Hollander's

No trip to A2 can be complete without a visit to Hollander's. Love this store. Could take one of everything. Maybe two. Of course I bought supplies for my stash. Here are some candy shots from in the store.

Sweetwaters

Beautiful day in Ann Arbor (A2) yesterday so explored Main Street. Every exploration needs a place to take a break, and I quite enjoy Sweetwaters - the downtown location.

Happy Equinox

It sure does not feel like the autumnal equinox today. It has been raining on and off for the past 2 days and there is a flood warning in these parts. The rain is expected to continue for the next day or two. Have not seen the sun at all today - so kinda hard to appreciate equal parts day and night today. But it is here. The official end of summer.

There is much activity at home as we get ready for a road trip to Ann Arbor. Clothes? Check. Toys? Check. Art supplies? Check. Snacks? Check. Music and audio books for the ride? Check. Books? This used to the be the thing that always took me the longest time. How to decide? How the heck do you know what mood you'll be in when traveling? Am delighted to not have a large bag full of books to schlep around. Nook? Check.

Dogs

I'm not much of a dog person. It is not that I dislike dogs as much as I dislike badly behaved dogs. And yes, I put the full blame on the owners. So imagine my delight when I saw these warnings on a morning walk in Scituate.

Recent Reads

96. The Messenger
This is #6 in the Gabriel Allon series. An interesting look at terrorism in its many forms, how Saudi Arabia funds organizations like al-Qaeda, and the uneasy relationship between the US and the Saudis. The action is fast paced, and reminded me a little of Jack Bauer - I mean the sheer pace of all that happens in a day is exhausting and makes me feel like quite the underachiever. A fun and interesting read.

97. The Good Body
This is really wonderful. If you get the chance get the audio version and listen to Eve perform the piece - so very powerful. It made me laugh and cry and think. Loved it.

98. The Lock Artist
This is the first book I've read by the author and I really liked it. An interesting story told along two time-lines about a traumatized boy who discovers that he has a much sought after skill. The voice is clear, fresh and compelling, though I did find the end a bit rushed.

Random Musings

• I'm not usually around to watch the US Open, but this year caught the semi-finals and finals. Some of the best tennis I have ever seen. Made me want to get out my racket and play. Oh, you did not know that I play tennis? Well, I would not exactly say that I play - more along the lines of it is fun to chase those balls down. Where the heck are the ball girls when you need them?
• Speaking of tennis, anyone else annoyed by Serena Williams and her rude behavior on the courts? And she was fined $2000. Oh right. Why even bother? I was mad enough to sent a message to both the USTA and Nike.
• Been loving the wonderful boating weather recently. That big full moon rising over the ocean is magical.
  
• Anyone else notice that sunset is getting a little earlier each night in these parts? It is a little before 7pm now and is only going to get worse. Can see why the ancients sacrificed animals and virgins to try and appease the gods. Come back sun!
  

Recent Reads

92. Wanderlust: Real Life Tales of Adventure and Romance
I quite enjoy travel stories, and this collection is a fun read. I dipped in now and then. Some of the stories are sublime, while others are just so-so. Well worth a read though.

93. Shadow Tag
My book club selection this month is a bleak and beautifully told story of a family falling apart. I am reminded of Tolstoy - this book is about the particulars of an unhappy family. There are parts of this book that simply made me stop and try to remember to breathe.
From page 18: "But here is the most telling thing: you wish to possess me. And my mistake: I loved you and let you think you could".

94. Shelters of Stone
I am reading the Earth's Children series this summer and this is book five. The second to last book. There is quite a bit of repetition, and the book could certainly have used some better editing, but I quite enjoyed getting lost in Ayla's world as she finally gets to meet Jondalar's people. One more to go.

95. The Coffins of Little Hope
This is a delightful story about a small town with big dramas. Lovely writing about family, the world of publishing, missing children and the fine line between fact and fiction.

Hello September

And just like that we are almost at the end of the first week of September.

The kiddies are all back in school. Love those big yellow buses that cart them around. It certainly feels like summer is over in these parts. It has been chilly and raining, and I mean pouring, all week. Am feeling rather water-logged.

So imagine my delight when I visited Roz's blog and saw a link to these journal covers - interpretations of water. Would love any one of these. You can see them here.

Recent Movies

1. Inside Job
A fascinating look at the global financial disaster.

2. The Fighter
I loved everything about this movie and think it might just be the best movie I've seen all year. Dreams. Sports. Dysfunctional family. Lowell. Incredible acting. What's not to love?

3. Biutiful
The thing about foreign films is that there is no happy bow that ties up a story. This good movie is rather bleak and covers a range of topics - illegals, family, despair, community, dreams. Bardem is luminous as always.

4. The King's Speech
Watched this last night and it knocked my socks off. This movie is simply brilliant - everything about it. And, it might have just knocked The Fighter off the number 1 spot on my list for the year.

Summer reading

Summer reading. Is anything sweeter? I'll bet that most readers start out the summer with plans on what they will read. I for one tend to read a series while I dabble with other books. This summer my series is The Earth's Children by Jean Auel.

Did you get to your summer list? Here is a fun article that Salon.com did on just that.

Recent Reads

88. Mastering Sketching
While I would not say that I mastered sketching, this book is chock-full on information, ideas and inspiration. Loved it.

89. Before I Go To Sleep
This debut novel is getting quite a bit of buzz and I really liked it. Imagine what it would be like if you woke up every morning and could not remember the past couple decades of your life. Not even what happened yesterday. We are our memories, are we not? It is what makes us who we are. Our anchor in this crazy thing we call life. Even though we know that memories are unreliable and get changed every time we access them, there is still this sense that we remember. And because we remember we know who we are. The book explores who we are when we do not remember our lives. Much to think about.

90. The Exquisite Book
A fun artistic collaboration. Love books with pages that fold out - gives me a sense of tactile play as well as a delightful feast for my eyes.

91. The Family Fang
Another novel that is getting a lot of buzz, so decided to check it out. Such a strange, tragic, funny, quirky story about a family. There are parts that had me laughing uncontrollably. An insightful look at how parents influence/damage their kids, and how everyone tries to survive the best way they know how. This is a hard book to describe, but give it a read. I certainly enjoyed my romp through the craziness that is Fang.

What are you reading right now?

Middle Sister

One of the fun things about traveling is stopping in local stores and finding gems like this.

Sampled a bottle. Pretty good. Cheers to all the middle sisters out there.

Can you hear me now?

During a delicious chat with a friend recently I said something along these lines:
We now have all these ways to connect to other people, but have nothing to say.

You know what I'm talking about. How many people (are you one?) dive to get their cellphone so they can call someone and say these profound words: I just landed.
What did we do before cell phones? I guess people simply assumed that you landed unless there was a breaking news story about your plane on fire.

In many ways it reminds me of the old computer pings. You know the one I mean:
Are you there?
I am here. Are you there?

Now don't get me wrong, I am no Luddite. Technology has many wonderful uses and can certainly make certain things much more pleasant. But is there really a need for this constant pinging? Why not wait until one actually has something to say?

What do you think?

The joy of reading

How does a kid handle a non-reading parent? Read this comic strip for ideas.

Bye bye Irene

Am grateful that we got through Irene's visit with no mishaps. We did not even lose power which was a surprise. Others were not so lucky. There are millions without power, some in our neighborhood. Thousands of homes and boats were damaged. Huge trees came crashing down. Not to mention flooding and storm surges. I hope that you made it through unscathed.

Last week we had a nickel-sized hailstorm - I had no concept of how loud that is. Then there were thunderstorms with wind gusts high enough to damage docks at the marina. And now Irene. Am delighted that we have beautiful calm weather on the forecast this week.

Here come Irene

Hurricane Irene is headed our way and should be here tomorrow.

In preparation, stripped the boat of all stuff that would create more windage - sails, canvas, etc. and added extra storm lines. Now all we can do is wait and see what Irene brings. The forecast calls for tropical storm winds with hurricane gusts. And if that was not enough to make one concerned, the tidal surge is expected to hit at high tide - an astronomical high tide already. The marina has warned about mandatory evacuations - that is a first.

Okay, the boat is as ready as it can be. The prep on the house is underway. All batts (laptop, nook. phone, etc) are charged. Now we keep our fingers crossed and wait.

Home Libraries

Whenever I visit someone's home, I love browsing through their book shelves. It tells me much about the person. I have books in every room in the house except for the bathroom - just don't spend time in there I guess. There are books in my bag. Books on the boat. Books when I go camping or on vacation. Books make a home for me. They transport me back to the exact place and time when I read them. So now that I've started building an ebook library, my shelves are not as stuffed and overflowing as they used to be. Wonder how that will change things.

To look and drool over some fab libraries, click here.

Recent Reads

85. Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses
The thing with memoirs is that you either must be interested in the person, or they must have led an interesting life. As my pal M says - most people who think they lead interesting lives really do not. I wanted to like this book and decided to try it as an audio book on my morning walks. Could not get past the first several chapters - simply too much navel gazing in a boring way for me to continue to the end.

86. A Conspiracy of Paper
I've been running across this author at every turn recently, so decided to start with his first book and really enjoyed it. I love historical fiction, and this one got me thinking about the time England first moved away from silver and gold to paper money. Remember picking up baskets of cowrie shells in Mombasa and being fascinated that they were once used as money. Paper is only worth what the issuer says it is - no wonder it caused such a ruckus. This book wonderfully explores London in 1719, a time of stock jobbers, greed, power plays and the chaos that ensues that quite aptly reflects some of the shenanigans that took place on Wall Street recently.

87. Prince of Fire
This is No.5 in the Gabriel Allon series and explores some of the history behind the tensions in the Middle East. A good read that gives one lots to ponder. Everyone has a story. Everyone is right. So how to fix the cycle of violence?

Journal Page

The third and final page from the sail to Scituate. I decided to use pencil and pan watercolors for this page. I usually draw directly in ink, and am pleased with the less stark lines that a pencil makes on the page.

Journal Page

Another page from Scituate harbor done with pen and pan watercolors.

I realized that I hardly ever sketched boats, so last year started to try and capture what I saw around me all summer long. This cat boat had such graceful lines and I realized after I started drawing that the perspective was off - the mast is quite a bit taller.

But the sketch captures a moment in time that I spent really looking at this boat, and I am reminded of a quote that I read somewhere about how the goal of sketching is not an accurate capture (we do have cameras after all), but to really see what we are looking at. That I did.

Journal Page

Here is a sketch of a boat next to us in Scituate harbor done in pen and pan watercolors.

I love being in the mooring field in this scenic harbor. I love the gentle rocking, the slap of waves on the boat, the music of flapping halyards, the colors on the water, the lovely boats, the light. Beautiful.

Recent Reads

I've decided to update the count on my reading list to reflect the actual numbers for a given year.

80. Surface Treatment Workshop
This is a great reference book for creating backgrounds, and I've often found that starting from a page that is not blank is easier than staring at all that white space.

81. What I Wish For You
Delightful gem of a book. So many nuggets to ponder and marinate on. For example, think about the conversation around your dinner table. Do you talk about people, events or ideas? Move the talk more towards ideas.

82. Scared Squirrel has a Birthday Party
My nephews love this series and on a recent trip to the library, 6 year old Jonah was excited to discover that there are new books that we have yet to read. Not only did the boys read the book themselves, they asked me to read aloud to them. Love that.

83. The Plains of Passage
This 800 page tome is book 4 of the Earth's Children series that I'm reading this summer, and I was delighted yet again to be reading it on my nook and giving my wrists a break. This has to be my least fave book of the series so far. The so-called traveling book, there is much repetition and lots and lots of pages on the flora that could have used some editing. On the plus side, I did learn more about Mammoth sex! I have 2 more books in the series and will get to them after I've had a bit of a breather.

84. The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story
My book club is reading a selection of the stories in this book. I am not a big short story fan. I find that most are simply not good enough to stand on their own, and I am usually disappointed when I settle in for a read and the story suddenly ends. Give me a good, thick book any day. So imagine my surprise when I read the introduction by Anne Enright and changed how I look at a short story. I read the stories at bedtime. One a day. And actually quite enjoyed the experience - though not all the stories I read are ones I would recommend, there are some real gems in this collection. The biggest gift for me is that I learned something new. Love that.

Still rocking

Back home after a fun cruise to Scituate harbor to kick of my birthday weekend. Babes arranged for beautiful weather and an incredible full moon - what more can a girl ask for?

Got in some reading, and exploring, and sketching, and napping, and hanging out watching the boats. After several days on the boat, my body is still rocking in time to gentle waves. Even though I am back on land. Love that.

This journal page was created using pen and watercolors. I drew a woman across from me in the coffee shop, and gave her something more interesting than a computer to look at.

Everyday Objects - Eggplant

My goddaughter turns 9 today. Happy birthday Chickadee.

Am often amused how kids really want to talk about how old they are, while most adults shy away from that question - at least until they get to an age they feel is an accomplishment. Always make me smile.

The sketchbook theme this month is everyday objects. I love eggplants. Used to hate them - and then learned that they were simply cooked incorrectly - too slimy. They are now a staple in our home.

This page was created while on an art date with my 6 year old nephew - you can see our "studio" in this earlier post. The page haa a background of acrylics already on. Used pen, watercolor pencils and a black crayon for the rest.

Journal Page

I had plans that included cleaning today - something my home could use at the moment. Keep getting distracted by other fun things, and today was no different. Did do some, but not as much as I had planned. Keep reminding myself that the graveyard is full of good housekeepers and move on.

This is a building at my local park that I sketched while on a play date with my nephews last week. I clearly need to work on my trees.

Journal Page

I don't usually carry collage material with me when I leave the house, so looked through a found magazine for images that captured my attention in some way. Slim pickings. But was able to find enough to create this page.

The background was pre-painted with leftover acrylics from a previous art session. This is a great way to start a page - there is no blank white page staring back at you.

Journal Page

We've been having crazy weather in the Boston area - it is chilly enough for a sweatshirt one day and too hot for even a tank top the next. The sea breeze tends to keep us cooler, but also fools people into not covering up, so have seen quite a few sun burned people about.

Decided to capture Opus, who moves to the boat for the sailing season, and give him a "sunburnt" look. Used my usual travel kit - pen, watercolors, water brush.

Recent Reads

1. The Uncommon Reader
First time I have read work by the author and I loved this novella. An ode to books and readers, and worlds opened.

2. Minding Frankie
I have read several books by the author and enjoyed them. This is not as good as the others, though many of the characters are familiar. A little too light a read. The fact that the "bad guy" is a social worker looking out for the best interests of a child gives you an idea of the story. I do like the interconnectedness of the lives in the story, but it was a little too vanilla for my tastes.

3. Drawing Lab
A fab book if you are looking for creative ways to play.

4. Elemental Journaling
Interesting ideas and fun pictures but not my cup of tea. A little too contrived for my tastes.

5. Unfurling
A good primer for mixed media play.

Journal Page

I have a weakness for bananas and often think about how little I have to pay to buy them in this part of the world. Their cost certainly does not reflect the farming labor, let alone the cost of shipping them to my local market.

My basic travel kit includes a journal, watercolor box, pen and water brush. Here are pics of my painting nook on the boat and the final page.

Art by Luke

These is the art that 8 year old Luke created during our art in the park session this week. Love the loose lines - just the thing I try to capture as an adult.

Celebrating Birthday Month (3)

And the celebrations continued with an artist date. Jonah was captivated by this fab book that I was reading and wanted to "learn to draw like that".

So got him started with tracing paper, markers and crayons.

Verdict? "That is the best picture I have ever drawn. I can't believe it!", he said proudly. Love that.

Celebrating Birthday Month (2)

If there is something that warms my heart more than seeing children read, I certainly can not think of it at the moment.

There was reading done in various spots during the day. Love that.

Celebrating Birthday Month (1)

As you might know, I celebrate my birthday month - a day is just not enough time to pack in all the fun.

Could not think of a better way to kick of this month than to spend it with some of my fave people doing some of my fave stuff.

The day included art in the park, long conversations, reading, and playing with my nephews and Babes. Oh, and did I mention Bear Claw? My fave ice-cream ever. Could not ask for a better start to the celebration.

Journal Page

I am fascinated by how cultures honor ancestors, and when I saw this statue was immediately drawn to it.

A quick journal page with ink, acrylic paint and pencil. I scraped and scrubbed the page to create the sense of an aged artifact.

(Click image to view larger).

Loving

Loving sailing season.
Loving re-watching Jackie Brown - such good story telling.
Loving that my nephews get on the phone to tell me about books they are reading.
Loving scheduling a play date with my nephews.
Loving good reads on my nook.
Loving early morning and sunset walks along the water.
Loving being startled when Old Ironsides fires her cannon.
Loving belly laughs and good conversation.
Loving summer.

Recent Reads

1. The Confessor
Picked up book three of the Gabriel Allon series - how can you not love the idea of a Mossad art restorer? An interesting read, and I learned more about the role of the Vatican during the Holocaust - something I sure did not learn about in Catholic school.

2. A Death in Vienna
This is book four, and the final book in the Holocaust trilogy featuring Gabriel Allon and I found it a fascinating and disturbing read. Like the earlier books in the series, I learned about things I had no idea about - in this case the role that Austrians had in the Holocaust. I love books that introduce me to a new way of thinking about a topic, and this trilogy did just that. Yes, we hear all about the Nazis, but what about the role of Swiss banks (book 1), the Vatican (book 2) and Austrians (book 3)?

3. Inkheart
I was introduced to this series by my nieces who love it. This is book one of the trilogy and it is quite a fun read, especially for those of us who love books and the worlds they create. The magic and power of reading is explored very creative ways.

4. Coraline: The Graphic Novel
I found the movie rather creepy, and have yet to read the book, but enjoyed this graphic novel. Really good story and the illustrations are fab.

5. Secret Daughter
You know that feeling you get that you have read a book before, but don't actually remember what comes next, so you keep reading? Well, have had that with several books lately - this being one. An interesting story about Indian families, adoption, identity and the burden of daughters. Have read several articles recently about the continued decline in girl birth rates in India and other Asian countries, and this story examines one example of what might happen when an unwanted girl is born in a culture that values boys/men over girls/women.

Element of childhood

In keeping with the sketchbook theme of ELEMENT this month, I captured this little toy who hangs out on our book shelves.

Toys are an element of childhood, though not just childhood anymore. Usually toys just get more expensive as one gets older.

Remember wooden toys? I have always loved them. In my opinion the lack of buttons and lights and beeps allowed my imagination to soar where I wanted. I was not constrained by all the bells and whistles of toys sold today. This little guy has been around for at least two generations of playtime. Love that.

Amy Winehouse

So sad to hear that Amy Winehouse is dead at 27. She had such talent and I love her music. I remember hearing Rehab for the first time while sitting in an outdoor cafe in Thailand.

Element of surprise

The sketchbook theme this month is ELEMENT. Well, I sure had the element of surprise today. I started out drawing a sea gull, and this is what I ended up with.

I took out my art bag and dived in. The page was created using pen, oil pastels, water-soluble oil pastels, acrylic paint, stencils and markers.

Baby it's HOT outside

In the midst of a heat wave in these parts - unusually warm for us. Temps around 104-107F - not fit for man or beast. Global warming? Am staying cool and catching up on some TV shows:

1. Battlestar Galactica
Started watching Season 1 recently - very low tech and strangely interesting.

2. Carnivale
Another strangely compelling series - just finished watching the first season last night. As a reviewer said, it is a cross between John Steinbeck and Stephen King. How could I resist that?

Recent Reads

I love graphic novels - they were called comics when I was a kid. I remember endless hours of pleasure reading the stories and looking at the illustrations, and wanted to expose my nieces and nephews to some of that joy. My nieces all have birthdays in a couple of weeks, so I read my way through several likely candidates to determine which ones I would send them. These are the ones that made the list:

1. The Stonekeeper
This is the first book of the four part Amulet series, and I love the story - has a strong girl character. I could loose myself for hours in the lush illustrations. I had not heard of the author before and will looking into more of his work. Fab.

2. The Stonekeeper's Curse
Book 2 of the Amulet series.

3. The Cloud Searchers
Book 3 of the Amulet series. Am looking forward to book 4 due out in September.

4. Flight Explorer (Vol 1)
Same author as above, but the book consists of shorter stories by different artists. A fun romp.

Some of the other books I read:
5. Still Missing
This books got great reviews and while I thought the writing was interesting, I did not love it. The story is a hard one to read - a woman gets abducted by a man and kept prisoner in an isolated cabin. Tough content, and the writing was not good enough to convey the material convincingly. Interesting twist in the end.

6. Artist to Artist
23 major illustrators talk to their kids about art. This book is a great read for young and old - anyone interested in the creative process of book illustration. Loved it.

Bibliotherapy

I just might have found my next career. I could be a bibliotherapist and help create a reading list and reading nook for people who want a reading vacation. So love this idea. Go read this post to get inspired.

Readers

I love meeting readers. I love hearing what they are currently reading. I love hearing about books they loved. Or how a book changed them. And how they pick their next read.

I am often asked how I find books for my TBR list. Here are some of the ways:

1. Talk to readers
2. Listen to podcasts about authors and books
3. Read the NYT book review
   
4. Amazon - they have one of the best search engines in the market, and I am a nook person so that is saying something!
   
5. I love Powells - both their store and website. I quite like the Puddly awards.
6. Book blogs
   

Today I attended a summer book reading list discussion at my library. Two librarians reviewed various books and handed out a list they would recommend. Had already heard of most of the books, but discovered some new ones to check out. Love that.

On a slightly different note, I recently learned that most avid readers read one of three genres - romance, mysteries and thrillers. That explains the huge romance selection of ebooks at the library - something that has baffled me for some time. Who knew?

Journaling with kids

As promised in this post, here are the pages we created in the park. The one above is how I captured the afternoon.

I love how Jonah spelled my name below the heart he drew for me. Check out how he captured those 3D holes on the top. Love Luke's imagination - so cool how he drew me floating on a red raft.

Recent Reads

1. I Remember Nothing
A mini book of essays, most of which are funny and entertaining.

2. High Crimes
As I continue to search for a good thriller, picked this one and honestly cannot understand the rave reviews. While an interesting idea, it was not well written and the characters were not flushed out. Skip it.

3. The Valley of Horses
Am currently hooked on the Earth's Children series, and am reading each of these 600+ page books in giant gulps. This is book 2, and while not as fab as the first book in the series is a fun escapist summer read.

4. The Mammoth Hunters
Am currently hooked on the Earth's Children series, and am reading each of these 600+ page books in giant gulps. I read book 2 and 3 back to back and realize that there is quite a bit of recapping which is a little annoying. Guess it would not have been an issue if I had read them when they were initially published years apart. This is book 3, and while not as fab as the first book in the series is a fun escapist summer read.

** Except for High Crimes, I read all of these on my new nook. My wrists are so happy, and I was able to read one 600+ page book after another without having to carry a bag of books with me everywhere I went. Love that.

Art in the park

Recently spent the day with my nephews and we went to the park for the afternoon.

Activities included a picnic, hunting for fish and frogs, art and ice cream. A perfect summer day. It warms my heart to see kids (or anyone) play creatively.

I'll post what they created after I scan their art.

Recent Movies

I don't really watch movies in theaters anymore - am so disappointed by most that I rarely bother. I catch up on my movies when they come out on DVD.

1. Rabbit Hole
Was delighted when I stumbled upon this movie. It is made for adults. No need for guns and explosions - at least on the outside. The human heart is capable of that all on its own. A beautifully told story about love and loss and family and comfort and forgiveness. Loved it.

2. Hereafter
With Clint Eastwood as director, I was looking forward to some good story telling. But he fell short on this one. Too choppy of a story and not compelling enough to hold one's interest.

3. Waiting for Superman
Loved this documentary. Found myself saying YES out loud often. A look at education and how the current system fails kids.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
The last book in the Harry Potter series was disappointing, and the movie is even worse. Too much focus on special effects and not enough story telling. What was with all that moody staring? And while the hairs on my neck stand up whenever Nagini is on screen, the movie as a whole is rather boring.

Old Ironsides

This was the view from our cockpit a couple of days ago.

One of the festivities over the July 4th weekend in Boston is the turnaround of the USS Constitution. She sure is looking pretty after all the restoration efforts. I hear that she is expected to sail under her own power next summer. Been a long time since I saw her under sail. Something to look forward to.

Summer

Loving boating season.
Loving gelatto. And ice-cream. And cannolis.
Loving being rocked to sleep on the water.
Loving harbor walks.
Loving warm days and cool nights.
Loving star gazing.
Loving being immersed in good reads.
Loving fresh veggies from CSA.
Loving fresh berries and fruit.
Loving fireworks season.
Loving everything about summer.