Category: Meanderings

*Ouch*  I have been so busy lately I have really let me work out schedule slide.   I knew I hadn’t been to the gym for a while to take my Group Power Class, but did not know until I went in yesterday afternoon (determined to get on track!) that it had been a month to a day since I had been there.

*sheepishly wiggles foot on ground and hangs head*

After an hour of lifting weights I met my friend Wendy out on the bike trail and we biked 18 miles chat chat chatting.  (and no, 18 miles of talking is not a record for me…. ask my poor cousin who I talked to for 150 miles last year during the two-day bike ride…. I don’t think he will ever be the same as we covered pretty much every topic I could think of.) 🙂

On the bookish front –

My super cool friend Heather (who I met at BEA) over at Age 30+ A Lifetime of Books, is hosting along with Nicole from Linus’s Blanket (Nicole is also super cool and I met her at BEA as well!) a read along for The Color Purple.   Would you believe I have never read this book?  I think I seen the movie a long time ago – but I am so excited to join in on this!  The read along is for July so grab yourself a copy and come join in on the fun!  🙂

On July 16 – 18, I am taking part in Kristen’s (Bookworming in the 21st Century) Book Extravaganza!  I am pretty excited.  This event will be a weekend of fun giveaways and I am still working out what exactly I am doing here – but lets just say I have an idea and it has to do with certain “gush worthy” reads…

and…. last but not least, the amazing Trish (also met at BEA) over at Hey Lady!  Watcha Reading? is putting together a discussion on Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, that will take place in later August.  This is another book I have not read but sadly has been on my shelf like FOREVER so I am excited to get the motivation I need to read this!  🙂

That’s more than enough morning chatter for now!  Coffee Cup needs to hit the shelf and I need to hit the road…. hoping later today I can take a bike ride and continue enjoying this wonderful weather!

Good morning!  Looks like it is going to be a gorgeous day here in Minnesota.  Al and I and a couple of friends of ours are going to take a motorcycle ride this morning around the area.  This will of course require the helmet that I purchased a couple of years ago that reminds me of something Schultz would wear in that old series, Hogan’s Heroes.

Ok, maybe it is not that bad….. but every time I wear it I like to say “I know nothing…. NOTH -ING!”  You would need to know the show to understand that line… 😀

Here is what popped up in my Email box this morning… these are the books that became available this week in either hard cover or paperback.  Joy In The Morning is one that catches my eye as it is written by Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.

How about you?  Are any of these books on your wish list?

New in Fiction
	“The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet” by David Mitchell Read more “Work Song” by Ivan Doig Read more “A Vintage Affair” by Isabel Wolff Read more “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives” by Lola Shoneyin Read more “Her Fearful Symmetry” by Audrey Niffenegger Read more “Tatiana and Alexander” by Paullina Simons Read more “Joy in the Morning” by Betty Smith Read more “A King of Infinite Space” by Tyler Dilts Read more “The Quickening” by Michelle Hoover Read more “Paths of Glory (Penguin Classics)” by Humphrey Cobb Read more

Woo!  Sorry about my lateness…. I have been up, but doing other things and prepping my day…. and honestly I have so many things going on in my head right now for the “topic” of the morning that I couldn’t choose….  (yeah, I know my coffee cup is upside down)  😀

So fair warning – I have no idea which direction this post is going to go.

Ok – for starters…. is anyone reading, listening too, have read,  or considering The Passage by Justin Cronin?  I was in line for it at BEA.  Justin Cronin was there signing the books and he gave out his last book to the girl right in front of me.  Apparently his full shipment for the signing had not come in.  I did not know a lot about the book, other than it was plastered everywhere in large signs all over the convention center.

When I came back home, I found it on Audible.com and downloaded it to my IPOD.  It is 15 35 hours of audio so you know – C O M M I T M E N T.    I am probably a couple of hours in and seriously the jury is still out.  I loved the beginning, then it went a different direction and was odd and I was lost…. then it connected to the beginning so I was back – but now I am confused again….

Second random topic – I am excited to participate in the Book Blogger Appreciation Week which will take place in September of this year.  More info on this will be on a separate post.

Third random topic – you know I mentioned that I went to Eclipse with my friend Wendy.  What I did not mention is that she is crazy.  A complete loony.  Ok, maybe not – but here is the full size movie poster  she left in my office:

I also have June comments awards to do – and yes, I am doing that for July too…. just need to get things organized around here.  🙂

I hope you all have wonderful 4th of July plans!

Morning all.  We wound up going to the 10 pm showing of Eclipse last night.  The plan was to go to the 2:25 pm, but both Wendy (who I was going to the movie with) and I, were in a planning meeting until after 2 pm and the timing just wasn’t right. I really enjoyed the movie and some moments were laugh out loud funny…. others really made you think.  We had a good conversation on the way home about the over all effect of the movie – good vs. evil, and of course I love the fact that two lifelong sworn enemies (the vamps and the werewolves) come together for a greater cause, and you start to see what may be the beginning of peace between these two tribes.

What they leave out of this clip is what is said next – and that’s really what I wanted to show you.  Jacob then goes on to say, “and she broke her hand punching me in the face.  It’s complicated.”

This morning I woke up to an email that said my cluster map has been reset as it has been a year since I had signed up for it.  The cluster map is the little map thing way down on my right sidebar that keeps track of where people are visiting my blog from.  Its kind of cool, and when I first put it on the blog, I looked at it every couple of days…. it fascinated me.  Now – a year later, I have kind of ignored it, but today I took a look at the stats of a year and it was kind of interesting:

Well, some of its interesting anyway.  Today I work – and then blade or bike, not sure yet but think I may just throw in my ear buds and hit the trail for a while.  I have had a lot of requests to get the Wordshaker Book Club rolling again and I plan too, I just need to create a group to connect with those who I know are interested as well as a form to sign up on for those who want to be included.  I let this lapse way to long but am hoping to have that ready to go live sometime in the next few days.

Ok – I am babbling….. I am coffeed up and need to get out the door!  Later!  😀

Good Morning!

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day.  I read a bit and did a little house cleaning.  After dinner I went up town to visit my friend Barb who was in town for a few days.  I graduated with Barb and she now lives out-of-state.  We try to get together when she is back in Minnesota.  It was fun catching up with her.

Then when I came home Al and I watched the movie Serious Moonlight with Meg Ryan and Tim Hutton.   I enjoy both actors and the movie was good but the end made me wonder what just happened.  I wont go into detail so as not to ruin it for anyone who has not seen it, but I actually Googled it to see if my hunch was right.  It was.

Today I am hoping to go rollerblading or biking with my friend Wendy but not really sure if that is going to happen.  The weather looks uncertain and last night it stormed a bit so I imagine the trail is covered with sticks and debris.  Its early yet – I guess I will see what the day brings.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Mmmmmmmm…. Saturday.  This is my favorite day of the week.  Saturdays rarely come with attachments, unless I put them there.  An attachment free Saturday = BLISS.  And that’s what I have today.

I have plenty to do – and plenty I may do…  but nothing I have to do.  Does that make sense?  I can work on cleaning the house, go into the office and work on the Monday project, sweep my deck, take a bike ride….

But for now… I am gathering up Coffee Cup and Lap Top and I am actually going to go and sit and read and blog in the Reading Room.   I have not sat in the reading room and relaxed for a long time.  But this morning is overcast and humid, and that is what I am going to do.

Boxes from BEA are still sitting in the reading room…. maybe today is the day to unpack them and put them away.

I have a review to write on a book I finished last night and from there… eh, who knows?

Have a wonderful day/weekend.  I will be out blog visiting today and I will be around today and tomorrow with no real big plans.  LOVE it.