Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful...

... for the safe travel of my dad, his wife, my sister and her husband. They have been in Europe since early April. We received an email last night from Paris, and it sounds as if they are having a spectacular time and that the weather has been perfect. They arrive home on the weekend.

... for the hard work and dedication of #2's Cub leaders and #3's Beaver leaders. I know I've mentioned my gratitude to them before, but it bears repeating. The wind-up night was earlier this week, complete with order-in pizza and potluck salads and desserts for the whole family. It was a veritable smorgasbord of good food and goodwill.

... for soft overnight spring rains that help coax the eruption of green but do not dampen daily life.

... for yesterday's rejuvenating book day.

... for strong early morning coffee.

... for last night's American Idol show, which helped me appreciate my own life so much more. It was more of a telethon than an Idol episode. I hate to admit that, as I watched it, there were times I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I hate when I let shows like that manipulate my emotions. Did any of you watch it?

... for the patience of my church council colleagues. I was elected to church council in February and I attended my third meeting earlier this week. I'm not sure I've said anything out loud at any of the meetings yet. I've sat back though, and tried to pick up the rhythm of the meetings, and hopefully, I'll be able to contribute something soon.

Literary Heaven

Today I get to spend the day at a book display.

I will be in a large, hushed room with few people and myriads of books.

New books. Shiny books. Perfect books.

Picture books. Fiction. Non-fiction.

Hardcovers. Paperbacks. Graphic Novels.

It is my idea of heaven.

The only downfall is I must decide which ones I can afford in my library budget and which ones I cannot.

I've always been a very inclusive person. It's just not fair that I have to exclude some of them!

Book Review: Post Mortem

Patricia Cornwell's Post Mortem is a fairly old book, but I'm one of those people who likes to start reading a series of books from the beginning.

It is the story of Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Richmond, Virginia's Chief Medical Officer, and her quest to find the serial killer who has raped, tortured and killed four young women. In addition to Kay's gruesome job, she's also dealing with her ten-year-old niece, Lucy, who is visiting. Lucy is coping with a little emotional baggage of her own.

I listened to this book on CD as I drove to work and back over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps had I actually read the book, I would have enjoyed it more. As it was, I found stretches of it unbearably clinical and technical, and I simply clued those sections out as I tussled through the traffic.

I didn't care for the voice of the woman reading onto the CD, either, which is rather odd since it's the same woman who reads the Janet Evanovich books on CD, and I love when she reads those. I just got the feeling that she was finding Post Mortem as dull as I was.

I'll probably give the next book about Dr. Scarpetta a chance, but I don't think I'll listen to that one. I'll try reading it instead and see if that helps.

Book Review: Sadie the Ballerina

The new Willow Award nominees are out! The new Willow Award nominees are out! And I can't wait to read them all.

I decided to start with a little tale by Joan Betty Stuchner called (warning, there are spoilers located in the following link) Sadie the Ballerina, and I am so glad I did. Not only is it a delightful story, but Bruno St.-Aubin's illustrations are enchanting - all pink and swirling, just like a ballerina.

Sadie desperately wants to go to ballet school. She loves to point her toes and twirl and dance. Her mother, however, simply does not understand and says things to Sadie like, "Wouldn't it be more fun to go to clown school?"

When the ballet comes, though, her parent do take Sadie to see The Nutcracker. I especially like the description and the illustration when Sadie and her parents are walking through the lobby of the theatre. When the show begins, Sadie is entranced, especially with the lovely Sugar Plum Fairy and the handsome Nutcracker Prince. She becomes so overwhelmed, in fact, that she does something only Sadie would do. If you want to know what that is, you'll have to read the book. ;-)

If you have a girl who dances, or, even better, one who longs to dance, you must read this book to her. I read it to my younger boys, too, though, and they enjoyed Sadie's spirit and spontaniety, as well.

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful...

...that yet again, after our furnace shut down in the middle of the night, I managed to get it started again yesterday morning. I'm especially thankful for this because the temperature was -28 degrees Celsius outside.

...that I survived having my teaching observed by my principal on Monday. I know I'm a fairly good teacher. I've never really had complaints - at least nothing serious - from students, parents, colleagues, or administrators in all of my eighteen years of teaching. Still, I experience nervous shakes whenever I'm observed. One more lesson to have observed, and I'm done for four years or so.

...for books on CD. I've been borrowing them from the library and listening to them as I drive to and from work. It's so great! There are only 2 downfalls: my car CD player skips when it's really cold, so I miss the occasional word and phrase - at least until the car warms up. And I have to choose my audio-books carefully or I could make a fool of myself. I was listening to Mitch Albom's For One More Day, a story in which the main character is contemplating suicide and is taken on this spiritual journey to spend one more day with his mother, who had died years before. Well, as I mentioned in my comment on the previous post, I tend to be a weeper, so there I was, bawling my eyes out on the highway to work. Luckily I had a touch of a cold at the time, so when people at work asked, I chalked up the red eyes to that. Not sure what that trucker who passed me on the road was thinking, though.

...for#1's band teacher, who has encouraged him to join the jazz band. He couldn't play earlier in the year because the practices were the same time as his volleyball games. She needled him and needled him until he finally joined last week and he loves it! I told him it was an honour to be so persistently recruited by a teacher. He said, "Well, she kept telling me that she was sure I would like it, that jazz is in my bones, whatever that means." I think it means that she knows him very well.

...that #1 still gives me a hug and a kiss and tells me he loves me before he goes to bed. He's 12 now, and I expect that may stop soon, but I sure hope it doesn't.

...that when #2 asks what's for supper and I reply, his response is almost always,"Yes!" He is by far the least picky of the three.

...that, on cold mornings like we've had for the last week or more, my little car still starts. It's an amazing little vehicle.

...that when my blogposts are few and far between, as they have been lately, people still drop by to see what I have to say. I'm especially thankful that some see fit to drop off a little comment. Thanks, folks!

Have a great week.