in the Puget Sound area.

Fourth Sunday of Advent: It is hard to believe we are only five days away from Christmas Day. Today our choir sang a Christmas Cantata for the whole service. Don and both of our daughters are in the choir. Don said he was treasuring up the experience because it is unlikely that all three of them will be in a choir together again.

Where Are You Christmas? Have a listen while you are reading the blog post. I love this arrangement.


Visitors from afar: Wednesday I had two Christmas parties to attend. The first in downtown Puyallup with librarians, the second with staff members in Graham. As I swung by home between the two parties there was a van in our driveway which I didn't recognize. As it turned out it was friends Jean and Chrissy from Ontario, Canada. Needless to say, I never made it to the second party. I had a lovely visit with Jean (Tez), a friend from high school, and her partner even though it wasn't planned. They made an unplanned trip up from Oregon because an aunt had died and Jean wanted to bring her mom up to visit her other sister. They hadn't decided to make the trip until that morning and just dropped by in hopes of catching us.

School is out for the year (2015): It felt a little like running a marathon getting to this point in the school year. Time for two weeks of R and R around all the holiday celebrations.

Carly's birthday party: My youngest turned 24 years old on Friday. After a fun dinner at a favorite local restaurant, we came home for the typical cake and gifts. We played a fun game and got very silly. It felt like parties of old where laughter and games were common.

Book Club here: Sixteen of us from the SOTH book club were here for a discussion of The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. Don rigged up a movie screen out of a bed sheet so I could show a brief video of the Sarajevo Haggaduh, the prayer book which inspired the book. I asked the gals to tell me which of the 12 books we read in 2015 they enjoyed the most. The results: 1. The Boys in the Boat; 2. A Light Between Oceans; 3. The Invention of Wings. I wanted their input for my blog post on favorite book club selections. Stay tuned, I will get that written soon.

Christmas poem: 
Turn your heart to Christmas, come in from the night.
Gentle hope embrace you, find the promised light.
Give yourself to worship, reach for things above.
Turn your heart to Christmas, know that you are loved.
                                                          (Joseph Martin)

Currently reading:
  • The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings...this is my Classics Club selection. I finally got started reading this delightful classic.
  • El Deafo by CeCe Bell...a graphic novel about growing up deaf.
Finished this week:
  • MARTians by Blythe Woolston...a short, little dystopian novel about a world transfixed on shopping and little else.
  • The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett...the last novel by the author, who died in March. It is also the last of his marvelous Discworld series. It was as delightful as I expected.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

I AM IN THE MIDST OF CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS. Photo by D. Gorman, used with permission.

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have a most charmed week!! I skipped both my holiday parties this year. I can not wait now to start People of the Book. I'm looking forward to catching back up with our book club as well. I miss it :)

    I have never actually read The Yearling.. better get that onto my list soon!

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  2. Have to ask: what is SOTH?

    Sounds like you've had a wonderful week there with family and friends. Hope that the next two weeks will be more of the same for you. Enjoy your time off.

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    1. SOTH: Shepherd of the Hill---it is the name of our church. We abbreviate it when we refer to it, pronouncing it sauth. Thanks for asking.

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  3. Merry Christmas Anne. Happy reading in 2016!

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  4. My last week of school for 2015 was crazy, and I'm looking forward to two weeks of rest and reading as well. I'm wondering if we'll get any snow here in Missouri. If we don't get any soon, it'll be a record I think. Have a great holiday and break!
    Check out my Sunday Post

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  5. That Christmas video was lovely. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Hoping for great reads and discussions in 2016 and time with my dear friends, maybe even a coffee or two out together. Happy Birthday to Carly!! xoxo

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  7. Sounds like a fun week. Happy birthday to your daughter!

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  8. What a wonderful surprise, to have old friends visit unexpectedly! I would love that :) I also love playing games and enjoyed similar fun times with my extended family last weekend (except that we all ended up with a stomach virus!)...the games were fun, though.

    Oh, The Yearling! I read it in 7th grade - get ready to bawl your eyes out.

    Enjoy your books this week and your holiday celebrations!

    Sue

    Book By Book

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