Peacefield

WOW! Talk about a trailer . I'm digging Alcide, and can't wait to see the new season!

The premiere of this new show called 'The Good Guys.' I love Bradley Whitford! I think Tom Hanks' son is also in it.

I loved this one as well, Maureen! I'd love to read more like it .

"There used to be many families like the Ziskinds, families where each person always knew that his life was more than his alone." The World to Come by Dara Horn

You're welcome, Bookworm44! It's one of my faves from last year to be sure .

I love ignoring things, Kylie! It always amazes me how people don't realize that drawing attention to something by complaining about it only gets people's notice more. Thereby making the thing they're so vocal about get more popular!

Some very exciting vegetable soup!

I'm excited for you, Noll! That's my favorite Chevalier you've got there . I got about 50 pages into The World to Come last night and am enjoying it so far.

I watched Crazyheart again last night and tonight I watched 500 Days of Summer.

I was the youngest of five, Poppy, and practically wept the day we got a dishwasher . I have one now and love it, but I honestly don't know if not having one would hinder my love of cooking...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's given up on that book, Janet! I think you were right in not bothering . I decided to start The World to Come by Dara Horn tonight.

This is too hard to choose! I will try, however . My five would be: 1. Scallops 2. Babaghanoush 3. Blackberries 4. Chicken marinated in something yummy 5. Dark chocolate covered espresso beans

I love cooking . I like to try new recipes, experiment and have friends over for meals. I usually follow a recipe pretty close at first, and if I like it and continue to make it I'll tweak it and make it more my own. The last few years I've been concentrating on making stuff with only fresh ingredients, as I've grown to dislike anything pre-packaged or frozen. Sometimes though I just like dinner to be easy so I do have a frozen pizza or cup-o-soup from time to time. I can't wait until I have a garden and can grow my own stuff!

I'm so glad you enjoyed The Bone Garden, Maureen! It was very interesting and definitely hard to put down .

I gave up on 'The Family Tree' by Carole Cadwalladr over the weekend because it was such a bore! I haven't quit a book in a long time and I'm a tad disappointed in myself . I might hang onto it to try later. During the rest of the weekend I started and finished 'The Queen of Babble in the Big City' by Meg Cabot. Now I'm on the lookout for something new to start!

Baseball - Twins vs. the A's .

Of course Mexicola has excellent taste, I could've told you that! As do you, Kylie, and anyone who shares a 'fave' status of the Count! I hope you're enjoying so far, Mexicola!!

Good idea, Lexie. You never know, sometimes songs sound very different when you see it with the film . I love the Black Keys song, and I also really like The Bravery and Cee Lo Green tracks. The Florence & the Machine song too I'm digging! I'm still working my through it, but hopefully I can squeeze in at least one listen of each track before I head out the door.

Woo, Count! I hope you like it, Mexicola .

Dracula is in my TBR list too, Mexicola, but I can tell you that Count of Monte Cristo is probably my all-time favorite book, so duh! I think you should read that one . I'm not too far into 'Family Tree,' but it's been a crazy week so far. Hopefully up at the lake this weekend I'll get lots more done.

<--- Listening now!! I'm only on the first track, but I heard the Cee Lo Green song earlier today and can definitively say I LOVED it! It was killer. Way .

Starbucks latte and a cheese danish .

I too am sorry that your first experience with Chevalier was not the best, Janet, but I'll echo what Mexicola has said, which is to read The Lady and the Unicorn if ever the chance presents itself! I've yet to read Falling Angels and Remarkable Creatures, but Burning Bright was my least favorite of hers that I have read. The Lady and the Unicorn will always remain in my top-10 of all time though, it's just lovely .

I'm on a reading roll I guess this weekend, woo! I finished Land of the Burnt Thigh (review below) this afternoon and have just started The Family Tree by Carole Cadwalladr. Land of the Burnt Thigh by Edith Eudora Kohl There was only a one-line synopsis provided on Amazon, so I mixed that below with an editorial review from 'The Nation' in 1987. This tale of two sisters courageously homesteading on the prairie in 1907 provides a lively portrait of frontier life. Ida Mary and Edith Ammons were told it was easy: you filed at the land office for a quarter-section (160 acres) lived on it eight months, then 'proved up at $1.25 an acre, and the land was yours. Their story is a lively one. One look and they know they're in trouble. Plunked down on the prairie with their trunks (and a jug of water-the compassionate gift of their departing driver), they stare in panic. Section 18, Range 77W is a waterless, treeless expanse with a deserted tarpaper shack the size of a packing box. This autobiographical account is set in the central part of South Dakota, near the Lower Brule Indian Reservation. It got it's name from a legend about some Indians who escaped a prairie fire each only with burned thighs. Following the Ammons sisters from St. Louis to the 'west' in 1907 is probably one of the most interesting reads I've done on this topic. Learning about starting from complete and total scratch, and all the hardships they encountered was just mind-boggling! The sisters came with barely nothing, and learned that the land they staked a claim to that supposedly had a 'home' already on it, was nothing but a square shack covered with tar paper. From this one of them started a school and began teaching, and the other started a local newspaper. This newspaper slowly developed into a post office, a store and an Indian trading post. These women had so many factors against them, including Mother Nature herself with prairie fires in the summer and blizzards in the winter. The fact that more and more people were streaming in from the east, all wanting to set up their own homestead, made them want to remain and be part of history. The urgency of Americans to move into new territory and own a piece of their own land, to harvest and raise animals, is so intriguing to me. Many of my relatives were farmers, and came from overseas and New England to the midwest to be 'pioneers.' From the Dakotas, people went on to settle Wyoming, Colorado and Montana. Without these strong-will people with a pioneering spirit, nothing we have now would be the same today. I'm so very grateful to them!

Thanks, Weave! It's good to know about the TV show, I'm looking forward to getting caught up. I'm glad that Sookie is growing on me too. What a pain to have to read a series when you don't like the main character!