You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2008.
I received this from a fellow KittyKind volunteer and thought it was so cute 
I have had the great fortune of reading a lot of great books lately. I owe this mostly to my friend Kelsey, the bookworm with fantastic taste that mirrors my own. After reading all of Stephanie Meyer’s books (the Twilight saga; the Host) and having that brain haze of “sure it could happen” I needed some stories from reality to snap me back into life as it is. I cannot recall the last time I read so many books in a row that I truly appreciated. I was drawn into the world of a boy and his dogs in The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, I laughed out loud (and looked like a crazy person on the train) as I read I Was Told There’d be Cake by Sloane Crosley, and I flew through the sexual nuances of religion and suburbia’s affect on society in The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta. But none struck me so much as City of Thieves by David Benioff.
City of Thieves is a harrowing tale of two unlikely comrades thrown together during the siege of Leningrad. After meeting in jail while awaiting their deaths Lev Beniov, a born and bred Piter kid who is built for deprivation, small and unsure about himself, and the ostentatious and compelling Kolya, a soldier who is charged with desertion, are given an unlikely task of locating a dozen eggs for the colonel’s daughter’s wedding cake. This task provides the two with a gift not bestowed upon many should they succeed, their life.
Leningrad is a ruin in the making, a city in turmoil where its tenants have taken extremes to survive. City folk are murderous and supplies are non-existent. Lev and Kolya must embark beyond the city borders where they encounter the harsh realities of war, cannibals, corpses, dog bombs, partisans, whores, and a streaming array of the brutal display of survival.
Gripping and astonishing, I could not put this book down. Benioff has the unique ability to describe things in pure clarity. It’s dark and doomed but somehow, he presents a light at the end of the tunnel and you creep and struggle through much to get there. Once there, you feel- pure.
Hello all! As many of you know, my amazing mother JoAnn has her own company, Colorado Comfort. A while ago she created a burlap coat for a contest in CO. One man liked them so much that he commissioned her to create some items for his coffee company and she has done just that! Check out her new items!!
here is another quote I love from The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
“Just to open your palm was to say: Forgive Me.”
I was browsing around the favorite pics section of the Best Friends website and I came across this picture. Scenes like this are one of the main reasons I miss my hometown of Durango, CO and the four corners region. It is absolutely amazing there. This picture is from Kanab, UT…similar climate to some of the four corners region.
Photo by Molly Wald
Who doesn’t!! And on top of that, what a complete and utter waste of paper. How many of you don’t even open your mail and just toss it? I know I used to do that with all sorts of things. Now, I barely get any junk mail. What is my secret? GreenDimes. They are an amazing company, I’ve been a member for about 2 years now and the only junk mail I get anymore is stuff from my banks and the occasional animal group mailing. Check it out! They even plant 5 trees for every person who signs up, wondrous!!
For anyone that knows me, you know I am an absolute Disney fanatic. I love the stories, the beauty, the artistry, and the love that is put into each film. Now, I’m not talking about Cinderella II or Aladdin IV, I’m talking about the original Disney films, the ones that started it all. Films like Pinocchio, Icabod & Mr. Toad, Fun & Fancy Free, Alice in Wonderland, and all the others. I think Disney in general kind of fell apart awhile back…I’d say around the time when Disney made the move to cable. It just became…I don’t know…cheap, money hungry, feeding into that mind frame of American consumption. While they continued to put out a few good films…it wasn’t like the past. But Pixar, Pixar and Disney have brought me back to the light. Each film they do just seems to have that magical quality. That magical quality that makes me glow inside and giggle like a child. That magical quality that showers you with a sense of wonder.
So, to get to my point, Wall-E. My Brother, Vinny, and I watched it the other night and I fell in love. What a tremendous story. Taking a robot, of all things, and establish it with such human emotion, how could you not fall in love with Wall-E. He is the only robot left on the desolate Planet Earth, while humans have evacuated to space. Wall-E is alone, his only friend an endearingly cute cockroach (yes, cute), when out of the blue, a beautiful maiden appears and Wall-E is instantly in love with her. I feel that I cannot say any more than this because when you see the film, you have to let it take you on its journey. That journey bears a sharp reminder of the possibility of the future and what we should do now to improve it. All I will say is this…get outside, enjoy yourself, your loved ones, and the environment you live in. Be a part of the world. Don’t just float by on the sidelines. For all we know, you’re only given one shot at this, one shot in this body, so make the most of it. And watch Wall-E…hopefully it’ll entrance you like it did me.
Received via email today…beautiful!!
Behind the Gray Rock Cafe in Grayling, Michigan , Tim Gillette made the
deer feeder with the ‘Browning’ logo.
These twin Albinos have been coming into the back of Gray Rock Cafe since they were fawns in 2006. We have been trying to capture a digital pic of them for awhile, but they arrive at dusk or even later and the pics don’t turn out. On Friday about 10 am they arrived. It was a beautiful morning and they came for their photo op.
We had our wonderful office holiday party the other night…and what did we do? Bowl. Its fun, the bowling. I actually took a bowling class in high school (yes, you heard me right, a bowling class, and I got credit for it). But apparently, bowling presents a very strenuous activity on the butt. I cannot remember the last time my butt was soar. I mean, my god…it hurts. Who knew bowling was actually a physical fitness sport!! Amazing. You learn something new every day. So, if you’re ever lookin for a good way to tone up that behind…go bowling! It works wonders!
