CLOVER!!! LOVES SANTA

Yesterday SANTA rode in on the local FIRE TRUCK and CLOVER!!! couldn't help but race across the yard with excitement. We've been working on her "SINGING", and this was a perfect opportunity for her to show off her talent. Listen closely near the end of the video.........

So this morning, I was replaying the video, when CLOVER!!! broke into song again. Oh how I LOVE this GIRL.  And the way she tilts her head....... PRICELESS!

It's such a WONDERFUL time of year!!

MERRY MERRY,

JOAN

A PENNY and A DIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!

Getting together at CHRISTMAS has always been a BIG DEAL in our family. The TRADITION of being together as a FAMILY - SHARING a great meal together (thank you ELLEN!!) and being CREATIVE and THOUGHTFUL with our gift-giving. A time that is ripe for MERRIMENT, LAUGHTER, JOY and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

Without MOM and DAD, we have created some new TRADITIONS, but the LOVE and the importance of TOGETHERNESS still remains.

Since my MOM and DAD died (1999 and 2000), I've been finding PENNIES from my DAD on occasion and DIMES from my MOM all the time. It happened more frequently at first, but I'm amazed that it continues to this day.

And it's not just random either. It's when I'm thinking of something important that I'd appreciate their input on or when I need confirmation that I'm on the right track or sometimes it's like "a little pat on the back" when I do something kind -  recognized by one of them. It's a wonderful way to live, having this belief.

I believe the arrival of a PENNY AND A DIME yesterday was a simple "HELLO, WE ARE THINKING OF YOU, MERRY CHRISTMAS!".  

You see, I was opening the mail and naturally there were many CHRISTMAS cards......... suddenly I saw an envelope with a PENNY AND A DIME in the window!! I tilted my head........

The letter was addressed to FRED KISTLER, my father's brother.  The crazy thing is, I had Fred's mail forwarded to me when he got sick and was in the hospital, failing. He died shortly thereafter. But that was in 2004 - THIRTEEN YEARS AGO!!

The key is, the envelope wasn't addressed to me, because that would be too random and they needed to provide confirmation for me that it was really from them. So the letter, addressed to UNCLE FRED was their way of confirming to me, that the message truly was from MOM and DAD.

There is EXTRA SPECIAL MEANING to the words "I BELIEVE" for me this year!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS MOM AND DAD and UNCLE FRED and all of those have passed........

AND, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU TOO!!!  xoxo

Joan

BOOK - A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by AMOR TOWLES (2016) - NO SPOILERS

The main character, COUNT ALEXANDER ROSTOV is sentenced to house arrest where he lives (in the Metropol Hotel across from the Kremlin) for the rest of his life, because he was "An Aristocrat". A complete degradation of personal status with minimal space in which to live - but OH, how very rich his life was........ And you're going to really like him!!

Everyone is reading this book it seems and so far, each person I've spoken to has really liked it. It has a 4.37 rating on Goodreads.com and that's a VERY high score for them.

Published late last year, Literary Awards (so far) include: 

• Kirkus Prize Nominee for Fiction (2016)
• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction (2016)

This is the kind of book that I wanted to pick up every day and read a little bit  more, but I didn't want to rush it, because I didn't want it to end. It's HISTORICAL FICTION, not a high action, suspense novel. It takes its time to introduce you to each character in a way so that you really get to know them. You begin to feel that they are real and you become intrigued to find out what's going on with them each day. Again, I didn't want it to end.......

I've promised NO SPOILERS, so I'll just share a number of quotes from the book to give you a feel for the writing style. The quotes I've chosen are beautifully composed and/or "spoke to me" in some way or have reminded me of something that I don't want to forget. 

Pg 18

"..... adversity presents itself in many forms; and that if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.

Pg 19

"When he began to stir at half past nine, in the shapeless moments before the return to consciousness Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov savored the taste of the day to come."

Pg 80

"As such, the two young men hardly seemed fated for friendship. But Fate would not have the reputation it has if it simply did what it seemed it would do."

Pg 120

"After all, what can a first impression tell us about someone we've just met for a minute in the lobby of a hotel? For that matter, what can a first impression tell us about anyone? Why, no more than a chord can tell us about Beethoven, or a brushstroke about Botticelli. By their very nature, human beings are so capricious, so complex, so delightfully contradictory, that they deserve not only our consideration, but our reconsideration - and our unwavering determination to withhold our opinion until we have engaged with them in every possible setting at every possible hour."

Pg 125

"To what end, he wondered, had the Divine created the stars in heaven to fill a man with feelings of inspiration one day and insignificance the next??

Pg 186

"Nina Kulikova always was and would be a serious soul in search of serious ideas to be serious about."

Pg 309

"For all the varied concerns attendant to the raising of a child - over schoolwork, dress, and manners - in the end, a parent's responsibility could not be more simple: To bring a child safely into adulthood so that she could have a chance to experience a life of purpose and, God willing, contentment."

Pg 322

"And the friends that one happens to make in those impressionable years? One will meet them forever after with a welling of affection."

Pg 327

Referring to his sister who passed away when he was young he says - 

"Every year that passed, it seemed a little more of her had slipped away; and I began to fear that one day I would come to forget her altogether. But the truth is: No matter how much time passes, those we have loved never slip away from us entirely."

Pg 353

"That is how time passes when one is left waiting unaccountably. The hours become interminable. The minutes relentless. And the seconds? Why not only does every last one of them demand it's moment on the stage, it insists upon making a soliloquy full of weighty pauses and artful hesitations and then leaps into an encore at the slightest hint of applause."

Pg 387

"For what matters in life is not whether we receive a round of applause; what matters is whether we have the courage to venture forth despite the uncertainlty of acclaim."

Pg 391

"For his part, the Count had opted for the life of the purposefully unrushed."

Pg 398

"Now if, as a rule, the Count generally avoided drinking after eleven, he absolutely never drank after midnight. In fact, he had even found himself quoting his father to Sofia on the subject, asserting that the only things that came from the practice were foolhardy acts, ill-advised liaisons, and gambling debts."

Pg 402

"Alexander Rostov was neither scientist nor sage; but at the age of sixty-four he was wise enough to know that life does not proceed by leaps and bounds. It unfolds. At any given moment, it is the manifestation of a thousand transactions."

Pg 461

"If one has been absent for decades from a place that one once held dear, the wise would generally counsel that one should never return there again."

Pg 461

"For as it turns out, one can revisit the past quite pleasantly, as long as one does so expecting nearly every aspect of it to have changed."

JOAN

BOOK REVIEW - "LOVE, ETC" by JULIAN BARNES (2000)

I LOVE (get it?) the way this man writes! He's a GENIUS. I had to look up words on every page it seems, which in turn took me twice as long to read the book (only 227 pgs). Either the British have a completely different, every-day vocabulary OR I'm sadly lacking in my knowledge (or both......).

The way JULIAN BARNES presented the story, by having each character alternately share an opinion, a perspective or an update, was brilliant and entertaining. It was fun to know up front that GILLIAN was currently married to OLIVER and she had previously been married to STUART. Ahhhh, LOVE! 

And of course, for more "LOVE" and kicks, there is TERRIE and ELLIE - each of whom expand STUART'S "love-life", or perhaps more appropriately stated, his "sex-life". There are a few graphic sex passages, which can be disturbing to the more conservative of readers...... you are forewarned.

So, OLIVER goes on and on with his "philosophy" about things. STUART is STUART. GILLIAN is an interesting character and she's misunderstood, I believe. And the other characters fill in the blanks. 

It is so perfectly titled - "LOVE, ETC.". 

I literally fell in LOVE with JULIAN BARNES when I read his MAN BOOKER PRIZE winning book, "THE SENSE OF AN ENDING". I LOVED his writing style and I couldn't get over the HUGE story that he told in less than 200 pages! Alternatively, a friend of mine said "I had a SENSE that it was NEVER GOING TO END!!".  She didn't appreciate that book nor his writing the way I did.

I fell in LOVE with JULIAN BARNES all over again with this book. He's a MASTER at story-telling and in such a DEEP way. Are the things he writes, feelings that he's had personally, or thoughts he's had or experiences that he's had or is his imagination just that far-reaching?

I'm going to read it again right away to see if I remember any of the new vocabulary I learned (or most likely have promptly forgotten). I highlighted in yellow so many passages that "spoke to me", or that I found thought-provoking, or that were entertaining...... that the book is filled now with the color yellow! 

Too many passages to share that are notable, so here is just one from each (STUART, OLIVER and GILLIAN) from CHAPTER 2:

STUART - "We met, we fell in love, we married. I made the mistake of thinking that was the end of the story, when it was only the beginning. I suppose it's a mistake lots of people make."

OLIVER - "Do we not, each of us, write the novel of our life as we go along? But how few, alas , are publishable."

GILLIAN - "The point is, you can love two people, one after the other, one interrupting the other, like I did. You can love them in different ways. And it doesn't mean one love is true and the other is false. That's what I wish I could have convinced Stuart. I loved each of them truly. You don't believe me? Well, it doesn't matter, I no longer argue the case. I just say: it didn't happen to you, did it? It happened to me."

JOAN

WHARTON ESHERICK STUDIO IN VALLEY FORGE, PA

Built over a 40 year time period, the WHARTON ESHERICK STUDIO is a local GEM!!  Who knew?  Right in my own backyard (so to speak), in VALLEY FORGE, is a MARVELOUS, QUIRKY, COLORFUL STUDIO filled with SCULPTURES, WOODCUTS, POTTERY, FURNITURE and PAINTINGS.

The Admission Office is located in what looks like a garage. I fell in LOVE with this building the minute we walked up. So many ANGLES and COLORS and TEXTURES and FADED PAINT - I mean, what's not to love?

The actual STUDIO, where WHARTON lived and worked, is set back on the hillside. Architecturally interesting with a variety of textures and materials, he used wood, stone, cement, tin and glass.

Notice the hand-picked STONE that shows so many FABULOUS COLORS! This wall is truly a work of art in itself.

The door handles - UNIQUE, INTRICATE and EXQUISITE.

Once inside the house/studio, your eyes jump from one TREASURE to the next. The HOOKS on the wall - each one hand-carved - each representing a different animal or person that meant something to WHARTON.

I had to touch this CHAIR to confirm that there was NO LEATHER or FABRIC - it's 100% CARVED WOOD.

 

Handmade SPIRAL STAIRCASES lead to the bedroom and to the kitchen.....

I was fascinated by the BEDROOM. The bed is tucked into an alcove and surrounded by BOOKS. His clothing is folded absolutely perfectly to fit into the drawers he so brilliantly designed under his bed. 

Hand-laid FLOORS in the dining area were put together from WOOD SCRAPS - forming an impressionistic pattern under foot.

The tiny KITCHEN was also designed with optimum EFFICIENCY, such as you'd find in the close quarters of a ship.

One of my favorite sculptures was the face sculpture representing THE SCREAM, a painting by EDVARD MUNCH (1893).

And the WINNIE THE POOH stone sculpture on his deck......

Quite an enjoyable outing with my 13-yr old grandniece, GRACE (standing with our wonderful tour guide), during GRACE's 4-day stay with AUNT JOAN this summer. We sure have a lot of FUN together, don't you think?!!

JOAN

THE DANIEL BOONE HOMESTEAD - BIRDSBORO,

GRACE is my 13 year old GRANDNIECE. Each summer for the past several years, she's come to my house for a week to attend the local YMCA DAY CAMP.  She loved camp, but at age 13, she decided she'd rather just visit with me instead.

She is a such a DELIGHT to be with. She didn't want to do any "ROAD TRIPS", but was excited to visit two local points of interest with me.

She arrived on Wednesday. On Thursday we drove about 35 minutes to Birdsboro, PA to the DANIEL BOONE HOMESTEAD. This has been on my bucket list for some time now because my grandmother used to say to me all the time "You know, you're a KIN to DANIEL BOONE!!". I'm just starting genealogy, so I hope to find out what she was talking about. I have two friends who are also related to Daniel Boone - I just might find more cousins than I ever expected!

Born in 1734, DANIEL was raised here before he headed off to KENTUCKY. What a beautiful HOMESTEAD!! I recommend a visit, and especially to all who love the look of CHESTER COUNTY STONE buildings (although the property is in Berks County). 

In the next two pictures, look closely at the bottom section of stone - how it's so closely knit together. This is the original base of DANIEL BOONE'S home - a log house built in 1730. The larger stones above that, were added later by subsequent owners as additions.

Below was their SMOKEHOUSE for meats and fish.

Some beautiful UTILITY buildings on the property

A local, historic, water-powered SAWMILL was moved to this property in 1972.

In 1777, the DE TURK FAMILY (Pennsylvania Germans) bought this property and are buried in the cemetery there. As you can see, two headstones remain. Their family lived at this Homestead into the 1820's.

The BOONE HOUSE interior is decorated with pieces from that time period, not from the BOONE FAMILY.  Here are the 3 rooms on the FIRST FLOOR.

A WORK ROOM (wool spinning) and BEDROOMS are on the second floor.

What a SLAVE'S ROOM would have looked like.

And the ORIGINAL BOONE HOUSE CELLAR - for food storage and their natural SPRING for fresh water.

Notice the large slice of tree in the left corner - the RINGS were counted and prove that this tree was on the property when DANIEL BOONE lived here.  

And naturally I had to have GRACE pose with the tour guides.......

LUNCH at PEDDLER'S VILLAGE BAKERY ended our outing. If you are local and haven't eaten here, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Closed on Mondays.

Stay tuned for my next Blog post - about  another local outing - a visit to the WHARTON ESHERICK STUDIO in CHESTER SPRINGS, PA.

JOAN