Marking the Day

Mark Twain was born November 30th, 1835. 

I love his writing, and I love that he was also a cat lover.

11-11-11

November 11
Armistice Day
Remembrance Day
Veterans Day

Image of vintage postcard: Vintage Holiday Crafts.

Happy Holidays!

It's a Wilde Day!

Celebrate the birthday of Oscar Wilde.
Do something unconventional!

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
(16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900)

Photo: Wikipedia

A-Z Wednesday: "T"

A-Z Wednesday is hosted by Vicki at Reading At The Beach. To join in, just visit her blog for the guidelines and leave your link in a comment.

This week's letter is "T." So I went to my shelves, and this is what I pulled out.

This Side of Paradise
Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Published 1930

The cover of the first edition:


Description of the book (from Good Reads; I believe this is originally from Scribner's):

First published in 1920, This Side of Paradise marks the beginning of the career of one of the greatest writers of the first half of the twentieth century. In this remarkable achievement, F. Scott Fitzgerald displays his unparalleled wit and keen social insight in his portrayal of college life through the struggles and doubts of Amory Blaine, a self-proclaimed genius with a love of knowledge and a penchant for the romantic. As Amory journeys into adulthood and leaves the aristocratic egotism of his youth behind, he becomes painfully aware of his lost innocence and the new sense of responsibility and regret that has taken its place.

Clever and wonderfully written, This Side of Paradise is a fascinating novel about the changes of the Jazz Age and their effects on the individual. It is a complex portrait of a versatile mind in a restless generation that reveals rich ideas crucial to an understanding of the 1920s and timeless truths about the human need for (and fear of) change.

See the book's page at Wikipedia here.

See the author's page at Wikipedia here.

A selection of covers of different editions:


And a photo of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald in their prime, during the Jazz Age (who's the prettiest?):

One of my all-time favorite novels, although it's been many years since I last read it. Of course, I don't think I've ever read anything by Fitzgerald that I didn't love.

Like, Merry Christmas, Man!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Random Photo Monday: Shore Leave

This is beach week (hooray!). We’ll be heading for Rehoboth, DE tomorrow on our annual trek. Don’t know how much blogging I’ll be doing for the next few days. A week without blogging or email seems pretty traumatic and maybe even un-American, but we’ll just have to see how well the hotel Internet access works. Oh, well – at least I’ll get lots of reading (and shopping!) done.

Here’s a shot from one of our previous trips. This guy seemed really interested in my photo-taking, and posed for a very long time while I hassled with camera, beach bag, hat, and various other paraphernalia. But our neighbors on the beach that day were handing out French fries to all the shore birds in the vicinity – so maybe he thought the camera might actually be a treat-dispensing machine of some sort. No such luck from me, I’m afraid. I learned my lesson in that department from the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.

Random Photo Monday: Bear With Me

This week's Random Photo Monday offering is up now, on my other blog (Joysweb). I'd love it if you'd stop by and take a look. So would Kayla and the bears!

Random Photo Monday: The Tonys and the Shrew

For today's Random Photo Monday offering, take a look at my other blog (Joysweb). And thanks for visiting!

Weekly Geeks #7: Photo Week

I'm a born collector. Actually, there are those who would say "pack rat" is a more descriptive term for my mania. But be that as it may, whenever I'm interested in something, I tend to accumulate enormous quantities of whatever it is.

So when Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf announced that this week's Weekly Geeks subject would be photos (preferably with a book connection), I thought it might be nice to let some of one of my collections browse part of another. So here are a few photos of some of my dolls with some of my books.

As you can see, the dolls do seem to like hanging around the bookshelves.

These Storybook Dolls felt right at home.

A few Ginnys and Jills were thrilled to find some books all about them! Jeff was just there for the dancin'.

There's nothing like relaxing under a tropical palm with a few good beach reads.

Hannah and Udo take a break from reading about Alice's adventures in Wonderland.

I suppose it's natural that a bookish person would collect bookish dolls – mine love to read.

Some other interesting Geeks to check out this week:

SmallWorld Reads has a really nice collage of photos – wonderful book-loving family.

Debra at Reading Animals has photos of three "themed" book stacks, adorned by cute critters.

Bride of the Book God and Book Club Care have photos of some really inviting places to sit with a book.

Random Photo Monday: Summer and Hogarth

Random Photo Monday has moved to my other blog (Joy's Blog). To give it a look, go here.

Random Photo Monday: Rebecca and John

Random Photo Monday has moved! It can now be found on my other blog, Joysweb. Hope you'll check it out.

Random Photo Monday: Book Line-up

These are some (most, I think) of the books that have come into our place since the first of the year. I know the photo is a little blurry, but then I'm feeling a little blurry myself this morning.

The group doesn't include several Library of America editions we've received, and a few books M. bought and took to his office or filed away in his study.

Altogether about forty books, I believe. Not an unreasonable number, but way more than we should be acquiring right now. With M's retirement and a move back to Texas right around the corner, we really should be narrowing our library down - not adding to it. But books just seem to follow me home (honest they do!).

Random Photo Monday: Rain, Rain, Go Away!

This is not what I'm seeing in the sky this morning. But it's what I wish I were seeing. Yes, we probably need the rain, but we could do without the floods. My seasonal affective disorder is revving up into high gear!

Random Photo Monday: Family Group

Not my family this time. This is actually a photo of the family of M's (maternal) grandmother - she's the tiny girl, third from the right, holding a large baby doll. She was born April 24, 1905, and would have been about 5 years old here.

Her mother, Louisa, is to her left. Her father, Henry Fest, stands in the center of the shot. The other young people are three of her four older brothers and her older sister.

The photo was taken around 1910, on their farm in San Antonio, Texas, on what became San Pedro Avenue.

M's grandmother is no longer with us, but if she were, I don't think she'd be too surprised that I'm a little late with my birthday tribute.

Earth Day or Close To It

Greetings, Earthlings!

OK, maybe it wasn't the exact day - but this photo was taken in April or May of 1970, back around the time of the very first Earth Day. And since we thought of ourselves as "children of the earth" back then, I thought it would be appropriate for today. Well, we looked pretty earthy, didn't we?

So there we were - M. and me, along with his two brothers and our sister-in-law. I'm the one out in front, flashing peace signs all over the place. Notice how the sis-in-law is trying to keep her distance. Well, she would have been pregnant with our niece at the time, so her maternal protective instincts must have been kicking in. Or just her normal better judgment.

Have a happy (green) day, everybody.

Random Photo Monday: Wedding Day

I know this isn't a very good photo - it's a really old copy of the even older original. But it's clear enough to see that these two don't look very excited about having the photo taken. Probably had to hold that pose for many uncomfortable minutes.

This is a wedding photo of my grandfather and grandmother, my father's parents. They were married in April of 1902 - April 15th, so I missed the date by a few days. He was 20 and she was 19 at the time. And although they don't look happy here, they were married for 30 years (until his early death at age 50) and had eight children. She outlived him by 42 years and never remarried.

Random Photo Monday: Siblings in Sepia

Last Friday would have been my mother's 87th birthday. This is a photo of her and (I believe) her younger sister, my Aunt Bette, taken around 1924. Since Bette looks to be about a year old, Mamma would have been around three. Check out those snazzy shoes.

Mamma had two sisters (my Aunt Linnie came along nearly five years later), and until my mom started putting on weight later in life, they all looked very much alike. In fact, in photos of the sisters in their teens and early twenties, if there's no note on the back, I sometimes have trouble figuring out which sister is my mom!

Random Photo Monday: In Old San Antone

Thought I'd just put up a few photos from our last trip to San Antonio TX, back in 2006. My home town. Strange to be playing tourist in a place I once knew so intimately.


The first two were taken on the Riverwalk, which is a really lovely, colorful place to spend an afternoon or have a great meal - many restaurants and bistros to choose from. Also art galleries, shops, and historic sites. Nothing like it was when I was growing up in SA, back in the Dark Ages. Back then, the "river" was mostly just a large drainage ditch meandering through the middle of downtown. But after many years and many civic improvement campaigns, San Antonio is now the Venice of the Southwest! Who would have thunk it? Just shows what a winning basketball franchise can do for a town (Go, Spurs!).

The third photo is a shot of part of the old Main Library in downtown SA. At the time we took the picture, the library was all closed up – not sure what they've got planned for it or if it's still there today. Note the window-unit air conditioning and the fallout shelter sign. The quote carved above the door is from William Ellery Channing and reads: "In the best books great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours."

It was a great old building and an excellent library, and I spent many hours there, doing research for school projects and papers. They also had a surprisingly good selection of old phonograph records – I heard Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, and Ma Rainey for the first time on recordings borrowed from their collection. Wonderful place.