My Two Blessings

I had mentioned previously that my subject for my Humanities Capstone class final project was George Bernard Shaw. The title of my paper was George Bernard Shaw – separating Fact from Fiction . There were so many directions I could have gone because he was just such a prolific writer and speaker.  Plus with his involvement in the Fabian Society, with Stalin and supporting Hitler, his socialist beliefs, ideas about Eugenics, his belief that he was a feminist, his personal life, etc.   I was first introduced to Shaw during my Nobel Literature class. I didn’t know much about him except for the fact he was insulted by the prize and wanted to reject it. His wife made him accept it, but he did reject the money portion of the prize. He’d written a great number of plays which I hadn’t heard of or seen yet. One of the discussions we had during class was that some people think that anything an author writes reflects their lives, their ideas and feelings. The author is the narra...

  The Secret of the Sea Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me   As I gaze upon the sea! All the old romantic legends,   All my dreams, come back to me. Sails of silk and ropes of sandal,   Such as gleam in ancient lore; And the singing of the sailors,   And the answer from the shore! Most of all, the Spanish ballad   Haunts me oft, and tarries long, Of the noble Count Arnaldos   And the sailor's mystic song. Like the long waves on a sea-beach,   Where the sand as silver shines, With a soft, mon...

Since June is audio book month, I decided to try listening to some audio books. I'm not really an audio book person. I have a tendency to tune them out if I can't see the words because I get busy doing something and my brain tunes them out, unless I'm in the car where I can't do anything else except listen. The recommendation from those who love audio books was to listen to a book already read to get used to listening to stories. It takes a few according to those in the know. I chose In The Garden trilogy by Nora Roberts. As I listened to the story in the car, the desire is to actually read the book. So after a few days of listening, what happened. Yep, picked up Blue Dahlia and rereading it. Now starting Black Rose . With all those unread books in the pile, you'd think I be picking on of those. Something heady and intellectual after all my urban fantasy binge. Nope - Nora is calling my name. Plus she is such a fantastic writer, get...

Happy Summer!   Today is a great day because it is my nephew's 16th birthday.  Happy birthday "L."   I was fortunate to be my sister's birth coach and present at his birth.  Since I was a single gal at the time, it was an eyeopening, life changing awesome experience.   And I can hardly forget the day, can I...  :) Happy to say I have accomplished a major goal which has been years in the making.   I have completed my Bachelor's Degree!!!!   I got an A on my final project about George Bernard Shaw.   Found out some interesting things about Shaw and basically, the more I found out, the less I liked. Will be writing a post to share my thoughts about him soon.    And I received an A for the whole class.   A wonderful way to end the whole experience.   Technically I'm done and officially just have to wait for the school to review all and send my graduation application packet which will probably...

Oh Man! Gives me the goose bumps. Can't Wait!

It's coming down to the wire. This week I'll be writing my my final paper for my final class for my Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts degree.  My final project paper is due June 19th and I will be done....done....done!!!!!    That's my goal for ROW80 this week.  This round ends June 23rd so go check in and see how everyone else is fairing for the final few days.   You know what's so great? I've been thinking about it and all the writing I've done for my blogs and working on WIPs, has given me a confidence in myself, that I didn't have back in the early days.   I'm not stressing out or pulling my hair out wondering how I'm going to be able to accomplish this.  I know how to write.  I'm good at it. I love the process and all the research and reading and writing involved.  So if  anyone ever tells you blogging is just a waste of time, send them my way and I'll give them a piece of my mind.   I'll be checking in t...

In The Woods By  Tana French Back cover:  The debut novel of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.  In Tana French's powerful debut thriller, three children leave their small Dublin neighborhood to play in the surrounding woods.  Hours later, their mothers' calls go unanswered.  When the police arrive, they find only one of the children, gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, Detective Rob Ryan --the found boy, who has kept his past a secret--and his partner Cassie Maddox investigate the murder of a twelve year old girl in the same woods.  Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance the uncover the mystery of the case before him,  and that of his own shadowy past.  If it wasn't for the Ireland Reading Challenge, I probably would have never been introduced to Tana French's writing....

Stormy skies and rainbows yesterday enthralled us and kept us entertained for the day.  Plus read Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain for my Humanities class.  Realized I had never read it before, because if I had I would have remembered how much I hated it.   Yes, I thoroughly disliked the book.   The constant lying and getting away with the lying and the shenanigans of the Duke and the King and Tom's keeping the secret Jim was free and going through all sorts of machinations with Huck instead of just freeing him.   Between Huck's horrendous behavior and the use of the 'n' word I can see why some high schools and libraries banned the book.   Even if they do come out with a censored version of the book, it is still pretty horrendous.   May was a mixed bag of reading paranormal and suspense romances and christian contemporary romances with a couple historical fiction novels thrown in for good measure.   Face o...

April 4 to June 23rd. June has arrived with a bit of blustery rain, thunder, lightning and hail.  So much for doing some gardening today. However, the ground will be soft for planting so grateful for that.   With the beginning of June I am recommitting myself to doing Morning Pages every day.   For those who don't know about morning pages,they are 3 handwritten pages of stream on consciousness writing that you do first thing in the morning.  Whatever comes into your head, don't censor and just write.  Has actually been quite beneficial and clears my head and warms me up for working on WIP.   I'm currently in Week 11 of Julia Cameron's  " The Artist's Way " and once I'm done will move onward with  " Vein of Gold ."   Coincidentally, Father is reading  " the Power of Focus " by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen (authors of chicken soul for the soul) and Les Hewitt  which is the business man's version of The ...