Tag: Morning Meanderings

Good morning!  Happy Thursday!  I can not wait until my sleeping patterns return to normal!  Up until 1:30 am when I forced myself to bed (wasn’t tired)… then I toss until 2:00 am, sleep a bit wake up at 5:00 decide I need another hour and then wake up at 9:00 am.  GAH!  Too late to have breakfast when I have a lunch date at 11:30 am so hungry and holding…. LOL

Well… there is always coffee. 🙂

Last night I had a Library Board meeting.  We were going over Strategic Planning before our regular meeting so I arrived int he parking lot at 5:00 pm for our 5:15 meeting.  As I exited my car I heard the bells play their song on the hour like they always do.  This got me thinking…

As long as I have lived in Brainerd which is *cough cough* for the most part all my life, the bells have rung on the hour in town.  They play a little tune, it’s pretty, occasionally it is seasonal, and it is always on the hour.

However…

I don’t know why.  I don’t know how.  I don’t know if it starts at a certain hour and ends at a certain hour… I don’t know if it goes all night…. I had never really thought to ask.

We have one of the city council members on our board so I asked… and she told.

 

The bells are carillon bells and they are there because a woman with the last name McKay was a big part of Brainerd back in the day.  She had served as a nurse in the war and upon her death requested there to be bells that chime from the court-house on the hour in memory of those who died in the Bataan.  Her request was put is place and someone actually manages the music, programs the bells to toll out their song – different each hour.

Sadly, I know little more than that.  I Googled this last night thinking I would find information on the bells and I found very little.  There is an article from 2011 in our local paper but the archives will not open it and three calls to the Dispatch this morning to access the information could not help me.  I could not even find images of the bells on-line, although other parts of Minnesota, like the Mayo Clinic proudly display theirs.

Ok – enough of my bell obsession.  I like them because I think they are unique.  They remind me a bit of what I would expect out of a town like Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls people… if you haven’t watched the show you must – all episodes are now available on Netflix).  The bells are sweet sounding and I clearly wanted to write about them today….

Time for more coffee.  Lunch date, projects to work on, and reading this evening.  I will try to be a bit more sane tomorrow.

Good morning!  I have been home now for 5 days.  The weekend was me doing pretty much nothing.  The time change had us all goofed up… staying up until 1 am and then sleeping until 8 or 9 (so not like me – I am an early riser!)  Then… I would spend afternoons reading or online while sitting in the recliner and then falling asleep in the chair.

The motto of Princess Cruises is “Come Back New”, and as much as I wanted that to be true… I did not want “new” to mean…. lazy.  😉

Then finally Monday came… and it was like my brain turned on.  I made a to-do list.  I started working out.  I bought the groceries we needed, made the phone calls I needed, and took a couple of freelance jobs.  *whew*  I think I am coming back!

Yesterday I started looking for our Wine and Words authors for 2015.  I sent out emails, and hope to have a few yes’s before our Friends Of The Library Annual Meeting next Monday.  I like the mystery reveal of it all.  At this writing…. I have two yes’.  YEAH.  Three more to go.

Today, I listen to audio and have some things to work on for that annual meeting.  I am starting to get my mojo back.  I am still a little tired but getting back to the norm…

and yes,

I think I came back new.

Good morning!  IT is late morning here but I had to post!  I am back!  Back in my home as of about 2 am this morning.  It was a LONG travel day(s) home.  We left the cruise ship in New Zealand at 6:30 am on Thursday the 22nd.  We went on an excursion to the Glow Worm Caves and then delivered tot he airport at 4:30 pm.  Our flight of 12 hours and 15 minutes left at 10:45 pm so we had 6 hours in the airport.  After traveling through the night we arrived in LA California at 2:00 pm on the 22nd (again) as we lost a day in the time zones.  We boarded our flight for Minneapolis at 10: 45 pm (again) and arrived in the cities (our time) 3 1/2 hours later at 11:09 pm.  We then drove to Brainerd and arrived around 2:00 am on the 23rd.  Today.

*whew*  All that time travel!

I did read and I have reviews to write yet.  Internet was 50 cents a minute for us to use so I was on very little, much less than I thought I would be.  Of course, that is not a bad thing as instead of being on line I was out and about EMERGING (my word for 2015) myself in the trip of a lifetime.

Audio was a no go.  I had shut the data off on my phone and was unable to listen to audible without it.  I have not listened to audio in 18 days.  CRAZY for someone who listens to books every day.  LOTS of catching up to do.

As you can imagine I have TONS to do.  Without the data I was unable to upload pictures and between myself and the group I was with – we have a TON of pictures to play with.

I am planning on laying low through the weekend.  I feel good now but expect jet lag to set in at some point.  I had the most amazing time but am so glad to be back home with my pups, in my own bed and unlimited internet 🙂

Stay tune for the pics – I am sure it will take me weeks of posts to get them up and organized but tomorrow for Saturday Snapshot I will be ready to start sharing. 🙂

Stacy here from The Novel Life!  Hello!!!  Ahhh, morning meanderings reminds me of a confiding stroll through Central Park on a warm Spring day. An outside brunch with my best girlfriend. Meeting for drinks in a quaint coffee-house or even better, a quaint coffee-house filled with books! For as long as I’ve known Sheila the Morning Meanderings has been a brief look into the life of a dedicated wife, reader and friend. Now, as she is touring Australia, I get an opportunity to try to fill her shoes {not that that feat is possible, but it’s fun to try nonetheless}.

In this unique and crazy world of book blogging it’s fascinating how we connect with others to the point we’d call them a close friend. I “met” Sheila several years ago when we were both newish blogs. We would comment on each other’s posts and in general became good acquaintances. Then we met at BEA ‘2010, and I can attest to the fact that Sheila is just as friendly in-real-life as she is on Book Journey! I interviewed Sheila for my blog’s feature “Sunday Serenade” in 2010 and then Sheila became one of my go-to experts in 2014 for “Ask the Bloggers.”  Her advice is always spot-on! I know I can count on Sheila for encouragement, advice, and a good laugh or two!

In poking around Book Journey I’m reminded of the books we’ve both agreed were fabulous and touched us in meaningful ways ~ like Sheila, I listened to the audio {all 30+ hours!} of 11-22-63. In my mind the narrator Craig Wasson will forever be the voice of Jake Epping. That book was my introduction to Stephen King, and man, was I blown away. {see my review here}.

One book that we differed on was Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. My bookclub read it {my review here} and enjoyed the controversial plot discussion, but I felt this particular Moyes novel was more along the lines of a Nicholas Sparks kind-of read. Sheila loved it, giving it 5 stars although she does not even give star ratings! Funny how that works, right?

Having friends like Sheila is what truly makes book blogging the love that it has become. I feel with Sheila that there is such a sense of camaraderie and true friendship. I’m so thankful to have met Sheila, both in-real-life and through our book blogs. Thank you Sheila for inviting me to poke around Book Journey and to do a bit of meandering myself! Now hurry up and get back from that ah-ah-ah-mazing journey you are on and tell us all about it! Missing you dear friend!

Elizabeth from Silver’s Reviews here, checking in on the blog again while Sheila is away.  Sheila and I both loved THE HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, and Sheila in her usual style went way over the top on her book review by adding videos, photos, and background information.

My review of this wonderful book was when I first started blogging so it isn’t as thorough as my reviews are now, but regardless, THE HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET is a book you don’t want to miss reading.

Wouldn’t you agree that Sheila and I both have awesome tastes in books?  🙂

Oh, hello! This is Sue from Book by Book.  Sheila asked me to help blog-sit while she is enjoying her vacation in Australia, so I just stopped by to water her plants and feed her cat errr…. dogs.

While I’m here, I might as well check out her books – don’t you just love looking at other people’s bookshelves? Oooh…Sheila has an amazing collection, with so much variety! Let’s see…read it, read it, read it, oh, want it!

Ah, here’s one that’s a favorite at our house: The Passage by Justin Cronin. My husband and I both read it a few years ago, but I just gave it to my father for Christmas and my 20-year old son finally took our advice and started reading it this week – I know they will both love it. Despite its big splash when first published, this is a book that stands up over time.

I just re-read Sheila’s review (one of many that made me want to read the book), and I agree with everything she’s said here.

If you are one of the few – like my son – who hasn’t read it yet, here’s a quick overview. The Passage is an epic post-apocalyptic thriller, covering over 100 years and several generations of people. You may have heard that it’s about vampires, but I’m not normally a fan of vampire books, and I loved it. The creatures in the novel are not traditional vampires of fictional lore but more a government experiment to create super-soldiers with a virus that went terribly wrong. Here’s my review, from 2011.

I see that Sheila also read and reviewed The Twelve, the sequel to The Passage. I agree with her review – that The Twelve is a good follow-up but is a lot more complicated and well, more everything. Here’s my review, too (no spoilers in any of our reviews).

So, if you are looking for some high-octane post-apocalyptic action, check out this unique and thrilling trilogy. Book 3, The City of Mirrors, is due out sometime this year – can’t wait! And word is that there is a movie adaptation of The Passage in the works – wow, that will be something to see.

I just know that my son and father will both love this book. Thanks to Sheila for reigniting my interest in it!

Well, I better let myself out now and lock up. See you soon!

Good morning all!  This is Laura from iRead Book Tours hanging out at Book Journey.  Going through Sheila’s review archive brought me back to the beginnings of my book blogging days. You see, Sheila and I started blogging around the same time, around 2008, I think it was? I had just published my novel Daughter of Mine and was getting to know more about book blogging. When I requested book reviews on Book Blogs, Sheila contacted me through that community and she reviewed my book!

So began my relationship with Sheila. I then visited Sheila’s blog more often and enjoyed her reviews and read many of the same books she did. Thank you, Sheila! One of them was Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. She read it in 2010 and her review sparked my interest to the point where this became one of my book club choices and I read it in 2011, almost a year after she did.

Sheila said in her review of Fahrenheit 451, “I really was impressed by this reading and was surprised really how much I enjoyed the story line. I have never been one for sci-fi or futuristic reads but have to make an exception in this case. For as old as this book is (originally published as The Fireman in 1951), it is almost spooky how it speaks of censorship.”

I too am not one for sci-fi or futuristic reads, so I thought if she liked this classic, I should give it a try.

I’m so glad I did because it developed in me a love for dystopian books that had been tainted by 1984, a book I had once read in school and had not liked. When Sheila hosted the Read Dystopia Challenge 2012, I eagerly signed up.

Books like Fahrenheit 451 sparked my taste for different genres and for reading banned books. Sheila helped me discover new books through Book Journey and she is also responsible for my growing love of audio books. It quickly became clear that Sheila was a mover and a shaker, my kind of gal. Since she’s Christian, I can also rely on her mentioning content in her book reviews which I always appreciate.

So I’m going to continue to snoop around Sheila’s review archive (which reminds me I have to update mine!) while Sheila is off with her hubby enjoying her Australian adventure. I’m sure I’ll come across a few more books I read in the past, which will have me reminiscing again, and reminding me why I love book blogging and the work that I do.