Tea, Thyme and Cozies

Madness "It Must Be Love"

2010-12-20T22:41:00.000-06:00

Tracey Ullman - They Don't Know - Top of the Pops 1983

2010-12-20T22:17:00.000-06:00

Sammy Davis Jr. sings 'Because of You'

2010-12-20T09:31:00.000-06:00

Anjum Anand - Doshas

2010-09-15T15:37:00.000-05:00

What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

2010-08-07T20:15:00.000-05:00

The Seventh Witch by Shirley Damsgaard

2010-08-05T17:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, first off.... I HAVE LOVED THIS SERIES SINCE THE BEGINNING. Having said that, this is supposedly the last book, at least for now. I am NOT happy with that.

I have enjoyed this book more than the others.

It is set, this time, in a North Carolina Appalachian Mountain community amongst extended family and a blood feud reminiscent of the Hatfield's and McCoy's.... sorta. Throw in magic, an unexpected face in the crowd, exposure of a in-the-family feud, spirits, brownies and house fairies, etc., and you're all set.

I will also add, I really loved the ending of this book more than the others. (NO SPOILERS HERE). I loved, and related to, the interaction of the women in the family. Soooo too close to home, LOL.

If you haven't read her books, and like "cozy mysteries" with a touch of paranormal and magick, these are a must!

The Young Victoria

2010-08-05T17:39:00.001-05:00

This movie was wonderful! Although I was watching it late at night and had to have the volume down a bit to where I didn't hear all the dialog.

I remember when I first heard of the film, I really wanted to see it, and then later thought.... maybe not now---not in the mood. And then when I finally did, I was really glad I had.

History tends to show Victoria as being a bit "stuffy" and "officious". In this movie though, you see that she (as portrayed in the movie... but also in a few books I've read) was really anything but. She WAS stubborn and hard-headed, though with respect, rightfully so. Her mother was a good bit easily manipulated, and gave over all responsibility to her daughter upbringing to John Conroy (I think that is his name... probably mistaken, please excuse). He was very controlling and expected to "rule" through the mother and thus through Victoria. Victoria did notice often enough, if not all the time, that she was being used by those around her, even those she trusted. Until Albert. It took her a while to realize she "needed" him and how he kept her a bit more "grounded", so to speak. She did manage to throw a few tantrums, though. But I couldn't help but chuckle through one in particular. "I am the Queen, you will obey me!" type of tantrum. She was, however, pregnant with her first child when this happened in the movie, and the country and peers were in conflict. So between hormones and stress, it was kind of understood.

I highly recommend this movie, especially for those who like the following kinds of movies:
Historical romances, History (yes, I know that sounds repetitious, but oh well), Biographical, English....

Really highly recommended! Really!

A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman

2010-07-27T18:14:00.001-05:00

Just saw a bit of her story on ABCNews tonight and was so impressed that I wanted to know more. So I was glad to hear there was a book out now. I am looking forward to reading this.

To me, it is a shame that this type of mindset and action is an anomaly and not an everyday way of life. That we do not value each other enough on a day to day basis. That this war was one that went primarily unnoticed by the general public, and seemingly no one cared. It should be just the opposite. We in the US pride ourselves on freedom and equality, yet we don't seem to want to make an effort to ensure that it doesn't stop at our borders. At least, not so much anymore. We have become an insular people, isolated and self-serving, as much as we want to believe ourselves otherwise.

Stories such as Lisa Shannon's, and a few others, are a refreshing light in the darkness. May there be more such as her in the coming days.

Long time

2010-07-21T19:27:00.002-05:00

It's been a while, huh? Have several movies to post about, amongst other things. Will be back with that shortly, I hope.

The Last Wild Witch Giveaway frome Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom

2009-09-16T13:22:00.002-05:00

What a wonderful giveaway. And a Starhawk book! Love to read Starhawk. The art throughout the book is colorful, eyecatching and fun. Also printed on recycled paper, thus environmentally responsible too. While you are entering the giveaway, have a look around her blog, very interesting and helpful reads. Also check out the We'Moon site, the publishers of the book. They have date planners and such. But what struck me were the colors used. Simple site yet striking in detail.

X Files' Gillian to play Doctor Who baddie?

2009-04-23T16:15:00.001-05:00

X Files' Gillian to play Doctor Who baddie?

23/04/2009 - 17:02

Gillian Anderson is reportedly being lined up to play an enemy of the Time Lord in Doctor Who.

Well known to science fiction fans, the actress who played FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in The X Files is likely to take on the part of the renegade Time Lady The Rani opposite the new Doctor Matt Smith, according to the Daily Express.

A source told the newspaper: "The team behind the show are keen for the next Doctor to have lots of new enemies and Gillian would be a glamorous and impressive addition to the list."

Gillian, 40, will follow in the footsteps of Kate O'Mara who played the role of The Rani, an alluring scientific mastermind the 80s.

The insider said: "Gillian obviously has a massive sci-fi following and it's felt that it would be a major coup to have her appear in Doctor Who.

"The Rani would be a perfect role for her as the character used to be regarded as one of the Doctor's most deadly opponents."

Fry and Laurie hope to reunite in House

2009-04-23T16:11:00.002-05:00

Fry and Laurie hope to reunite in House

23/04/2009 - 15:56
Fry and Laurie hope to reunite in House

Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie plan to work together again in Hugh's Golden Globe-winning US drama House, which screens in the UK on Five.

But the multi-skilled 51-year-old admits they still have to find the perfect role for him to play.

“We joke about whether I could play a doctor even crueller, nastier, ruder than House,” says Stephen, who met Hugh at Cambridge University and has since worked with him in Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster and their sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie.

“Or perhaps I should be a better diagnostician than House, but incredibly nice just to annoy him. Or he should have a smarter older brother, because House is based on Sherlock Holmes. Instead of Watson he has Wilson, and he lives in Baker Street, and of course he has a drug addiction, so I could be his brother Microft!”

Stephen adds that he won’t be sporting an accent like Hugh Laurie, whose American drawl initially alienated some English viewers.

“I would be English,” he insists. “I wouldn’t attempt to be American!”

Stephen was set to appear in House before, but due to other commitments he instead appeared in Sky1's Bones – a forensic drama made by Fox in the same studio.

“I always stay with Hugh whenever I appear in Bones,” says Stephen, who has a regular on-off role as shrink Dr Gordon Wyatt. “They’ve asked me to go back and do series five this year, which will be a pleasure!”

Stephen has just completed filming a documentary series for the BBC, and a new series of Kingdom, which screens in June. He is also about to film another 16 episodes of QI, which screen on BBC Two.

“I may even write a diet book, because I struggled to shed over five stone!” says Stephen, who went from 21 stone to just over 15 stone since the beginning of the year. “It’s mostly through walking and dieting. It’s also certainly helped with my depression!”

"Hitchhiker's Guide" series to ride again

2008-09-19T11:07:00.001-05:00

"Hitchhiker's Guide" series to ride again
Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:19pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Children's author Eoin Colfer is to write a sixth novel in the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, seven years after the death of its creator Douglas Adams, publishers Penguin said on Wednesday.

The Irish writer, best known for his Artemis Fowl fairy stories, has the blessing of Adams' widow, Jane Belson, to continue the bestselling science fiction saga.

Called "And Another Thing...," the new novel will be published in October 2009. Colfer said he was a big fan of the original books, which started as a BBC radio serial.

"For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world," he said in a statement. "It is a gift from the gods. So, thank you Thor and Odin."

The satirical books tell the story of a hapless Englishman called Arthur Dent who travels the universe after the Earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

The saga centers on the search for the answer to "life, the universe and everything," which after a long wait turns out to be 42. Penguin Managing Director Helen Fraser said she hoped Colfer would attract new readers to the books.

Adams died from a heart attack in California in 2001 at the age of 49. He had hoped to finish the series with a sixth novel.

"Five seems to be a wrong kind of number; six is a better kind of number," he once said.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; editing by Steve Addison and Paul Casciato)

© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved

SPOILERS!!!! don't read the review if you want the whole book experience!!!!!!~~!

2008-08-31T19:56:00.002-05:00

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
First Reads Giveaway book...expected in mail any time now...Will post review when I get thru reading it.

Received today, 26 August 2008...will start reading today! The only thing I think I am dreading about the book is the fate of the brother left in the locked closet. The rest I can steel myself against, LOL.

This is, I believe, the one of the BEST book I have read in a very long time!!! And I normally avoid books with the Holocaust as even a remote topic. Just because I get disgusted with how despicable we can be to each other.

But this book? I loved it. The author has a smooth, fluid, comfortable way of expressing the emotions and plot lines of this story. There are books that are favorites of mine that are not so smoothly told.

The heartbreaking, heartwrenching stories of both Julia and Sarah are so eloquently related to us that it is just too easy to put ourselves in their place. Sarah's worry about her little brother Michel, left locked in the cupboard for safety while she and her parents are rounded up by the French police in compliance to the wishes of the Nazi occupiers. Her despair at watching her parents being ripped away from her, the conditions of Vel d'Hiv and the move to Beaune-la-Rolande and escape from the camp with a girl named Rachel. The immediate aftermath of the escape is despairing and leads to a lifetime of guilt and withdrawing on Sarah's part.

Julia is stuck in a very dysfunctional marriage to a Frenchman who is rarely faithful and "there for her." She has a wonderful, bright daughter in Zoe, but rather distant from her in-laws, who always call her "The American". Her husband plans on remodeling his grandmother's apartment after Mame' is placed in a nursing home because of Alzheimer's. She is then given a story to research for the magazine she works. She is to do a "companion" piece for the commemoration of the tragedy of Vel d'Hiv. During her research, she learns that the apartment was part of one of the families story, linking that family to her in-laws'. She is told repeatedly by her father in law and her husband to drop the story, don't dig any deeper. She ignore's their advice and follows what her conscience tells her is right.

She finds that not many Parisians, let alone French citizens, are aware of this part of their past, nor are interested in learning about it. She finds it disturbing and commits to researching more.

To say anymore would be to give away too much more of the story. Let's just say that the story is a haunting one. And enlightens the reader to a period of history that is rarely, if ever taught.

Favorite passages:

p.68-69 (too long to type out here, takes up so much of the pages.

p.88

So maybe that's how it worked. That's how all this had happened. Hating people so much that you wanted to kill them. Hating them because they wore a yellow star. It made her shiver. She felt as if all the evil, all the hatred in the world was concentrated right here, stocked up all around her, in the policemen's hard faces, in their indifference, their disdain. And outside the camp, did everybody hate Jew's too? Is this what her life was going to be about from now on?

p195-197 (The letter to Alain from Genevieve) especially the following passage:

Yes, the war is over, at last over, but for your father and me, nothing is the same. Nothing will ever be the same. Peace has a bitter taste. And the future is foreboding. The events that have taken place have changed the face of the world. And of France. France is still recovering from her darkest years. Will she ever recover, I wonder? This is no longer the France I knew when I was a little girl. This is another France that I don't recognize. I am old now, and I know my days are numbered. But Sarah, Gaspard, and Nicolas are still young. They will have to live in this new France. I pity them, and I fear what lies ahead.

This last passage I find eerily similar to my feelings of the world today. And I fear that my son, who is now 23, will never be assured that our "leaders" have enough sense to not blow the world up just on a whim.

Okay, pessimism aside, READ THIS BOOK! Supposedly, the movie rights have been acquired. I hope so and they movie producers do it justice. I will definitely buy the DVD!

View all my reviews.

Email funny from Uncle Sam and Aunt Sue

2008-08-27T13:09:00.003-05:00

Subject: Fwd: 1st GRADERS

A 1st grade school teacher had twenty-six students in her class. She presented each child in her classroom the 1st half of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. It's hard to believe these were actually done by first graders. Their insight may surprise you. While reading, keep in mind that these are first-graders, 6-year-olds, because the last one is a classic!

1. Don't change horses until they stop running.

2. Strike while the bug is close.

3. It's always darkest before Daylight Saving Time.

4. Never underestimate the power of termites.

5. You can lead a horse to water but How?

6.Don't bite the hand that looks dirty.

7. No news is impossible

8. A miss is as good as a Mr.

9. You can't teach an old dog new Math

10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll stink in the morning.

11. Love all, trust Me.

12. The pen is mightier than the pigs.

13. An idle mind is the best way to relax.

14. Where there's smoke there's pollution.

15. Happy the bride who gets all the presents.

16. A penny saved is not much.

17. Two's company, three's the Musketeers.

18. Don't put off till tomorrow what you put on to go to bed.

19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and You have to blow your nose.

20. There are none so blind as Stevie Wonder.

21. Children should be seen and not spanked or grounded.

22. If at first you don't succeed get new batteries.

23. You get out of something only what you See in the picture on the box

24. When the blind lead the blind get out of the way.

25. A bird in the hand is going to poop on you.

And the WINNER and last one!

26. Better late than Pregnant

Lost blogs

2008-08-26T18:45:00.002-05:00

I somehow or another have lost my entire list of friends and relatives blogroll. I'm starting from scratch and am trying to "repopulate" it. If you should check in and were there and now are not, please put a comment on any post with your blog address and help me put you back where I need you, please....
Michelle

Tatiana de Rosnay: Sarah's Key

2008-08-26T13:20:00.002-05:00

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

My review

First Reads Giveaway book from GoodReads...expected in mail any time now...Will post review when I get thru reading it.

Received today, 26 August 2008...will start reading today! The only thing I think I am dreading about the book is the fate of the brother left in the locked closet. The rest I can steel myself against, LOL.

View all my reviews.

Update:::: India Edghill: The Ivory Gate (Samson and Delilah)

2008-08-20T18:11:00.005-05:00

Handy thing, Feedjit, I was able to trace back a search on this very thing and got my own update! Love it!

So here it is:

Samson and Delilah by India Edghill
Hardcover

$24.95
Item released on May 01, 2009

Coming later in 2008 is India's next novel, THE IVORY GATE.

A retelling of the story of Samson and Delilah, THE IVORY GATE completes what turned in to an loosely-knit trilogy: THE IVORY GATE, QUEENMAKER, and WISDOM'S DAUGHTER.

Read and excerpt here:
http://indiaedghill.com/ivory_gate_ex.html

I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doomed, Again, by the Space-Time Continuum

2008-08-15T10:20:00.003-05:00

TV Review 'Primeval'
Doomed, Again, by the Space-Time Continuum

ITV/Impossible Pictures
Juliet Aubrey and Douglas Henshall in "Primeval," a new BBC America science-fiction series that has its debut on Saturday.

By GINIA BELLAFANTE
Published: August 7, 2008

Over the past few years BBC America has emerged second only to the Sci-Fi Channel as the television outlet most committed to covering all the inconveniences that time travel can produce. It has brought us "Life on Mars," a revised "Doctor Who," and its spinoff, "Torchwood," as if to say, "And you thought airport security lines were a big drag!" British science-fiction television allows for plenty of American cultural imperiousness. The camp factor churned out is fairly high, and with "Primeval," a new series starting Saturday on BBC America, it climbs up Big Ben and right on over the top of the London Eye.

"Primeval" imagines an England threatened by creatures hundreds of millions of years old that look an awful lot like overgrown leftovers from a dinner at Red Lobster. How do they make it to the present day? Well, they're not taking Virgin Atlantic. They are careering through tears in the space-time continuum, and then ravaging their way through the London Underground and suburban housing developments and eating people in public swimming pools. (I wish for once that a space-time hole could deliver someone nice, this time from the future; someone who could show everybody how to eat a whole lemon meringue pie and still lose six pounds by the next day.)

The holes go by the name of anomalies here, and they look vaguely like shattering ice sculptures. Rip through the space-time rift, and you will find yourself at a wedding at Leonard's of Great Neck.

There are good guys and there are bad guys, and they are all fairly easy to pinpoint with the sound off. Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) is an evolutionary zoologist who, with his team of acolytes and Indiana Jones outfits, is battling the looming national crisis and trying to figure out what his scientist wife (Juliet Aubrey) is doing back from what he thought was the dead. She's been gone eight years, and when he greets her again — thank you, tear in the space-time continuum — they both behave as if one or the other merely spent too much time going out for a bagel. Don't expect any of the racy sex from "Torchwood."

But do expect other varieties of derivative silliness. Working against Cutter's interest are bureaucratic cronies in the Home Office who most of all want to avert a public-relations disaster by keeping the good people of Britain in the dark about all the paleontological terror. James Lester (Ben Miller) wants to throw an innocent woman in prison for the killing of a man chewed up and spit out by a prehistoric shark. The sense of Lester's evil is largely conveyed by his lantern jaw and further depicted by lines like this: "The correct decision is often painful. That's the burden of government."

Maybe "Primeval" wants to serve as an exploration of the People's Right to Know. Or maybe it wants to give rise to its own theme parks.

But it definitely won't make you forget about "Lost."

PRIMEVAL

BBC America, Saturday nights at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8 Central time.

Created by Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges; Mr. Haines, executive producer; Mr. Hodges, lead writer; directed by Cilla Ware; Cameron McAllister, producer. An Impossible Pictures production for ITV/ProSieben/M6.
WITH: Douglas Henshall (Professor Nick Cutter), James Murray (Stephen Hart), Andrew-Lee Potts (Connor Temple), Lucy Brown (Claudia Brown), Hannah Spearritt (Abby Maitland), Juliet Aubrey (Helen Cutter), Ben Miller (James Lester) and Mark Wakeling (Tom Ryan).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/arts/television/08prim.html

Quote

2008-08-12T11:54:00.000-05:00

Love this quote from Einstein:

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
— Albert Einstein

~~~~

Persian Mirrors by Elaine Sciolino

2008-08-11T14:46:00.001-05:00

Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran by Elaine Sciolino

My review

Ooh, want to read this one, I remember how this period of time affected some of my schoolmates. They, when asked where they were from, would sometimes reply "Persia" rather than Iran due to the fear of reprecussions from classmates. Finding out what was REALLY happening in Iran at the time is intriguing.

View all my reviews.

Sherrilyn Kenyon: Acheron

2008-08-10T23:19:00.001-05:00

Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon

My review Spoilers below, don't read if you don't wanna know!!!!!!

rating: 5 of 5 stars
So far just barely started the book and I can tell I'm going to love it. I've enjoyed virtually all of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter/Dream Hunter, etc. books. They are in the romance section, but to me they are just good stories.

This one, as warned by the author, may be a little bit difficult for those who've suffered childhood abuse. And so far I've found this to be a true enough warning, though I didn't suffer that kind of abuse myself.

Look forward to the rest of this HUUUUUGGGGE book.

Sunday August 10, 2008

I finished this book in the wee hours of the morning...This was one great, huge (700+pages) book. But worth every last page.

You get Acheron's entire past and how he got so involved with Artemis and how horribly his family treated him. The one person in his human family that cared for him was his sister Ryssa (and later her baby son).

Kenyon does manage to leave a whole new path open of unanswered questions. Due to Acheron no longer being bound to Artemis, and Artemis refusing to allow any more Dark Hunters to go free, Soteria leaves us with a glimpse of there being other ways to get around the issue. And Nick and Artemis winding up together??? That should be interesting.

Here is my question, does the whole Greek pantheon feed on each other or just Apollo and Artemis? (And thus Archeron and Soteria and the Dark Hunters) If not, why just them? And why is Artemis so needy? What is making her react the way she does? If I remember correctly Cupid and Psyche get along with others just fine... Zeus has always been a butt, and a few other gods as well, but what makes Apollo and Artemis the way they are...

And was Acheron just hallucinating when locked in Artemis' little room when he heard Ryssa's voice? Or will she reappear later.. kind a hope so , hope she and her son are able to be brought back...I really liked them, but am not counting on it. Even as reincarnated beings...

And will Acheron and Soteria have kids? Time will tell...But I did like how how Acheron found out he had more friends, and real friends, than he thought...

the story of Jaden is supposed to come soon. That should be interesting.

View all my reviews.

Jane Yolen: Briar Rose

2008-08-07T20:50:00.000-05:00

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is listed as a young adult book...I disagree, it is for everyone from their teens upwards. A most excellent telling of a young girls revelations about her grandmother's past.

The details of her grandmothers experiences during the Holocaust are harrowing and a bit devastating. Definitely a book that should be put on the must read list for high school, during the same period of reading Anne Frank.

Cannot recommend this book, and it's author enough. I have been a fan of Jane Yolen for longer than I can remember. I don't even remember what the first book of hers is that I read, LOL.

But Briar Rose is a deep, thought provoking story that needs to be read.

View all my reviews.

Raphael Patai: The Hebrew Goddess

2008-08-07T18:08:00.002-05:00

The Hebrew Goddess 3rd Enlarged Edition by Raphael Patai

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This has been recommended from several sources, most notably, Patricia Monaghan, and the members of the yahoo group Jewitch.

Birthday gift from my sister, August 2008. Yeaaaaaa!
Thanks, sis!!!!

View all my reviews.

Also arriving soon

2008-08-06T18:21:00.008-05:00

Boudicca (from Kelli)

Oya (6") coming this fall

And from Kelli's most talented wonderfully creative daughter, Lady Rhanna, comes these adorable pillows.