Thursday’s Tale: The Hurds

by Carol1 Comment
Today I've got another tale from the Grimms, "The Hurds." It's from the second edition of their Children's and Household Tales. This time, beauty does not win the day. Neither does cleverness actually- just plain old hard work. Once upon a time there was a girl who was beautiful, but lazy and negligent. When she had to spin she was so ill-tempered that if there was a little knot in the flax, she at once pulled out a whole heap of it and scattered it about on the ground beside her. She had a servant who was industrious, and who gathered together the discarded flax, cleaned it, spun it well, and had a beautiful dress woven out of it for herself. A young man had courted the lazy girl, and the wedding was about to take place. On the eve of the wedding, the industrious girl was dancing merrily about in her beautiful dress, and the bride said, Ach, wat kann das Mäken springen in...
Read More

First Impressions by Charlie Lovett

by Carol2 Comments
I almost quit listening to First Impressions about halfway through, mostly because I had an audiobook waiting in the wings that I was really, really looking forward to, but I stuck it out to the end. I'm not sure if that was a good choice or not. It wasn't torture, but it wasn't great either. The story alternates between chapters focusing on Sophie in now and Jane back then, which worked well really, even if from what I understand a lot of the Jane portion was as fictional as the Sophie part. I knew who the bad guy was - from the moment he showed up; I knew that Sophie would find proof that Jane Austen was not a plagiarist; I was sure Sophie would end up with the right guy and that Jane Austen would become a well-known novelist. And guess what- I was right. What kept me listening was that Sophie, and especially her uncle, love books. The libraries and...
Read More

Readers’ Workouts – 9/8

by Carol8 Comments
So, here are my steps for the week. I hit my goal for the week overall. I think I would have hit it Tuesday too, but I took the tracker off when we went swimming and forgot to put it back on. Here's my current plan (which I'm not following at all). CT stands for cross-training, SS stands for stretching or strength-training. My week: Tuesday - 60 mins in the pool Wednesday - 30 mins of weights, crunches, etc Thursday - 10 minutes of abs, 28 mins on the elliptical Friday - 9.9 miles Monday - 3.89 miles, played horseshoes in the evening I'm down 9.8 lbs from 5/19. My run is Saturday, presuming I don't chicken out. Wish me luck and hope for nice weather! I usually listen to a book while I'm running or walking. This week I finished First Impressions by Charlie Levitt and started The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny. I haven't decided whether to listen to music for the run Saturday like I usually do...
Read More

Fun While Learning Math

by CarolNo Comments
School's back in and if your child is anything like mine, math has and probably always will be one of the tougher subjects. While you were in elementary school, you might remember using colored objects to help with counting. These items are called math manipulatives, and they are still being used in schools. However, they are used in ways that don't always involve basic counting skills. There are various kinds of manipulatives that can be purchased for the classroom instead of small circles with a different color on each side or blocks that are used to learn how to count by ones and tens. Many teachers try to make using manipulatives into a game for students. This can sometimes be a benefit as it helps children learn how to count while they might not realize what they're doing. There are items for younger children who are in preschool and items for older children in middle school who might need a little more help when...
Read More

Intimations of Austen by Jane Greensmith

by Carol4 Comments
Maybe it's been too long since I read most of Jane Austen's novels. I don't remember all of the characters and few of the details, so I think I may have not been the best audience for this book. Out of the collection only two really struck me. The first, "Rainbow Around The Moon," a sequel to Persuasion was a short, touching tale about Captain Wentworth and his daughter. I don't think you necessarily needed to read the original to appreciate it. The other was "All I Do," the last story and longer than the others. In this tale of Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth is not married to Darcy.  The characters are a bit fuller than in the others and I guess I remember the original story better than the others. It was enjoyable, seeing the "what might have been" and how in the end Darcy and Elizabeth still get happiness. The others were neither here nor there for me. They weren't bad, they just...
Read More

Thursday’s Tale: The Peasant and the Devil

by Carol1 Comment
It's September and even though it's still really warm here, I'm thinking fall already, so today I've got a harvest story. This one's from the Grimms. It's about a clever peasant who even tricks a devil. One day the peasant had been working in his field, and just as it was getting dark he was getting ready to go home when in the middle of his field he saw a pile of burning coals. Filled with amazement he walked toward it, and sitting on the top of the glowing coals there was a little black devil. "You must be sitting on a treasure," said the peasant. "Yes indeed," replied the devil, "on a treasure that contains more gold and silver than you have ever seen in your life." "The treasure is in my field and belongs to me," said the peasant. "It is yours," answered the devil, "if for two years you will give me one half of everything your field produces. I have enough money,...
Read More