“Have regular hours for work and play;make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will be delightful, old age will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.” By Louisa May Alcott.
“I like good strong words that mean something…” By Louisa May Alcott.
New Books-
A LONG FATAL LOVE CHASE & THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS
These two books have been seen sitting on my desk, beside my bed, and on several tables in our family room. I have picked them up several times, to set them back down. I whisper lies that I promise to read them later!
Writing My Books On http://pressbooks.com My Stories & Ideas That Beg & Pester Me To Write
Planning & Cooking the Meals For the Household & Writing The Recipes Down & Photographing The Finished Product
Loving and Training Our Sweet Puppies, Daisy the Bulldog & Oreo the Blue Heeler/Collie
Business Meetings On Animals We Want To Have (How To Protect Them & How To Keep Them Contained
Repurposing Me In a New Business That I am So Excited About-A MicroGreen Business that We Still Need To Name-We Call the Building Sprouts Lab! Thought That Was Cool 🙂
Ordering Our Seeds For Sprouts Lab & For Our Gardens
And the Biggest Blessing-Moving My Parents In To Our New Home!-They Have a Beautiful Large Newly Carpeted Bedroom & A Freshly Painted Hardwood Floor Family Room of Their Own! A Gorgeous View of the Mountains & Wildlife-Dad Can Work On Sermons & Mom Can Work On Decorating, Her Crafts, & Sewing. We know They Are Safe & Well Fed & Cared For!
“He Who Believes Is Strong; He Who Doubts Is Weak. Strong Convictions Precede Great Actions.” By Louisa May Alcott
Everything Can Be Done:
Blogging
Writing
Farming
New Business
Multigenerational Living
And Reading!!!
I look forward to the hard work & fun time with family on the farm because I know we are very blessed. I look forward to carving out time through the day and night to write and read. I look forward to the future whatever it may bring. :)Jen
How long has it been since you have been to a Library? Hopefully not since you were in school and had to be led there by your teacher. Take the time out this week to visit the public library near you, and believe us you WILL find adventures!
Some people are not quite sure how to look books up, and find them at the library. Upon talking to a few adults that were intimidated to ask for help, our hearts reached out to them.
1. Walk up to the counter at your library, in the county you live in. Tell the nice librarian you would like a library card. You will need to fill out a form, so have your current ID Card, Driver’s License, or Student ID handy. If you are under 18, you must have an adult with you that has a current card and/or ID.
2. They will issue you a Library Card with a Barcode that will be scanned every time you check out books or videos. There are reference books that are labeled for “In Library Use Only”. They will give you a code or you pick your own so you can check your account online to see when your books are due. PLEASE ask for help if you are not sure how to do this.
3. There are computers at the library to help you search for Authors, Titles of Books, Newly Released Books, Popular Books for the Seasons, Teen and Children Books, and Movies. You can just search for a Topic you are interested in. You can type in part of the title if you can not remember exactly how it reads.
4. After you find the book, look at the availability. If it is already checked out, you can request a hold and they can email you or tell you when the next copy is ready for you to pick up.
5. Remember Fiction is imaginary and NonFiction is based on real facts. So you notice there will be an area for Fiction and an area for NonFiction. There is an area for Children and Teens/Juvenile and a Movie Area. Fiction you will search for the book by the Author’s last name. NonFiction you will search for a book by numbers the library provides for you on the computer. Again, PLEASE ask for help each time if you are unsure.
6. Now the fun begins! What kind of books do you want to look for?
Mystery. Intrigue. Romance. Christian. Seasonal. Biographies. How to’s. Cooking. Gardening. So many more! Enjoy yourself, relax, and give yourself a lot of time to really search out a book or more than one. Usually, check out time is limited to two weeks, so do not be late, as you will receive a late fee each and every day that needs to be paid before you check out another book.
Listed are some authors that you might find fascinating to see if you like their writing style: J. R. R. Tolkien, Stephenie Meyer,Robert Louis Stevenson, Terry Brooks, J. K. Rowling, Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson, Stephen King, Lisa Genova, Nora Roberts, Jodi Picoult, Lori Wick, John Grisham, Gillian Flynn, Charlaine Harris, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Carolyn Keene, Kenneth Grahame, Paula Hawkins.
Listed are some great books that you might like to begin reading: The Girl on the Train, The Wind in the Willows, The Secret of the Old Clock, Little House in the Big Woods, Dead But Not Forgotten, Gone Girl, Skipping Christmas, Whispers of Moonlight, My Sister’s Keeper, The Next Always, Still Alice, The Dark Tower, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas, Dear John, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, The Sword of Shannara, Treasure Island, Twilight, and The Hobbit.
Here is a book that I am going to request online at our local library. It has been suggested through piratepatty.wordpress.com (click here to see her website) The Title is The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan. We enjoy her site to see what she has read and what she enjoyed reading.
Some older author’s that wonderfully pull you in to their story are:Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, John Steinbeck, C. S. Lewis, Harper Lee, Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Leo Tolstoy, J. D. Salinger, Emily Bronte, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, and the list goes on……
To be in the library, in our pajamas, locked in for the weekend. Oh, the books we could find!
Here is a suggestion:If you can not find your book you are wanting to read in regular print, go to the Large Print Area and see if they have it!
We stopped in our local library recently and found ourselves wandering around. Check out all the adventure possibilities!
Did you say the cover is BLUE? This is a nice gesture that the Librarians do at our library. Each week they choose a theme and pull books from the shelves for suggested reading.
The New Release Section. This area is not large at our library, but we are very thankful.
This is only part of the Children’s Reading Room. Here they can sit and read a book or look at the pictures. There are puzzles they can work on, and a few toys to play with.
They have movie nights and Plays for families with children! They have also had SANTA and his Reindeer Visit. SANTA sat inside and listened to what the children wanted for Christmas. Then the little one’s could go outside and see his Reindeer.
The Teen Corner always has kids doing there homework at the tables or on the computers. We love when we see them engrossed in a book!
So True! When we read we can go to amazing places every day!
There is always a tutor helping some one with math, or english. What a wonderful kindness to give to someone by helping them to understand and learn further.
Libraries are full of relaxing, quiet areas. Little tables and chairs tucked in here, and there.
This is the computer area we mentioned above. And the checkout area right by the entrance or exit.
For our convenience, if our books are not overdue, we can just put them and any movies we borrowed in the return box.
Check us out at JenGaryNewAdventures.com and follow us on Pinterest.
What is the importance of reading to a child? There are many positive benefits from taking the time to open a book and share. These include the child developing a better ability to learn, the bonding of the time together, helping to improve their communication skills, getting them more open and interested in new experiences, and helping them develop their logic skills (not always easy to develop). For the past several years and decades, we have been started and started our own children with classic storybooks. Books filled with adventures, excitement, and sometimes a lesson to be learned. Recently we were blessed with three vintage classic books to share forward from a dear friend.
These Vintage Books were given to us from an elderly friend out of the kindness of her heart. Her grandchildren are almost all grown and seeing them sitting in a basket, forgotten, was bothering her. When she asked if we would enjoy having them, we accepted with many thanks.
Let us start with The Real Mother Goose. We might have in a memory from long ago, a plump white goose with a blue bonnet on her head? Or, maybe she was a tall thin woman with a pointed hat and equally pointed nose riding a goose around the yard? Might she be a larger woman with children all around her, listening to her stories all day long?
Poems, verses, songs, or jingles? Fables to teach us right from wrong? Dramatic tales that as a young child we try to understand or believe that a bird called a snipe could really fly away with his pipe.
Stemming from so long ago, the 17th century, Mother Goose flew actually into England from France. These true and/or make believe stories were thankfully translated into English in 1729.
Upon opening the book, we not only recognized pictures from our childhood, but also tales that we have recited ourselves and to our children and their children. On the first page, which after introductions and the index, is page 11 there is familiars like Little BO-PEEP, LITTLE BOY BLUE, and Rain! Who hasn’t walked outside and said, “Rain, rain, go away, Come again another day! Of course, along the way we lost the last line which reads Little Johnny wants to play. Page 14 has OLD MOTHER GOOSE and tells how she likes to wander and rides through the air on a very fine gander. There is PAT-A-CAKE that we remember marking with a B for baby and me 🙂
We could keep going, but we would need more time in a day. Although, we might of had to look up the definition for a moppet, and where is Pippen Hill, and have you read about Jenny Wren? Mother Goose compiled so long ago, but each of us probably has some that we still hold dear to our hearts.
So, we can give special Thank You’s to anyone and everyone that has and continues to keep them alive!
The Bumper Book is ours to share with you. It says it is A Harvest of Stories and Verses. Edited by Watty Piper and illustrated by Eulalie. Platt & Munk, Publishers, New York.
Upon reading about this collection of stories, many used to cherish it and are searching for a copy to read to their family.
Two pages that made us smile were 46 & 47. They show a young girl doing different chores for each day of the week. Called-The WEEK’S CALENDAR. She made us think of our moms who lived each and every day with their orderly schedules. They kept us all on precise track!
Not only are there beautiful colored pages, but stories that are so warm, sweet, and make you want to snuggle up with your little one’s before they drift asleep. WYNKEN BLYNKEN AND NOD for example is first.
Pictures of little kittens and rabbits dressed in bonnets and dresses or hats and jackets. ANIMAL CRACKERS for supper.
Children on their knees praying! Teaching us to count to 10. The Alphabet showing large letters with a few pictures that show what each one starts with.
The monkeys that never learn in THE MONKEY’S HOUSE. Stories in between, that we remember the pictures, then you see THE GARDEN YEAR which tells you about what should happen each month.
THE GINGHAM DOG AND THE CALICO CAT. Ending with THE WORLD, inviting us to learn more.
We come down to one of our favorite collections, A Treasury of Little Golden Books. Holding 48 Best-Loved Stories. We can not agree more! Even as adults, we get excited to see the binding that shows it is a Golden Book.
THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY is first and that is fine! THE ANIMALS OF FARMER JONES showed beautiful pictures of the animals on his farm. TOOTLE. THE TAXI THAT HURRIED. SCUFFY THE TUGBOAT. THE SAGGY BAGGY ELEPHANT (always felt bad for his saggy baggy behind) 🙂 We didn’t remember NOISES and MR. FLIBBERTY-JIB but, found we were rather fond of it.
We stop here, because it being so full of favorites, we have decided to share a few more with you with pictures from the pages another time. When you go shopping or pass a yard sale, you just might pick up A Little Golden Book. PLEASE share with us!
Check us out at JenGaryNewAdventures.com and follow us on Pinterest.
I was so sad when I read this book. I finished it within three days and cried for the parents right up to the ending. We are blessed with our children. They are truly a beautiful gift. I thank the Lord every single morning and night in prayer for each one. I loved the therapy Hadley & Sam received from the letters they decided would be their only communication back and forth as they were physically separating themselves from each other. I love the true love and friendship they shared from the moment they met,to the end of their letters.
I am just getting engrossed in Lost Lake by SARAH ADDISON ALLEN……………Dreary,rainy day out,finds me wrapped in a blanket,reading and relaxing 🙂
The Mysteries of Reading blog I posted held two books in my mind. The first was by Ann Hood titled The Obituary Writer. I opened the first page and began to relax. I know by the title, and by some of the stories and characters, relaxing may not happen for some that read this novel.
But as Ann wrote, I desired darjeeling tea and toast, pens, pretty stationery, my box of pictures and old stories from past relatives. To not give up on the slight chance my great-grandfather was not sucked down, lost forever in the San Francisco earthquake of 1930 something. That maybe he wandered aimlessly, or took this as an opportunity to start a new life, discarding his wife and my grandmother.
I found myself vowing to listen better to people, to be more sensitive, and make special time to let them express themselves. I cried. I figured out a mystery before it was revealed. I felt sympathy and found that I was trying to not be so judgmental of decisions made.
I really enjoyed being in two different time periods. By the time the novel was coming to an end, I felt nicely satisfied. I knew I wanted to go to the library. I would be disappointed if Ann Hood had not written again. I could not wait to look for her name as my eyes scrolled the authors on the books in the aisle.
One book, I read quickly, before my two week loan was up at the library. I am on my second book by Ann Hood in two weeks.
I do not read fast lately. I can, but when a book lands in my hands, it seems every single person in the house gravitates to me. Some stand right up against my legs as I sit folded up in my chair. Others sit right up against me if I am on the couch and lean their shoulder against mine. My husband begins talking about all of our plans for our future and his photography. Our youngest daughter talks non-stop, excitedly using her hands, laughing, and having this wonderful happy conversation. My son tells me amazing stories about mythology and the
hereas, for myself, I have not had to even look up from my book, but they have chosen ME to talk to. I take this as a great honor. I begin a paragraph, and one minute later, I am on the same paragraph trying to multi-task each word from the book and what is coming out of my beautiful kids mouths’, putting the book story on one side of my brain, and my beautiful family’s life stories on the other.
I read later at night than what my body wants me to be up. But this is one of the best times to read, as the house is quiet. I live in a peaceful home with a wonderful husband, sweet children and grandchildren.
So, if you are feeling lonely, left out of conversations, and are curiously wondering if what happens to me when I pick up a book will happen to you? Try iT! What are some funny things or odd or weird or mysterious or relaxing times that happen when you open a book to read around family and friends?
One day, two weeks ago, I had a few small minutes to run into the library, but just to return a book due that day. On the way out, I saw garbage on the ground and reached down so I could pitch it in the trash. It appeared to be someone’s business card all crumpled. I am curious to know what people do for a living and for their hobbies, so I smoothed it out. It was actually from the library. It read-ENJOY eBooks & audiobooks. I had just started downloading e-books on to my new ipad. I know I am behind the times still and will probably never be caught up. That’s okay. But I have to say, I got very excited. I wondered how long this had been available? I did not know I could sit at home and still get books from the library. I have since gotten an account and read and loved ,The Book Thief. My second book is the first in the series Cedar Cove, 16 Lighthouse Road by Debbie Macomber. Has everyone known about this for awhile? LOL
Last week, my husband and I walked into a BAM. We needed and wanted to relax and reconnect with each other. As we walked in, I felt like hugging him. So I did. I smiled. He smiled. We laughed and talked, holding hands as we looked down almost all of the aisles. The beautiful, wonderful, full of books to hold and touch, aisles. I love books. I love to read. I could not read at all as I started 1st grade, but much thanks to a couple of very special teachers who were patient and took the time to help me learn. After that, I have had a huge love affair with books.
I hope to always have my favorite books (adding to my collection) all around me. If it is just to glance over at them. Or pick them up and turn the pages. I am happy to be able to download books and I like that I can read them wherever, whenever. I don’t even have to turn on the lights. Jennifer
A stack of books with the bindings turned to show the worn titles were the focal point in my mind. Or my mind’s eye, was I suppose to say? I don’t know. I would have to figure that out later. I looked at them every single day and drew warmth and love from the thought of myself as a little girl reading them from beginning to end, and beginning to end again. But as I lay in the warm grass, staring deep into the blue sky, I could not remember not one single title. Not one.
I can picture a clear vase with freshly pulled daisies sitting there staring at me. Scott got those for me last night as we took our walk with our “growing old with us” dog. He pulled them out of the tall grass along the road. I am not so sure they are not considered weeds, so that makes me love them even more. Two metal coasters are stacked together because I can’t seem to throw them away even though I have never liked them. An ashtray with a naked lady laying on her stomach that has been my soap holder for about a year is there in case I ever want to smoke in the house. An envelope marked ‘David’ with pictures of us and his family, a roll of yellow ribbon, a roll of shurtape, an old printer, three magazines with half-finished crosswords, my wallet, and my cell phone.
Of course, there is an apple computer,big and huge, on my desk that I really think is checking me out every time I sit down in front of it. But, the big, comforting, stack of books is fading from my vision and I know why. These special books were given as presents from my Grandma and my Grandpa and their very special friend, my Grandpa’s wife. The secrets they hold would shock almost everyone. The words are literally fading from the pages.
Confusing, I know. I can search back in time, but I will not be able to ever change the past! Nor, do I want to. I just need help figuring out this mystery that has intwined love with secrets and involves my Grandpa and two very special women in our family chain.
Check us out at JenGaryNewAdventures.com and follow us on Pinterest.
One book, I read quickly, before my two week loan was up at the library. I am on my second book by Ann Hood in two weeks. 
