tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58571661241171613862024-03-13T21:37:02.945-05:00 Pie PostPie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.comBlogger512125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-18101563358388875082019-10-24T10:21:00.000-05:002019-10-24T10:21:02.767-05:00WRP 10: Australia<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: calibri;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">World Reading Project, Book #10</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Australia</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson</span>, 1895</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aUZcdOdLiXA/XYI8yUDH6rI/AAAAAAAAME8/Q04d2BNu7Bkkn4DMXNRu8TCo_1b2rWbgACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2725644.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: calibri; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aUZcdOdLiXA/XYI8yUDH6rI/AAAAAAAAME8/Q04d2BNu7Bkkn4DMXNRu8TCo_1b2rWbgACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2725644.jpg" width="213" /></span></a><style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style><span style="font-size: large;"><span data-sheets-userformat="{"2":6851,"3":{"1":0},"4":[null,2,16777215],"9":0,"10":1,"12":0,"14":[null,2,0],"15":"Georgia"}" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Lots of poems about good trustworthy horse friends and a love of the land. I really enjoyed these."}"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Clay read these poems and suggested this book to me for good reason; I mean, look at that cover. It's in the public domain, so you can read it for free on Gutenberg.org! This is the first book of poetry I've picked for my project. Banjo Paterson's most famous work is the bush ballad "Waltzing Matilda". </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">He wrote lots of poetry about the outback, sheep shearing, cattle drovers, and lots and lots of horses. I enjoyed this book because there were so many poems about good trustworthy horse friends, and a love of the land. It's clear that Banjo really had an affection for horses. Here's a snippet of the title poem, describing the game horse who saves the day and runs down the escaped colt of a famous racehorse:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span data-sheets-userformat="{"2":6851,"3":{"1":0},"4":[null,2,16777215],"9":0,"10":1,"12":0,"14":[null,2,0],"15":"Georgia"}" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"Lots of poems about good trustworthy horse friends and a love of the land. I really enjoyed these."}"><span style="background-color: transparent;">And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast,</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: justify;">He was something like a racehorse undersized,</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">With a touch of Timor pony — three parts thoroughbred at least —</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">And such as are by mountain horsemen prized.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">There was courage in his quick impatient tread;</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was hard and tough and wiry — just the sort that won't say die —</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,</span></span></div>
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Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-69739634175222658582019-10-16T10:48:00.000-05:002019-10-16T10:48:36.584-05:00Halloweeeeen outgoing!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5h4Dc3AWaUA/Xac6_ciKDeI/AAAAAAAAMgI/VuVGd5WsPJw4NGGotlQlCY_bDm0j_THOwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_103345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1292" data-original-width="1600" height="516" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5h4Dc3AWaUA/Xac6_ciKDeI/AAAAAAAAMgI/VuVGd5WsPJw4NGGotlQlCY_bDm0j_THOwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_103345.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mummy monster mail art swap:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kILhpNeEtj0/Xac6_UNYzYI/AAAAAAAAMgI/hEl9ocG634c5aeOSuMCnzNpMiH0EBgYUwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_081709.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1116" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kILhpNeEtj0/Xac6_UNYzYI/AAAAAAAAMgI/hEl9ocG634c5aeOSuMCnzNpMiH0EBgYUwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_081709.jpg" width="446" /></a></div>
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Joined a October/Halloween washi tape swap. These are the ones I'm sending:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnSlyeSTX6M/Xac6_bVZtVI/AAAAAAAAMgI/wOlAjGASK4ctyWE3FTV1xMcTtZDTwe1dgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191013_091035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DnSlyeSTX6M/Xac6_bVZtVI/AAAAAAAAMgI/wOlAjGASK4ctyWE3FTV1xMcTtZDTwe1dgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191013_091035.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NXgYgmtr2m8/Xac6_Q3J56I/AAAAAAAAMgI/fKtva1HPD_4ZCXz1iGArGCUND1Icz3tTACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_103211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="1600" height="450" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NXgYgmtr2m8/Xac6_Q3J56I/AAAAAAAAMgI/fKtva1HPD_4ZCXz1iGArGCUND1Icz3tTACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_103211.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--CMFwrJq-_A/Xac6_acbbhI/AAAAAAAAMgI/PYwvEguvmBsxc8vdVmDDU1qAUEDA9oyXwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_103124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1206" data-original-width="1600" height="482" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--CMFwrJq-_A/Xac6_acbbhI/AAAAAAAAMgI/PYwvEguvmBsxc8vdVmDDU1qAUEDA9oyXwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_103124.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-navynCnE0Ck/Xac6_c8lJZI/AAAAAAAAMgI/JsJ9ktzgI-4zIDcKrcnLpNKXOCaU360AQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191013_075429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-navynCnE0Ck/Xac6_c8lJZI/AAAAAAAAMgI/JsJ9ktzgI-4zIDcKrcnLpNKXOCaU360AQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191013_075429.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tX7D2mdSegw/Xac6_YxLhCI/AAAAAAAAMgI/QyQr-YuytJE4FLWxcHork-duleXYyLpDgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_103027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tX7D2mdSegw/Xac6_YxLhCI/AAAAAAAAMgI/QyQr-YuytJE4FLWxcHork-duleXYyLpDgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_103027.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RLVomHnvq5s/Xac6_XtlbAI/AAAAAAAAMgI/2k2zz6lu_ZsVvhZwI6bKQgkZjice9eCTACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_102919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1600" height="498" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RLVomHnvq5s/Xac6_XtlbAI/AAAAAAAAMgI/2k2zz6lu_ZsVvhZwI6bKQgkZjice9eCTACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_102919.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Zombie mail art swap, back and front:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ZhKLGALWHU/Xac6_bfTBaI/AAAAAAAAMgI/GCKDvMB2kFUV-Z7C0rM2tAir074IH5xkgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_102810.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1384" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--ZhKLGALWHU/Xac6_bfTBaI/AAAAAAAAMgI/GCKDvMB2kFUV-Z7C0rM2tAir074IH5xkgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_102810.jpg" width="552" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_xTg2Ld5jIk/Xac6_Qzq08I/AAAAAAAAMgI/V9Rz_wpr1s0pFJuPScCSGh7NcR4p6w3aACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191009_182434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="1600" height="462" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_xTg2Ld5jIk/Xac6_Qzq08I/AAAAAAAAMgI/V9Rz_wpr1s0pFJuPScCSGh7NcR4p6w3aACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191009_182434.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3cdX4rMqMfw/Xac6_V4D3SI/AAAAAAAAMgI/s4LtNaqtGtYqzkpFw7TwLw8k8HJm49OcACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191009_080656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1141" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3cdX4rMqMfw/Xac6_V4D3SI/AAAAAAAAMgI/s4LtNaqtGtYqzkpFw7TwLw8k8HJm49OcACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191009_080656.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4KKI-ux1rR8/Xac6_dZ4ZhI/AAAAAAAAMgI/vI8wsCGOE_8SWELRZK0vxUUTwVc6_9K5ACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_102616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1098" data-original-width="1600" height="438" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4KKI-ux1rR8/Xac6_dZ4ZhI/AAAAAAAAMgI/vI8wsCGOE_8SWELRZK0vxUUTwVc6_9K5ACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_102616.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HQMUzrpqLeo/Xac6_ZiDJpI/AAAAAAAAMgI/wLfjhlDnUegzs8Ajk1DPT6hwkWO4_B4NQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191016_102525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="1600" height="462" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HQMUzrpqLeo/Xac6_ZiDJpI/AAAAAAAAMgI/wLfjhlDnUegzs8Ajk1DPT6hwkWO4_B4NQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191016_102525.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-22244467261292459732019-10-09T13:16:00.000-05:002019-10-09T13:16:58.498-05:00Halloween mail galore!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Outgoing Halloween mail:</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4sqlNEl_5dQ/XZ3uU35HAII/AAAAAAAAMWg/WfNBgyzkS3Ar4JbcGpvUMtOWxQ46GKcUwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191009_072407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1195" data-original-width="1600" height="476" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4sqlNEl_5dQ/XZ3uU35HAII/AAAAAAAAMWg/WfNBgyzkS3Ar4JbcGpvUMtOWxQ46GKcUwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191009_072407.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Made from a book jacket given away by a library:</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mhIGxbjLJPs/XZ3uUybkC7I/AAAAAAAAMWg/TyFGNNzb0d4IeCZ4rrb_aRbpgautHzPlwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191009_072451.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="1600" height="422" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mhIGxbjLJPs/XZ3uUybkC7I/AAAAAAAAMWg/TyFGNNzb0d4IeCZ4rrb_aRbpgautHzPlwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191009_072451.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I wrote a quote from Macbeth that's hard to read in the photo: "Eye of newt and toe of frog... wool of bat and tongue of dog... for a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble!"</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fotUpn7ARYE/XZ3uU990HRI/AAAAAAAAMWg/LBEdEanNqS89hGfVAVhJNEJmHourG25RQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191009_072558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fotUpn7ARYE/XZ3uU990HRI/AAAAAAAAMWg/LBEdEanNqS89hGfVAVhJNEJmHourG25RQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191009_072558.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A homemade card, a piece from a medical dictionary, and a printed out movie poster. </span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B0YLVRRiCBU/XZ3uUyIMRpI/AAAAAAAAMWg/gTJ2yaMCISYoCA-gNiGRGgipE4QjeJF6ACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191005_103720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B0YLVRRiCBU/XZ3uUyIMRpI/AAAAAAAAMWg/gTJ2yaMCISYoCA-gNiGRGgipE4QjeJF6ACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191005_103720.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For a werewolf swap- I was happy with the werewolf and moon I drew and matched it with another old movie poster.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UIophM4yHus/XZ3uaoByd3I/AAAAAAAAMWk/r70qLzt-xTQBwZUHGO1SxqFjQ_TuiwIVwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191004_072935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UIophM4yHus/XZ3uaoByd3I/AAAAAAAAMWk/r70qLzt-xTQBwZUHGO1SxqFjQ_TuiwIVwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191004_072935.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dancing monsters go into the post box!</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sTQ8riAAZuw/XZ3uaoTuG2I/AAAAAAAAMWk/50-nKGIUgb8x2o14BojrvAjOYLZGUMP_wCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20191009_072725.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sTQ8riAAZuw/XZ3uaoTuG2I/AAAAAAAAMWk/50-nKGIUgb8x2o14BojrvAjOYLZGUMP_wCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20191009_072725.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think this is the creepiest Halloween mail I've made yet this year!</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lBqbr3NfMf4/XZ3ufK8Og8I/AAAAAAAAMWo/gJ-i2tdtPHMUKHblTdJOatPWN97tSTmBgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190930_145910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lBqbr3NfMf4/XZ3ufK8Og8I/AAAAAAAAMWo/gJ-i2tdtPHMUKHblTdJOatPWN97tSTmBgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190930_145910.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div>
<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-64939001577174795322019-10-03T10:18:00.000-05:002019-10-03T10:18:05.174-05:00WRP 9: Sweden<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">World Reading Project, Book #9</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sweden</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson</span>, 2005</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DJCUZP02DWo/XYD9OjczrCI/AAAAAAAAMD0/cBgMYgT_86EWwQ1GMUEEwHmDzTKc6SIJgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/2429135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: calibri; font-size: 17.6px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="302" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DJCUZP02DWo/XYD9OjczrCI/AAAAAAAAMD0/cBgMYgT_86EWwQ1GMUEEwHmDzTKc6SIJgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/2429135.jpg" width="214" /></a><style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style><span data-sheets-userformat="{"2":12993,"3":{"1":0},"9":0,"10":1,"12":0,"15":"georgia","16":10}" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"This was certainly gripping after I got to a certain point in the story and I understand why it got so popular, although it's crazy that the first half(?!) of the story is really kind of boring. I thought there were some problems with it besides too much financial crap at the beginning... what's up with the stupid descriptions of exactly what kind of computers everybody has. Also the repeated descriptions of Lisbeth's clothes and tattoos seems very \"ooh look how weird she is\" in a stupid old man sort of way. Also it seems like the author is living vicariously through his protagonist financial journalist (the job the author had) who everyone wants to have sex with. ANYWAY. But once it got rolling, it really was very enthralling. All the rape was sickening."}"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This was the first of the books I've chosen because they made a big splash in the US. I think in the future I will avoid this strategy as they have not been my favorites. Honestly I was surprised that this became such a crazy seller because the first half (?!) of the story is really boring. Way too much financial crap at the beginning. Also, what's up with the stupid descriptions of exactly what kind of computers everybody has? It feels very dated, but I bet I would have hated that even if I'd read it when it first came out. Another thing that feels dated are the repeated description of Lisbeth's clothes and tattoos; it seems very "ooh, look how weird she is" in a stupid old man sort of way. But once the story got rolling it was very enthralling and hard to put down. The sexual assault and violence was sickening. That's about all I have to say.</span></span></div>
Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-24108400697823714062019-09-29T09:37:00.000-05:002019-09-29T09:37:04.323-05:00Incoming Mail<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Incoming mail! I believe these are all the letters I haven't responded to yet.<br />Every one is a delight to receive in my mailbox!</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MSufo4Nxxr4/XYt7FHkpNPI/AAAAAAAAML0/Z42gey4qNfAo8VyFi9u-DMWDut3HD1P8wCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190925_093021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MSufo4Nxxr4/XYt7FHkpNPI/AAAAAAAAML0/Z42gey4qNfAo8VyFi9u-DMWDut3HD1P8wCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190925_093021.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_MfTqtUFnjU/XYt7FOOte4I/AAAAAAAAML0/lYQ1XPQpoaQ91DU5LBcfTEqJ7InQkZHcwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190925_074254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1156" data-original-width="1600" height="462" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_MfTqtUFnjU/XYt7FOOte4I/AAAAAAAAML0/lYQ1XPQpoaQ91DU5LBcfTEqJ7InQkZHcwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190925_074254.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-9822020248932390232019-09-26T10:16:00.000-05:002019-09-26T10:16:01.084-05:00WRP 8: Croatia<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">World Reading Project, Book #8</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Croatia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 17.6px;">Adios, Cowboy, by </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "pacifico" , "arial";">Olja Savičević</span>, 2016</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-stuL2Jv0ZSQ/XWlpwrtmVJI/AAAAAAAALzM/9eXAtCe2-y8WhaqWtA0Y809WpP2GEALJQCLcBGAs/s1600/25777995._SX318_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-stuL2Jv0ZSQ/XWlpwrtmVJI/AAAAAAAALzM/9eXAtCe2-y8WhaqWtA0Y809WpP2GEALJQCLcBGAs/s320/25777995._SX318_.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This book was not exactly my cup of tea because of the style. The author is also a poet and the writing has the greater need for interpretation that I associate with poetry. The first part of the book is told from the perspective of Dada, the main character, and it's a bit all over the place. I couldn't tell if certain sections were in the present or if they were flashbacks. And the dialogue was not always clear. But it was engaging enough to continue. The content of this book was also rather dark.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dada has come home to Split to help take care of her mom and also to investigate her brother's suicide. He had gotten involved with some unsavory characters and she's sort of trying to figure out if he had become violent/bad like them. The title, Adios Cowboy, comes from the fact that a lot of westerns were shot in Croatia. Dada's brother adored westerns and at the end of the book there's a surreal scene on the set of a new movie being filmed. There's also an Iroquois family that lives in town, I'm assuming who immigrated there to work in the movies. Before I understood that it was rather confusing. Dada talks about playing "cowboys and indians" as a child and it was hard to tell if the Iroquois family was actually Iroquois or if it was part of the make believe. The reviews on the back of the book said that this was a funny book, and I don't really agree. But it was interesting.<br /><br />I guess I said the writing wasn't really my cup of tea, but I did love these two quotes: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span id="docs-internal-guid-26c92816-7fff-a64b-9985-d67c75eb32e9"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"There’s a storm out at sea and perhaps all the houses and trees in the town will be destroyed, perhaps a real catastrophe will occur, something important and elemental, that will spin me round like a forceful slap, but not even that would shake me out of my inability to turn something round in myself, to make a quite small movement, like breathing, without collapsing."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"She listens to the underground shifting beneath the surface of the soil- down there nothing has changed. Under the earth there is abundant life and death: tubers and bulbs turn into humus and a mole scratches its crisp crust, ants grind grains of red soil into friable granules, and in the deeper layers fat white worms munch the hearts of the dead, an underground stream bursts its way through the clay; in the dense saturated darkness silver and gold veins explode, minerals crackle, mandrake roots scream, while dead occupiers rearrange their bones. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Everything that falls onto the earth becomes nourishment, which someone on the underside of the pavement reheats, melts, and sucks up through little straws. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you don’t believe this, ask yourself where all those fruits and large or small animal corpses, which no one collects or buries, disappear. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">And if you still don’t believe it- leave a dead dog in a field and in sixty days you will find only a dry tail. That’s why Maria listens and never lies on the earth for long."</span></div>
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<style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style>Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-77694179883190069592019-09-24T14:12:00.000-05:002019-09-24T14:12:21.653-05:00Outgoing MailSome more outgoing mail:<br />
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Collage postcard for swapbot<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jcbFt-iYPK0/XYppwPOMBXI/AAAAAAAAMJE/D7FXg4yRZRUBuoQUQGGe2rYnEvrzW2iBwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190924_140734.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jcbFt-iYPK0/XYppwPOMBXI/AAAAAAAAMJE/D7FXg4yRZRUBuoQUQGGe2rYnEvrzW2iBwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190924_140734.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-10iO8EVgNBs/XYppwL4rK1I/AAAAAAAAMJE/ps1VTiZmz4wMe7rsT8kHWB4oCsa99aU5QCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190921_144556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1165" data-original-width="1600" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-10iO8EVgNBs/XYppwL4rK1I/AAAAAAAAMJE/ps1VTiZmz4wMe7rsT8kHWB4oCsa99aU5QCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190921_144556.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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mail art envelope with flat surprise for swap bot</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WNzy7PIWaGo/XYppyMArfvI/AAAAAAAAMJI/zX_ScUsmLscOpG7S7xNVKo51V1r7bGWGgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190924_140705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="1600" height="278" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WNzy7PIWaGo/XYppyMArfvI/AAAAAAAAMJI/zX_ScUsmLscOpG7S7xNVKo51V1r7bGWGgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190924_140705.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDExI0La-FM/XYpp3P6vGgI/AAAAAAAAMJM/eanS_Mzbi5ggDKxeh-YYaNo9iZe6VEOEgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190920_093604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1027" data-original-width="1600" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eDExI0La-FM/XYpp3P6vGgI/AAAAAAAAMJM/eanS_Mzbi5ggDKxeh-YYaNo9iZe6VEOEgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190920_093604.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Handmade postcard for swapbot swap<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MtlRiwXWkkg/XYpp3KeNFeI/AAAAAAAAMJM/fhaHgOJtUTAsTZm-Oiw3A8zgLzyqKLrcACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190920_093324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1600" height="418" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MtlRiwXWkkg/XYpp3KeNFeI/AAAAAAAAMJM/fhaHgOJtUTAsTZm-Oiw3A8zgLzyqKLrcACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190920_093324.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LgXsjmbwyT8/XYpp3LYFNKI/AAAAAAAAMJM/31GGxXHdJs4O9gGrIhKhIh344qz-rCPSQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190920_080436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1043" data-original-width="1600" height="416" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LgXsjmbwyT8/XYpp3LYFNKI/AAAAAAAAMJM/31GGxXHdJs4O9gGrIhKhIh344qz-rCPSQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190920_080436.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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So excited for this whole series of movie monsters!!! The first swap is for Bride of Frankenstein mailart! I think the Bride I drew looks very Marie Antoinette-ish.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2dGZsftorlw/XYpp44pr6-I/AAAAAAAAMJQ/3a6zhgUbRE4WC_cgjG5y5F7633Ht_eAtQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190920_080421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1057" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2dGZsftorlw/XYpp44pr6-I/AAAAAAAAMJQ/3a6zhgUbRE4WC_cgjG5y5F7633Ht_eAtQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190920_080421.jpg" width="422" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lk5FeGaT-7I/XYpp6Tt-wiI/AAAAAAAAMJU/7xvwES_RJ9AFDFdb5HN6XhpqORZcc5xxwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190920_093201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="1600" height="394" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lk5FeGaT-7I/XYpp6Tt-wiI/AAAAAAAAMJU/7xvwES_RJ9AFDFdb5HN6XhpqORZcc5xxwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190920_093201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-6931959190162704332019-09-19T10:13:00.000-05:002019-09-19T10:13:04.061-05:00WRP 7: Russia<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">World Reading Project, Book #7</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Russia</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy</span>, 1878</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5JZJsT8Trt4/XWlBYRgmuHI/AAAAAAAALzA/NWsqdt58X6sHaKsx2wwcoL6cRgZXUQ5cgCLcBGAs/s1600/155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5JZJsT8Trt4/XWlBYRgmuHI/AAAAAAAALzA/NWsqdt58X6sHaKsx2wwcoL6cRgZXUQ5cgCLcBGAs/s320/155.jpg" width="207" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">UGH. This is the second time I've read Anna Karenina. The first time I was maybe 17 or 18? And I think I remember really loving it. I've liked Russian literature for a long time, probably inspired by my dad, whose favorite book is The Brothers Karamazov. And I reread it fully expecting to love it again. WRONG. I hated every male character, and probably hated Levin the most, and I'm pretty sure he's supposed to be the sympathetic one? In my personal notes of books I read I started with "REMIND ME NEVER TO READ THIS AGAIN!!!".</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">
Okay, so the things I hate about Levin were specifically how his love is so special and so above what everyone else feels. And it's such a misogynistic attitude because he places such little importance on women's work and the preparations that need to happen for home life.
</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><i>"Just as Levin had disliked all the trivial preparations for his wedding, as derogatory to the grandeur of the event, now he felt still more offensive the preparations for the approaching birth, the date of which they reckoned, it seemed, on their fingers. He tried to turn a deaf ear to these discussions of the best patterns of long clothes for the coming baby; tried to turn away and avoid seeing the mysterious, endless strips of knitting, the triangles of linen, and so on, to which Dolly attached special importance. The birth of a son (he was certain it would be a son) which was promised him, but which he still could not believe in—so marvelous it seemed—presented itself to his mind, on one hand, as a happiness so immense, and therefore so incredible; on the other, as an event so mysterious, that this assumption of a definite knowledge of what would be, and consequent preparation for it, as for something ordinary that did happen to people, jarred on him as confusing and humiliating." </i></span></div>
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<span data-sheets-userformat="{"2":12993,"3":{"1":0},"9":0,"10":1,"12":0,"15":"georgia","16":10}" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"REMIND ME NEVER TO READ THIS AGAIN!!! The horse race encapsulates Vronsky's relationship with Anna. He supposedly loves the horse and Anna, is full of passion and pride in them. And yet when they are ruined because of him... he kicks the horse in the belly and pulls on its reins, trying to get it up, and is angry that he's lost the race. He's so horrible. And Alexey Karenin, once in a while seems as if he's innocent, sometimes it seems that he really loved Anna. But then all he wants to do is punish her, and he bolsters his decisions with fake reasoning, that it's moral of him to keep her with him and try to reform her, even though what he really wants is retaliation. All of them are so awful. 72% through this book and so done with it. I think I hate Levin the most of all of them. \"Just as Levin had disliked all the trivial preparations for his wedding, as derogatory to the grandeur of the event, now he felt still more offensive the preparations for the approaching birth, the date of which they reckoned, it seemed, on their fingers. He tried to turn a deaf ear to these discussions of the best patterns of long clothes for the coming baby; tried to turn away and avoid seeing the mysterious, endless strips of knitting, the triangles of linen, and so on, to which Dolly attached special importance. The birth of a son (he was certain it would be a son) which was promised him, but which he still could not believe in—so marvelous it seemed—presented itself to his mind, on one hand, as a happiness so immense, and therefore so incredible; on the other, as an event so mysterious, that this assumption of a definite knowledge of what would be, and consequent preparation for it, as for something ordinary that did happen to people, jarred on him as confusing and humiliating.\" UGH, I feel like this is the most misogynistic attitude ever. Ok. Now I've finished the novel, slogging through the last 100 pages. The end of Anna's part certainly gains feverish steam until her death, and then back to the hated Levin, having a religious enlightenment. I stand by never reading this again."}"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span data-sheets-userformat="{"2":12993,"3":{"1":0},"9":0,"10":1,"12":0,"15":"georgia","16":10}" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"REMIND ME NEVER TO READ THIS AGAIN!!! The horse race encapsulates Vronsky's relationship with Anna. He supposedly loves the horse and Anna, is full of passion and pride in them. And yet when they are ruined because of him... he kicks the horse in the belly and pulls on its reins, trying to get it up, and is angry that he's lost the race. He's so horrible. And Alexey Karenin, once in a while seems as if he's innocent, sometimes it seems that he really loved Anna. But then all he wants to do is punish her, and he bolsters his decisions with fake reasoning, that it's moral of him to keep her with him and try to reform her, even though what he really wants is retaliation. All of them are so awful. 72% through this book and so done with it. I think I hate Levin the most of all of them. \"Just as Levin had disliked all the trivial preparations for his wedding, as derogatory to the grandeur of the event, now he felt still more offensive the preparations for the approaching birth, the date of which they reckoned, it seemed, on their fingers. He tried to turn a deaf ear to these discussions of the best patterns of long clothes for the coming baby; tried to turn away and avoid seeing the mysterious, endless strips of knitting, the triangles of linen, and so on, to which Dolly attached special importance. The birth of a son (he was certain it would be a son) which was promised him, but which he still could not believe in—so marvelous it seemed—presented itself to his mind, on one hand, as a happiness so immense, and therefore so incredible; on the other, as an event so mysterious, that this assumption of a definite knowledge of what would be, and consequent preparation for it, as for something ordinary that did happen to people, jarred on him as confusing and humiliating.\" UGH, I feel like this is the most misogynistic attitude ever. Ok. Now I've finished the novel, slogging through the last 100 pages. The end of Anna's part certainly gains feverish steam until her death, and then back to the hated Levin, having a religious enlightenment. I stand by never reading this again."}"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And how dare someone allude to his love: </span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span data-sheets-userformat="{"2":12993,"3":{"1":0},"9":0,"10":1,"12":0,"15":"georgia","16":10}" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"REMIND ME NEVER TO READ THIS AGAIN!!! The horse race encapsulates Vronsky's relationship with Anna. He supposedly loves the horse and Anna, is full of passion and pride in them. And yet when they are ruined because of him... he kicks the horse in the belly and pulls on its reins, trying to get it up, and is angry that he's lost the race. He's so horrible. And Alexey Karenin, once in a while seems as if he's innocent, sometimes it seems that he really loved Anna. But then all he wants to do is punish her, and he bolsters his decisions with fake reasoning, that it's moral of him to keep her with him and try to reform her, even though what he really wants is retaliation. All of them are so awful. 72% through this book and so done with it. I think I hate Levin the most of all of them. \"Just as Levin had disliked all the trivial preparations for his wedding, as derogatory to the grandeur of the event, now he felt still more offensive the preparations for the approaching birth, the date of which they reckoned, it seemed, on their fingers. He tried to turn a deaf ear to these discussions of the best patterns of long clothes for the coming baby; tried to turn away and avoid seeing the mysterious, endless strips of knitting, the triangles of linen, and so on, to which Dolly attached special importance. The birth of a son (he was certain it would be a son) which was promised him, but which he still could not believe in—so marvelous it seemed—presented itself to his mind, on one hand, as a happiness so immense, and therefore so incredible; on the other, as an event so mysterious, that this assumption of a definite knowledge of what would be, and consequent preparation for it, as for something ordinary that did happen to people, jarred on him as confusing and humiliating.\" UGH, I feel like this is the most misogynistic attitude ever. Ok. Now I've finished the novel, slogging through the last 100 pages. The end of Anna's part certainly gains feverish steam until her death, and then back to the hated Levin, having a religious enlightenment. I stand by never reading this again."}">"</span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;">Darya Alexandrovna too, as she said good-bye to him, gave him a sort of congratulation, saying, “How glad I am you have met Kitty again! One must value old friends.” Levin did not like these words of Darya Alexandrovna’s. She could not understand how lofty and beyond her it all was, and she ought not to have dared to allude to it."</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I also read a bit about Tolstoy's life while I was reading Anna Karenina, and boy that did not help at all. He was a horrible jerk to his wife, and a lot of the things I hate about Levin seem to be Tolstoy's own thoughts and attitudes. When I read, my emotions can really determine how I feel about a book, and increasingly if I learn things about an author that disgust me, it's hard for me to enjoy reading their work. It's not really a conscious decision and I'm surrounded by academics who decidedly do </span></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">not</i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> read books this way, and can make me feel self-conscious about how I read books. But then frequently they're not really reading for pleasure anyway.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">I kept reading because even though I grew to really really detest the characters, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tolstoy's writing about inner life just amazes me. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I think he's a master at writing the shifting nature of human emotions and thoughts, and especially of making plans and resolutions that are then forgotten, or waste away.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">"<span id="docs-internal-guid-9e4e5bce-7fff-c1e3-26cf-072b958890a7"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He felt himself, and did not want to be anyone else. All he wanted now was to be better than before. In the first place he resolved that from that day he would give up hoping for any extraordinary happiness, such as marriage must have given him, and consequently he would not so disdain what he really had. ...And all this seemed to him so easy a conquest over himself that he spent the whole drive in the pleasantest daydreams. With a resolute feeling of hope in a new, better life, he reached home before nine o’clock at night."</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this made me laugh:<i> "</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>There happened to him at that instant what does happen to people when they are unexpectedly caught in something very disgraceful. He did not succeed in adapting his face to the position in which he was placed towards his wife by the discovery of his fault. Instead of being hurt, denying, defending himself, begging forgiveness, instead of remaining indifferent even—anything would have been better than what he did do—his face utterly involuntarily (reflex spinal action, reflected Stepan Arkadyevitch, who was fond of physiology)—utterly involuntarily assumed its habitual, good-humored, and therefore idiotic smile."</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">In relation to my mail hobby, I'll leave you with some lovely quotes about writing letters:</span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-791ecad5-7fff-c5cc-4167-a83a6fe142b0"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Countess Lidia Ivanovna usually wrote some two or three letters a day to Alexey Alexandrovitch. She enjoyed that form of communication, which gave opportunity for a refinement and air of mystery not afforded by their personal interviews."</span></i></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-4fb5866b-7fff-0f65-9208-62a925ab2067"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Folding the letter and smoothing it with a massive ivory knife, and putting it in an envelope with the money, he rang the bell with the gratification it always afforded him to use the well arranged appointments of his writing-table."</span></i></span></span></div>
Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-76745577362221890412019-09-17T10:32:00.001-05:002019-09-17T10:32:40.868-05:00Outgoing MailI've been joining lots of Swap-bot swaps lately. This one was for a mail art envelope and flat surprise inside:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZVZLNMHroE8/XYD3wiQkfZI/AAAAAAAAMCs/Z6PBeLBF27QWm8nUd74G9n7hErYQDsmJwCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190917_101118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="1600" height="396" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZVZLNMHroE8/XYD3wiQkfZI/AAAAAAAAMCs/Z6PBeLBF27QWm8nUd74G9n7hErYQDsmJwCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190917_101118.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've been sending out more postcards recently. Mostly to family and friends as a little hello/thinking of you message.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVnwrwY7Tlg/XYD3wsMo2AI/AAAAAAAAMCs/UyFeiZ2w3GgK8y5BlMpbRV8CKMQ2ZeQ_wCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190917_100808.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QVnwrwY7Tlg/XYD3wsMo2AI/AAAAAAAAMCs/UyFeiZ2w3GgK8y5BlMpbRV8CKMQ2ZeQ_wCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190917_100808.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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I think this is to a penpal I found from sendsomething.net, another great place to find people who send mail!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Re6oa5Fr3RM/XYD3wlFD3nI/AAAAAAAAMCs/SON0N9fZiFA2Iqw-NkFUqgEGH9aaxvCPQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190917_100701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1142" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Re6oa5Fr3RM/XYD3wlFD3nI/AAAAAAAAMCs/SON0N9fZiFA2Iqw-NkFUqgEGH9aaxvCPQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190917_100701.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I was really feeling the fall vibe. There's practically nothing I love more than woodland animals wearing clothes and being ridiculously cute. Look at that awesome sweater vest! This illustration is from a children's reading textbook.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7oO5OvKdJ28/XYD3wl-G3mI/AAAAAAAAMCs/ziZWbOu9g_o9pRKqw1k_b89Rs3OGnaTOQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190905_155311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1600" height="430" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7oO5OvKdJ28/XYD3wl-G3mI/AAAAAAAAMCs/ziZWbOu9g_o9pRKqw1k_b89Rs3OGnaTOQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190905_155311.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Top envelope illustration from the same children's reading textbook, and bottom is from a water damaged book about Star Wars memorabilia.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YupgSTSZ9Q4/XYD3wiatUZI/AAAAAAAAMCs/XJDca8RWH7gahO7lUU_Qq-119HzsEw19gCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190905_101035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1201" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YupgSTSZ9Q4/XYD3wiatUZI/AAAAAAAAMCs/XJDca8RWH7gahO7lUU_Qq-119HzsEw19gCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190905_101035.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Also made some more Halloween mail! If there's anything I love more than cute animals in clothes, it's spooky weird Halloween shit and the great color scheme of black, orange, purple, lime green, dark blue.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qyO8FXki__M/XYD4ed44jlI/AAAAAAAAMDI/X-tL-bhdbfE7rw0KENWHMc29x4yS-lthgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190917_101021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qyO8FXki__M/XYD4ed44jlI/AAAAAAAAMDI/X-tL-bhdbfE7rw0KENWHMc29x4yS-lthgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190917_101021.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rcg5IS8_10Q/XYD4eTXhiTI/AAAAAAAAMDI/tZGFq4saMHciHKamvDEEkhz_pQblBRy_ACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190917_100925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rcg5IS8_10Q/XYD4eTXhiTI/AAAAAAAAMDI/tZGFq4saMHciHKamvDEEkhz_pQblBRy_ACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190917_100925.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Making use of some pages from a medical dictionary...</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k1K3wVlqz2o/XYD4hXsVUoI/AAAAAAAAMDM/IVf-WUWKR0sBlV_9n6IpPeevjyKzNTSSQCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190914_112354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1286" data-original-width="1600" height="514" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k1K3wVlqz2o/XYD4hXsVUoI/AAAAAAAAMDM/IVf-WUWKR0sBlV_9n6IpPeevjyKzNTSSQCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190914_112354.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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and again here:</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5rt427ag74k/XYD4maNzr7I/AAAAAAAAMDQ/iOaqH_aFRQE4gUWTsWhfc2-ceWnKK6flgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190914_112122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5rt427ag74k/XYD4maNzr7I/AAAAAAAAMDQ/iOaqH_aFRQE4gUWTsWhfc2-ceWnKK6flgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190914_112122.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Pink Halloween :)</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgoYXMThOeA/XYD4mU5iMdI/AAAAAAAAMDQ/-VehkPXJwsU9_WSf51mVfqG8dJaP_q06ACKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190905_155614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1156" data-original-width="1600" height="462" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MgoYXMThOeA/XYD4mU5iMdI/AAAAAAAAMDQ/-VehkPXJwsU9_WSf51mVfqG8dJaP_q06ACKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190905_155614.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I've been meaning to take more photos of my incoming mail to share here as well, since that's definitely half the fun of penpal-ing! I succeeded in taking ONE photo of an incoming letter. Lol. I'll do better.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--256cJy9R7k/XYD4tXCIqrI/AAAAAAAAMDY/FAeUc_SCqnMLTNpdYEsuz2UklCwtYeoLgCKgBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_20190905_155149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="1600" height="470" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--256cJy9R7k/XYD4tXCIqrI/AAAAAAAAMDY/FAeUc_SCqnMLTNpdYEsuz2UklCwtYeoLgCKgBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_20190905_155149.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-91229597482177742472019-09-12T10:04:00.000-05:002019-09-17T11:12:42.263-05:00WRP 6: Canada<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">World Reading Project, Book #6</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Canada</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Split Tooth, by Tanya Tagaq</span>, 2018</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ek2U0MZQpKc/XWf7Q034fhI/AAAAAAAALxI/DOQCC8-bOy8zIwkRQxL1r7gZZCXmckKJACLcBGAs/s1600/40044460._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: calibri; font-size: 17.6px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ek2U0MZQpKc/XWf7Q034fhI/AAAAAAAALxI/DOQCC8-bOy8zIwkRQxL1r7gZZCXmckKJACLcBGAs/s320/40044460._SY475_.jpg" width="212" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tanya Tagaq is an Inuk throat singer and author from Nunavut in Canada. This book has really stuck with me and I think about it frequently several months after reading it. I think she's an incredible writer. I've added several quotes at the end of this post because I can't pick a favorite. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />Split Tooth</i> was another hard book to read because of the subject matter: sexual abuse & trauma. It was very empowering though. It's a mix of prose and poetry, and one phrase I keep thinking about from one of the poems was <span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I do not forgive and forget / </span><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I Protect and Prevent</span>." There's some really crazy stuff happening which I read as an alternative to acknowledging the horror of what she's gone through. The Northern Lights impregnate the main character, and when she gives birth... damn, what a vision! One of the strangest scenes I've ever read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Lichen smells sweet. The green lichen smells different from black. In the spring you smell last fall’s death and this year’s growth, as the elder lichen shows the young how to grow.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The freeze traps life and stops time. The thaw releases it. We can smell the footprints of last fall and the new decomposition of all who perished in the grips of winter. Global warming will release the deeper smells and coax stories out of the permafrost. Who knows what memories lie deep in the ice? Who knows what curses? Earth’s whispers released back into the atmosphere can only wreak havoc."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The simple truth is we are simply an expression of the energy of the sun. We are the glorious manifestation of the power of the universe. We are the fingertips of the force that drives the stars, so do your job and FEEL."</span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-c8ad85e2-7fff-0a06-8825-a79c48225f46"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"I realize that birds see in a completely different way than we humans do. We are slow and lumbering, our language is deep and muddy. Our confinement to the ground elicits pity. They look at us as we look upon the trees, slow but full of longevity. The trees look at the rocks that way. Rocks look at the mountains that way. Mountains look at the water that way. Earth looks at the sun that way. Everyone has an elder."</span></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-f6301d5b-7fff-25b5-a29e-ebe7c3394aef"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"A strange feeling washes over me, something predatory. I have caught the scent of fear. I can smell fear and it excites me. Bloodlust but more like Spiritlust. The fear talks to my teeth and wants them to grow large and pointed. The fear talks to my spine and tells it to be near to the earth, because you can hide your belly that way. The fear talks to my eyes and tells them to see food in the veins of necks."</span></span></span></div>
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Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-31302120438172218962019-09-10T16:14:00.000-05:002019-09-10T16:14:02.154-05:00Missouri Mule DaysI was in Missouri for Labor Day weekend for a bridal shower, and while I was there I found out that Missouri Mule Days was happening!! My family had mules when I was growing up, and I've been to a mule show in Maryland several times, so I was really excited to go to this one. Unfortunately I missed my favorite event, which is the jumping. Mules jump from basically a stand-still, unlike horses who get a running start. And mules aren't ridden during their jumping competitions, they are led up to the jump. I highly recommend watching some videos on youtube! Here's a fun one: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6O6u8P3QA0&t=29s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6O6u8P3QA0&t=29s</a><br />
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A sweet looking mule getting some attention:<br />
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The events I got to see were the youth showmanship classes, where the mules are led around doing different things, walk, trot, turns, back up, etc. The kids have pretty awesome blinged-out outfits as you can see below.<br />
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I also saw some of the driving events. This mule below is the same one as in the second photo above, and I thought it was so pretty. Its name was "Fifty Shades of Foxy" and they won one of the driving classes.<br />
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It was a real treat to get to see a bunch of mules again.Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-46139072580920645752019-09-05T10:04:00.000-05:002019-09-17T11:12:51.276-05:00WRP 5: Barbados<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">World Reading Project, Book #5</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Redemption in Indigo, by Karen Lord</span>, 2010</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QeWwuBGBtdQ/XWaYMnG0wXI/AAAAAAAALv8/5yo1fqb22eA1SMC34KtHbJSst_x_XVQigCLcBGAs/s1600/7005878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="305" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QeWwuBGBtdQ/XWaYMnG0wXI/AAAAAAAALv8/5yo1fqb22eA1SMC34KtHbJSst_x_XVQigCLcBGAs/s320/7005878.jpg" width="205" /></a>The story is about Paama, an amazing cook who marries a man so gluttonous he's stealing and disgracing himself. The djombi have been observing Paama, and impressed with her, they give her the Chaos Stick, which has the power to manipulate probabilities, making unlikely things happen.</div>
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Oh my God, I loved this book. It's been one of my favorite books of the year. I loved the spider trickster character, who was both creeeepy and funny. This book kept surprising me in the directions that it took. There's a lot of compassion in it and by the end of the book my opinions about the "villains" were transformed. I also enjoyed the story telling voice of the narrator, who frequently gives opinions or breaks into the story in other ways. I got this out from the library, but if I ever see it in a bookstore, I'll definitely purchase it.</div>
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This is one quote that made me laugh out loud: </div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-25ffa2da-7fff-6354-0fdc-d4d8d85a360f"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"I know your complaint already. You are saying, how do two grown men begin to see talking spiders after only three glasses of spice spirit? My answer to that is twofold. First, you have no idea how strong spice spirit is made in that region. Second, you have no idea how talking animals operate. Do you think they would have survived long if they regularly made themselves known? For that matter, do you think an arachnid with mouthparts is capable of articulating the phrase ‘I am a pawnbroker’ in any known human language? Think! These creatures do not truly talk, nor are they truly animals, but they do encounter human folk, and when they do, they carefully take with them all memory of the meeting."</span></span></span><br />
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Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-42160134940074709972019-09-03T10:18:00.000-05:002019-09-03T10:18:10.449-05:00Halloween mail already!Well, I've already started with the Halloween mail. There were several Halloween swaps on swapbot starting in late August and I couldn't resist! I've already seen a house in my town decorated for Halloween as well.<br />
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I love the Curious George sticker I put on this.<br />
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Homemade (but barely by me) Halloween cards. I actually received these awesome library card decorations last year in a swap so I decided to put them on cards for this swap. They are so pretty! I added the fuzzy bat, but that's all.<br />
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Homemade Halloween postcard, plus two bookish postcards for another swap:<br />
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I can't wait to buy the new Halloween stamps the USPS has coming out! I still love the jack-o-lanterns from last year, but I only have a few left.Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-20458529760887285052019-08-30T10:01:00.000-05:002019-09-17T11:13:00.424-05:00WRP 4: United States<div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 17.6px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">World Reading Project, Book #4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Color Purple, by Alice Walker</span> , 1982</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What a beautiful, beautiful book. I loved the spirituality of the book and connection to nature. Shug's explanation of God being everything and feeling that connection was so beautiful. Coming into this book I knew it was a classic of African American literature, but I'd never heard that it was a queer book. It reminded me of reading Proust, and all of a sudden it's gay! I guess I purposefully avoid learning a lot about books before I read them, but I still wonder how it is that that was filtered out of all mentions I'd heard. This book made me cry, and also feel so uplifted, hopeful, and grateful for my loved ones. There were so many beautiful quotes. I'm copying an extended quote below.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">"She say, My first step from the old white man was trees. Then air. Then birds. Then other people. But one day when I was sitting quiet and feeling like a motherless child, which I was, it come to me: that feeling of being part of everything, not separate </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">at all. I knew that if I cut a tree, my arm would bleed. And I laughed and I cried and I run all around the house. I knew just what it was. In fact, when it happen, you can't miss it. It sort of like you know what, she say, grinning and rubbing high up on my thigh.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Shug! I say.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Oh, she say. God love all them feelings. That's some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves 'em you enjoys 'em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that's going, and praise God by liking what you like.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">God don't think it dirty? I ast.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Naw, she say. God made it. Listen, God love everything you love- and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else, God love admiration.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">You saying God vain? I ast.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Naw, she say. Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">What it do when it pissed off? I ast.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Oh, it make something else. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back."</span><style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style></span><br />
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Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-89660578522278768602019-08-28T09:35:00.000-05:002019-08-28T09:35:49.865-05:00Outgoing Mail and Peach Ice CreamWe went to the orchard a couple weekends ago and got tons of apples and peaches. I adapted the strawberry ice cream recipe I had made earlier for peaches!<br />
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Roasting the peaches for a few minutes to get some of the liquid out:<br />
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Then they are pureed and added to the ice cream base. It didn't turn out super peachy, even though I added twice as much puree as I did for the strawberries. I had even more puree left over though and we ended up spooning it over the ice cream, which made it delightfully peachy.<br />
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Some recent outgoing mail:</div>
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I'm finally sending the postcard (lower left) that came with the <i>Griffin and Sabine</i> book!</div>
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I thought this cow from National Geographic was so cute. And an old French postcard going out to a French friend in West Virginia.<br />
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Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-66172680284987315292019-08-22T09:59:00.000-05:002019-09-17T11:13:29.210-05:00WRP 3: Equatorial GuineaWorld Reading Project, Book #3<br />
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Equatorial Guinea<br />
La Bastarda, by Trifonia Melibea Obono, 2018<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XoOh7YrCq7c/XUtFtIHxXlI/AAAAAAAALjc/cc2T6wFv14o8YLbMbCdVVf04TpFSioUmQCLcBGAs/s1600/37666740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="311" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XoOh7YrCq7c/XUtFtIHxXlI/AAAAAAAALjc/cc2T6wFv14o8YLbMbCdVVf04TpFSioUmQCLcBGAs/s320/37666740.jpg" width="209" /></a><style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></style><span data-sheets-userformat="{"2":12993,"3":{"1":0},"9":0,"10":1,"12":0,"15":"georgia","16":10}" data-sheets-value="{"1":2,"2":"The afterword to this book was really good. The book was also great, but it's a bit spare, and the writing is very plain. I think I overlooked some of the themes and meaning because of that. It was really interesting to see this perspective from queer Equatorial Guinea. I'm glad that the girls forgave one another at the end. Jealousy can separate those that need solidarity. I also loved the return to the forest. This wasn't noted in the afterword, but I noticed myself that whenever she travels through the forest she notes that the animals are watching her, but it doesn't feel threatening. As someone drawn to the woods and nature I loved this aspect of the story."}"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the first book by a woman from Equatorial Guinea to be published in English. I thought it was great. The writing feels very spare, or plain, and I think that at first I overlooked some of the themes and meaning because of that. The afterword to this book was really good and helped me think about it more deeply. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The book is about a young girl whose mother died in childbirth and whose father has not formally recognized her as his daughter. Therefore she is considered a bastard. She lives with her grandparents but is trying to find her father. She makes friends with the outcasts in her village, her gay uncle and a group of lesbian girls. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It was really interesting to see this perspective from queer Equatorial Guinea. In the end she finds solidarity with this group. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I loved role of the forest in the story. In a lot of books the forest is a scary place, where danger lurks, but in this book the forest is their haven. Whenever she travels through the forest she notes that the animals are watching her, but it doesn't feel threatening. As someone drawn to the woods and nature I loved this aspect of the story.</span>Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-89491736678178184452019-08-20T09:37:00.001-05:002019-08-20T09:37:42.372-05:00August lifeI went to see Lucinda Williams!! She is doing a 25 year anniversary tour for her album <i>Car Wheels on a Gravel Road</i>. It was so so good. She played the whole album through, and then played a set of other songs. In between songs she talked about writing them or about the people that they were about. It was really cool to hear all that. I learned that one of my favorite songs, "2 Kool 2 Be 4-gotten" was inspired by a photograph of some graffiti, and now the spelling of the title makes a lot more sense. haha<br />
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I've been sending a significant amount of mail recently. Having fun matching stamps with airmail envelopes.<br />
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I ran down my stationery supply to my last 5 notecards! And the last ones were my cutest ones, Mary Engelbreit, and bunnies gardening, dressed up in cute outfits. These are the types of cards that I hang onto longest because I'm such a sucker for them that I don't want to let them go. <br />
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Of course, I couldn't stand not having a bunch of notecards for long. I used some of my storecredit at our used bookstore to buy two packs of art notecards, Monet and someone I'd never heard of before and can't remember their name now. Woops. Turning books I don't want anymore into notecards is the best kind of magic.</div>
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Currently reading Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I'm all bundled up in this picture because I frequently disagree with someone about the thermostat in our house! ;)</div>
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My exciting news: I signed up for a watercolor class at the community center! I can't wait! It starts in September and I have to see if the supplies I already own match the list for the class.Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-28231943688071808422019-08-07T15:54:00.002-05:002019-08-07T15:56:38.446-05:00Summertime happenings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Petunias doing well on our patio. </div>
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Volunteer morning glories from last year! Being eaten up by something.</div>
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Hubble loves biting and herding this ball. He pushes it around with his nose.</div>
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This sign at the pool is like a bad pick up line.</div>
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Visited my family in Maryland for a memorial for my grandfather who passed away earlier this year. Spent time with my grandmother and looked through old photos. My grandmother looks so glamorous even in this simple outfit. She reminds me of Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, wearing that little black outfit.<br />
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I saw this on the wall in a crab house in Princess Anne-- the disappearance of Holland Island! Soooo creepy!<br />
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Went to Assateague with a couple friends and had just the best beach day ever. Not too hot, perfect easy waves, saw so many ponies. We walked on the beach, we swam, we waded, we sat in the shade of our umbrella and caught up. I showed them how to catch sand crabs. We saw piping plovers, brown pelicans and seagulls, seagulls, seagulls. I love this place so much.<br />
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We couldn't rinse off when we left the beach because they were drinking at the spigot!!<br />
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Here's a sketch my grandmother did many years ago for a poster for the Chincoteague Pony Penning.<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oW2mRBQjah8/XUs5xMkOBCI/AAAAAAAALjE/6VUa7ezx-YkWIGQf3YRrXRTfaGyaGGf1QCKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190806_102327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1252" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oW2mRBQjah8/XUs5xMkOBCI/AAAAAAAALjE/6VUa7ezx-YkWIGQf3YRrXRTfaGyaGGf1QCKgBGAs/s640/IMG_20190806_102327.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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But it's good to be home after time away, sleeping in my own bed, snuggling Hubble again, going back to work so I can bring in that moolah!</div>
Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-92088675114142890812019-08-01T15:31:00.000-05:002019-09-17T11:13:16.087-05:00WRP 2: United KingdomWorld Reading Project, Book #2<br />
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United Kingdom<br />
My Man Jeeves, by P. G. Wodehouse, 1919<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_s-fR-IWArY/XToJ-iNEikI/AAAAAAAALV0/Gx4xACpbUsEclUVSwC0E7He8r6CVKlHpACLcBGAs/s1600/200572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="267" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_s-fR-IWArY/XToJ-iNEikI/AAAAAAAALV0/Gx4xACpbUsEclUVSwC0E7He8r6CVKlHpACLcBGAs/s320/200572.jpg" width="213" /></a>This project is partly to stretch my reading experience since previously I did not read many books from outside the US. This book was not a stretch for me because I've read and loved Wodehouse before, but I let myself have this hilarious and cozy read. The book is a series of short stories, mostly about Bertie Wooster and his inimitable butler, Jeeves. The formula is: Bertie is constantly getting into scrapes, everything goes wrong with no possible solution in sight, and Jeeves saves the day at the end with some very clever fix. I find that reading the whole book through in one go can even get a little tiring because this formula is repeated over and over. But, BUT... you get lines like<span style="font-family: inherit;"> this: "<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I was in bed, restoring the good old tissues with about nine hours of the dreamless, when the door flew open and somebody prodded me in the lower ribs and began to shake the bedclothes." I find his writing style hilarious. I wish I could incorporate expressions like that into my everyday. "What ho!"</span></span></div>
<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-61665468651360812582019-07-25T14:53:00.001-05:002019-09-17T11:13:40.691-05:00World Reading Project 1: Norway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">World Reading Project, Book #1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Norway</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Wreath, by Sigrid Undset</span> , 1920</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The first book I read for my <a href="https://piepost.blogspot.com/p/world-reading-project.html" target="_blank">World Reading Project</a> was The Wreath, the first book in the Kristin Lavransdatter series by Sigrid Undset. Clay gave it to me as a gift, for my birthday I think.</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPJDC35MdKE/XTn2cfdij6I/AAAAAAAALVQ/5KlA87gpyiIaG6L3Ptv5GLsdrUsPI3R5wCEwYBhgL/s1600/6220._SY475_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="310" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DPJDC35MdKE/XTn2cfdij6I/AAAAAAAALVQ/5KlA87gpyiIaG6L3Ptv5GLsdrUsPI3R5wCEwYBhgL/s320/6220._SY475_.jpg" width="208" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Published in 1920, this is a historical fiction novel about a young woman, Kristin Lavransdatter, growing up in 14th century Norway (I didn't know much about Norway- this is after the Viking Age, when Norway has been Christianized). It's the first book in a trilogy that follows Kristin through her life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amazon's description of the book begins with "<i style="background-color: white;">Kristin Lavransdatter </i><span style="background-color: white;">interweaves political, social, and religious history with the daily aspects of family life to create a colorful, richly detailed tapestry of Norway during the fourteenth-century." The book was way more dramatic that this description would lead you to believe. Some kind of crazy things happen. I don't really want to give things away, but </span><span style="background-color: white;">I really liked this book and am very intrigued to read the other two books and see how Kristin's decisions pan out and how the rest of her life goes. </span></span>Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-60204686455820084892019-07-23T14:47:00.000-05:002019-07-23T14:47:05.932-05:00Back to blogging?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Well, I felt the urge to post on here again. This past weekend I went through old boxes of mail and found many letters from people I met through blogging. Made me want to start up again. Another inspiration is Mary Ann Moss and her blog Dispatch From LA. I just love her blog and seeing all the wonderful things she gets up to, sketchbookery and beautiful gardens, etc. So inspiring.</div>
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The old boxes of mail also inspired me to do a bit more collage type stuff. Recently I've been making envelopes out of one piece of paper, and seeing old mail made me want to get more into scraps and gluing again. Here are a few postcards and envelopes I made this weekend.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0xVwaz7F2e0/XTdaRrKJ93I/AAAAAAAALTU/qLFWudcVqBoZrPRO1PgNH9kd4rpF7P1-ACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190723_111904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1349" data-original-width="1600" height="538" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0xVwaz7F2e0/XTdaRrKJ93I/AAAAAAAALTU/qLFWudcVqBoZrPRO1PgNH9kd4rpF7P1-ACKgBGAs/s640/IMG_20190723_111904.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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What else have I been getting up to? Last weekend I made the first ice cream of the summer. Mint chocolate chip ice cream with mint from our backyard!! I've made ice cream in past summers and it never really turned out well. The flavor was good, but the consistency was not that amazing creamy ice cream texture. I'd been using recipes from online, but not too long ago Clayton bought me an ice cream cookbook: Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream Desserts. OMG. This time it was perfect and now I'm obsessed.</div>
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Here's the mint soaking in the ice cream base to impart its flavor:</div>
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The same day I made chocolate covered cherries with the leftover melted chocolate from the ice cream. So decadent.<br />
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And this past weekend I made strawberry ice cream. You roast the strawberries a very short time to reduce the amount of liquid. I think I needed to get a little more out, the icecream had some ice crystals in spots. But, it was so delicious.</div>
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About to be roasted:</div>
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I think the next two flavors for the coming weeks will be lemon and chocolate peanut butter!Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-17978407636174641942017-07-10T11:39:00.000-05:002017-07-10T11:39:01.974-05:00Enjoying the backyard<br />
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Spring and summer have been lovely.</div>
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The groundhog and squirrels continue to eat basically everything we plant despite the hot pepper wax spray, but we do have one cucumber of significant size that we could pick pretty soon!</div>
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<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-11516617605754196782017-07-07T08:36:00.001-05:002017-07-07T08:36:28.386-05:00OutgoingSome semi-recent outgoing mail. I'm having some trouble getting my pictures from my phone to upload on my computer, so none of my recent outgoing is on here. Trying to get that fixed!<br />
So this is March/April.<br />
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I loved this piece! I knew I had to make mail out of that colorful Jelly Belly bag after I ate the contents. Although it did seem a bit cruel to send someone the bag with no Jelly Bellies in it.<br />
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I have several fold-and-sends with cute little animals on them. They are a bit hard to use because they don't close up all the way, just fold in thirds... so I can only send them when I don't plan to write much, which is not frequently! :) When someone asks me a question on a postcard, the question takes up one line, but the answers are always much longer if they're going to be interesting.<br />
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I've had this postcard for 6 years! I bought it in Boston from the artist at a craft fair thing. Love it.<br />
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I haven't been decorating my envelopes as much recently. I'm trying to use up my notecard stockpile pretty conscientiously, and many of the notecards have pretty envelopes already, so I just kind of roll with it. But a couple days ago I made an honest to goodness mail art envelope and it felt great. Fun to collage and cut and paste again. :)<br />
<br />Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-52438256026657179332017-05-17T09:31:00.000-05:002017-05-17T09:31:02.565-05:00My Rose Bush<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Roses, roses, roses!!!</div>
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<img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JCeZQfE94mo/WRho6kvgXiI/AAAAAAAAD7w/GXO3unKC75UDfU3K0xTugVOU95ZWz6oLQCLcB/s640/IMG_1243.JPG" width="480" /></div>
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We recently bought this Julia Child rose bush and I was the happiest person in the world. We got three blooms out of it and there were a bunch more buds ready to open in maybe a week. And then squirrels ate every single bud on the bush. I was pretty devastated. The bush itself is not really harmed and so we're going to see about putting hot pepper spray or something on the new buds it makes. I need to get a book about roses from the library.<br />
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I was a bit cheered up this morning because my pink sundrops put forth a bloom! They are beautiful delicate papery looking blossoms. I planted them last summer and they are perennials, so I was hoping they would come back this year and they did! The plant is still quite small but I guess it will get more robust over the summer. I'm still really new to gardening. Wish me luck!Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5857166124117161386.post-14929703030086245262017-05-14T09:24:00.000-05:002017-05-14T09:24:02.793-05:00OutgoingOutgoing mail:<br />
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Does anyone else love the movie "Big Trouble in Little China"? It's just the best! When I found out Donovan liked that movie too I just had to decorate the envelope around it. I drew the PorkChop Express, ole' Jack Burton's truck. :)</div>
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A Peter Pan envelope going out to my college roommate, who is as Peter Pannish as one can be.</div>
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Roses, roses, roses! I love roses. We bought a rose bush recently- but more about that in another post. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S5azV0CRKG4/WRhmtPehi1I/AAAAAAAAD7g/xanuDaOVR1w_svcSL-UjyPQyowXzD5jZwCLcB/s1600/fullsizeoutput_987.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S5azV0CRKG4/WRhmtPehi1I/AAAAAAAAD7g/xanuDaOVR1w_svcSL-UjyPQyowXzD5jZwCLcB/s640/fullsizeoutput_987.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
I'm still so pleased with this handmade stamp of mine.<br />
Happy mailing!Pie Posterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02617124038901724909noreply@blogger.com2