Thursday’s Tale: The Dragon After His Winter Sleep

by Carol1 Comment
  Chinese New Year was celebrated last Saturday, so I thought I'd concentrate on Chinese stories for a few weeks. "The Dragon After His Winter Sleep" was retold in The Chinese Fairy Book edited by Dr. R. Wilhelm, 1921. Once upon a time, a scholar who was reading in his house. It was a rainy, cloudy day and the weather was gloomy. Suddenly he saw a little thing which shone like a firefly. It crawled onto the table, and wherever it went it left traces of burns. Gradually it wound itself about the scholar’s book and the book, too, grew black. Then it occurred to the scholar that the creature might be a dragon. So he carried it outside on the book. He stood there for a while, but it didn't move at all. Then the scholar said: “It shall not be said of me that I was lacking in respect.” With these words he carried the book back inside and laid it...
Read More

My Favorite . . Childhood Memory

by Carol4 Comments
My Favorite.. is a weekly meme hosted by Maureen’s Books. In this meme we share every week something we love with each other. Because let’s face it.. The world can be a dark place and it’s time to share something positive. For more info: My Favorite Meme. Today Maureen is asking about our favorite childhood memory, which is almost an impossible question for me. I had a good childhood, but I honestly have a terrible memory. I remember random things and trivia, but actual events not so much. So instead, and I hope Maureen doesn't mind, I'm going to talk about some of the stories I remember enjoying. I loved The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall and it's still one of my favorite kids books. It's one of many I read to Amber when she was younger. I was a huge Nancy Drew fan and when I was in Junior High I devoured the Sweet Valley High books. Junior High is probably around...
Read More

Readers’ Workouts – 1/31

by Carol5 Comments
I'm disappointed I didn't make my goal this week. This week: Thursday - Elliptical Saturday - Walk with the dog Monday - Stairclimber and elliptical Meal plan: I totally didn't follow my plan last week. A couple things came up and we ate out or at my mom's more than I though we would. And had left-overs from my mom's the next day. I really have no idea what I'm going to cook this week. Taco salad maybe, something with cabbage, maybe some barbecue chicken. Nothing is sounding particularly delicious.   New Year Fitness Goals: - Lose weight. Goal - Lose 26 lbs. I'm down 1 lb. (141.4 starting weight) - Run 2 5ks, 1 10K and 1 half. Complete - None - Hit my weekly step goal (56,000 steps) for 48 weeks. Weeks completed: 4 How was your week? Readers’ Workouts is hosted by Joy at Joy’s Book Blog ....
Read More

Wrap-up – Winter’s Respite Readathon 2017

by Carol1 Comment
A Winter's Respite Readathon ended yesterday. From Seasons of Reading: Dates are January 16 - 29, starting at 12:00am Monday the 16th, and ending at 11:59pm on Sunday the 29th. Times are central standard time so adjust your times accordingly. Yes, the readathon is now two weeks long! I, for one, am pretty excited about that! Of course, like most readathons, the books read must be novels or novellas, adult or young adult are fine, and you can read children's books too (as long as you do read some novels too). Note: Non-Fiction is also okay! You DO NOT have to participate the entire two weeks. Join in when you can, start in the middle, end early...whatever works best for your schedule. As with all of my readathons, it will be a time for relaxed reading during which we can personally challenge ourselves and whittle away our ever looming TBR piles/shelves/libraries.   Totals Pages read: 364 Time Listened: 16 hrs 11 mins Books finished: Love Does by Bob Goff The...
Read More

Game of Mirrors by Andrea Camilleri

by Carol1 Comment
I've read/listened to several of the Montalbano mysteries over the years. It's a series I know what to expect from. The main characters don't change much over the years and the food always sounds delicious. For me, this is one of the series I turn to when I want something that I know I'll enjoy. This time around we've got a couple of bombings, but they both take place at empty warehouses, which is odd. Montalbano has a sexy new (married) neighbor who seems determined to seduce him. Her car's been vandalized and her computer salesman husband is never around. To top it all off, anonymous letters and phone calls are being sent to citizens, the prosecutor and a television station, all pointing in different directions. We've also got a couple of drug gangs that may or may not be involved. Of course, Montalbano manages to tie all the seemingly random events together. I often listen to the audios for this series, rather...
Read More