John's Dragon

Of course I love it when my children draw or color anything for me, but color me a DRAGON and I'm in heaven! :)

Book Blurb: These Is My Words

This book is so fabulous that I was half-way through it and already wanting to read it again. This is one I plan to own so I can read it again and again. Since I'm not a big re-reader, that's about the biggest endorsement I can give. I finished this on the way home from Texas, and raved so much about it that Brian decided to read it too. He flew through it and loved it as well. This is a must read!

My only warning is that this diary-style novel starts out with a little bit of poor spelling and grammer to reflect the character's lack of formal learning at the time. Don't worry that the whole book reads like that. It's really just a few pages at the beginning until her grammer improves.

Okay, one more warning. Be prepared to lose sleep over this book. You won't want to put it down.

Here's a blurb from Amazon. (They have two blurbs, and the first contains spoilers, so be careful if you go there...)

"This novel in diary format parallels the early history of the Arizona Territories as Sarah and her family travel from the New Mexico Territory and settle down to carve out a new life on a ranch near Tucson in the 1880s. Sarah's diary, based on the author's family memoirs, is a heartwarming and heartbreaking fictional account of a vibrant and gifted young woman. Sarah starts out as an illiterate, fiery 17 year old. Eventually, her writing becomes as smooth and polished as Sarah herself as she becomes a tenacious, literate, and loving wife and mother. A treasure trove of discovered books becomes the source of her self-education. Turner describes the trip in such detail that one has a sense of having traveled with Sarah, experiencing all of its heartache and sadness, its backbreaking exertion and struggles, its danger and adventure, its gentle and lighter moments. Life in the new country brings the constant fear of Indian raids and the threat and reality of floods, fire, and rattlesnakes; bandits; rough men, and pretentious women all have an effect on the protagonist but her strong marriage makes the effort worthwhile. Sarah centers her world around her home and family but maintains an independent spirit that keeps her whole and alive throughout her many trials and heartaches. This is a beautifully written book that quickly captures readers' attention and holds it tightly and emotionally until the end."

Book Blurb: Jane Eyre

This is one of those books I've heard about my whole life and had absolutely ZERO desire to read. (Could we come up with a more bland title? I mean, really.) In recent years though, I kept hearing about how much people love it, which at least made me think about trying it. Then I read about this huge survey which asked readers to name their favorite book of all time. (Harry Potter made the top ten, which I'm sure you were dying to know.) But what stood at the very top of the list? Jane Eyre.

Well, I had to see what all the fuss was about. I'm so glad I did. This book is fantastic, even by modern standards. It's definitely one of my all time favorites. I don't usually re-read books (too many unread books to explore), but I recently re-read Jane Eyre for book club. The first couple hundred pages, I found myself wondering what made me love it so much before. I mean, I was definitely enjoying it. But it's a rare book that I LOVE and I remember LOVING this book. When I first started the re-read, I didn't see why.

Until we get to Mr. Rochester.

Oh yeah. NOW I remember why! Their relationship is great and cracks me up at times. And the plot (and plot twists) in the middle and end of the book are excellent. So yeah, if you can't tell, I highly recommend this book.

I admit, I hesitate to post a blurb about it. None of the blurbs I found do it justice and I doubt I could do much better. Here's the blurb I can tolerate, but trust me, the book is even better than this makes it sound:

"A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre has dazzled generations of readers with its depiction of a woman’s quest for freedom. Having grown up an orphan in the home of her cruel aunt and at a harsh charity school, Jane Eyre becomes an independent and spirited survivor—qualities that serve her well as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him whatever the consequences or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving her beloved?"

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Brian and I used to go to NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day site to see what cool pics were featured that day. Some pics are boring, but some are downright amazing. We'd put our favorites as backgrounds on our computer desktop (but these days our backgrounds are pics of our nephew and baby nieces).

Anyway, I went back to the site and trolled around because I thought it would be fun to post a few of the better ones on the blog. Some of these are like art. They're so amazing....

Star Forming Region NGC 3582

Fox Fur Nebula

M78 and Reflecting Dust Clouds in Orion

Crab Nebula from Hubble

(This is what's left from an exploded star!)

"Above the Clouds"

With each picture, APOD gives an explanation. Here's what they say about "Above the Clouds":

"From the windswept peak of Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii, your view of the world at night could look like this. At an altitude of about 13,500 feet, the mountain top is silhouetted in the stunning skyscape recorded near dusk in early December of 2005. The volcanic peak rises just above a sea of storm clouds illuminated by a bright Moon. Planet Venus is setting near the Moon as the brilliant evening star. The scene also includes the faint, milky band of our own galaxy's disk of stars and cosmic dust clouds stretching from the horizon into the sky along the right edge of the frame."

Like I needed another reason to want to go to Hawaii...

But we have it pretty good here too. I was surprised to see this:

A Protected Night Sky Over Flagstaff

"This sky is protected. Yesterday [April 16, 2008] marked the 50 year anniversary of the first lighting ordinance ever enacted, which restricted searchlight advertisements from sweeping the night skies above Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. Flagstaff now enjoys the status of being the first International Dark Sky City, and maintains a lighting code that limits lights from polluting this majestic nighttime view. The current dark skies over Flagstaff not only enable local astronomers to decode the universe but allow local sky enthusiasts to see and enjoy a tapestry contemplated previously by every human generation. The above image, pointing just east of north, was taken two weeks ago at 3 am from Fort Valley, only 10 kilometers from central Flagstaff. Visible in the above spectacular panorama are the San Francisco Peaks caped by a lenticular cloud. Far in the distance, the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy arcs diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, highlighted by the constellations of Cassiopeia, Cepheas, and Cygnus. On the far right, the North America Nebula is visible just under the very bright star Deneb."

Coolness.

Tagged Again... Seven Things About Me

Jodi tagged me on this one. It looks harder than the Google one because it's less structured, but more fun for the same reason. So here are seven things you might not know about me, in no particular order:


1. I've taken part in a real Indian sweat lodge. I wouldn't do it again for... er... modesty reasons. Not to mention the fact that I don't really believe what they believe. But I don't at all regret doing it just once because it was such a cool experience. It felt very exotic! Oh yeah, and hot. Really, really hot!

2. When I was a Junior in high school, I was an extra in a Disney made-for-cable movie (we're talking the big time here, LOL). Here's a scan of the article I saved about it:

I did a Google search on this, and apparently it was bad even by Disney standards, so that's saying something. Anyway, we didn't have cable at the time so I never got to see if I actually made it into the movie or not, but I've always wanted to watch it and find out. My most girlie memory of that experience is when the lead male told me my hair was pretty. I was too shy to do anything but blush and say thanks, but inside I was saying, Squeee! It was the only time he talked to me, except when I asked for his autograph on the last day, but it was cool anyway. I also remember one of the actresses (not the one in the photo) had long, straight blonde hair. They literally combed it out right before each and every take. It was an eye-opener for me. No wonder their hair looks so pretty all the time on TV, I thought. My hair would look good too if I was preening it 24-7! I also remember when they used a huge group of us to record some background crowd noise to use in various scenes. They gave us a sentence to say (I can't remember what it was now) and we all walked around in random directions repeating that to ourselves over and over again. It really did sound like a crowd you hear in the movies. You couldn't make out what we were saying at all. It was cool.


3. This is my life's version of the saying, "life doesn't always turn out as you expected." Both my parents are atheist and I literally didn't know who God was until I was 8 years old. I heard two of my friends talking about God and I thought they must have met some new kid in the neighborhood while I'd been away on vacation. It was a confusing conversation for me to follow. When they started saying things like "I think God is perfect and loves everyone" and "I believe God can see everything," I said in exasperation "Who are you talking about?!" They looked at me like I was from Mars. LOL. This event was followed by a brief, childlike faith in God for a few years. By the time I was a teenager, however, I was a pretty staunch atheist. On another note, my family life gave me certain ideas about what my future would be like. My parents divorced when I was young, my grandmother was first divorced and then widowed (twice), and so I didn't see much point in a man. It was just us girls growing up (even my dog was a girl) and I liked it that way. I was also deeply ambitious. My grand plan was to be a cut-throat journalist living in New York City and traveling all over the globe. No room for a husband, obviously. I might have houseplants. Maybe.


Little did I know that I'd end up married, LDS, and a stay-at-home mom with three boys. Growing up, I was too young to realize that you don't get married just to get married. You get married because you meet and fall in love with someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. I didn't know that faith is not about blinding your mind and clinging to false hope (as I'd believed) but that it's about being true to experiences with the Spirit which you can't deny, and trusting the Lord's love for you. I didn't know that being a stay-at-home mom is not about lack of ambition or old-fashioned submissiveness, but that it's about dedication to family and recognizing the value of a mother in the home. The only thing I can say I still have, out of the childhood list above, is ambition. Despite the fact that it's almost impossible to get published, and just as difficult to publish successfully, I want it anyway. Badly. In fact, I'm working my tail off for it. But you already knew that. :)


4. I hate to sew but I love to quilt. I love fabrics and colors and seeing it all come together in a nice, finished product. I used to do so much of it that I got burned out, but I still like the sight of a well-made quilt. In fact, I've decided I'll separately post pictures of the quilts I've made that I still own (most were gifts made during in my pre-digital-camera days, so sadly I don't have pictures of those).


Oh my gosh, I still have to come up with three more things?? Do they have to be interesting things? Hmm, let me see. Okay...


5. I love the ocean. Yeah, I know, who doesn't? But I really, truly love it. I could sit and watch the waves all day and not get tired of it. If I didn't fear earthquakes I'd live on the California coast. And that's one more item down. (Was that cheating?)



6. Thanks to my long-standing interest in genealogy and family history (way before my Mormon days) I've come to be the keeper of several family treasures. I own my great-grandmother's upright piano (I vividly remember her playing for us), her father's wooden cane which he carved himself, my other great-grandmother's hope chest, and another chest that my paternal grandmother got as a gift when she graduated school. I have several very cool and very old family photos which I've been planning to put in a post someday. There are a few other items too, but these are the main ones. I've always felt honored to be entrusted with these things until, one day, it will be my turn to pass them down to the next generation.


One more to go...


7. Um... I like to read. Oh wait, you already know that. I like to write! No, you know that too. I like art! I like Italy! I like to take pictures of my foot! Oy vey! What haven't I already confessed in this infernal blog? Oh, okay. I got one... ;)


Growing up in AZ, I think I'd been up in the mountains and seen snow on the ground just a couple of times. I remember it being the hard, icy kind of snow. I'll never forget, though, the first time I saw it actually snow. I was a freshman in college sitting, appropriately enough, in my poetry class, in a third story room of Old Main. I looked out the latticed windows and saw snow, real snow, falling from the sky. (Okay, well, it wasn't real snow. I realized later it was just flurries. But still!) I was so amazed and enamored by the sight of it, that I turned my chair around, and with my back to the teacher stared wide-eyed at the miracle before me. My poetry professor stopped her teaching long enough to ask me what I was doing. I explained that I'd never seen it snow before and wanted to watch. Since she was a flakey writer type, I got away with this no problem. I knew all I had to do was write a poem about it later and all would be forgiven. It totally rocked. I came to love the snow, and went through a pair of boots each winter because I thought it was far more fun to tromp through the snow than to try not falling on my (*cough*) walking on ice-ridden sidewalks. I also loved making snow angels (complete with halos) and, as a bonus, here's the proof:

Whew! That list was a little tough but fun too. :)

Okay, I'm tagging:

Deb

Roccy

Amy (cuz you got off WAY too easy on the last one, LOL)

Have fun!

Tagged! The Google Way

At last I have time to do this! (I hope I didn't drive everyone crazy with all the Texas posts, but it was fun for me.) Anyway, I'm supposed to answer these questions using pictures, not words. Thanks for tagging me Deb. I love Google so I thought this would be fun to do. :)

1. Age on my next birthday

(I should get something free for being the oldest friggin one doing this!)

2. Place I want to visit

Italy, hands down.

I had to include this next picture too because it's so cool. This is a NASA pic, taken from space, and shows the volcano plume when Mt. Etna exploded in October 2002.




3. My favorite thing

This was a tough one. So I'll post this pic with the footnote that it's ONE of my favorite things! I love listening to music. :)

4. My favorite food

Also this:

But I don't like strawberries dipped in chocolate. Go figure!

5. My favorite place

6. My favorite color

7. Nicknames I've had

(Um... what was the question?)

8. My first job

Also where I met my husband. :)

9. College major

Yes, I actually majored in creative writing. Somehow I managed to become a writer in spite of it.

10. Concerts I've been to

LOL! Look at that 80's hair! (Which was the same decade I saw them in concert, by the way.)



I was such a little punk rocker back then. I'll bet you won't be expecting these next two:

I saw both of these last two with my mom, and did enjoy them. The Church Lady was hilarious! And that's the extent of my vast concert-going experiences!

11. Name of past/present pet

Except my poodle was black. LOL, I can't believe I found this pic!

That was fun. Okay, I'm tagging:

Kimmy

Leeanne

Amy (because even though you're done I wanted to tag you anyway!!) :)

Texas Trip: Dallas Zoo

This was the last thing we did, and so this is the last post about Texas. (At last!) No commentary needed, except to say my camera battery died half-way through and I'd forgotten to charge up the spare. (Like, duh!) Anyway, thanks again to Anne and Leeanne for sharing their pics! :)

Boy and bird considering each other...

(The otters get the most pics because they were the cutest!)

Ben seemed to stay right by Baby Jenna almost the entire time. It was cute.

And that was our Texas trip. It was so much fun!