Travels of a Book Loving Mom

Book Snob

2012-01-24T00:56:00.000-06:00

"I don't really trust a person who doesn't read." -Lisa Borgnes Giamonti

One of my favorite blogs in the blogosphere is Lisa Borgnes Giamonti's 'A Bloomsbury Life'.
She was writing about the first thing she does when she visits a persons home is to look at their books. I am the same way. I automatically gravitate to their bookcase. It might be a cookbook in the kitchen or just a book that is sitting on a table. If I don't see a book, I am suspicious and do not feel a connection. I am lost for words. (pun intended) Cold.

You can tell so much about a person by the books he or she reads or by the lack of books.

I feel a warmth in my heart when I see a Bible sitting on a night table. If you want to learn an amazing Story, read the Bible. When I visit a friends home for dinner and look up and see on a shelf Glady Taber, Tasha Tudor or a book about the Cotswolds, I relax a little more. I know I have found a kindred spirit.

The new e-readers are great for travel and are very handy, but I like to share my books, too. You can not share your e-reader like you can an old copy of Elizabeth Goudges The Middle Window or D'Aulares Greek Myths. It's how I discovered so many of my favorite authors. Because of a friend sharing her books, I learned about Elizabeth Prentiss and John Buchan.

Are there others out there who feel the same way? I guess I am a sort of profiler. I can tell a lot about the person by the books he or she reads or doesn't read. Does that make me a book snob? Gladly so.

Currently Reading

2011-11-22T00:43:00.000-06:00

New Books To Be Read

2011-08-18T17:36:00.001-05:00

An Advance Reader's Copy

Recommended by Patrick Rothfuss

3rd in a trilogy after 'The Tea Rose' and
and 'The Winter Rose'.

An excellent series that takes place in Africa.

Leslie's Day

2011-08-06T19:19:00.000-05:00

Today is my sister Leslie's birthday. She has been my best friend forever. We live in separate states now, but whenever we get together, we just pick right back up where we left off.

She is my sister, friend, protector, nurse, comedian, roll model, boss, Christian example. She is a mother, sister, wife, flight attendant, secretary, actress, painter, woman, chauffeur, girl scout, hair dresser, maid, teacher, Aunt, homecoming queen and friend to so many.

I can't even begin to tell you all the stories we have that we STILL laugh about. Slamming doors, forks, riding lawn mowers, Planet of the Apes, bomb, stereos, riding in cars, singing in the bathroom mirror, me in the back seat on her dates.

And we still have fun! Yearly sister trips. Santa Barbara, New York, Paris, Monhegan Island and I know I am forgetting something.

Thank you Les for being there for me whenever I call and always having my back.

I Love You Sooooo Much!!!!!
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Julie

Aurelio Zen

2011-08-04T03:59:00.000-05:00

I love Masterpiece Theater on PBS and just finished watching three Sunday's worth of author Michael Dibdin's "Aurelio Zen" mysteries. Actor Rufus Sewell played Italian policeman Aurelio Zen perfectly.
So, this has led me to continue reading the next book in the series, Dead Lagoon. I am enjoying a little armchair traveling through Venice!

A Grayton Beach 4th

2011-07-05T16:01:00.000-05:00

Home from the Chateau Dumas

2011-07-04T18:00:00.000-05:00

I have finally returned home from France, and oh what a wonderful time I had! Southern France is so beautiful and I made some new lasting friendships that I look forward to visiting.

So sorry I have not uploaded pictures for a few days, but the process was soooo slow there. Here a couple days worth and I have a few more!

Shopping for linens

Caussade, France

A "Secret" garden in Caussade

Caussade cathedral and market

olives, olives and more olives

Kim, Melissa and Nilta

Mary, Danielle, Meleen, Cary and Laurel

The bridge over River Lot, Causssade

Picnic by the River Lot

Lavender Field we visited

Entrance to Chateau Dumas

A welcoming bench at Chateau Dumas

Gardens of Chateau Dumas

(My window-2nd floor far left)

Sunflower fields behind the Chateau-Glorious!!

Can you hear the bees?

Chateau Dumas Day 3

2011-06-29T13:49:00.001-05:00

Lunch

Incredible Salad

Book I am putting together in class taught by Wendy Addison

Yummy Brie

Dinner by Candlelight

Chateau Dumas Photos

2011-06-26T16:17:00.001-05:00

My bedroom window

chocolate croissant

Artwork and books in my room

My window

View of Sunflower field from the pool

My Beautiful bedroom

Toulouse Market

2011-06-25T10:11:00.000-05:00

The Saturday Market

The French Cafe

Toulouse Day 2

2011-06-25T05:23:00.001-05:00

Saturday is market day in the square. Everyone is picking out and picking up their fruit, pouillet (chicken), meat, cheeses and spices for the week. There of course is bread which is bought daily, books, bags, luggage and rugs for sale.

Surrounding the square are many cafes where there is lots of people watching, drinking of espressos and talking.

I made it into the Pharmacie for a couple of necessities that I had forgotten, found a market to purchase a large container of fruit juice, stopped in a baguette shop and bought a "Vesuvio" sandwich (tomato, cheese, and herbs de Provence) which they toasted and a Granite (frozen drink) to take away (they don't say "to go" here) to my room.

I just wandered the streets of the old city today and decided not to go to Carcassone because of the crowds. If I had a comrade in arms to march along with me I would have gone. One can make all kinds of different plans, but some of the best decisions are made in the moment and this was one of safety and numbers.

No cell phone service, but email, blog and facebook are fine. All I have to do is think back to 10th year of high school and remember I had none of those things. You literally went more than a week without talking to anyone back home and your letters and postcards arrived after you were home.

1st Day in Toulouse

2011-06-24T06:41:00.000-05:00

I have arrived in lovely Toulouse! Beautiful architecture, canal du midi, Garrone river and lots of students here in the old town.

The first pictures were in the taxi and then pulling up to the hotel. Capitole square is just outside the door and my 3rd floor window. It's the first time I have really seen a square in France. Right now it feels more like Italy and their many squares.

The flight over was great. I almost didn't make the connection from Florida/Atlanta to the Atlanta/Paris. Everyone was on the plane and their were just three people left getting on. And guess what flight they were on? Yep, you guessed it...mine! Florida was slooooww with everything today. Somebody get those people some coffee!

It is 1:05pm right now here and the jet lag is starting to hit me since it's just 6 or 7 o'clock at home and I haven't slept a wink. Too excited! Oh my, the Air France airline food is sooo good! I kept my menu but don't feel like digging it out right now...catch it later.

I shall give the tour of my room also, bidet in the bathroom and all.

Thanks to the DH for the new camera and Sav's quick lesson! Hopefully they will get better as I go along.

Lively square that I will check out better tomorrow.

Pulling up to the Crowne

   Where I will be residing with my ear plugs
   very, very soon.

Le Bidet

Got to love the amenities!

Bonsoir, mes amies! A-bien-tot! (That should be, "Goodnight my friends! See you soon!)

Sunset at the Beach

2011-06-18T19:43:00.000-05:00

Savannah

Savannah and her 15 year old 6' 3" cousin Nicholas

Remembering the Fallen

2011-05-30T21:50:00.000-05:00

Savannah and I visiting the American Cemetery at Normandy, France 2009

2011-05-27T13:42:00.000-05:00

* Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.
* Memorial Day's origins go all the back to the Civil War. It was at the end of a brutal war, a war in which brother fought brother and the best of friends became the worst of enemies.
* During the first celebration of Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
* It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971).
* It is the unofficial kick off to summer. To honor those Americans who died fighting for our freedom, we have parades, lay flowers on the graves of our lost Americans, we gather together with family and friends and barbecue to remember.
* Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. * The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states.

A Cookie Fit For A Queen

2011-05-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, you have GOT to go to this website and see these gorgeous cookies! They are so beautiful! And from what I hear, they are as delicious as beautiful. Check out the gorgeous detail!

www.QueenCityCookies.com

Nautilus Shell

The Baby Tree

the Nativity

Magazine Weakness

2011-05-16T23:05:00.000-05:00

I have a weakness for British magazines. There are more articles, less silly advertisements and I hate to say it, but better written. Whenever we travel I try to pick up a local magazine. They include gifts in with the magazine that are amazing! Soap, nail polish, a drill bit kit, etc... and my daughter purchased a cute teen magazine one time in Windsor and it had a darling solid tangerine colored t-shirt in it. She still wears it. What a great incentive!

Every once in a while I will pick one up at Barnes & Noble or Borders, but they are usually too high, so I browse through it quickly. I do subscribe to 'Country Life' UK magazine and absolutely love it! Just getting the Christmas issue is totally worth it for the photographs alone. Does anybody else out there know what I mean?

2011-05-14T23:00:00.000-05:00

Summer and travel. Two of my favorite words. School is letting out, families come back together and a holiday is usually in the making. We have arrived at my parents home for a visit and my car was so full that I even amazed myself at what I was able to put into it and how long it took for us to unload. One small piece of luggage held books alone. Don't you hate to be somewhere and all of a sudden you do not have a book just waiting for that right moment to read? Or a pillowcase you have been dying to embroider with that Queen Anne's lace flower? Or that clay pot that you made a divine dinner with that you just have to fix at your destination? Or those magazines that have piled up and you haven't had a chance to look at? Well, I don't have to worry about that, because I brought everything!

Yes, I brought everything. All of this plus one daughter and two miniature schnauzers in their car seats. Yes, car seats. They are able to see out the windows and double as beds at our destination. We like our own pillows...why can't they enjoy their own bed?

Anywho, our Summer has officially begun and I am ready for it!

Yuck! The Cicadas Are Coming!

2011-05-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

May 8th is the dreaded date of the return of the cicadas after a 13 year break. Nashville's Anderson Design Group is gearing up for the craziness with their cicada survival gear. Isn't it fabulous?

I can remember in 1985 being in chapel, at college and a girl jumping up and screaming because a cicada had dive-bombed into her.

And I can remember years and years ago picking one of the empty cicada shells off a tree and putting it on my sister Leslie. She ran around the yard screaming, "Get it off! Get it off!" until I did. One of my happier childhood moments.

In Which We Love the Art

2011-04-26T12:06:00.000-05:00

I am so proud of my darling daughter! I believe she can do just about anything, extremely well. This was one of her final class projects in her first year at university.

This next one is of a work in progess mural that she and some friends are doing for the English department. Can you guess where these witches come from? Shakespeare, anyone?

What I Am Reading

2011-03-24T18:19:00.000-05:00

Tracy Porter Giveaway

2011-03-18T13:41:00.001-05:00

www.blog.tracyporter.com

Head over to Tracy Porter's lovely site and leave a comment on her blog and you just may win a selection of her lovely books! Signed!! She is presently working on a new title and I can not wait for it! I am a huge fan of the 'Tracy Porter Lifestyle' and know you will be too. She is one of those contagiously happy people that you can't help but love!

Saying a Prayer for Japan

2011-03-17T13:11:00.001-05:00

art work-silentreaper

Rainy Days and Reading

2011-03-09T14:20:00.000-06:00

Rainy days and reading go perfectly well together.

Glimpses

2011-03-08T23:51:00.001-06:00

Some things we did today:

I think I took three walks with my parents today. Morning...to check on some sweet "Snowbirds," a couple that comes to Grayton every year for the Winter. We had not seen Peter out walking his sweet jack russell terrier in a few days and wanted to check on them. (They were fine and enjoying their glasses of wine at 10:30!) Mid-day...just because it was a beautiful day and wanted to be outside. Sunset...We were in the middle of dinner and jumped up and left the table because the sun was about to set.

We hung a second hammock in the back yard and got so tickled when Mom and I got in one together. Just being silly...

We rescued honey bees from the pool. No clue why they would be there, but we would pick up leaves and let them crawl on the leaf and free them. Just because...

Dad made a huge peach cobbler. These were frozen peaches left over from one of their four trips to a southern peach orchard in Georgia. Their thumbs were tender last summer from all the peaches they cut and put up last. Still reaping their deliciousness...

We laughed a the pups antics, running and chasing each other on the beach.

Just a glimpse of a perfect day...