New Granny Squares

Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness

~by Willard Spiegelman

The librarians themselves seemed possessed of some secret authority; they embodied, they exuded the quiet command that comes from wisdom, or at least the knowledge that you get from books. (pg. 32)

Barb's Birthday Blanket

I am a Starfish Rescuer

Home Safe

by Elizabeth Berg

Books don't take time away from us. They give back. In this age of abstraction of multitasking, of speed for speed's sake, they reintroduce us to the elegance - and the relief! - of real, tick-tock time. (pg. 229)

This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All

by Marilyn Johnson


"In tough times, a librarian is a terrible thing to waste." ~Marilyn Johnson

"Librarian's values are as sound as Girl Scouts': truth, free-speech, and universal literacy. And, like the Scouts, they possess a quality that I think make librarians invaluable and indispensable: they want to help. They want to help us. They want to be of service. And they're not trying to sell us anything."
(pg. 8)

Marilyn Johnson made me fall even more in love when she states that "cupcakes were the official snack of young librarians." (pg. 211)

Forge

by Laurie Halse Anderson

We wore all manner of shirts, waistcoats, breeches, and shoes, tho' some were barefooted. Looking down our lines, I saw every possible color of hair and eye (tho' some were missing an eye and others were bald-headed), as well as all colors of skin, ...more We wore all manner of shirts, waistcoats, breeches, and shoes, tho' some were barefooted. Looking down our lines, I saw every possible color of hair and eye (tho' some were missing an eye and others were bald-headed), as well as all colors of skin, from the darkest black of men born in Africa to the snow-white pallor of the Scotsmen, and all shades in betwixt the two. The appearance of our army recalled the variations of the trees and leaves in the forest behind us. Each soldier stood tall, each soul afire with pride. (pg 50)

Chains

by Laurie Halse Anderson

If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? And if a girl was to seek her freedom, how could she do such a fool-headed thing? Especially a girl trapped in New York? Best thing would be to break into the desk of a British commander, ...more If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? And if a girl was to seek her freedom, how could she do such a fool-headed thing? Especially a girl trapped in New York? Best thing would be to break into the desk of a British commander, steal a pass and forge her name and his name on it, and act free. (pg. 272)

Momma always said that common sense was far from common, that's why it was so special when you found it. (pg. 240)

Two leaves left

More Fall Leaves

Bow Lake

I love Bow Lake in the fall.

Thirteen Reasons Why

~Jay Asher

When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can't be that precise and selective. When you mess with on part of a person's life, you're messing with their entire life. (pg. 201)

Fall Leaves

I love all the colors that come with Fall.

Emma

by Jane Austen

"Perhaps it it our imperfections that make us so perfect for one another!"

Parker Mountain

The view of Bow Lake from the little mountain behind my house.

Hanging Ruth Blay

by Carolyn Marvin

One concept developed in colonial New England to address the problem of providing to all parts of these towns, where vast acres separated the homesteads, was that of the "moving school." It was a simple and effective idea. A teacher would ...more One concept developed in colonial New England to address the problem of providing to all parts of these towns, where vast acres separated the homesteads, was that of the "moving school." It was a simple and effective idea. A teacher would board with a family and spend a few months teaching the children in one area of town and then move on to another. Thus every child's education was addressed on a rotating basis. (pg. 49)

Charlotte's Web

by W. B. White

I don't think there is such a thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than no ...more I don't think there is such a thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, than nothing would not be nothing, it would be something - even though it's just a very little bit of something. But if nothing is nothing, than nothing has nothing that is less than it is. (pg 28)

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Brontë


"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same."

Speak

by Laurie Halse Anderson

"I crouch by the trunk, my fingers stroking the bark, seeking a Braille code, a clue, a message on how to come back to life after my long undersnow dormancy. I have survived. I am here. confused, screwed up, but here. So how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul, an ax I can take to my memories or fears? (pg. 188)


Speak has been challenged this past week. If you think that it shouldn't be a challenged or banned book show Laurie Halse Anderson your support. Go to her blog and see what you can do.

http://madwomanintheforest.com/this-guy-thinks-speak-is-pornography/

Pink Rose

My pink rose is flowering again. YEAH!

Rainbow Leaf

The first sign of fall and it makes me smile.

Husband and Wife

by Leah Stewart

"We were each other's most important, most necessary person, the one you lean on when life gives you trouble, the one you take the trouble out on, the one person who can help you through it, the person you sometimes hate, partly because you need ...more "We were each other's most important, most necessary person, the one you lean on when life gives you trouble, the one you take the trouble out on, the one person who can help you through it, the person you sometimes hate, partly because you need them so much and they can't always - who could? - live up to that need. (pg 228)

Purple

Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

"Sometimes the last person on earth you want to be with is the one person you can't be without."

Sun

Sassafras

Sassy likes to hide.

White Kitty

Gray Green Eyed Kitty

He's cute

Kitty Friends

Black Halloween Kitty & Green Eyed Kitty

Black Halloween Kitty

I also made a Black Halloween Kitty!

Jack O Lantern

I am getting ready for Halloween. My first crocheted Jack O Lantern.

Granny Squaring!

My Granny Square blanket is complete! I have always loved Granny Squares but I could never figure out how to make them. Kate and I were talking one time and I discovered that she loves them too! We went on a mission to figure out how to make them. Kate learned first and taught me. Now I am a Granny Squaring Machine!

New Garden

I have been on vacation for the week. My mom came to visit for part of it. She brought me daylilies and we created this new garden. The hill is kind of hard to mow, so it makes it a perfect spot for a garden.

The Bell Jar

by Sylvia Plath

There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room.
It's like watching Paris from an express caboose heading in the opposite direction--every second the city gets smaller and smaller, only you feel it's really you getting smaller and smaller and lonelier and lonelier, rushing away from all those lights and the excitement at about a million miles an hour. (pg 14)

The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott

by Kelly O'Connor McNess

Don't you see? I do have to choose. I have inherited Father's love of ideas and books but I also know how that love can separate you from the people who need you most. And yet, I can't imagine my life without books. I don't even know who I'd bee then. (pg. 31)

Rose Of Sharon

Three Cups of Tea

by Greg Mortenson

"Here (in Pakistan and Afghanistan), we drink three cups of tea to do business, the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family, and for family we are prepared to do anything -- even die."

~Haji Ali, Korphe Village Chief, Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan

The Book of Joe

by Jonathan Tropper

Time doesn't heal as much as it buries things in the undergrowth of your brain, where they lie in wait to ambush you when you least expect it. (pg 28)

"Who-Stole-the-Cake" with Raspberries

After going raspberry picking I was making a "who-stole-the-cake" and decided to do something unorthodox. I had the bright idea to put Raspberries in the cake. Wasn't sure how it would come out and I told my friends, that love the cake, that they were either going to love me or hate me. Needless to say they loved me! This was one of my best ideas!

Mirrors

by Eduardo Galeano

Mirrors are filled with people.
The invisible see us.
The forgotten recall us.
When we see ourselves, we see them.
When we turn away, do they?

(pg 1)

Raspberry Picking

Dan and I went Raspberry Picking @ Warren Farm.
It was sunny and warm and delicious!

The Carrie Diaries

by Candace Bushnell

So it's weird, you know? To be friends with someone for so long, and they do one thing, and it's over. And they weren't a bad person before. Or at least you didn't think they were. So you have to wonder if that bad thing was always there, waiting to come out, or if it was just a one-time thing, and they're still a good person, but you can't trust them. (pg. 205)

Happy 5 Years!

July 1st Sky

Strawberry Moon

dreamland

by Sarah Dessen

One day I took all my pictures and hung them around my room, tacking them to the walls, the mirror, even the ceiling. Then I stood and stared at each of the faces, studying them one at a time. I learned them carefully, aware of every nuance in their expressions. They stared back at me, frozen, but even though I can read their faces, none of them were looking that closely at me. (pg. 185)

Prom

by Laurie Halse Anderson

I got out and leaned against the car. There were a few clouds in the sky. Maybe they had been partying all night, too. Out in the west, towards Pittsburgh, the moon was setting, pulling a couple starts down with it. I like how it was all happening at once, the moon and stars pinking up the sunrise, the whole world spinning around like it was supposed to. (pg. 210)

Girls in Trucks

by Katie Crouch

I watched, hoping she wouldn't come out broken. It's all you can do for people sometimes, no matter how much you love them. (pg. 57)

Handsomest Kitty Ever!

Tell-All

by Chuck Palahniuk

No, none of us seem so very real. We're only supporting characters in the lives of each other. Any real truth, any precious fact will always be lost in a mountain of shattered make-believe. (pg. 179)

Chains

by Laurie Halse Anderson

If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? And if a girl was to seek her freedom, how could she do such a fool-headed thing? Especially a girl trapped in New York? Best thing would be to break into the desk of a British commander, steal a pass and forge her name and his name on it, and act free. (pg. 272)

The Happiness Project

by Gretchen Rubin

Happy people generally are more forgiving, helpful, and charitable, have better self-control, and are more tolerant of frustration. (pg. 54)

Eat Pray Love

by Elizabeth Gilbert


Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. (page 260)

Keeping the Moon

by Sarah Dessen

I've always known who I am. I might not work perfectly of be like them, but that's okay. I know I work in my own way. (pg. 361)

Sea Glass

I have always had a love for sea glass. Living as close as I do to the beach, I try to go as often as I can to hunt for it. Over the years I have collected a lot of brown, green and white. These here are the few that I have collected that are blue, aqua, teal, pink and purple.

Pink Sky Morning

The sky was pink this morning. It even made the snow pink.

More Jellyfish

We were without power for a few days. Due to a big rain and wind storm. The winds got up to 50 plus miles per hour. My dad had brought a generator over to us that use to be my grandfathers. Lucky for us we had it! The generator let use keep our furnace going so the house would be warm and the pipes would not freeze. We had no running water but at least we were warm. I worked on my Jellyfish because there was nothing else to do. They are growing in numbers; six more were created.

Kitties holding paws

My kitties, Sassafras and Seabass, enjoying holding paws.

Love Songs

by Sara Teasdale

Tides

Love in my heart was a fresh tide flowing
When the starlike sea gulls sour;

The sun was keen and the foam was blowing
high on the rocky shore.

But now in the dusk the tide is turning,

Lower the sea gulls soar, And the waves that rose in
resistless yearning

And broken forevermore. (pg 35)

Jellyfish

I have been making Jellyfish lately. Once I have enough and the upstairs bathroom is painted I am going to hang them from the ceiling. Giving us an underwater theme.

Olive Kitteridge

by Elizabeth Strout


She showed him the library... He looked at the books, and she wanted to say, "Stop that," as though he were reading her diary. (pg. 215)



~I sometimes feel this way too.

Seagulls

It was clear,
bright
and blue.
Seagulls caught my eye.
Bathing in the sun.

Sarah's Key

by: Tatiana De Rosnay


Her tears washed the image of his face away. She cried into her palms, alone. Her father did not touch her. In those awful, lonely minutes, the girl understood. She was no longer a happy little ten-year-old girl. She was someone much older. Nothing would ever be the same again. For her. For her family. For her brother. (pg. 57)

Franny & Zooey

by: J.D. Salinger

I am sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.
~Franny Glass


*J.D. Salinger died 1-28-10 at the age of 91 in his New Hampshire home.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100128/ap_en_ot/us_obit_salinger

The Clarence Principle

by: Fehed Said


I always thought that birds would end up in heaven. In my mind, if you were born a bird, you were blessed. They were the only ones who could touch the sky. They had wings...like angles.

The Shack

by: William P. Young


Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you. And the more you know another, the richer the colors of that relationship. (pg. 213)

Miss American Pie

by: Margaret Sartor

"I think Emily Dickinson cut herself off from the world because that was the only way she could have a spiritual life that wasn't distorted by other people's expectations of her. (pg. 184)

Love is a mix tape

by: Rob Sheffield

Sometimes you lie in a strange room, in a strange person's home, and you feel yourself bending out of shape. Melting, touching something hot, something that warps you in drastic and probably irreversible ways you won't get to take stock of until it's too late. (pg. 63)

Jellicoe Road

by: Melina Marchetta

"I remember love. It's what I have to keep on reminding myself. It's funny how you can forget everything except people loving you. Maybe that's why humans find it so hard getting over love affairs. It's not the pain they're getting over, it's the love." (pg. 262)