National Bison Range

Digital layout of a few of our pictures from our trip last fall. Journaling reads: "One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the National Bison Range on 9/20/11. We got amazingly close to some of the animals shown here. It's very unusual to actually see bucks fighting like this."

Glacier National Park pg 2

Digital layout of a few of our pictures from our trip last fall.

Glacier National Park pg 1

Digital layout of a few of our pictures from our trip last fall. Journaling reads: "We started our first morning in Glacier National Park with sunrise over St. Mary Lake. After breakfast we hiked the Swiftcurrent Nature Trail. We had lunch at The Park Cafe, then we hiked the Hidden Lake Nature Trail as far as The Lookout. After all that hiking, we saw a mountain goat in the parking lot for the Hidden Lake Nature Trail!"

The picture of the mountain goat is on the next page of this layout and can be seen here.

Sketchbook Challenge - The Day's Harvest

I sketched this for the current month's sketchbook challenge, which has the theme of Fruits & Veggies.

Mimosa Tree

I took a few minutes to sketch our mimosa tree recently while it was still blooming.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

It's 1940 in the small Cape Cod town of Franklin, Massachusetts. Iris James is the postmistress ("Postmaster," Iris corrected her. "There's no such thing as a postmistress. Man or woman. It's postmaster." page 296). The townspeople believe she is watching over them. Frankie Bard is a radio reporter in London, trying to get America to pay attention to the war that is already being fought in Europe. The story moves smoothly between Franklin and Europe and it's about passing along information - how and when and why and whether you can keep someone from being hurt by not passing it on. I really liked this book - it was well written and a very compelling story and I rate it five out of five.

LAX

We flew through Los Angeles on our way to Yosemite on May 7th, so I spent some of my layover time sketching. I didn't end up doing much sketching in Yosemite; we were there for a photography workshop so I spent most of my time photographing instead.

Palm Tree

We flew through Los Angeles on our way to Yosemite on May 7th, so I spent some of my layover time sketching. I didn't end up doing much sketching in Yosemite; we were there for a photography workshop so I spent most of my time photographing instead.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Thia was a well written but disturbing story by the author of The Remains of the Day. Kathy lived at Hailsham, a private boarding school in England where the students are sheltered from the outside world. When she is reunited with two of her schoolmates when she is in her early 30's, she begins to remember and relive her years at Hailsham and the dark secret behind the seemingly idyllic life there. I rate it 4 out of 5.

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

I had planned on reading this book earlier on my iPad for a read along with Book Club Girl.  I THOUGHT that I had downloaded the book before we left on our trip to Tennessee (it was on sale for $1.99).  But when I tried to read it, I learned that I had only downloaded the preview, not the book.  And of course, by then, the sale on the eBook was over.  So I requested the book through inter-library loan, and just finished it yesterday (and now the read along is over, so I didn't participate after all).  I enjoyed it much more than I expected - I don't usually read mysteries, although I grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries (didn't all girls?).  It's the first in a series, so I may just have to read more.


Bess Crawford is a nurse serving on a hospital ship during WWI.  She gets close to a dying soldier and promises to take a message back to his family:  "Tell my brother Jonathan that I lied. I did it for Mother's sake. But it has to be set right."  When she is finally able to deliver the message, they react as if the message has no significance.  Through a series of events, she decides to try to learn what the message means and set it right herself.  This is my fourth book for the World War I Reading Challenge, and I rate it 4 out of 5.

The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West

This is the story of an English soldier who returns home with partial amnesia after an injury.  He doesn't remember his wife and believes he is in love with an innkeeper's daughter he hasn't seen in 15 years.  It is a quick read - only 87 pages - and a good story.  It was written in 1918, which may explain why I wasn't too fond of the writing style.  But I still enjoyed it overall and rate it 3 out of 5.  It is my third book for the World War I Reading Challenge that I'm participating in this year; the other two books were All Quiet on the Western Front and Warhorse.

Sketchbook Challenge - Open

I used a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen to sketch from the tv this afternoon. This is supposed to be Brian Williams, NBC News Anchor. It doesn't look very much like him, but at least it looks like a person (and I'm new at this!).