Experiencing the Olympics in England
Hey Americans! Chat about The Olympics with my friend who is over there, right now, in the thick of it!
The ceremony may be old news, but the items director Danny Boyle chose as illustrations of Britishness could easily be a blueprint for a blog like mine, celebrating the differences between US and UK life. This is the intro to a series of posts treating items in the opening ceremony that foreigners might not have understood.
It’s ironic that the Olympics turns so many people into couch potatoes for the duration, sitting on sofas watching the fittest people in sports (UK English: in sport) leap and twist and run and throw. And it’s also ironic that an event that everyone is at pains to say promotes harmony between nations should be so overtly nationalistic, not least at the opening ceremonies, where the trick is to balance two human impulses: to celebrate the characteristics of your own tribe and to welcome visitors from other tribes.
This time last week British newspaper…
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All Good Things Must Pass, but Awesome Things Keep Going
This summer has been peppered with all sorts of amazing things at Half Price Books in Humble. Temara Moore kicked off our summer with doing a reading and signing of Bloop! Bloop! Goes the Poop! M.G. King came and read and signed copies of The Librarian on the Roof! Fireman Ricky Meehan from the local fire department came to our kick off party – in gear! We had a photography raffle for brides, a martial arts raffle for sports fans and health gurus, and a southern fiction gift basket raffle when Melinda McGuire came to town for her book signing. We were also graced with the presence of Delaney Rhodes and Rhonda Dennis. Last, but certainly not least, Archie has been rocking the acoustic guitar every Friday night all summer.
But as our parents told us and their parents told them, all good things must pass. With August 1st here, the hottest month of the year doesn’t urge on the spirit of summer, but does quite the opposite – it reminds us that Fall is just around the corner. Which means: there are only a few performances left from Archie, and all our summery events are bound to begin to morph into more cozy weather activities.
I love cozy weather activities. Wearing sweaters and boots, hunkering down with a hot cup of joe… sigh.
Needless to say, I am stoked about Fall and the wonderful things we are planning. Stay posted to see what awesome things of Fall will replace our good things from summer; I will keep my blog updated and you can always check out the store’s website.
P.S. If you are a Houston area musician looking for some troubadour experience, shoot me a message.
Bookstores + Brownies = Best Things in Life
July 28th couldn’t have come fast enough. I twiddled my fingers and tapped my toes, checked my blog and my messages, repeatedly, in anticipation of meeting Melinda McGuire and Rhonda Dennis in person at Half Price Books. I haven’t read Josephine: Red Dirt and Whiskey
Melinda and Rhonda were both just the definition of southern friendliness. Brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and free packets of Cajun seasoning were available for the taking. In addition to signing and selling copies of their books they held an exciting raffle for a gift basket of all their combined titles and other goodies. The event was all smiles, pleasant conversation, and plenty of brightly colored checkered napkins!
Raffle Winner!
I find that the best things in life are browsing books, meeting people, and eating fabulous baked goods. It doesn’t really get much better than that! I think the kiddos would agree, as Ayla got to meet Melinda’s youngest who is the same age (but a head taller), and share sugar free cookies. The girls pal’d around in the kids sections here and there as well as discussed the merits of alternative health in the stacks behind the book signing table. Toddlers can be quite chatty around new friends.
It was a pleasure to have these two lovely ladies and their families at the store this weekend and I look forward to having them again. Maybe next time you can join us.
Even if you missed the signing, show your support for these southern authors by purchasing copies of their books here
A Southern Saturday at Half Price Books
Make plans for Saturday, July 28th!
Southern summer sun beating down on you?
Need an escape?
Take a trip to northeast Texas and the land of pine trees and red dirt roads in Josephine: Red Dirt and Whiskey. Set in the Great Depression, travel with Josephine on her late night adventures as she tries to find the elusive and forbidden Ethan.
Want to travel a little further?
Try post-Civil War Kentucky and meet Nelson McGinnis and Cora Ross as they get to know each other and come to terms with their attraction that will change their lives forever in Nelson and Cora – The Beginning. The McGinnis family are Confederate supporters and the Ross family are loyal Unionists. Each family hides dark secrets that will come to light as you get to know Nelson and Cora.
Prefer a little more modern travel?
The Green Bayou series set in south Louisiana may be just the ticket for your literary vacation.
Come on in to Half Price Books at Humble on July 28, from 1-3 PM, for a Southern Saturday. Escape the heat and dive into a Southern Fiction novel.
Come meet Melinda McGuire, author of Josephine: Red Dirt and Whiskey and Nelson and Cora – The Beginning, along with Rhonda Dennis author of the Green Bayou Series.
Enter to win a book bundle, signed posters, bookmarks, coffee mugs and more.
There may even be cookies!
– Melinda MCGuire
Marius
Click to visit Kate’s Library
My Thoughts on Part 3 of Les Miserables
I had a hard time getting into part 3, as I tend to be impatient in my reading constantly wondering about relevance. But of course, Hugo makes everything worth while and without fail Marius is just as intriguing as his predecessors: Fantine and Cosette.
I love how Hugo builds a story out of lengthy character developments and social commentary. There’s no story, just life, but in that it is one of the most fascinating stories ever told. I think that is why I always find the climactic plot points so startling and wonderful – I don’t expect them. Hugo waits until you’ve settled into not being impatient, gotten cozy with the daily ins and outs of a particular character’s existence, and then shatters your world with a life altering event for them. The whole thing is beautiful, and depressing, and wonderful. .. think East of Eden, but instead of a sunny dust bowl, you’ve got the dank, cold of Paris. Why am I so drawn to this kind of literature?
I am 710 pages into this novel with only 550 pages to go, the overwhelming intimidation behind me, now I’m just eager to see what happens to all these people I have come to love (and hate). I am so glad I joined a readalong to encourage me through this novel, but I have found that the group really hasn’t served the purpose I previously expected. I hoped to read posts and have discussions, following the thoughts of others in a classroom like manner as I plodded through this masterpiece. Instead, I impatiently wait for other bloggers to share their reading experiences, only to find they haven’t read or at least haven’t posted about what they’ve read.
So instead, I sit here cherishing Fantine, Cosette, Jean Valjean, and Marius alone. Instead, I find that few others are sharing my desire to throw the Thenardier’s off a cliff by the mere fact that they are not presently posting the desire. God, I hope I am not the only one feeling murderess passions toward these useless pieces of crap who keeps “a pipe in his mouth, and was smoking. There was no more bread in the den, but there was tobacco.” People who do nothing for themselves, but scrape by off the hard work and sympathies of others, breaking their own windows to appear even more poor to a wealthier man who might give them money.
Misery loves company, and as I am reading Les Miserables – I want company to lament in the utter awfulness of these people who do everything they can to bring the good ones down to their level. The good ones being those equally destitute, equally at odds with the world, but doing their best to make a life and stay as happy as can be imagined.
Have you read Les Miserables? Care to join me? We will be all ready to see this at the end of the year: http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/50396/the-les-miserables-trailer-a-million-theater-geeks-just-fainted
Read my next post on Les Miserables.
A Rainy Day With the Olympics
Gabby Douglas, Winner of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials 2012
Bright and early this morning, I went to my best friend’s house to watch the Olympic Trials (old news, we were watching what we missed of the Women’s Gymnastics Team Trials on the DVR). It had been pouring down rain most the night and well into the morning, keeping my sweet baby asleep much longer than usual. So by the time I was heading over for some Olympic goodness, kiddo still cozy in her pajamas, the streets were quite flooded. It was a delightful morning, sipping coffee, hanging out, watching the best athletes in the country do their thing. It set me up for my whole day.
First, while watching Gabby Douglas rock day two and Sarah Finnegan do that fancy beam skill she shares with Terin Humphrey (Click to see the awesome beam skill I’m talking about: Sarah, Terin), I heard a commentator say something that got me pretty curious about Olympic rules and regulations I wasn’t familiar with already. They were talking about how young Sarah was. Young? I thought. Dominque Moceanu was young. This girl is normal… right? Nope, not anymore.
Dominique Moceanu was the youngest to win nationals at 13. She was allowed to compete because she would turn 15 during the Olympic year, which means she was actually 14 during the summer Olympics when the Magnificent Seven awed the world. That was 1996. In 1997 the rules were changed. Instead of gymnasts being required to turn 15 in the Olympic year, the eminent “they” that makes important Olympic rules added an extra year to that requirement, and now girls must be 16 (or turning 16). So Dominique Moceanu will remain the youngest for quite sometime, because it will be impossible for any equally talented 13-year-old to even have the same chances to prove themselves. In addition to that, there are rumors that the age may be increased to 18! I, personally, am not a fan of these rules. Yes, our children should be protected, but I think there is a higher risk of injury for training that intensely after an athlete has peaked. No, I was never an Olympian, but I am very familiar with peaking as an athlete and then things going downhill from there, no matter how hard you train.
Of course, I discovered all this and formed all these opinions today during kiddo’s nap time, while also polishing off my assigned reading for the day:
Title: The Naked Olympics
Author: Tony Perrottet
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Sports, Ancient History
Length: 214 pages
Perrottet takes an already fascinating subject and presents it in the form of riveting history. I was surprised how much detail had been discovered regarding the ancient games, and was impressed at how well Perrottet presents it step by step, without leaving anything out. There were so many things included in the games back then, beauty contests, poetry readings; it wasn’t just for athletes, it was an all out ancient world pagan party honoring Zeus and Eros. A lot of this information (though it makes perfect sense and fits right in with what I already knew about the times) was new to me.
I was fascinated by how often names I knew popped up in the commentary… Plato, Socrates, Herodotus… I didn’t expect them at the Olympic games! I also was ignorant of the role the Nazi’s played in our modern view of today’s Olympics, and the lighting of the torch. An interesting tidbit about the Nazis being so fascinated with Sparta kept popping up, along with tales that put shivers up my spine.
Regardless of the Olympic Games origins and history, and how much of it goes against my personal world view and moral standing, I still find the Olympics wonderful. Should you purposely breed Olympians? No. But if someone has the drive and talent and has a passion for it, competing in the Olympics is a beautiful dream and an awesome thing to behold.
Perrottet has done a great job portraying the Olympics for what they are, presenting a well-rounded quick study of the origins of an event which everyone is already familiar. As I plan to educate kiddo classically, I think this would make a fun optional read during the summer games when she hits her teens. I see us doing what we did today, eating tomato, avocado, honey mustard, parmesan cheese sandwiches on toasted wheat, sipping coffee, watching the trials, and doing some research. It could be a fun study/ study break from regular school assignments.
Summer Reading Programs – July 2012 Update
Feed Your Brain display at Half Price Books in Humble
I’m proud to say that my little kiddo sat through all of her 500 minutes of reading time and then some, earning herself a certificate signed by the State Librarian and a free book from the library. Harris County Public Libraries have a fun little system going, and it has been fun logging all our minutes read over the last few weeks for the Get a Clue program.
In addition to that, Half Price Books has a summer reading program as well called Feed Your Brain. Reading time is supposed to be done during the months of June and July, but its not too late to get started now and earn prizes for both programs.
To help your kids earn their minutes, bring them along to Wednesday story time at Half Price Books Humble at 10:30 am. Books are read until we get tired (usually around 11:00 am, but if we’ve got a good attention span out of the kids that day, we may stretch it to 11:15 or so). Every now and then we are privileged enough to have children’s authors read their own book aloud and stay for a book signing. Snacks are always provided.
This Month’s Raffle at Half Price Books Humble!
Fitness and Wellness Raffle This is the summer to achieve health in mind and body. Starting Monday, July 2, buy any fitness, sports, wellness, or health book at our HPB Humble store and get a chance to win one free month of martial arts lessons at Wang’s Martial Arts. Winner will be announced Saturday, July 7 at 7 pm. See store for details.
Story Time Party With M.G. King
With summer in full gear, story time at Half Price Books in Humble has become a force to be reckoned with, but mostly because M.G. King is quite possibly one of the coolest ladies I’ve ever met and she was kind enough to do a reading and book signing in place of the usual kid’s story time on Wednesday.
There was a fun little song, a reading of Librarian on the Roof!
Make your own poof book! http://www.vickiblackwell.com/makingbooks/poofbook.htm
Read my review of Librarian on the Roof! https://anakalianwhims.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/weekly-low-down-on-kids-books-31312/
Anakalian Whims 