Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Dusty In Here, Isn't It?



Spring has sprung, and the world is being renewed.  At least, in the northern hemisphere.  Our friends in the southern hemisphere are in the beginnings of fall.  We are seeing more and more leaf buds, blossoms and blooms.

April is National Poetry Month, so to celebrate I thought I'd clear my cobwebs away with the help of a little stab at poetry.  But which type?  Haiku, Limerick, Epic, Sonnet?  The choices are vast.  Here is a site, one of many on the internet to help us learn more.  For now, I'm thinking haiku.  *Attention, big news contained within.*

Spring is in the air.
When Fall comes around this year,
I will be Grandma.
 
Haiku are fun to write.  The trick is making the syllables work.  Go, have fun with poetry!  What's that you say?  Why yes, thank you for noticing, I am going to be a grandma.  Late October, as a matter of fact.  This is one of the things that has been happening in my life while I neglected my poor blog.  Also, I had a bit of a health scare, but it turns out that nothing serious is wrong, and life instantly became much brighter.  After all, 39 shouldn't be so eventful, even if it is almost at an end.  I'm declaring 40 to be my year.....which actually is making me look forward to it.  
OK, enough talk about life, let's get to at least one of those books I was babbling about weeks ago.  

Ah yes, I have the perfect one.  If you will recall, in a previous post I told you about Maureen Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  Well, she has written a sequel entitled The Last Little Blue Envelope which I   recently had the priveledge to read via digital galley (advanced copy) through a site called NetGalley.

The Last Little Blue Envelope picks up pretty much where the first book left off.  If you've read it you know that Ginny never got to read the last letter from her late Aunt Peg as her bag was stolen in Greece.  (If you haven't read it, for heaven's sake go get it and read it!)  When Ginny discovers that someone has found the letters it sparks another European adventure, and allows her to spend Christmas with her Uncle Richard in London.  Many surprises are in store for Ginny.  She will revisit a few places from her first journey, see old friends, make new ones and have a whole new set of experiences.  The last letter sets Ginny on the trail of a work of Aunt Peg's art that is in three pieces, in three separate locations around Europe which must be obtained and assembled.  This final 'mission' is challenging to say the least, but proves to be well worth the effort.  The emotions once again run the gamut of funny, frustrating, exciting, heart wrenching, and happy.  Happy being the best part, but the journey to happy is what makes life, and stories more interesting.  


Maureen Johnson is a wonderfully talented writer with a terrific sense of humor.  I fully intend to read more of her books, including The Name of the Star, out later this year (September).  The Last Little Blue Envelope is out this month (April).  

                   

Friday, March 11, 2011

Wow!

I was awakened this morning by a text message telling me there had been a huge earthquake in Japan.  We all now know about the earthquake and subsequent tsunamis.....if not GET OUT FROM UNDER YOUR ROCK!  Also, go right now and search 'earthquake' and you should be inundated with more information than your head can contain.  YouTube is filled with videos shot by cell phones all over Japan, and there were webcams for watching out for tsunamis in Hawaii and San Francisco, among other things.  The internet is mind boggling. 

After the Christchurch NZ earthquake, I posted a link to Maureen Johnson's blog in which she explained about Shelterbox.  Here is her latest, and once again, there are fantastic prizes to be won if you donate.  You have until Sunday a.m., so what are you waiting for?  Go.  You can donate any amount.  Of course, the Red Cross is ALWAYS a great way to help as well.  They have a system to text to donate.

Those who want to help can go to www.redcross.org and donate to Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami. People can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific.  (Copied from their website.)

Borrowed from here.
Hopefully, I will get around to BOOKS again on Monday.......

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Life and Other Things

Well, things have been fairly busy for me between sickness, work, and just life.  I have some awesome books to tell you about, and hope to do that before this week is over.  Seems like it's been way too quiet around here lately too.  Hello?  Is anybody there?  *tap tap*  Is this thing on?