Some RSS Feeds

I couldn't wait to do this: I just subscribed to an RSS feed for my son Kris's band (Brand New Sin). They left Saturday for a three week tour of the East Coast and now I can follow their progress while they're on the road. While I was at it I added a feed for my other son's Andy's band (Invisible Mustache) as well as for the NOPL 23 Things feed. I used Google Reader which, like most Google stuff so far was not too hard to figure out. I know I'm only using a small percentage of the power of all of these great tools, but I'm hoping to catch on as time passes.

Vampire Fiction

Does anyone else hate the "Twilight" series as much as I do? I guess anything that will get teens to pick up a novel is a good thing but there are so many really fine novels out there for young adults, it really seems a shame that they are overlooked in favor of this stuff. I loved Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, Goose Girl by Shannon Hale and the Pullman trilogy (His Dark Materials). See? I have nothing against fantasy. But not much can happen in a vampire story that isn't predictable (and silly). And when a ridiculous number of authors jump on the same bandwagon, it makes it even worse.

Millenium Grammy

Note to historians: This is what it's like to be a grandma in the first decade of the the 21st century. I need some answers.

I'm painting my house. I live in the house I gew up in because I moved back here after my husband died and my Mom needed not to live alone. This was no sacrifice on my part. I needed not to live alone too. The house has been "cream" for as long as I can recall. Now it will be green. I would have installed siding but the current siding is asbestos and it would be prohibitively expensive to dispose of it. I'm glad to leave it on my house where it is not damaging the environment - just want it to be a different color. How come I can't get three nice days in a row to paint??

My grandchildren were here all weekend. They are awesome children - really and truly! I credit my daughter-in-law. They are polite and thoughtful and respectful and totally confident in their own abilities - and mine! I love it when they are here and miss them when they go home. What would I do if they lived more than 10 minutes away?

The World Cup is awesome too. We watched the U.S. team tie with England yesterday sfternoon at my son Andy's house and today we watched Germany whip Australia. Why does soccer not catch on in America? It's a game the whole world plays. The players are always good-looking and fit. There is a good mix of young and older players. The rules are simple and easy to understand. You don 't need a bazillion dollars worth of equipment to play. Why doesn't America love this game?!

Now Nana is in cyberspace with a bunch of her great grandkids!

Nana grew up in an apartment over a library and since Depression-era children did not get many books as gifts - even at Christmas - the library became her home away from home. She told me that her parents always knew where to find her and that the librarian allowed her to shelve and dust the stacks. When she married my Dad he was in the army and everywhere they were stationed she would seek out the local library before even locating the nearest grocery store.

When I was five, we moved to North Syracuse and the little white house that served as the Free Library became a famiar and frequent destination for me and my siblings. I got my first library card when I was in the second grade. I really liked the Jack & Jill and the Highlights magazines and some of the illustrated fairy tale books. Make Way for Ducklings was another of my favorites.

When I was nine years old, Mom had me check out Little Women and we discussed the developments in the novel every morning at breakfast. We both had tears in our eyes when we talked about Beth dying. Nana next suggested The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Soon I was hooked on a series of books Mom had found in the library about Sue Barton, a fictional nurse. I followed her career in medicine passionately (Sue Barton: Student Nurse, Sue Barton: Senior Nurse, Sue Barton: Visiting Nurse, Sue Barton: Nurse Administrator and finally Sue Barton: Neighborhood Nurse (she had married her doctor boyfriend, had three children and was on hand whenever a rabid dog or a heat wave threatened her suburban neighborhood).

Mom was so frequent a visitor to the library that she was offered a job. I remember how thrilled she was! "A dream job - to handle all the newest mysteries before another soul had cracked them open". There was always a big pile of novels on her nightstand and most nights her reading lamp would be on far into the wee hours as she rushed to finish the final chapter of a hot item that needed to be cataloged in the morning. She continued recommending books to me and my brothers and sister. I loved the Hardy Boys but had little use for Nancy Drew. I became a fan of biographies and became an expert (or "know-it-all" as my Dad put it) on the likes of Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, Harriet Tubman and Emily Dickinson. And then I discovered the poets!

Favorite Poems Old and New was renewed for me so often that there are photographs taken in our living room during that period in which that volume is visible.

There are so many things I am thankful to Nana for. Her careful fostering of my love of reading is surely one of the most important.

1st 23 Things Post

I'm really excited to get started on the 23 Things project. I originally created my blog as sort of a journal of what is happening in my life and to help organize my thoughts and feelings on different issues in the world. I'm not very good at blogging but I'm hoping to learn more as I go. The same is true for most of web 2.0 stuff. I've used a computer daily since 1995 - both in my job and at home - but hardly ever in a creative way. I guess I have mostly thought of the web as a place to get information or maybe even manage information. I think participating in creating content for the the web sounds like fun.

Amazon.com: Letters From The Earth (9781451594652): Mark Twain: Books

Amazon.com: Letters From The Earth (9781451594652): Mark Twain: Books

Wonderful Staff Development Day at work today. All about old dogs and new tricks.