AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko - This is a great crossover book ... written for kids and pre-teens, but appealing to every reader. It's the story of a boy whose family moves to Alcatraz in 1935 when his dad gets a job on the prison island as a guard and electrician. His older sister has always been an unusual person, and his mom wants to her to go to a special school in San Francisco. Although it takes place during the depression, there is something timeless about this book, which makes almost no sense in our current world of screens. Even the cover is appealing - red, silver and black. I give you this suggestion as a gift, and you can give this book as a gift to any young reader this holiday season. It's a wonderful read.

THE AVIARY GATE

The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman - This is the story of Celia Lamprey, daughter of a merchant ship sea captain in the 16th century. At the same time, it's the story of Elizabeth, a PhD scholar at Oxford who is doing research and stumbles across some old writings about an English girl who may have been lost at sea. Celia's story is really interesting since she ends up as a "slave" in a Turkish harem. It's so interesting to learn how the inner workings of a harem and it's hierarchy. A little guide to the characters and map of the harem rooms at the beginning of the book is really helpful to keep track of what's going on. Throughout the book, I didn't need to be reading the modern day story, but at the very end, it comes together nicely. I liked it, although the book that took place in Venice was better. I reviewed it a few posts ago...

Today I somehow got real busy in my sewing room, and am so happy to be doing so! I also started to seriously get rid of stuff that I'd collected in the large dresser I recently sold, so condensing my things and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of went well. Tomorrow I'll put a few things for sale.

My Christmas decorating theme is going to be silver and white this year. I'm just finishing up a white satin table cloth that will go on the round table in the dining room with a sheer silvery snowflake fabric overlay. On that will either be a white tree or silver tree. Both fabrics are from my voluminous stash, and I even used up two spools of silver metallic thread. That I have to replace, but I'm super psyched about using the satin and the snowflake fabric. Once the little vignette is finished I'll put a picture up.

MADE

Made - Is one of the best Dream Come True TV shows ever. It's been on MTV for years, and this morning I just watched a particularly sweet show. A self-proclaimed nerdy high school freshman wanted to be seen and noticed at school, and decided that hip-hop dancing at a fall pep-rally would be the way to do so. MTV went for it, and sent him a Made coach for hip hop. He is the only son of an older single mom, and felt like a mama's boy to top it all off, skinny, glasses wearing, a bit of a lisp and a beautiful smile...you just love this kid. The coach had pushed him hard, which they always do on Made. Finally, the day of the pep rally was here, and he and his freshman team got out to dance in front of the whole school. Alas, the sophomores won the competition, but the freshmen came in second! He was cool with that because he finally felt like people saw him and knew who he was. His second goal was to ask the girl he had a crush on to that night's dance. Although she said she'd go, she ditched him the moment they walked into the dance. He took her outside and she told him that although he took it as a date, she didn't take it that way. He's such a nice boy....he was OK with that as long as they were still friends. Soon he was on the dance floor, though, and lo and be, he was surrounded by cute girls! They all danced with him (he was now a great dancer from the coaching) and one even followed him outside and asked if he would kiss her. I LOVE THIS SHOW! His mom and coaches said that he was a different person than the boy they knew just five weeks ago. Made is formulaic.....on each show, the Made team surprises the Made kid at school, usually in the cafeteria, but sometimes in an assembly or class. Then the kid starts working out, but gets really tired and burned out fast. So the Made coach has a heart to heart talk with the kid about dedication and hard work leading to success. The kid gets re-inspired, and the coach becomes friendlier. Then comes the big day of the competition or show, and then the social situation with the special someone. Watching Made is about learning a new skill, each different kid, and that we are all the same...everyone just wants to be seen.

Family Jewels - This is an A&E show that I watch many mornings at 7 - 8 a.m. It's a reality show about Gene Simmons and his family. For those few clueless who read this, Gene Simmons was (is) the lead singer of KISS. Now he manages his business empire, makes appearances around the world, and spends time with his amazingly grounded family. Shannon is his girlfriend; he does not want to get married-it would go against everything he's always stood for. They have two almost grown kids, 21 and 16 who love to tease him. It's pretty sweet and Gene is a character.

A SEPARATE PEACE

A Separate Peace - I read the book a couple of weeks ago so that I could discuss it with Peter who is reading it for freshman English. Last night I watched the movie and liked it almost as well. The beginning of the movie takes some licenses with the actual story, but once the story was rolling, it was pretty true to the book. I cannot stand when screenwriters change essentials, though. Here you've read a book, and when watching the movie want the events to unfold as you read them. Except not only are they not unfolding, but new and strange events never written by the author are happening. For years, I wouldn't watch a movie that had been made from a book that I'd enjoyed. I'm glad I saw this, though, because the characters were rightly played by some fine young actors.

OK, so it's Thanksgiving weekend, and ostensibly I have 6 days to myself to stay home and get things done. If I go out, let's say it will be in the morning on Friday IF there is some deal that I can't resist in the Thanksgiving fliers. It'll hardly be worth it though. Traffic, cold, crowds. Who needs that? A couple of years ago I went out on Friday in Naples, and it was fine. Warm, not much traffic, not many crowds, and deals on presents that I was planning to buy anyway. If I can get this place shaped up at all, I'll be so happy!

AVATAR

Avatar - Finally. This was one of the biggest news movies of last year. And it was amazing. Visually, it's one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. I loved the jungle all lit up at night, and the magic of the Avatar bodies. The story was age old....war monger white men from earth want something valuable from a new land, and are willing to kill and destroy whatever is in their way to get it. That's the simple story. The rest of the story is of love, of dreams, of nature and of spirituality. And that's why you really watch this movie. A don't miss...and don't worry, it takes only a few minutes to get involved with the story.

So it's almost Thanksgiving, and tonight we are going to a tongue in cheek Thanksgiving party given by the Griswolds, that middle american family from the Vacation movies. They are buying kegs and frying up turkeys. We are bringing a dish to pass, so I am making Ritz Mock Apple Pie, which is Apple Pie with no apples. I've got the Ritz crackers at the ready, and am ready to roll out the dough. It's not even noon and I've washed my hair, sold a paella pan, gone to a house sale, walked to town, checked in at the bank, saw our village Thanksgiving day parade, caught up on 10 fb Scrabble games, and written this blog! whew. Of course, pretty much NONE of that was on any list of things I have to do.

IN OTHER ROOMS, OTHER WONDERS

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin - The short stories in this book take place in Pakistan. The characters in the stories appear here and there throughout the book in different stories about other characters. We walk here with servants. We walk here with their masters. Sometimes we meet family members who don't understand the particular relationships of their parents or children. I love interconnected stories. The reader gets to know a character in one way, and then later on meets the same person in the background of a story from a totally different perspective.
A beautiful book. I wish it hadn't ended.

MYSTERY SOLVED

When I was a little girl I loved to visit my grandparents. I especially loved the summers at their house on Schoolcraft Avenue in Detroit. My mom would drop me off there and I'd spend the day with my grandmother, hanging around the house, watering her flower garden, sitting in the sunny kitchen, waiting for the most delicious fluffy scrambled egg made in her funny small iron frying pan, angling for a handful of m&ms, chatting with the next door neighbor, Mrs. Thompson, who would stand in the kitchen, just inside the back door, having shell macaroni for dinner, doing a little sewing project, just following her around talking and learning. She's the one who first taught me the Greek alphabet, showed me Bewitched, watched movies with me, fed me toasted pumpkin seeds. When my mom came to pick me up, I'd beg to spend the night there even though I didn't have nightclothes with me. If I spent the night I was supposed to sleep in the pink room, a place of endless fascination with its waterfall vanity and deep dark closet. I didn't like sleeping in there though, even if the pink flowery sheet was on the bed because the window would be open and they lived on a busy street, and it would be noisy/scary. I preferred to sleep with my grandmother, on the side of the bed close to her waterfall vanity and the treasures in her jewelry box. My grandmother seemed a rather big woman in those days - by today's standards she'd probably be a size 12. In those days she was a size 16. Anyway, there was one nightgown in her drawer that was smaller than the rest, and that's the one I wore. And still wear. Over the years it's become almost threadbare and I've repaired it and repaired it. I decided years ago that Mom must have made this since it's a simple design with bias tape trim and a ruffle. It almost completely fell apart this summer and has been on my to-do sewing repair pile for months. Just now I patched it up yet again, and as I did so, I noticed that the seams were serged. That means Mom didn't make the nightgown. She didn't have a serger, and home sergers were not even on the market in those days. Further inspection showed that in the shoulder there is a faded tag. Mom didn't make the nightgown. Nevertheless, someday when I die and the daughter-in-law I don't yet have, or one of my nieces or goddaughter is going through my stuff, they will come upon this rag. I hope they wonder why it's in the drawer, but they might just shrug and toss it out. That's what happens with our histories.....except if they read my blog, they will know the story of the pink polka-dot nightgown.

A SEPARATE PEACE

A Separate Peace by John Knowles- I'd always meant to read this book, but didn't get to it until now because Peter is reading it for Freshman English. Of course Peter will read it on schedule not a page more than the teacher assigns at a time, and I will read it fast. Oh...I already did! Read it in a couple of days because I couldn't put it down. This story is set at a boys' prep school in New Hampshire during World War II. It's a true coming of age story....about competition, life, psychology, war, people. Although it's told by Gene the adult, he tells it from his teen-aged perspective. In so many ways, people are different nowadays, but again in so many ways, they are the same. Last night Peter read the chapter containing one of the pivotal moments in the story and he came upstairs to talk about it with me because he was so affected by it. I think he was kind of blown away, but would be upset with me for saying so. Good thing my blog isn't cool! Put this one on your reading list for so many reasons. It's tough but good.

CHICAGO POET

Peter had to present a poem for his English class, and he chose one called Chicago Poet by Carl Sandburg. When he told me it was the Chicago poem, I thought it was the one about the factories and city of big shoulders, etc., but instead it was a short poem about a guy. I love this, and more than some of his other works, for me, this is why Carl Sandburg is Carl Sandburg.

Chicago Poet

I SALUTED a nobody.

I saw him in a looking-glass.
He smiled - so did I.
He crumpled the skin on his forehead,
frowning - so did I.
Everything I did he did.
I said "Hello, I know you."
And I was a liar to say so.

Ah, this looking-glass man!
Liar, fool, dreamer, play-actor,
Soldier, dusty drinker of dust -
Ah! he will go with me
Down the dark stairway
When nobody else is looking,
When everybody else is gone.

He locks his elbow in mine,
I lose all - but not him.

I'm not sure what it is. Something speaks to me, and makes me wonder about that dusty drinker of dust.

AMELIA

Amelia - We just finished watching a great movie. Amelia is the story of Amelia Earhart, who disappeared on a "solo" flight around the world. Had she made it, she would have been the first person to succeed at the feat. Hilary Swank bears an uncanny resemblance to Amelia Earhart, which added to the overall enjoyment of the movie. Many stories have romanticized Amelia's fate with speculations about what happened to her, but I think the movie probably gets it right. She was an amazing woman, and the movie is worth watching. I think I'll go stamp shopping now.....

THE PINDAR DIAMOND

The Pindar Diamond by Katie Hickman - I just finished reading this wonderful book that takes place in Venice, Italy in the early 1600s. It's a tale of intrigue, lost love, and friendship. The Blue Sultan is the name of a priceless diamond that brings fortune to its possessor. The author paints pictures with her words, so this is a very visual story as well. As a treat, some of the characters are from Greece, and a bit of Greek is spoken in the book, not always translated, which is a connection I always enjoy. I've never been to Venice, and hope to see it at least once in my lifetime, but if not, I've been there in some wonderful books. Apparently there is a book called The Aviary Gate that preceeds this story with some of the same characters, that takes place in the preceding years. I think I'll reserve it at the library right now! If it's half as good as The Pindar Diamond, you might want to read it first. I'll let you know in a few days.

Today I'm staying in, out of the frigid cold overcast weather, trying to catch up once again to all there is to do around here. I'm still upstairs ironing, haven't played Scrabble yet, but may work it into a system of rewards for tasks completed. If I could finish the ironing, straighten off my upstairs desk and make an area conducive to sewing, I could live with the progress for the day. If I could also get some cleaning done in my and Peter's rooms, I could be happy about the day. If I could do all that and also make inroads on the dining room table and kitchen desk, I could be very happy for the day. If I could do all those things, and also make the living room look good, the dining room look like a dining room instead of an office and jewelry workshop, line the jewelry supply dresser with pacific cloth liner and store everything in it, and get to the basement a little bit, I could almost be normal. But it all sounds very daunting put that way, so maybe if I could just complete the ironing and upstairs desk, it will be enough for today. Oops, this is all impossible because I haven't done my closet summer/winter organization. OK, so if that gets done today, Yea!
Oh, and how's this? I just read that little "About Me" section to the right of this blog post, and realize that I haven't done any of my favorite things in ages! It's time to get these tasks behind me and get back on track. Here goes.