A View of Easter

I had a lovely Easter weekend and I'm going to share the pictures that don't have faces in them with you!  Starting off, here's the gorgeous sunset picture I got on Saturday night after a glorious campfire.  The glowing crack is a ventilation crack in the barn.  I caught the sunset pouring through.  This is one of my new favorite pictures.

This is the traditional lamb cake that we always make.  It's a bit of a rigamarole, but we love it and it makes such a pretty centerpiece, besides being delicious!

Easter Sunday, there was church, then a big extended family party with delicious ham and sides and plenty of desserts (I'm still recovering from a sugar headache!)  After I got home, I was fiddling with the camera and got a very pretty shot of a pot of hyacinths, an old crate-turned-plant stand, and a vintage armchair in the kitchen.

So that was my easter.  How was yours?  Was it a quiet gathering with a few people?  A big family wing-ding like me?  Or did you not celebrate Easter?  I'd love to know what you did.

If I ever finish blasted A Company of Swans, I'll review it.  It's a perfectly good book, but I have had so many other distractions recently that reading has been pushed to the back burner.  I'm looking forward to a quiet week with plenty of reading!

Happy Easter

I hope that all of you have a very Happy Easter, wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

The easter sunrise this morning.  This captures just how vivid it was.

The sunrise to the west.  See the pinky-purple streaking over the barn?

Mary Stewart Books

I got cheated out of a library book.  I checked This Rough Magic out of the library, so pleased that I had found a book by Mary Steward that I had never read.  After reading through most of my library pile, I finally reached for This Rough Magic.  I opened the book and started reading.  Each chapter of the book has a quote at the start.  This one, from the Tempest, seemed awfully familiar, but I kept reading.  Two chapters in, I realized that I had read this book.  I wasn't in the mood for a re-read, so with a sigh I put the book back in the library box.  So now I know that I have read every Mary Stewart book in the library.

 If you haven't read anything by her (or if you have), Mary Stewart is a truly fantastic author.  Her writing is clever and really fits into its own genre: a mix of gothic, thriller, romance, magic, a smattering of comedy, and beautiful scenery descriptions.  I was introduced to Mary Stewart quite a while ago. 
She is such a good writer that I would confidently recommend anything she has written to any reader.

But, while I have read all the books, I haven't read them in these editions.  Just recently, the UK released all of the Mary Stewart books in beautiful new editions with lovely vintage pictures on the front.  I am feeling slightly light-headed.

Did you notice that Thunder on the Right, Nine Coaches Waiting, and My Brother
Michael all have the same dress.  I wonder if these illustrations came from a
vintage pattern cover... 

Sigh.  This is my biggest want right now.  Can you imagine?  The complete set of these (go to amazon, there are about 10 more) sitting on my bookshelf.  *Swoon*

An Extremely Cute Project

(I'm sorry, guys.  This has absolutely nothing to do with reading, but it was so cute I couldn't resist posting.)
After moving my sewing room around and getting a gorgeous new Bernina sewing machine for Christmas (thank you, family!), I was ready to start sewing.  I finished up a pair of fabulous turquoise overalls that had been languishing around and looked around for a new project.  My requirements were many: it had to fairly quick, it had to involve my lovely sewing machine somehow, and it had to be an item that was useful.  And so, I found this project from a book on appliquéing and set to work, cooing happily because it was so daggone cute.  I ended up not following the instructions at all, just cutting and appliquéing and then sewing up.

This is the first one I made.  First of all, I folded some plain oatmeal colored linen and lined the bottom of the hanger up with the fold.  Then, leaving about 1/2 inch seam allowance, I cut around the shape of the wire hanger.  Next, I embroidered four hangers in green pearl cotton and then machine appliquéd little clothes cut out of fabric scraps
                                         
This is what the back looks like.  I just sewed up the top of the hanger cover with black pearl cotton and did it in kind of uneven stitches.  I like the slightly unfinished look it gives to the hangers.

Now this is my absolute favorite.  I dug through and found scraps of fabric from clothing that I have actually made for myself.  The overalls I just finished, two summer dresses, a pair of flannel pajamas, and a skirt on which I sewed teensy weensy little pockets.  And did you see?  They're hanging on a rickrack clothesline!

I have two more up at the sewing machine.

A pistachio colored rickrack clothesline and a narrow embroidered red ribbon clothes line.

I can't sell these because they were somebody else's idea, but if you know me, drop an obvious hint and I'll make one of these for your birthday.

Brighten the Corner Where You Are

I adored this book.  Even though I was in deep mourning over leaving Flavia de Luce behind, that didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying Brighten the Corner Where You Are by Fred Chappell.  The premise of the story is very simple: a day in the life of Joe Robert Kirkman, a schoolteacher who wants to teach about evolution, a philosopher, and a lover of pranks in a 1940s North Carolina mountain town.  The story is recounted by his son.

The tale opens with Joe Robert Kirkman shimmying up a tree at 3 in the morning to catch an opossum. Then he cooks french toast for himself while his family sleeps, breaking every pot and pan in the house and then splattering egg all down the front of his best suit.  We learn that he is going to be questioned by the school board about his beliefs because of his teaching of evolution.  While on his way to school, he sees a child flailing about in a small, fast-flowing creek.  He dives in, expels the water from her lungs, and takes her to the general store, where he changes into an odd collection of clothes that afford him odd looks all day.  The day is filled with many an adventure from ending up stuck in the chimney with a goat on the roof to a drastic interview with the paper.

The Author

One of my next reads.

This story is charming, gently funny, and full of beautiful language.  The writing is some of the best I have read in a long time and Chappell manages to capture post war North Carolina perfectly.  The characters are interesting and quite human, with foibles and funny quirks.  Joe Robert Kirkman is the funniest, quirkiest, most human of them all.  I highly recommend this to pretty much everybody.  Even if you don't have an affinity for southern novels like I do, this is a must read, simply for the beautiful language.  I am also excited because this novel is part of a sort of casual series, all written through Joe Robert Kirkman's son's eyes.  I will definitely be reading them all.

Introverted Characters

People, I just had the most aggravating thing happen yesterday.  I was getting ready to finish up I am Half-Sick of Shadows (the next Flavia de Luce) when I forgot it at the dentist.  Argh.  So now I have no idea what is going to happen and I don't have a book review, but here's the other post I've been working on.

The silly kitten who likes to drink out of the sheep water tank.

I just noticed a phenomenon.  Has anybody else noticed the fact that an overwhelming majority of protagonists are decidedly introverted?  Just a little refresher:  An introvert is a person who needs to "recharge" after being in large groups of people.  It's not that they're socially awkward or unable to be in society, they just have to rest up afterwards.  They often tend to have a lot of inner dialogue and enjoy just thinking. This characterization must be just perfect for book characters.  Think about the last 5 books you read.  How many of them had an outgoing, busy character that spends hours talking to people and never sits and thinks.  As I thought about this, I realized that maybe a book character has to be introverted to be a book character.  Otherwise, the reader would have no idea what the motives were and what was going on at a whole other level.  With the exception of action cartoon characters and Nancy Drew, most book characters have a pretty busy internal dialogue, thinking through things and paying attention to their emotions.  Or, are most authors introverted, so it just feels normal for a character to spend lots of time thinking?  I'd love to hear what you think.  And now I'll close with several quotes that I found from books, just to illustrate my point.

The view of the barn through the trees

From my dear Flavia de Luce (*sniff*)- "Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company."

And another because I'm missing this book so much- "There's a lot to be said for being alone. But you and I know, don't we, Flavia, that being alone and being lonely are not at all the same thing?"

A coat of wool from one of the sheep, ready to go to the mill.

From Meg Murray of A Wrinkle in Time- "Meg, don't you think you'd make a better adjustment to life if you faced facts?" 

I do face facts," Meg said.
They're lots easier to face than people, I can tell you."

From Matilda- "“You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck.

"Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.” "

From Ferdinand the Bull, one of the most memorable children's books- "And for all I know he is sitting there still, under his favorite cork tree, smelling the flowers just quietly. He is very happy."

I have a whole bunch of other quotes, but I won't bore you.  Start reading and notice all of the introverted characters.

Hunger Games Thoughts

(This isn't a book review, but musings about a book.  If you want the basic plot of the Hunger Games before you read my thoughts, go to Good Reads.)  

For months (probably years by now) I have had people telling me that I need to read and watch the Hunger Games.  I was quite reluctant for several reasons.  First of all, I had read the first book and thought that the writing was, frankly, not that great.  Second, I have a (slightly irrational) dislike of young adult fiction as a class.  I think that it's kind of ridiculous that teenagers have to have their own category of books.  You read the children's section until you're sick of it, then you gently ease into the adult section.  I also found it highly ironic that the people reading/watching the books/movies are being entertained by the killing just like the members of the Capitol.  However, last night at the behest of my family, I sat down and watched the first Hunger Games.  Before I sat down, I decided I was going to step out for the worst of the gore.  There actually were only three huge battle scenes, so I didn't actually miss huge portions of the movie.

Several things struck me while I was watching the movie.  1.  This story is a huge social commentary.  That's something I didn't realize when I first read the book.  Sure, the story is for entertainment, but there's a deeper point behind the pretty basic tale of kids in a dystopian society.  Are we, like the people of Panem, entertaining ourselves to death?   I was interested to read that Suzanne Collins thought of the Hunger Games while switching channels between a sports game and Iraq war footage.   2.  I don't think that many watchers/readers get how serious the message is. Actually I don't think you really can if you're, say 10.   3.  And this is completely shallow...I'm sorry.  I liked Gail (the boy back home that loves Katniss) better than Peeta (the boy who is in the Hunger Games and ends up with Katniss).  He has principles, something Peeta apparently doesn't really have.  And, I just think he's a nicer person.

My third thought deserves a whole paragraph unto itself.  I'm going to have a little spoiler here, so if you don't want to know what happens at the end of the first book/movie, stop reading.  At the end, Peeta and Katniss (our heroine) survive.  They have been told that they can be a team, so they don't end up killing each other.  Finally, after everybody else is dead, there is an announcement that, never mind, they will have to kill each other.  Katniss pulls a move that nobody is expecting.  She takes a handful of deadly berries and tells Peeta that they're both going to eat them and die, leaving no winner.  Now, let's stop right there (I promise this isn't the end).  You all know that I am a sucker for happy endings (in fact, I'd probably hate the writers if I hadn't thought of this plot ending myself), but what would have happened if Katniss and Peeta had eaten the berries and died?
It would have been a huge statement.  Think what would have happened- here is the Capitol with no winner, no huge victory parade and medals, no crown.  It would have shown all the watchers the true horribleness of the Games.  It would have said, look, the whole point of the games is death and entertainment.  There would probably have been a whole lot of rage and uprising and, hopefully the end of the games.  Of course, that isn't what happens.  A voice yells, "Stop!" and the two are safely carted home with much fanfare.

So now you know what I think about the Hunger Games.  I think I will go ahead and read the books and I'm definitely going to watch the next movie.