Fog by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Sea Fever by John Masefield (1878-1967)

 

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Fringed Gentians by Amy Lowell (1874 – 1925)

Fringed Gentians

Near where I live there is a lake
As blue as blue can be, winds make
It dance as they go blowing by.
I think it curtseys to the sky.

It’s just a lake of lovely flowers
And my Mamma says they are ours;
But they are not like those we grow
To be our very own, you know.

We have a splendid garden, there
Are lots of flowers everywhere;
Roses, and pinks, and four o’clocks
And hollyhocks, and evening stocks.

Mamma lets us pick them, but never
Must we pick any gentians — ever!
For if we carried them away
They’d die of homesickness that day.

Milestone Alert!

With the publication of my first “Things I Have Learned” verse, I hit 250 posts! Wow! I never dreamed when I started blogging seven months ago that I would grow to love it so much, but it has really become an important part of my life and has been the catalyst for me to start writing for other venues as well…like books! All it took was sitting here throwing around words and ideas and sharing some thoughts and comments with others, and the next thing you know, I’m finally writing for myself again.  I doubt that would ever have happened without the blogging experience entering my life, so I’m especially grateful to be here on WordPress making new friends and enjoying myself so much.  Thank you to everyone who has stopped by here to read and comment. (I especially love it when you comment!!)  You guys make my life so much richer, every single day.

Here’s to the next 250!

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy Day!

Things I Have Learned #1

TV ads we all endure
Proclaim loudly “We have the cure!”
You try it out, and find it’s good,
Why can’t they leave it as they should?
Beware the label “New and Improved!”
It really means you’ve just been scrooved.

     –Marcia Meara

(Motto: If it ain’t broke, don’t FIX it!)

Fort Myers Book Festival – March 16, 2013

   

Kim Harrison and Jeanienne Frost

Sorry it has taken me so long to post about this event, but I’ve been really swamped the last couple of weeks. My To Do List gets bigger every day instead of smaller, as I’m trying to get ready to fly to San Diego on a moment’s notice for the birth of my first grandson.  Lots to do to be sure I don’t leave hubby in the lurch while I’m away. But finally, I realized if I didn’t take a few minutes to post about the Festival soon,

Quote #73 – Anonymous

“Every time you make a typo, the errorists win!”

     –Unknown Author

Quote #72 – Anonymous

“When comforting a writer, whisper ‘There, their, they’re.'”

     –Author Unknown

Just Thinkin’….

I realized after reading a comment the other day that I haven’t reviewed a non-urban fantasy book in quite some time. Now this doesn’t bother me overly much, as I’m very fond of good urban fantasy and have been in that frame of mind for a couple of years. However, I certainly

The Literary Cat #4

My Literary Cat

“General P. G. T. Beauregard, The Sasquatch”

Alias “Beau”

“I would like to see anyone, prophet, king or God, convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time.” 

–Neil Gaiman

Beau was without a doubt, my favorite cat of all time, in a long list of much loved kitties.  He was huge and impressive–a real specimen! And he was a polydactyl, meaning he had extra toes, and not just on his front feet, like most poly’s. His back feet were the size of snowshoes! Plus, he used his feet like hands, and even picked up his food from his bowl to eat, instead of putting his face down in the dish. I was convinced I could teach him to write or draw if I could only get him interested in it. But like most cats, he knew exactly who he was, and didn’t need lessons of any sort from me.

Sadly, we lost Beau a few years ago from a brain tumor at a mere twelve years of age. He should have had a lot more time with us, but I’m grateful for the years we did have. Watching this 22-pound big boy go about his daily routine was a great pleasure, and I miss him to this day. He is buried in our garden, under a blue gazing ball, and I think of him every time I water that flower bed.

House Rules by Chloe Neill

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

The Chicagoland Vampire series has kept me coming back through seven books now. I have enjoyed each and every one of them, except for the major WTF moment in Book #4,  Hard Bitten. That one nearly gave me apoplexy! But I forged ahead

Computer Woes

Having a lot of trouble with my Firefox browser, and it won’t let me uninstall or reinstall. It also won’t let me use Internet Explorer or Chrome, so I’m only able to access the web through it, and it is freezing continually. I will be back to posting as soon as I can fix the problem. Sorry!  Computers–when they work, they are wonderful. When they don’t, well–not so much so!  Hope to have it all fixed soon. (BTW…it won’t let me install a new version over the corrupted version either, unless I close the old one, which it won’t let me do!  It’s a Catch-22 all the way around.)

Back Home, Again!

Had a wonderful time at the Fort Myers Book Festival, and can’t wait to tell you folks all about it. First, however, I have to do laundry, clean house, and take care of animals. As soon as I’m all caught up, I’ll be back, with pictures! Suffice it to say for now that it was a wonderful time, and very interesting and entertaining. Stay tuned!

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey

My Rating: 3-1/2 Stars of 5…(I think)

Well. Sandman Slim is one of those books that makes me crazy. I love it. I hate it. It’s hilarious. It’s disgusting. It’s dark and disturbing. It’s so over the top, it’s silly. It’s all of the above, and probably a whole lot more I haven’t even thought of yet. And I thought every one of of these things while reading it, from one page to the next. I would decide to just scrap it because it was

Another Early Birthday Present!

March is turning out to be a great month! There’s St. Patrick’s Day–my favorite green holiday–which is also my birthday! And there’s a birthday trip to Ft. Myers to meet and greet some of my favorite authors at a Book Festival, in the company of my best friend and reading buddy. And then there’s

The Dangers of Pre-Ordering…

…especially when you are OLD and have all the thought-retaining abilities of a sieve!  The approaching release date of new books in 3 of my favorite series had me SO excited, I rushed over to amazon.com to go ahead pre-order them.  Tuesday, I received notice that they had shipped. And then I received another notice that the same order I had placed 3 weeks earlier had shipped, too.  GAH.  Now I have two copies of Rob Thurman’s “Slashback,” and two of Seanan McGuire’s “Midnight Blue-Light Special.” DOH! *facepalm, here*

Luckily for me, my best friend and reading buddy is also following both series, so I have a home for my extra books. “Oh, Nicki, dearest friend…look what I have bought, JUST FOR YOOOOU. Honest. I meant to do it.”  Do you think she’ll buy that? 

The good news is, I have now added both of those books to my To Be Read pile, along with the latest by Patricia Briggs,  “Frost Burned.” (Thankfully, I only ordered ONE of those.) The basket is now officially over-flowing! I’m rich!

😀

Have any of you done anything like this before?  (I’m really hoping it’s not just me!)

What Are You Reading?

Well, it’s that time again.  Exactly every…ummm…well, every time I think about it, I like to find out what you guys are reading. And I just thought about it, so…what are you reading this week?

Me, I’m halfway through Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim. This is a series I’ve promised myself to check out for some time, and I’m glad I’m finally getting to it. So far, the book is very entertaining, in a hard-boiled, sarcastic, and totally creepy way.  Will be doing a review on it as soon as I finish.

So tell me, what’s open on your reading table right now?  I’d love to hear!

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

 

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Neil Gaiman says of himself, “I make things up and write them down.” What I say about him is that he does a darn fine job of it. At least he certainly does in The Graveyard Book. I read this book last year, and somehow

New Releases!

  

Just Released!

For those not following my New Release Widgets in the sidebar, just a heads up.  Several of my favorite series have just released new books, as follows:

Seanan McGuire’s second book in the Incryptid series, Midnight Blue-Light Special, was released yesterday.  The first book, Discount Armageddon was terrific.  Can’t wait to see how the sequel goes.

Slashback, the newest Rob Thurman book in the Leandros Brothers series is out.  I’m really eager to receive my pre-order on this one.  I’ve been crazy about this series since the very first book, though the last one troubled me greatly. I’m hoping Slashback will leave me feeling better about the changes Caliban is going through.  

And last, but by no means least, Frost Burned, the new Patricia Briggs book in the Mercy Thompson series is now out.  I really can’t say enough good things about Patricia Briggs. Her Mercy books, as well as her Alpha & Omega series, are among my very favorite Urban Fantasy reads. 

If you’ve been following any of these series, you’ll want to check out these new books ASAP. I have high expectations for all of them.

Midnight Blue-Light Special: An Incryptid Novel

Slashback: A Cal Leandros Novel (Cal and Niko)

Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, Book 7)

If you decide to place an order with amazon, clicking through from my links will give me credit.  If you are enjoying  my reviews on Bookin’ It, it’s a great way to let me know!  Thanks!

Coffee House Confessions by Ellaraine Lockie

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

I was sent a review copy of this chapbook of Ellaraine Lockie’s poetry by Silver Birch Press, and I’m really pleased to say that I enjoyed the book very much. Some of you may not be familiar with the term “chapbook.” I know I wasn’t.  It really just refers to

Early Release of The Green Anthology!

It’s OUT!

Wooohooo!  The Green Anthology has been released early, just in time for your favorite GREEN holidays and things…like St. Patrick’s Day, for one.  That’s my personal favorite green-themed day, and I’m sure the fact that it’s also my birthday has nothing to do with it. Much.  *wink-wink, nudge-nudge*

Seriously, this anthology is just

Ever After by Kim Harrison

My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

I finally got back to Kim Harrison’s latest Rachel Morgan/Hollows book, Ever After. I had to take a break in the middle of the book because things were happening that had me really tense and nervous, and for some reason, I just needed to get out of that world for a bit. So I read a couple of other books, and then picked it up again. I’m glad I got back to it. The second half