Shadow Shot Sunday #19

Hosted by Hey Harriet
(click above image for more photos)





Chimney Shadow

*Achoo!*

I'm encouraged. *Achoo!* Despite the fact it dropped below freezing last night, I think Spring is just around the corner! *Achoo!* *Achoo* Trees are starting to bud, grass is getting green, *Achoo!* and I'm starting to sense some pollen in the air.

*Achoo!*

Hey, it beats being cold!

*Achoo!* *Achoo!*

My Public Speaking Report

I appreciated all your encouragement regarding the program I had to present earlier in the week. We ended up with a small group, but it was a very receptive group. Everything went well and I have to admit it wasn't as painful as I anticipated. I think a lot of that had to do with the subject matter. I really, really like that book!

Not only did I give the program, my "Circle" group was responsible for the meal as well. In addition to a bowl of red seedless grapes, I contributed the following two items. I apologize for the poor quality of the photos, but they were snapped quickly and without preview. The first recipe is from Southern Living Magazine, the second from Simple & Delicious Magazine.

Creole-Roasted Black-Eyed Peas

Preheat oven to 425F. Gently toss 2 (15.8 oz.) cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed, with 3 Tbsp. olive oil and 1-1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased 17 x 12" jelly-roll pan. Bake 55 or 60 minutes or until crispy and dry, stirring every 10 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes.



Party Vegetable Dip
(Amy Engle, Geneva, NB)

2 cups mayonnaise
1-1/2 cups (12 oz.) 4% cottage cheese
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
1 envelope (1 oz.) ranch salad dressing mix
1 Tbsp. dried minced onion
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Assorted fresh vegetables

In a food processor, combine the first six ingredients; cover and process until blended. Transfer to a serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled. Serve with vegetables.

Dressed for Death by Donna Leon

My newfound love for Donna Leon's "Commissario Guido Brunetti" made the next book in this series a "no-brainer" selection for the Global Reading Challenge (Europe, Italy).

Dressed for Death is Leon's third installment in this excellent series. It opens with Commissario Brunetti looking forward to a vacation. The summer heat in Venice is brutal and his family is planning an escape to the mountains. However, the heat is not the only brutality. A man with his face beaten beyond recognition is found behind an abattoir on the nearby island of Marghera. Brunetti must scrap his plans to join his family when, due to a lack of man-power, he is assigned to the case. On the surface, it appears to be a routine (?) crime - the body is dressed as a woman and found in an area frequented by prostitutes. Murder is seldom simple, though, and this case grows more complicated with each clue uncovered.

Donna Leon is a fine author and this book totally lived up to my expectations. For those who enjoy murder mysteries, I highly recommend the series.

Squirrel Nest

Squirrel nests are a pretty common sight in my part of the world. Camouflaged during the summer, they become obvious once the trees drop their leaves.

This one just happens to be right in my line of vision every time I open the back door to let Alice and Mabel in or out (which can be anywhere from 3 or 4 times a day to 3 or 4 hundred times a day, depending on their mood). I marvel at the engineering. We've had some fairly windy days in recent months and it amazes me that it's still up there!

Shadow Shot Sunday #18

Hosted by Hey Harriet
(Click above image for more photos)





Seeking Shadow Shade

Public Speaking

I am not a public speaker. In fact, the mere thought of standing up in front of a group of people terrifies me. So how, you might wonder, did I allow myself to be talked into presenting a program for my church's UMW (United Methodist Women) General Meeting next week?!

I'm still trying to figure that out.

I'm going to do a presentation on "Writing Your Life Story" based on a book I shared in an earlier blog entry. I've prepared an outline, practiced my presentation over the phone with my daughter, and feel fairly confident at this point. It's not like I'll be facing a hostile crowd, for heaven's sake! If anything, it has re-inspired me to work on a project I had unfortunately set aside.

Smashwords

So far I'm really enjoying my Kindle. It will never take the place of "real" books, but it definitely has its benefits. I knew there were places other than Amazon from which I could downloads things to read, but didn't take that step until Dorte posted about putting a collection of her work at Smashwords. That prompted me to check it out. Not only did I download Dorte's collection, I also got one by Kathryn Grant that Dorte shared a preview of . (I already have a novel by Grant that I downloaded from Amazon)

Since I'm moving along nicely with my reading challenges for the year, I decided to take a break over the weekend and read both of these collections (in addition to catching up on some magazines). What fun they both were!! Quick, light reading with just the right touch of humor and "dark" twists! One collection was free, the other only 99 cents... a bargain any way you look at it!!

The Sock

On a recent visit with my daughter we had lunch at a great little bistro. Following our meal, we decided to walk to a coffee shop several blocks away. It was on the return walk back to the car that my daughter suddenly said,

"I think that's my sock!"

Confused, I looked around and spotted a single sock lying on the sidewalk several feet ahead of us. I laughed, mentally trying to figure out how her sock could have come off her foot without her knowledge. Then she said,

"Seriously. I think that's my sock. I kept feeling something inside the leg of my jeans while we were eating lunch and I think it was that sock. It must have fallen out when we were walking to the coffee shop."

Not sure what to say at that point I questioned why she didn't pick it up. Her response?

"Well, I'm only 95% sure it's mine!"

Several days later she told me she had since then folded and put away all the laundry she'd done that day..... minus one sock.

Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff

For the Global Reading Challenge "seventh continent", I chose to read books from the realm of Arthurian legend.

My first encounter with King Arthur was Mary Stewart's series which includes The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day. It sparked an interest and I continued on to read several other versions including Stephen R. Lawhead's five-book "Pendragon Cycle" and my favorite, T.H. White's Once and Future King. Although familiar with Tennyson and Malory's versions, both sit on my bookshelf unread.

Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff was recommended to me by my friend Raven as her favorite version of the Arthurian legend. I will agree that it is an excellent telling of the story. It approaches the legend from more of a historical perspective - the battle to save Britain from the Saxon invasion - rather than the romance of Camelot. Although Sutcliff retains a few of the well-known themes from tradition, she states in her forward to the book that "Sword at Sunset is an attempt to re-create from fragments of known facts, from likelihoods and deductions and guesswork pure and simple, the kind of man this war leader may have been, and the story of his long struggle."

Sword at Sunset is certainly a different telling of Arthur's story, but one that makes it seem entirely believable. I highly recommend it!