The March by E.L. Doctorow

We often check out audio books from our local library when we travel.  We listened to The March on our drive to and from Colorado last week and both enjoyed it.  It is the story of General William Tecumseh Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas near the end of the U.S. Civil War.  I had always heard that the Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars we were ever involved in, but I hadn't realized just how many civilians were directly affected by it.  Untold numbers of civilians were killed or wounded.  Soldiers took not only food and horses and other items needed for the war effort from private citizens, but also stole personal possessions of all kinds.  There were no rules like the Geneva Convention in those days.  Not that rules are always followed or that the rules make war civilized; far from it.  But it was still shocking to learn just how uncivilized the Civil War was.  The book was read by Joe Morton, who did a great job.  It was well written.  I rate it 4 out of 5.  It was my 4th book for the U.S. Civil War Reading Challenge.

View from the Balloon

What a great trip it was!

View from the Balloon

What a great trip it was!

View from the Balloon

What a great trip it was!

Heating the Air in the Balloon

After the balloon was filled with air, the air was heated so the balloon would be able to rise.

Filling the Balloon

This is us on the right "helping" to fill the balloon with air.

Balloon Ride in Crested Butte

Getting ready for take-off.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit, a French high-wire artist, walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the not yet completed World Trade Center.  This actually occurred, but the rest of the novel is fiction.  Stories of various observers of the walk are presented.   Sometimes it feels like a series of short stories, but many of the characters relate to each other and come together in surprising and interesting ways.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is a character describing letters she wrote home after she went away to college:

"I told them how much I loved my history classes, which was true.  I told them I loved walking the woods, true too.  I told them that I always had clean linen in my dorm room, true as well.

"I gave them all the truth and none of the honesty."

This was my 7th book for the New Author Challenge 2011.  I thought it was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I rate it 5 out of 5. 

Veteran Stars

I made this quilt for a Red White & Blue Patriotic Challenge in my quilt guild. All challenge quilts will be donated to our local VFW for them to distribute as a way to honor our veterans.

Waiting Room Chair

I had thought that I would be in a waiting room with other people and I would try sketching them, but instead I was in a little conference room by myself. So I challenged myself to sketch this chair at an odd angle.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 16

Day 16 - What I Loved As a Child
I'm trying to get caught up in posting. My mom was in the hospital for a couple of weeks, so I haven't gotten much done, but I did manage to squeeze in a little time for myself on a few days. I wasn't able to get to this page until after my class was closed, but I still wanted to do it.

Book Giveaway

Tee of Green Isles Crafts is offering a copy of Cathy (Kate) Johnson's new book, Artist's Journal Workshop.  It promises to be a great book.  Go here to find out how to win this book.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Harrison Shepherd was born in the United States in 1916.  When he was 12 years old, his Mexican mother left his American father and took him to Mexico.  His mother buys him a notebook and tells him to write down what happened in Mexico, which starts a lifelong habit of keeping a diary.  He works for Diego Rivera, first as a plaster mixer and later as a cook, and befriends Rivera's wife, Frida Kahlo.  He also works for the exiled Leon Trotsky, and later moves to the United States.  I thoroughly enjoyed this historical novel; I found it very well written and got very caught up in the story, especially the later chapters after World War II covering the Red Scare and the House Un-American Activities Committee.  It was my fourth book for the I Want More Book Challenge (other books I've read by Barbara Kingsolver are The Poisonwood Bible and Prodigal Summer).  I rate it 5 out of 5.

Good Pals

A common occurrence around here!  But don't be deceived by the picture - Buster (the cat) is so much closer to the camera than Buddy (the dog) that he looks almost as big.  But Buddy weighs 85 pounds, while Buster weighs 12 pounds.

Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones

I had told my son about listening to an audio book, The Known World, by this author, so he loaned my this collection of short stories.  He knows that I'm not too fond of short stories, but he thought that since I'd enjoyed Jones's other book, I might enjoy this one (plus, since he writes short stories, he's trying to convert me).  I had read several of the stories last year when he loaned it to me, and then put it aside.  I kept thinking I'd get back to it and didn't.  But since my son and daughter-in-law are coming for a visit next month, I finally had an incentive to finish it.  I'm still not too fond of short stories.  And modern short stories seem to be just a snippet in time with no definitive ending.  That was true of these stories.  I rate it 2 out of 5.  It was my seventh book for the Off the Shelf Reading Challenge (my goal was five books, but I'm not going to stop).

All Other Nights by Dara Horn

Jacob Rappaport, a Jewish soldier in the Union Army, enlisted in 1861 to escape an arranged marriage, never understanding that he could have said no.  This lack of knowledge that he could say no is a recurrent theme throughout the book.   After serving for a year, his commanders send him to New Orleans to murder his uncle, who is believed to be a Confederate spy.  After this mission, he is sent to Virginia to pursue another enemy agent.  But this time, his mission is not to murder the agent, but to marry her.  Jacob matures by the end of the book, which I enjoyed and found to be well written.  It was my third book for both the US Civil War Reading Challenge and the I Want More Book Challenge.  I rate it 4 out of 5.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 12

Nature - Color Drop Flower class by Martha Lever.

21 Days of Gratitude - Days 10 & 11

Treasure Hunt - Busy weekend.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 9

Three Things - What inspired me, brought me happiness, and brought me comfort and deep peace.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

This was my book club's selection for May.  I finished it on the 8th, but put off writing my review, hoping for enlightenment at our meeting on the 20th.  That didn't happen.  Many of the members (including me) found the book disturbing; some didn't finish it.

According to Wikipedia:

Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian. The book is internationally famous for its innovative style and infamous for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, middle-aged Humbert Humbert, who becomes obsessed and sexually involved with a 12-year-old girl named Dolores Haze.

The novel is a tragicomedy narrated by Humbert, who riddles the narrative with word play and his wry observations of American culture. His humor provides an effective counterpoint to the pathos of the tragic plot. The novel's flamboyant style is characterized by double entendres, multilingual puns, anagrams, and coinages such as nymphet, a word that has since had a life of its own and can be found in most dictionaries, and the lesser used "faunlet." One of the novel's characters, "Vivian Darkbloom", is an anagram of the author's name.

As mentioned above, while I was disturbed by the book, I also recognized that it was well written.  Although I often didn't "get" the word play, and I was very annoyed by the fact that there were whole passages in French with no translation.  So I can't really say that I liked the book or that I would recommend it.  I rate it 2 out of 5.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 8

Family - my fur family that is.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 7

Music - this page is dedicated to my DH.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 6

A Special Place - my home. I took the bottom photo about 4 years ago. I made the quilt as a wedding gift for my son and daughter-in-law, who celebrated their 4th anniversary yesterday.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 5

Today You Are You.

Book Giveaway

The same blogger I blogged about yesterday (Tee from Green Isles Crafts) with the class giveaway is also giving away a book (generous, isn't she?).  The blog post that describes the book and giveaway is here.  Good luck if you decide to enter!

Class Giveaway

I just read about an online class that looks pretty fun, called Rustic Journal Workshop; and the teacher is giving away one scholarship.  You can read all about the class, and even see a brief video, here.  Someone is going to be really lucky to win the scholarship - maybe it will be you (or me).

21 Days of Gratitude - Days 3 & 4

Combined two days onto one page. I used Distress (rubber stamping) Inks for my background.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 2

I wet the whole page, then painted several colors of watercolor on. While it was still fairly wet, I spattered some more paint on. Once it was dry, I added my writing.

21 Days of Gratitude - Day 1

I started another online class yesterday - 21 Days of Gratitude - with Donna Mulholland of Creativity Matters. I found this quote for day 1 (I don't know who Epictetus is, but that's who said this). I used my new Daniel Smith masking fluid to draw squiggly lines and dots, then painted over it once it dried. I removed the masking fluid and wrote the quote.

This is also for the Sketchbook Challenge, whose May theme is Can't Resist This.

Iris

We have irises scattered over our yard. Of all of the ones we have, this is my favorite color. My DH picked 4 for me today, so I had to paint one. It's much better than the one I painted last year (here). However, it was even better before I decided the lower right petal needed to be darkened (watercolor is so touchy!). But all in all, I'm quite pleased with it.

This is also for the Sketchbook Challenge (current month's theme Can't Resist This) because irises are one of my favorite flowers - I can't resist them!