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| My Christmas reading |
Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences by Kitty Burns Florey was a gift my husband gave me for Christmas because I picked it up in the used bookstore and said, "Get me this for Christmas, please!" He obliged after commenting that I was the only person who would want to read a book like that.
Well, both of my teenage sons picked it up and read it before I did. All on their own. Then I picked it up and read it in one evening. I loved it. Florey meanders through a bit of the history of grammar instruction in the United States, falls into the old argument between language descriptivists and language prescriptivists, and lands somewhere in the middle with me.
This book made me want to look up my 7th and 8th grade grammar teacher, Mr. Kite, and recommend it to him. Maybe I will.
The second book is Kim by Rudyard Kipling. I recently happened upon a comment somewhere online comparing this book to The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye. I read Kaye's lengthy novel when I was a teenager and reread it a few years ago, appreciating the historical aspect of it more the second time around. I was curious about Kim, and it didn't disappoint me.
Except the ending. The ending was disappointing to me. I wanted more, more, more. But the ending made me think, think, think about why Kipling chose it. In the end, I'm still thinking about it, and I think I like the ending better now. Have you read it? What did you think of the ending?
2. A Portrait of Me. I'm glad I didn't get one with Mommy NOT "waering clohes," right?
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| Portrait of me by a dear child |
3. Facebook. I've ventured into Facebook land. Last night I created a Facebook page for Sideling View Crafts. I'm still not going to be active with my personal profile because I know I'd enter that rabbit hole and never return, but I do want to grow my business a little bit. Check out the page and like it or share it or whatever-- I'm still so confused about all of it! Feel free to leave a comment giving me some advice.
4. What I'm Listening To. (Or, after reading Sister Bernadette, should it be "That To Which I Am Listening"?) In either case, the children have been listening to this album the last few days; that means I am listening to it also. I'm okay with that because it's Snoopy, and who doesn't love Snoopy?
5. Great Clothes Heap Challenge Update. I haven't forgotten this challenge. I even moved a few bags around and begged my husband's help.
Have a great relaxing (or, if you prefer, productive) first weekend of 2020!
Oh Mr. Kite! He embarrassed us all, but I learned just about all there was to learn about proper grammar. I can still remember his routines for learning the verb tenses, and I think about him regularly. I remember Travis drawing a picture of me years ago, and it just looked terrible. I had big biceps and was wearing a Green Day shirt, so it was at least somewhat accurate. I saved it on the background of their desktop computer, and it wasn't changed until Mom recently figured out how to change it to a picture of her cat ;) That's a pretty decent portrait of you :)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I don't like Snoopy...oops!
Tsk, tsk. You obviously haven't listened to all the Snoopy songs by the Royal Guardsmen! :) As for Mr. Kite-- "Chewy, chewy, I broke the law-y!" Remember that?
ReplyDeleteYou should listen to Muppets Christmas carol soundtrack or watch the movie - I love it but usually don't like a Christmas Carol
ReplyDeleteor John Denver with the muppets
We don't have the Christmas Carol one, but we do enjoy our John Denver with the Muppets cd. The kids memorized their 12 Days of Christmas and are so cute singing it!
ReplyDeleteI may have to find Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog. The Boston Terrier did it for me. We raised them when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteNancy, it is a cute picture :)
ReplyDelete