I grabbed “Match Me If You Can“, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, off the New Books shelf at the library yesterday. The check-out librarian said it was really good and she was right! I finished it this evening while watching Henry’s karate class.  Lots of fun! Looks like she’s written several more books so I’ll be hunting those down at the library as soon as possible.
Happy birthday Kathy dear :) I hope you have a lovely day!
Hey, that “lasagna” planting bed sounds easy and interesting!
I didn’t enjoy The Book of Three very much, so I decided that our next bedtime book had to be something I’d love. Not taking any chances. It’s too grim to end the day reading something I’m not fond of. It occurred to me that, since Henry just turned eleven, and he loves dark fantasy stories, and he’s interested in Merlin and King Arthur and ancient British mythology, that The Dark is Rising series would be perfect. So tonight we started book 2 (The Dark is Rising), my favorite. I’ve read it many times to myself (at a guess, I’d say at least ten times, but probably more).  Reading the first chapter aloud made me realize just how awesome it is (reading aloud makes me slow down and savour the story, and notice all the little details that I might miss when reading to myself). It was a 35-minute chapter (I’m recording it so H can listen all over again later on his iPod) but it flew past and I was sorry to reach the end. The writing is so rich, the atmosphere so vivid. The dialogue and characters in The Book of Three were flat; but in The Dark is Rising they are incredibly realistic and believable. I can hardly wait to read the next chapter to Henry tomorrow!
Consultation with Karen; she says we’re doing fine.
Need to learn about volcanoes and earthquakes this year to keep the State happy. Karen suggested http://aleks.com for math, so we’ll check into their free trial this week.
Went to library; Henry got a new Dragon Quest book and read it all day.
Karate
Rockola had an outdoor, all-ages show in a park today. I picked up H from his dad’s house and we headed down to see them. It was nice and gray and cloudy when we got there but it got progressively sunnier and hotter through the show, and I had to take off my longsleeve shirt so I got a bit of a burn on my shoulders. And my eyes feel burned even though I wore my hat and sunglasses the whole time. Argh. But the show was great, as usual!
Finished cataloging Emma last night! It’s a wonderful recording. Go here to download it:
http://librivox.org/emma-by-jane-austen-solo/
I know I’ve been talking a lot about this recording. It’s not that it’s better than any of our other books, but Emma is very special to me, and in my opinion the reader, Sherry, did a particularly fine job. And it’s an 18-hour recording! Also the project has been hanging over my head since March, so getting it cataloged, finally, seems like a huge accomplishment.
Bah my eyes are really bothering me and my nose hurts too. Hope we have some Solarcaine. Stupid sun. And stupid me for not taking sunscreen. Not that that would help my eyes any, though. And I hate hate hate sunscreen. I hate the way it smells, I hate the way it makes my skin feel dirty. So that’s why I mostly stay indoors all summer. I thought an afternoon show on a cloudy October day would be all right… sigh.
