Tuesdays With Tag - I'm A Nonconformist...

 Hi, Everybody!

These boots are made for walkin' and I'm walkin' to Mom's library today.

 

 Mom said that she got this book when she first got Fezzik because she 

wanted to know all about the history of Fez and my dog breed. She learned

 a lot just by readin' this book. See that good lookin' dog on the cover?

Don't let the innocent face fool ya. We were bred for business!

 We're a herdin' breed...like cows and sheep and little kids!

We're built low to the ground, and we're streak-of-lightnin' fast so

we can avoid gettin' kicked by some surly bovine or stubborn ewe.

We actually have this deeply imbedded desire to herd everythin', so
we'll group up whatever we can. It doesn't matter if you're animals
or birds or even people. We're as happy roundin' up ducks as we
 are corralling a daycare class. Most times, stuff doesn't want to be
 herded, so we dart around and nip at heels just to make 'em obey.
(Sometimes that part gets us in trouble with people. They don't like nippin'!)

This book also said that we were used for pheasant huntin'. Mom laughed 

'cuz I flushed a songbird out of a bush last week, but I bet I'd be a 

champion in the field on pheasants! I like keepin' my nose to the ground.

 Gettin' back to Mom's book...there are pictures about what a Corgi

is supposed to look like. I guess it's called "breed standard", so that

ya don't end up with a Corgi that looks like a Dachshund or Poodle!

 This page interested Mom a lot. Although my legs have the correct 

curvature,  my butt is a little elevated over the rest of my back so that 

my back is not exactly level. That means that I don't "conform" to the 

breed standard. Pfffffffftttt! I don't care and neither do Mom and Dad. 

You'll never see me in a show ring anyway, and my butt works just fine for

 me, thank you! Mom says I'm perfect just the way I am. (I love Mom, too, 

but I don't want her to get all mushy, so let's keep that our little secret, ok?)

 Mom said this is one of her favorite pages. She loves Corgi

drawings and might have to do somethin' with this one.

(Don't freak. She's not gonna cut the page out of the book!)

If you wanna learn more about my breed, look for the old books.

Mom says they're the most fun.

Mom is gonna do a video for me next week. We have a little

game we play every day and we just have to get it uploaded

so you can see it. You're really gonna laugh, and I want you 

to hear my voice. (I have an awesome voice!) I know. You can

hardly wait, right. Well, you'll get to see it in seven more days.

You're gonna have to wait for now. I gotta go practice my lines!

I'll see ya again next week. 'til then...

"More Waggin' and Less Barkin'!"

My Cool Caravan...

I've grown quite interested in all things "camper" lately. I love our Airstream Flying Cloud, and have had fun fitting it out to make it personal and comfortable for Handsome and me - and occasional visitors.

I recently came across this book filled with wonderful vintage units. The best part is that in addition to exteriors, it also gives style notes about the interiors. Many of them now sit comfortably nestled in their owners' backyards.

The book is called "My Cool Caravan" by Jane Field-Lewis and Chris Haddon. (The title is a link to Amazon.) Hilary Walker's photography really makes the whole book. The text is filled with historical information about each camper, and then information about how it was restored and/or furnished.

This is the Eccles Aristocrat camper. The interior reflects the Art Deco period - and I think it's one of my favorites in the book. Most of the campers are located in the UK, but the book features a few in the US as well.

If you click on this picture, you can enlarge it to see the beautiful ceramic piece that radiates heat from the little furnace unit. (Actually, clicking on any of my photos will enlarge them to show better detail.) I also love the nautical blue of the exterior.

This little camper was hauled into the back yard of two lucky little girls and is used as their playhouse.  It's called a Diddy, and the owners practically stole it in an online auction when the owner forgot to list a reserve price for it. (They only paid 150 British pounds for it!)

"Constance", named after the middle name of the owner's granddaughter, was restored for multiple purposes. It's their granddaughter's playhouse, a place for grandma and grandpa to share coffee in the morning, or as a place for grandma to sit and read the afternoon away. (This is my other personal favorite.)

I think my friend, Brenda from Cozy Little House blog would adore this particular camper!

Look how the owners tucked it into their backyard landscape. There's a little deck in front and plants all around that really ground it to make it look like it's been there all along. I especially love the three pots standing guard at the front door.

I'm really having fun choosing (and making) things for the Flying Cloud, but after looking through the pages of this book, I might have to rethink some of my choices and go more in keeping with the history of the Airstreams.

If you get a chance to page through a copy of this book, make sure you have the time to really sit and enjoy it. Man, talk about eye candy! It would make a fun coffee table book, too. Then you could pick it up again and again for inspiration for your own camper - or even for your home!

Blame Stephen Donaldson, Please...

Somewhere about twenty five years ago, I read my first book by Stephen Donaldson. It was titled, "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: The Unbeliever". It was promoted as a trilogy. Three books. Storyline over. On to the next author. Or so I thought. I was so wrong.

Because I learned of this author around 1985, I found that all three of the original trilogy had already been written and published, enabling me to skate from the end of one story right along to the next. In addition, Mr. D had already begun the second trilogy of the Chronicles, so I could continue the story through to the fifth book. Then, I had to wait for the sixth book to be written. (Sort of the way J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books. Hurry up and wait - at least a year!)

While I was waiting, I acquired my first dog, a yellow Labrador retriever. Bryn was named after one of the characters in one of those early books. In her third year, she gave birth to her first litter of puppies and I kept a male. I also named Bannor after one of the characters in the Chronicles. Kyra was born in Bryn's second litter, and I think she too was named from one of the Covenant books.

One of the things I love about Stephen Donaldson's books is that I can lose myself in the triumphs and struggles of good over evil in the battles to save The Land. No movie could ever do justice to the images I've created in my mind from the most minute detail to the most vast features he describes about the places that make up their world.

I read the last book in the trilogy when it came out and lamented the end of the series...until very recently. I learned that Donaldson decided that there should be four more books to make up "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant". Wha? No one told me!! Three of the books have already been written. How did I miss that?

So, thanks to Amazon's fast shipping, all three books arrived last week. I couldn't help myself. I thought I'd just read a few chapters and then head back to the studio and work on my Summertime quilt. I really had the best intentions of finishing it over the weekend.

Before I knew it, I'd finished Book One of the final four...and Thomas Covenant (who I believed long dead a few books ago) was riding one of the majestic horses of lore across the plain toward the safety of The Keep - just as the book came to an end. ARGGGH! I was smiling from ear to ear. Yes! He was alive! But, I couldn't possibly stop reading there. I had to start the next book!

I began Sunday with hot coffee and cinnamon rolls - and my nose in "The Fatal Revenant". I managed to crochet for a few hours in the afternoon, but most of the weekend was spent immersed in a book. I was blissfully lost in the stories. Fantasy filled my waking hours and for a while I forgot some of the weight that had been bearing down on me of late. Stephen Donaldson brought Thomas Covenant back to life and together they have again taken me out of myself and plunked me right down in the middle of his struggles. I find myself flying through the pages and enjoying every single second.

So, there you have it. No finished projects. No new projects. No creating in the studio. Nothing to tell you unless you want details from the stories I'm reading. I'll be back in the studio soon, but until then, you know where I'll be. Engrossed in a great book...reading about friends old and new. If you'd like to blame anyone, please blame Stephen Donaldson. The man's a genius!

Note: You may have noticed that there are only five books in the photo (instead of nine - two sets of three and three of the final four). Years after the original two trilogies were printed, Donaldson reprinted the first and second trilogies into a single book for each three. I gave the original books to my niece and purchased the reprints for my library. The Final Chronicles are each in single hardcover books, so I have the three that are already in print and will add the fourth when it comes out in 2013. Dang! 2013. I guess that's good. I can get a lot of projects finished before I'll be able to read the last one.

Memory Lane Mondays - Five In The Family...

Do you have memories of your family gathering around the dinner table when you were a child? Before we ate, we always said grace. It was nothing long, organized or flowery - just a simple expression of thanks for the warm food before us. My mum told us that when our family was young with our sole provider (my father) in college, we were sustained many evenings by venison or pot pies. To this day, she prefers not to eat either, while I still I love both.

I'm the eldest of six kids in our family. Until the younger the kids were born (a sister in 1965 to lead the next three), we were only "Five in the Family". My mum, dad, me, my sister and my brother.

This photo was taken on Thanksgiving Day, 1959. (Don't you just love those glasses my dad was wearing?) I would have been five years old (I'm the one - head down - to the left of my mum.); my little sister was four, and my brother would have been seven months old, having been born in April of 1959. I love that, even as a baby, Mum helped my little brother hold his tiny hands together for grace so that he could learn the concept of gratitude at an early age.
I remember reading this book as a kid. "Five in the Family". I thinking about the fact that we, too, were a family of five. The book was part of the Dick and Jane learning series written by Doroth Baruch and Elizabeth Montgomery.

I read the books over and over when I was little. I still have a copy of the book (copyrighted in 1954 - my birth year), and I think I'm going to sit down and read it all over again this week. I know it's going to be a wonderful read down Memory Lane.
Does this book hold memories for you, too? I have an extra copy that I'd like to share with one lucky Memory Lane Mondays participant. Once you've written your story, be sure to come back here and link to the party.

On Friday, I'll go to the Random Number Generator and select the name of one lucky participant to win their own copy of "Five In The Family". (Sorry, but this drawing is only for those who write their own Memory Lane Monday post and link back to here to the party before Friday.)
I'll be hosting this party the last Monday of every month in 2011. You're welcome to join the party and share your special memories, old or new. Be sure to come back and link to this post to participate.

You're also free to use my button for your sidebar or your posts. And, if you don't care to write, I hope you'll still visit me, as well as the other contributors, to read this weeks' and future stories. I can't wait to tell you my next one about our "jeep"!

Obsessive Wild Hare Wednesday...

Just look at this photograph! Go ahead. Look carefully.
Enlarge it, if you need to, but check out the titles.
They're all knitting and crochet books.

I learned to knit when I was a kid, but like many others, put it away until later in life. In my case, I began knitting, in earnest, about eight years ago. When I did, I purchased my first book, Stitch 'n Bitch by Debbie Stoller. It's a fabulous book with great pictures to help any knitter learn or improve their techniques. It could have been enough. It should have been enough. Well, perhaps just a few patterns to make cool things for my family and friends were in order.

Instead, the Knitting Pattern Bug...a 'wild hare' of sorts...bit me. If you think these are all the books and patterns I own. Au contrair, Wild Hare. I'm more than embarrassed. I'm ashamed at my obsession. If you are looking for a particular title, let me know. I just might have it...and would give you a fair price.

Really. There's nothing to see here, people. Move along.

Although Shell has completed her "Wild Hare" Wednesdays over at Tales From The Raspberry Rabbits, I'm making up for last week when I missed the final post.

Your Wonderful House...

I found this book in the antique mall in Kewaskum, WI last week. I was intrigued by the cover...and then fell in love with the images and thoughts inside. The title is "Yourself And Your House Wonderful" by H.A. Guerber © 1913 in Great Britain. It was also reprinted in the United States and Canada.

This appears on the inside page: "Dedicated to all children with many hopes that this book will help to make them strong and happy".

The copy reflects life from an earlier time. It's a young person's guide to their body (referred to as their "little house") and how to conduct their life. It is filled with the wonderful naivete' that is sadly, long-gone. Wouldn't you love to be able to recapture some of this innocence lost? People living in this genteel day would faint dead away to see some of our current television commercials, how some people think, speak or dress today. I can practically hear their "Oh, my"s in my mind.

You can click on the photograph of the cover to link to more images and thoughts to be found in this book. I hope you'll go and check them out. I'd love to hear what you think about them. I'm sure that I'll be scanning some of these images as backgrounds for future projects.