BLOGS:
Dear Bloggy Blog, My Own Dear Blob,
Look at you, all neglected. Nearly starved for a lack of words. No excuses. I'll make it up to you. We'll celebrate your 10th birthday in style. From now on, "loquacious" is my middle name.
There, there now,
Bybee xoxoxo
BOOKS:
I'm off to a slow start -- I just don't have the same focus when I'm in America, but I've read 15 books so far this year. Currently, I'm working on Bill Bryson's One Summer: America, 1927, which is turning out to be one of his best. Bet he had one hell of a mind map going on when he was first putting it all together.
New discovery that has made me all squeeee: George Moore. Moore (1852-1933) was an Irish novelist who started out wanting to be a painter. He went to France to learn his craft but it didn't work out and he met and was influenced by Emile Zola, which makes me a happy Realism-reading camper. So far, I've read two of his offerings: Albert Nobbs (1918), a short novel about a middle-aged waiter with a secret, and Esther Waters (1894) a novel about an unwed mother in which I can really see Zola's influence. Looking forward to reading A Mummer's Wife (1885).
Sadly, I've already got one DNF to report: Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz. I love dogs and wanted to learn more about them, but the introduction seemed long, tedious and occasionally cloying. I just couldn't carry on.
My Spawn is staying with me for a month, and he's got two books for me to read: A novel called Rain of the Ghosts by Greg Weisman (the main creator of Gargoyles) and a graphic novel, Madison Square Tragedy: The Murder of Stanford White by Rick Geary. Speaking of the Spawn, he's curled up on the futon as I write this, reading True Grit. My boy! No insightful comments yet, but I'm sure they are forthcoming. If not, I have ways of prying them out; I'll get that English teacher mojo going.
BROWNIES:
While in the US, I watched the Olympics every night (unless Mizzou was playing basketball) and baked up batches of cobbler and my favorite brownie recipe. I meant to take a picture of a freshly baked pan of the latter, but there was cutting and eating and by the time I thought to get the camera, there were merely crumbs to be enjoyed.
Katherine's Brownies
[Katherine was a woman who lived in my grandmother's hometown. Apparently she could bake like a boss.]
1 cup of butter or margarine
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of cocoa
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of nuts [I used pecans]
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.
Dear Bloggy Blog, My Own Dear Blob,
Look at you, all neglected. Nearly starved for a lack of words. No excuses. I'll make it up to you. We'll celebrate your 10th birthday in style. From now on, "loquacious" is my middle name.
There, there now,
Bybee xoxoxo
BOOKS:
I'm off to a slow start -- I just don't have the same focus when I'm in America, but I've read 15 books so far this year. Currently, I'm working on Bill Bryson's One Summer: America, 1927, which is turning out to be one of his best. Bet he had one hell of a mind map going on when he was first putting it all together.
New discovery that has made me all squeeee: George Moore. Moore (1852-1933) was an Irish novelist who started out wanting to be a painter. He went to France to learn his craft but it didn't work out and he met and was influenced by Emile Zola, which makes me a happy Realism-reading camper. So far, I've read two of his offerings: Albert Nobbs (1918), a short novel about a middle-aged waiter with a secret, and Esther Waters (1894) a novel about an unwed mother in which I can really see Zola's influence. Looking forward to reading A Mummer's Wife (1885).
Sadly, I've already got one DNF to report: Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz. I love dogs and wanted to learn more about them, but the introduction seemed long, tedious and occasionally cloying. I just couldn't carry on.
My Spawn is staying with me for a month, and he's got two books for me to read: A novel called Rain of the Ghosts by Greg Weisman (the main creator of Gargoyles) and a graphic novel, Madison Square Tragedy: The Murder of Stanford White by Rick Geary. Speaking of the Spawn, he's curled up on the futon as I write this, reading True Grit. My boy! No insightful comments yet, but I'm sure they are forthcoming. If not, I have ways of prying them out; I'll get that English teacher mojo going.
BROWNIES:
While in the US, I watched the Olympics every night (unless Mizzou was playing basketball) and baked up batches of cobbler and my favorite brownie recipe. I meant to take a picture of a freshly baked pan of the latter, but there was cutting and eating and by the time I thought to get the camera, there were merely crumbs to be enjoyed.
Katherine's Brownies
[Katherine was a woman who lived in my grandmother's hometown. Apparently she could bake like a boss.]
1 cup of butter or margarine
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of cocoa
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of nuts [I used pecans]
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.
Hahaha, any brownies with a whole cup of butter are bound to be delicious! I'll have to give that recipe a try. :)
ReplyDeleteMmmmm...brownies :D
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the DNF. I haven't had one of those yet this year. Knock on wood!
Oh I have a couple dog book suggestions for you! Anything by Patricia McConnell is fabulous (her two regular, vs training specific, books are The Other End of the Leash and For the Love of a Dog). I also read a fabulous memoir about a search and rescue dog called Scent of the Missing. It's a bit more narrative than I usually prefer my nonfiction, but somehow it worked. I read it via audio & highly rec that version too!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Glad you're back. And with a brownie recipe, too. Things are good.
ReplyDeleteYou're back, and with a brownie recipe! Yum! plus you've managed to read some books. A good start to the year, Book twin. I like that comment about forgetting to take pictures until only crumbs are left. That happens here too! :-D
ReplyDelete