We haven't been doing much traveling for the last few months, but last October on our way back from Ticino we stopped in Lucerne, a city in the heart of "old Switzerland." It was a gorgeous day to spend a couple of hours in this stunning location by the lake, with a view of the … Continue reading Postcards from Switzerland: Lovely Lucerne
Last March I ran a month-long celebration of theatre-related reading -- plays, biographies and memoirs from stage artists, stage-related fiction and nonfiction, or whatever else might seem relevant. I missed going to the theatre! It was a wonderful month and I was glad some blog friends chose to join in. Click on the link above … Continue reading Reading the Theatre 2022: Free for all
This month, I'm reminded by the ongoing turmoil in the world of a discussion post I wrote seven years ago. I can't remember what it was that was happening then, but it made me feel as though reading (and my mostly bookish blog) could be considered trivial in comparison. Writing out my thoughts about this … Continue reading Throwback Thursday: Does reading matter?
For Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, the theme is "books with my favorite trope/theme." I've been wanting to feature some of my favorite books with a "castle" theme -- many of which happen to be some of my favorite books of all time. So now is my chance! Some are actually … Continue reading Top Ten Castle Books
Literature I started out the month on a Kate Milford binge. I do like her books but five in a row was enough for now. The rest of the month was quite a grab bag, from Beverly Cleary's wonderful memoirs to a groundbreaking epistolary classic, a long-awaited sequel, an old favorite for the Narniathon readalong, … Continue reading Month in Review: February 2022
When italki made it possible for teachers to create a podcast and share it on the platform, I jumped in. I'd been thinking for a while about creating a podcast for English learners, based on excerpts from real literature in English -- starting with poems that I've collected, but eventually including prose works as well. … Continue reading A new project: the Enchanted English podcast
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is this month's Narniathon read. I was looking forward to it as I remember it as my favorite of the seven books. And I still greatly enjoyed this journey through lands full of enchantment and danger, an adventure of the spirit that stirs me to this day. We start … Continue reading #Narniathon21: Into the utter East
For my One Word intentional practice this year, with my word CONNECT, I plan to choose a focus each month, according to what seems most important to me as time goes by. . It was easy for me to choose my first goal. There's no question that a fundamental issue for me is connecting with … Continue reading #OneWord2022: CONNECTing with my body
Since I went to high school in the 1980s, of course I've heard of The Color Purple, Alice Walker's 1982 novel that won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into an Oscar-winning movie a couple of years later. But I never read it (or saw the movie), and had no more than a vague idea … Continue reading Beautiful Books: The Color Purple
In my ongoing struggles with prayer, I have been saying The Lord's Prayer at least once a day for the last several years. That doesn't mean I understand it. Sometimes I wonder about the accuracy of the translation, and so recently I tried going back to the original Greek, and delving more into the meaning … Continue reading A puzzling prayer
