My Two Blessings

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva Publisher synopsis :  " Determined to sever his ties with the Office, Gabriel Allon has retreated to the windswept cliffs of Cornwall with his beautiful Venetian-born wife Chiara. But once again his seclusion is interrupted by a visitor from his tangled past: the endearingly eccentric London art dealer, Julian Isherwood. As usual, Isherwood has a problem. And it is one only Gabriel can solve. In the ancient English city of Glastonbury, an art restorer has been brutally murdered and a long-lost portrait by Rembrandt mysteriously stolen. Despite his reluctance, Gabriel is persuaded to use his unique skills to search for the painting and those responsible for the crime. But as he painstakingly follows a trail of clues leading from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires and, finally, to a villa on the graceful shores of Lake Geneva, Gabriel discovers there are deadly secrets connected to the painting. And evil men behind them. Before he is done, G...

Courtesy National Geographic

Wannabe Writers and 50k in 50 Days are the brainchild of Sarah at Confessions of the Unpublished.  Wannabe Writers is a writing group for the un-published and anyone is welcome to join. It's a place where future authors can ask questions, share stories, and get feedback. Click ( here ) to find more about how it works. Where I am in the writing process :   Still working on the first draft of WIP3  Eyes in the Ashes .  WIP1 Floating on the Surface is waiting in the wings and being entirely rewritten. WIP2 Winter's Illusion is waiting patiently for editing.  My current problem(s) :  Since 50k in 50 days started on July 12, I've written about 14 pages on WIP3 which amounts to probably 500 words per page so a total of 7000 words.  We'll see what it really adds up to when I get it typed up.  I'm not fretting about writing 1000 word per day as long as I'm writing and feel like the story is moving along.  I've discovered somethi...

SFF Masterworks # 72  The Moon is a Harsh Mistress By  Robert Heinlein Teaser   Book One - Chapter One -   That Dinkum Thinkum "I see in Lunaya Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect--and tax---public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure. I see also is to be mass meeting tonight to organize "Sons of Revolution" talk-talk. My old man taught me two things: "Mind own business" and "Always cut cards."  Politics never tempted me.  But on Monday 13 May 2075 I was in computer room of Lunar Authority Complex, visiting with computer boss Mike while other machines whispered among themselves.  Mike was not official name; I had nicknamed him for Mycroft Holmes, in a story written by Dr. Watson before he founded IBM.  This story character would just sit and think--and that's what Mike did.  Mike was a fair dinkum, thinkum, sharpest computer you'll ever meet. Not fastest....

It's a wrap.  4th grade is done and our summer vacation is officially allowed to commence.  Yeah!  We were all ready to throw in the towel several weeks ago, take a mini vacation, then continue on.  But we powered through the last six weeks and finished.  We are done until September...sort of.  Learning never stops of course, we just go into an unschooling mode.  We'll give it a couple weeks before we all start going loopy, then start doing Math 2 or 3 times a week so James doesn't forget it all.    I've already ordered and received the books we will be using for 5th grade.  Over the break,  I will be working on outlining each subject and figuring out the schedule for the year.   We typically home school all year long - usually three to six weeks on, then take a week off along with other breaks here, there and everywhere.  Which is why we end up not finishing until mid July.   This year, we had some curric...

The Lace Makers of Glenmara By Heather Barbieri  Back cover:  "You can always start again." Kate Robinson's mother once told her.  "All it takes is a new thread."  Overwhelmed by heartbreak and loss, Kate follows her mother's advice and flees to Ireland, her ancestral homeland, hoping to reinvent herself.  In the seaside hamlet of Glenmara, the struggling twenty six year old fashion designer quickly develops a bond with members of the local lace making society--and soon she and the lace makers are creating a line of exquisite lingerie, their skilled hands bringing flowers, Celtic dragons, nymphs, saints, kings, and queens to life with painterly skill.  The circle also offers them something more: the strength to face their desires and fears.  But not everyone in this charming, fading Gaelic village welsomes Kate, and a series of unexpected events threatens to unravel everything the women have worked so hard for.  I rarely read relations...

 SFF Masterworks Meme I've recently become involved in a new reading project which began July 1st. Put together by Patrick of Stomping on Yeti , a group of us are reading the SF and Fantasy Masterworks .  The Masterworks are a series of science fiction and fantasy books published by Orion publishing group through its imprints Millennium and Gollancz.   The books on the list are ones Orion felt should not be forgotten and should stay in print.  The books are in series order instead of publication date order.  Each one of us will be reading one book a month and reviewing them on a group blog  until all the books on both lists have been read.  How many of these books have I already read?  The books in bold are the ones I've read, the ones in italics the ones I own, but not read yet. SF Masterworks 1     The Forever War**- Joe Haldeman 2    I Am Legend -  Richard Matheson 3    Cities...

Josephine Wall - Thirst for Knowledge The year is halfway done and my book buying ban is over.  I was pretty sure at the beginning of the year, that by this time, without buying any books, my TBR pile would be whittled down to a reasonable amount.  I was pretty good and only picked up a book here and there, instead of spending my budgeted $50 a week on amazon.  I tried to limit review books but you know how that goes.  I also tried to slow down my reading a bit.  The end result - for every book I read, I managed to replace with another.  So the TBR pile - still stands somewhere around 60 books and I have a tower of finished books climbing up one wall in my bedroom. However, I have become more judicious in what I put on my wish list and what I buy.   Hubby's about ready to break down and buy me some more bookshelves for the living room.  However, he only likes solid Teak hardwood (no particle board for him) so we're waiting for the ones we want t...

"A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push." -- Ludwig Wittgenstein

The Declaration of Independence When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organiz...