A GOOD BOOK, A GOOD SONG, AND EYE CANDY

A GOOD BOOK: I just finished two good books, one mentioned in an earlier post The Last Wife of Henry VIII. Insterestingly enough, Katherine Parr was a part of court life throughout all of Henry's wives so this book provides a different perspective as an overall view of his reign and desparation to sire an heir to the throne. The chronology of his life and keeping track of his many wives has been difficult for me to follow and this book helped to get "things" in order in my brain.

Another book I would recommend written by Elizabeth Chadwick is the tale of John Marshal father of one of the greatest knights of all time Sir William Marshal A Place Beyond Courage. It took a little bit to get into the story in the beginning, but once it started rolling it is a good read. I think the slow start may have been my trouble in transitioning from the 1500 and all of the Henry VIII drama going back in time to the mid 12th century.

What sparked all this interest in English historical fiction? From way back I've always loved any good book or movie about King Arthur, Robin Hood, King Henry VII, and even Princess Diana and that has continued to the present with a renewal of that interest being sparked by the TV series on showtime The Tudors and the reading of two best sellers by Ken Follett Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. I like the comparitive views presented by reading books from the perspective of the Church and the Kings and their lords.

A simple resource to help me keep track of where I am "in time" as I read has been a chronologial listing of English Monarchs. I appreciate a good story that is historically sound and well-researched.

A GOOD SONG: Being fairly new to the blog scene I find myself spending way too much time exploring different blogs and adding them to my favorites to come back and check out. As time goes on I find myself editing my bookmarks deleting some and adding new ones. And, a few are becoming regular favorites ... enough to maybe even think about starting a blog roll. One of those sites came to light this morning.

Part of our regular morning ritual is reading the paper over breakfast. Mike reads word for word the items of interest to him while I quickly scan the headlines over his shoulder asking an occassional question about an ariticle here and there. I'm interested in only one part of the paper and must anxiously wait until he finishes reading the comics before I can delve into the daily crossword puzzle. Oh how I love the days when I'm incredibally inteligent and rue the days I don't know nuthin' 'bout 'nuthin'.

So, to tie all this together ... crossword puzzles, a good song, and blog rolls? I found a blog that posts all the answers to the Star Tribune crossword each day with comments, links, and general repsonses to the clues, the words, the themes ... you name it. Good quick reading and much easier than hunting up a word in my crossword dictionary.

But what about the good song? Today there was a link posted with 65D: Give it a go: TRY. "TRY me, TRY me..." What a great start to my morning!

THE EYE CANDY: we had some special visitors come walking down the driveway just proud as ... well, you can see ... there were five of them in all ... not a bit afraid of me ... and very intent on eating seeds that had fallen naturally along the fenceline of the pasture.

I love the color of their feathers and the fanned topnot on each of their heads.

I love the way the line of flowers leads your eye across the picture. This is a concept I try to teach in my quilting classes when dealing with the layout of scrappy quilts making them works of art rather than jumbles of color and fabric.

Isn't this little garden of purple flowers just the greatest study on value? Texture and scale differences are minimal, but the change in value holds your interest and makes you come back for a second look.

And, finally, a photo entitled A Mother-Daughter Portrait.

I love you Eryn.

WORKS FOR ME AND FITS MY BUDGET

I just pasted a new widget on the sidebar today ... a listing of recent purchases from ITunes. I thought some of you might be interested in what has replaced the "Holiday Soundtrack" for my studio. I love my Christmas music and start it running non-stop the day after Thanksgiving all the way through to New Year's Day. But now it's time for the January Soundtrack to be running.

One of the best additions with the purchase of my new computer last fall was my new sound bar. As you can see, it fits right under my monitor. It has an on/off volume control knob right on the face of the bar, as well as, responding to the controls on my monitor and great sound. I'm sure there are other sound bars on the market of various sound quality and price ranges. This one happens to be from a company called Altec Lansing. Wouldn't we all love surround-sound Bose throughout the house but, ... this works for me and my budget.

So, once you're wired for sound you want to check out one of my favorite new albums by just clicking on the cover on my ITunes widget. I happen to be a big fan of the acoustical guitar style and I've found a new artist ... I love his sound. Billy McLaughlin and the album is Guitar Meditations, Vol.2 ... Soulfood featuring Billy McLaughlin.

You'll also want to click on the link above to visit his website to read his amazing story. He suffers from a neuromuscular condition diagnosed in 2001 which prevents him from playing the guitar anymore. He has since relearned all of his music playing with his left hand rather than right and is back on stage sharing his beautiful music once more.

You'll see some other purchases in the line-up. I can't always hop on a plane to go hear Toby, my son who is the principal trombonist with the San Diego Symphony, in another concert. So the next best thing is to get together all of the selections for his upcoming performances and put together the playlist for my ITunes library. My favorites are Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition with San Diego and Prokofiev:Symphony No. 7 when he performs in New York City with the New York Phil. Not quite the same as live, but ... works for me and fits my budget.

What else am I listening to these days? For my nightly "reading" via IPod, I'm listening to The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani - a novel taking place in 17th century Persia about the struggles of a young girl and her mother trying to rebuild a life for themselves in a very male dominated culture after the tragic sudden death of her father. I usually prefer historical fiction from the Western World so this is very different for me. As I was exploring more about ancient Persia this evening I found a great traditional Persian recipe I'd like to try called Apple Stew. I also enjoyed looking at pictures in the gallery section of the author's website of Isfahan, the city where the story takes place. So, I'll eat the food, check out the pictures from the gallery, and read the story. Not quite the same as visiting Ancient Persia in person but ... works for me and fits my budget.