Silas Marner by George Eliot

Oh my. I loved this book. I mistakenly picked it up thinking it was on the BBC's list, but it was not. I decided to read it anyway (since I had it) and it was a short read.

It is the sweetest book. It's about a weaver losing everything he had only to be transformed by the power of a little golden-haired orphan girl. It's a story about redemptive love and the just/unjust getting what they deserved. It was written in 1861, so at first I didn't have high hopes that I would enjoy it. But, wow, I couldn't put it down.

I definitely would recommend this to anyone. It's short (183 pages) and is pretty easy to follow.

Interesting note: George Eliot is the pen name for Mary Anne Evans (It makes sense that a woman would have written this story)!

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Well, it wasn't my favorite book. Her writing style takes a little getting used to. It took me awhile to be able to differentiate between the characters and to be able to remember their histories. So admittedly, I was lost during parts of the books.

However, it was nice to read a book with a good ending. Finally.

I look forward to reading some more of her work. Maybe, by then I'll be used to the writing style.

Light in August by William Faulkner

I was drawn to this novel because of its title. I am an August baby, so naturally, I assumed this book would be a good one! Well, it was good, but I have yet to figure out how the title fits the novel and even Wikipedia didn't have a great answer (his wife suggested the title).

Well, it's a book about racial tension/isolation in the South. It also has many blatant Christian themes throughout (which I did not pick up on while reading), the most obvious being Joe Christmas (J.C.) I'm not in school anymore, so I'm not going to beat myself over the head for missing important themes. I'm just reading for pleasure and then checking out Wikipedia for any details that I missed.

I like the novel's characters and how they are intertwined in each other's stories. I wish Faulkner would have given some more pages to the female character, Lena. She was the most interesting to me.

Overall, it was a good book and pretty easy to read. It's a long one though at 500+ pages.

Pretty and Sweet Quilt

I think this is one of my favorite quilts. I love the colors.

I don't know what kind of pattern this is, but it's a nice twist to the traditional patchwork look.

I love the pink and green sashing and binding.

And here it is. This one is on sale at my Etsy shop.

Crazy Cat Woman

What can I say. I love my fur babies.

I Feel Yucky

What I ate for lunch today was neither simple nor natural. Perhaps a little creative though.

Just thought I would let my readers know how gross I feel right now. You see, I'm going to the fair tonight and I usually try to combat the "all that is fried" food with a healthy lunch. You know, to counterbalance everything. Unfortunately, I didn't really have anything healthy in the fridge, so I had to make due. (We are on our last days of the last food run).

First I started with a hamburger bun- was really looking forward to a veggie sandwich. Umm, no vegetables, so I slapped on some mayo, found a slice of cheese and pulled the last dill pickle slice out of the jar. Yum. Fearing that would not be enough, I grabbed the last bit of baked beans (from last night). Pickle/cheese sandwich and baked beans. Check. Fearing that would still not be enough, I grabbed the last 1/4 of my bean, cheese and salsa quesadilla. Lunch is now complete.

Of course, now I feel gross and am a little scared about the fair.

Creative. . . yes. Natural . . . no.

What have I been up to?

Nothing really! Which is why I haven't updated lately. Sigh.

Actually I did finish a quilt awhile ago that I need to post. It's pretty darn cute. I'm working on two more right now.

I'm looking forward to the State Fair this Friday. Yum. Fried food, here I come.

We had to tape our bedroom door so the cat wouldn't paw on it all night. So far it has worked well.

I got two free punches for hosting the Stampin! Up party. Woo-hoo.

My gardenias are still blooming (despite the cold weather). Yay! I love gardenias.

I made a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and between Grant and I ate the whole thing in three days (bad, very bad) (and, I don't even like chocolate cake).

Got an entire bucket of candy at work for an early Halloween gift. Thanks guys. Between that and the fresh baked cookies our copy service brings us every couple of weeks it should prove to be an interesting holiday season.

Went to yoga class and I now feel like my obliques are on fire- which is strange because we didn't do any poses that would challenge my abs?!

That's about all that has been happening lately. Hopefully, some interesting posts will be forthcoming.

Happy Fall.

Another Goodbye

Lately, death has become more tangible . . . unfortunately, more real to me.

I've been very lucky to have only attended three funerals in my lifetime. However, recently, it seems that death is lurking around.

My sweet Aunt Christine passed away on October 6. She fought an extremely hard battle against a rare brain disease, Pick's Disease. She held on for a long time. And for that I know her family is thankful. She is in a much better place now and her body is completely healed. And for that I am thankful.

So, goodbye Aunt Christine. Until we meet again.

(L-R: Aunt Christine, cousin Linde (Christine's daughter), me, my grandmother, Faymom and my sister, Rhea)

The Corrections

What a LONG book. I thought it had potential since it was one of Oprah's Book Club picks. Sadly, this novel was just awful (in my opinion). It was boring. It was depressing. It had a lot of bathroom talk (I'm talking literal bathroom talk). It did open my eyes to the struggles of living with someone with Parkinson's disease, but other than that there was not much I could appreciate.

I finished it because I wanted to cross it off my list. But I would not recommend this to anyone.

Really . . .

Umm, is it October already?

Can someone explain to me where the year went?!

Geez, next I'm going to blink and it will be Christmas.