Window Thinking
“For the rest of his life, Jim Thorpe would talk about his life in terms of two distinct eras: pre- and post-Olympic scandal. This was the start of part two, and he was eager to do what he had always done – what the Carlisle football team had always done after a bitter defeat – …
“It was our Boston Garden, our Maple Leaf Gardens, our Montreal Forum. Bryan Gardens had lights and music; it had stands; it had schedules; it had hockey games and an ice show. It had rink managers; i thad a locker room; it had fans. It had just about everything that the great arenas had except …
“Each and every time he found a word that piqued his interest he wrote it down, in tiny, almost microscopic letters, in its proper position in the quire he had made. The unique manner of his procedure was soon to become a hallmark of Minor’s astonishing accuracy and eye for detail. His work would win …
The children all crowded around Ribsy to pet him. “I sure am lucky,” said Henry, “but he had me scared for a while.” “Jeepers, I don’t know what this neighborhood would have done without Ribsy,” said Beezus. “Come on. Now that Ribsy is Henry’s for keeps, let’s think of something we can all play.” LOVE …
“But as far as I’m concerned, Mary is always going to look a lot like Imogene Herdman – sort of nervous and bewildered, but ready to clobber anyone who laid a hand on her baby. And the Wise Men are always going to be Leroy and his brothers, bearing ham.” Fun read. Every time.
And so 2017 was yet another “not much reading” year for me. But there were some good reads in there — a few highlights: Picture books! I started my job as a library shelver in July and for a couple months I brought home a different picture book to read each day. But that could …
This morning I was making coffee in the kitchen when I heard Ethan flipping light switches in the next room. A little bit later he came to the kitchen and grumbled, “These lights are weird. I can never figure out which switch turns on which light.” My thoughts EXACTLY. Recently I’ve noticed my irritation when …
Last night I walked down the hill to watch the 9:30p sunset. We have more than 15 hours between sunrise and sunset now and all the recent long days of “warm” sunshine have gone a long way toward melting out the lingering piles of snow. Yesterday was the first day that the Anchorage snow cover …
After 28 days in a row with no measurable precipitation, snowflakes were drifting in the air while Ethan was getting ready for school last Tuesday morning. There’s been snow on the ground (and often in the air) the majority of his fifth grade year now. We had some snow come and go in November, but by December, the snow was …
It’s been a beautiful month of March here in Anchorage! A few late February storms delivered us a nice pile of snow and then we got a long stretch of cold, clear days. The ever lengthening daylight on this side of solstice only added fuel to all the good cheer. This month we started seeing …
Last April I got a prescription for my first pair of glasses. Actually, three pairs of glasses. One for reading. One for distance. One for sunshine. I’d been using over-the-counter reading glasses for a couple years previously, so that wasn’t really new, but when I walked outside with my new distance glasses on – OH!!! …
Several weeks ago my dad sent me a text to say he’d just finished reading Kerry Egan’s new book, On Living, and it made him think of me. My dad works as a chaplain in a senior housing community and Kerry Egan is a hospice chaplain, but Dad said the book was about more than …
I read good books in 2016. These were my favorite: When Breath Becomes Air Orbiting Jupiter Pax Silver People: Voices From the Panama Canal Just Mercy Behold The Dreamers What Alice Forgot On Living A Few Quick Observations: 3 of my favorites were Middle Grade/YA: Orbiting Jupiter, Pax, Silver People The book that set me …
I finished reading a couple books yesterday. Just in time to mark them on my 2016 Reading List. Just in time to make this NOT MY WORST READING YEAR since I started keeping track. BUT WAIT! I just looked it up and nine years of tracking titles says: Nothing weird about this year! Weird was 2013 …
“It’s not like Alaska isn’t wilderness – it mostly is. But most Alaskans don’t live in the wild. They live on the edge of the wild in towns with schools and cable TV and stores and dentists and roller rinks sometimes. It’s just like anyplace else, only with mountains and moose.”– Tom Bodett David says living …
After 3 weeks of August rain, the sun finally came out! We spent the gift on a hike up Mt. Baldy on Sunday. We’d been there once before as a family – in fact, Baldy was our first Alaska mountain hike. On July 14, 2013 I wrote a Google+ post that went like this: Yesterday we hiked up …
BAM. Facebook served up a fabulous On This Day 2009 picture for me today. Dandelions in the hand of a child. I’ve been thinking about dandelions a lot lately because I’ve just wrapped up a 6 week writing class and for our first assignment we were supposed to “find some small thing and describe it in less than 500 …
I think a lot about “seeing” these days. For one thing, I live in a landscape so rich with crazy-beautiful stuff to see. I walk with a camera and I walk without. Two ways of seeing and they both pay loads of awesome in Alaska. One Sunday afternoon in May, Ethan and I took kayaks …
I simply had no idea what to expect from The Life of Pi. Over the past years several people have told me they liked the book and they thought I would too. I know the story took shape for the big screen several years ago and received positive review. But I guess I never really read …
It seems my reading rhythm requires a writing reflection on January 6. Second annual. Or is this the first annual if it’s the second time I’ve done it? Or is it even a numbered annual if it happened on the same date accidentally? In any case, I counted 86 books last year. Here’s some breakdown: 17 audible 29 …
I did not know this is a thing. But indeed: Today! And so. Of course…..Ginger. Ginger our golden puppy. Ginger our yellow dog. The stories we tell. The love we share. You captured our hearts with your “sorrowful eyes” and instantly became the sun holding our boy in orbit. We are fuller, richer, happier because you are part of our family story. We …
One day, Little Sal went with her mother to Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries….. One day, the Searls boys went with their parents to Arctic Valley to pick blueberries….. We hiked here as a family last September and made plans to return during blueberry season. This is that season! I’ve heard that people hold their favorite berry patches close and don’t share their secrets …
Sitting in my chair by the window this morning, I was thinking about my September calendar and only half attending as I read aloud to the boys. Blue sky + white puffy clouds + sunshine replaced yesterday’s cold rain in my window view as my eyes ran fast across the words on the page in front of me. We’ve been …
Last week I finally updated my 2014 Reading List here. It’s so hard for me to make a favorites list because I read books for a variety of reasons and so I’ve got a lot of different angles to evaluate. This is the first year I’ve noticed that I’ve spent a lot of time reading books that I haven’t bothered to …