Category Archives: Etc.

Etc., Spare time - Culture

Snow, round two

It’s official: my back is killing me.  Poor Jim had to go to work today, but the library, like every single school and library in the state, is closed, so I’m home today.  Which means that I get to shovel.  Again. 

Here’s what the snow piles at the end of our driveway look like – one view from inside the front window of our house, and several outdoor views, including a view of the load of heavy road snow that the plow keeps depositing at the base of the telephone pole that’s at the end of our driveway.  The snow piles in our yard are at least ten feet high, which is why shovelling is such a painful chore right now.  (Click on images to enlarge.)

But still, I’d rather be doing this shovelling today than driving in this muck like poor Jim has to do.  And I hear the freezing rain hitting the windows now, so it’s obviously time to go clear the snow before it gets ridiculously heavy.

Etc., Spare time - Culture

Ugh

It’s snowing.  Again.  The roads are terrible.  Again.  And it’s supposed to snow tomorrow.  Again.  By the time tomorrow evening arrives, we might have twenty new inches of snow on top of our already existing three or so feet of snow. 

So, the library closed early today; I had a yucky but ultimately ok ride home; and now that I’ve had a nice carb-laden pancake lunch, it’s time to go outside and shovel – again.  Hopefully I’ll be able to at least get the heavy deep stuff at the end of the driveway shovelled before Jim gets home…though I have absolutely no idea where I’m going to put the snow, since our snowbanks are about two feet higher than my head.  This is getting tiresome, very, very tiresome.  Ugh indeed.

Etc.

snow…

A few pictures of our poor, snow-swamped yard.  Good thing we don’t use our front door, since you can’t get to it!!  (Click on images to enlarge.)

Etc., Spare time - Culture

I’m on Etsy!

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Yes, I have finally bowed to pressure, and I have opened up my own storefront on Etsy.  At the moment I have eight whole items available for sale!  Wow!

Follow the link above, or the exact same link here, to check out my store.  It’s a little amateur looking compared to some of the stores on Etsy, which look totally professional, but after several hours of setting policies and uploading photos and such, I am DONE.  And in case anyone is wondering, I had wanted to name my store “Abby’s Jewelry,” but that name was already taken, so I thought fast and found that “Ophelia’s Jewelry” was still available.  Ophy is very happy to have a store named after her.  Pippa is just as glad that I didn’t choose her name for a jewelry store, since Pippa is a bit of a tom-boy.

Let me know what you think of my new store!

Etc.

Snow Day!

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It’s quite the stormy day out there – and the library is closed because of it.  Yay!

That’s the plus side.  The down side is that our snowblower really doesn’t work well, and Jim had to go to work early early this morning, before much snow had hit…so I have a heck of a lot of shovelling to do.  And the eternal problem with our driveway is that there’s no place to PUT all that snow – house on one side of the driveway, privet hedge on the other.  It’s going to be a long day.

Now that I think about it, I’d rather be at work.

Etc.

Happy New Year!!!

Here’s to a fabulous 2011!!

And my blog resolution, as always, is to be more faithful with substantive and frequent posts – starting tomorrow…  🙂

Etc.

In Praise of Garnet Hill

When someone does something fantastic, you need to thank them…and so I’m writing this post in praise of Garnet Hill.

Garnet Hill is already my favorite place for clothes and bedding, but I am now in awe of their customer service.  I’m not going to type out the full story here, because I know that there are some people in the world who might abuse the good nature of a company like Garnet Hill, but suffice it to say that they are FABULOUS and that the customer service person I spoke to tonight went out of her way to make me happy.  I am SOOOO impressed by them – and so glad that there are still honest, decent companies in this country who value their customer’s goodwill.  Tonight’s positive customer service experience gives me a whole heck of a lot of hope for the future of this country.

Children's literature, Etc.

Christmas memories

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Every Christmas, my parents would give me at least one, usually several, books for Christmas.  While the toys were always the most exciting presents to open, in the end I loved the books the most.  My best memories of Christmas days past are curling up in a chair mid-afternoon, sometimes surrounded by pieces of wrapping paper and ribbon, and reading my new book (or books) for hours on end. 

I just took a quick walk around my bookshelves and found a dozen of these Christmas books.  My personal library has been shrinking over the years, now that I’ve discovered the joy of less to dust and money from used book stores, but I have never, ever sold one of my Christmas books.  Here are the dozen I found this morning, with the inscriptions in them:

A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, with pictures by Tasha Tudor:  Love to Abby from Mom & Dad Christmas 1973  [also signed by Tasha Tudor to me]

Father Christmas Goes on Holiday by Raymond Briggs: Love to Abby from Mom & Dad Christmas 1975

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: To Abby Harper Christmas 1977 with love from Mom and Dad

The Diamond in the Window by Jane Langton: Love to Abby from Mom and Dad Christmas 1979

Smoky the Cow Horse by Will James:  Ok, there’s no inscription in this one.  But I VIVIDLY remember getting it as a gift on Christmas

Treasury of World Masterpieces: Mark Twain (a collection of novels and short stories):  Love to Abigail from Mother and Father Christmas 1981

Around the World in Eighty Days ~ From The Earth to the Moon ~ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne:  Love to our Voracious Reader, Abby, from Ma & Pa 1981 Christmas

H.M. Pulham, Esquire by John P. Marquand:  Once again, no inscription, but a vivid memory of receiving it

The Illustrated Sherlock Holmes Treasury by Arthur Conan Doyle:  To Abby with love from Mom and Dad 1983

My Antonia by Willa Cather:  (in my writing) – Abigail Harper from Mom and Dad Christmas ’86

The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence:  Love to Abs from Mom and Dad [first book with Dad’s name written in his own writing!] 1995

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis:  To Abby from Mom and Dad December 1996 [Dad’s writing]

I’m sure there are others hidden in my bookshelves – maybe I’ll find them and pull them out for next year’s Christmas post.  Meanwhile, I wonder what book or books I’ll get this year?  Merry Christmas, everyone.

Book groups, Etc.

Cranky

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Yes, surprise surprise, I’m cranky today.

  • There’s nothing in the house to eat for dinnner.
  • Jim is at the Patriots game…no extra ticket for the wife…grrrrr…
  • I have to make a feltboard story this afternoon for tomorrow’s storytime – and I’m so NOT in the mood.  (The story is Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London, for the Winter theme Storytime for 2’s & 3’s tomorrow.)
  • I have to finish reading the book for Tuesday’s meeting of the 6th Grade Book Group – and I HATE this book.  It’s all I can do to wade through it.  Blech.  More on this book in a separate post, but meanwhile I have to finish reading the darn thing.
  • Still haven’t gotten over the stupid cold that’s been bugging me for two weeks now. 
  • Christmas is coming, and no one seems to be in the Christmas spirit this year.
  • The mice moved in and made a nest in the flannel sheets I had down in the basement by the washer, waiting to be washed.  Lots and lots of sunflower seeds and little mouse poopies hidden in the folds of my nice flannel sheets.  Grrrr.  More laundry for me today.   Grrrrr.
  • And, did I mention that Jim is at the Patriots game, having an awesome time, and I’ll be watching the game on t.v.?  I did mention that already?  Ooops.

Cranky mood sharing done.  Stay tuned for a nicer post tomorrow.

Etc.

Interpretations, anyone?

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While we were making dinner last night, Jim said the following (which we have accurately quoted, since I said, “Write that on the white board so we don’t forget it!!”):

…the hairy overtones of a misplaced onion…

That’s it.  I can’t remember the context of our conversation, so I’m opening up the comment field to interpretations…