Thursday’s Tale: The Cat on the Doverfjell

by Carol5 Comments
I don't know why, but I've always had a fondness for troll stories, ever since I was a kid. So, when I was thinking about what Christmas tales to feature, I couldn't pass up the Norwegian fairy tale, "The Cat on the Doverfjell," first collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon. A man was bringing a white bear to give to the king of Denmark, and he came to the mountain Dovre on Christmas Eve and asked a man called Halvor for shelter for the night. Halvor told him that he couldn't provide a room, as every Christmas Eve trolls came to the house and made such havoc that the household had to flee them. The man begged to stay anyway, stating his bear could sleep under the stove while the man slept in one of the side rooms. Halvor finally agreed. The household prepared everything for the trolls, laying out...
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Guest Post: Greg Messel, author of The Illusion of Certainty

by Carol7 Comments
Today, I'd like to welcome Greg Messel to my notebook. He's sharing a little about the characters in his novel, The Illusion of Certainty, and how their experiences reflect a lot of Americans'. COPING WITH THE ILLUSION OF CERTAINTY BY GREG MESSEL In a bygone time there was certainty regarding your career, your job stability and plans for the future. If an individual worked hard and was a good employee at work, there was a good chance they could be there for life. There were certain things that could be assumed. Those assumptions were the underpinning of your life. An employee could reasonably expect that income would steadily increase each year, the stock market would provide a steady rate of return which would provide opportunity for home ownership, college education for your children, annual vacations and eventually, a comfortable retirement. Those assumptions seem to be relics of the 20th Century. Now most employees work 10-12 hour days and are married to their job. Wild swings...
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Review: God Is in the Manger by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

by Carol4 Comments
There are only two places where the powerful and great in this world lose their courage, tremble in the depths of their souls, and become truly afraid. These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ. I've been reading an Advent devotional this year, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I had heard the name Bonhoeffer before, but didn't really know much about him. Bonhoeffer, born in 1906, was a German Lutheran pastor. He became part of the resistance movement against Nazism and was arrested in 1943 for his participation in a plot to assassinate Hitler. He was executed in April 1945.  He left behind many writings, letters, lectures, papers and his diaries that show his theology clearly. This devotional brings together bits of those sources and, combined with scripture, highlights several of Bonhoeffer's beliefs: "that Christ expresses strength best through weakness, that faith is more important than the beguiling trappings of religion,...
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Festival of Lights

by Carol16 Comments
I love Christmas lights, and happily my husband does too. He hung ours outside the Saturday after Thanksgiving and they'll be lit every night through New Years. Some evenings during the month we take a little extra time and drive through some of the neighborhoods in our town that tend to have the best light displays, oohing and aahing appropriately. The lights highlight of the season though has to be our annual trip down to Oglebay's Festival of Lights in Wheeling, WV. This year, David and I, along with Amber and one of her friends, headed down. It's been a busy month, so we went on a Saturday evening, maybe not the best choice, since it was packed, but that's okay. It's a six mile drive with over 70 displays, some old favorites like the the poinsettia wreath and snowflake arches and some brand new this year, like the carousel. There's Snoopy and Cinderella, goofy golfers and giant snowmen. The gardens, beautiful...
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Review: Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie

by Carol11 Comments
It's been 100 years since Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barrie was first published, so it seemed only appropriate that I finally get around to reading this children's classic with Amber (11). I knew the basic story, mainly from the Disney movie, and Peter Pan is just as daring and fun as I pictured, but for me the movie wins. Peter Pan, the boy who never grows up, lives in Neverland but visits London occasionally and it is during one of those visits that he meets the Darling children and eventually whisks them off to Neverland to live with the Lost Boys, Peter's tribe of children. Wendy is to be their mother. Of course in a land of Indians and mermaids, fairies and pirates, adventures abound. The sad part is that some kids books I just don't get. They should be magical and light-hearted, but to me this one just fell flat. The writing is beautiful, if a little dated, but...
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Take Me Away to Haida Gwaii

by Carol19 Comments
I do most of my traveling through the books I read. I've been to Asia and Africa, seen the castles of Europe and the rainforests of South America, across America and Down Under, but sometimes a setting just grabs me, makes me fall in love with a place I may never get to see. Haida Gwaii is one of those places. I'm currently listening to The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny and Chief Inspector Gamache, the main character, has taken a short trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands In British Columbia. The islands were officially renamed  after the book was published, becoming Haida Gwaii, which means "People of the Island" in the native language. I know that when I get around to reviewing the book, I'll concentrate on the characters, the plot, and the main setting, the small town of Three Pines, so I wanted to take minute to talk about this beautiful land, one that, at least from the story...
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