Puppy Pics

Watching t.v.

Just chilling with the peeps!







Looking for trouble

An Echo in the Bone

I

I love the Outlander series I think the first three books were the best and the last couple of the series have not been as successful. However I think she did redeem herself in this latest offering. While not up to the storytelling of Outlander or Dragonfly in Amber I think she is moving back in the right direction. Her books can get very tied up in the history of the era sometimes to the detriment of the story. In this latest book she gets back into the story of Jamie and Claire who are facing the beginnings of the revolutionary war. Claire, being from the 20th century, knows what is coming and tries to decide how best to use the knowledge that she posses. Brianna and Roger are back in the 20th century living in the family home Lallybroch and trying to adjust to modern life after living in the 18th century for so long. Roger, with the loss of his voice through the terrible injury he sustained in the last book is left without a clear idea of what he wants to do. He was once a great singer and musician an now has to find a new identity. We also get the story of Jaimie's illegitimate son William, who has been raised by Jamie's good friend, Lord John Grey without knowledge of who he really is. He has no idea that he is the son of a scottish rebel he believes he is the son of an earl that died the night he was born. William is in the English army, a part of General Gages forces.

Gabaldon has such a gift at storytelling and makes you love each and every character. I loved her introduction of Benedict Arnold into the story and how she is able to weave those real characters from history into the world of Jaimie and Claire. The love between Jaimie and Claire continues to grow and you truly love these two and read deep into the night to find out how they will survive their latest adventure.

I love these books and re-read the series at least once a year. There are some love scenes in the books and once you start the series you will not be able to put it down. These are hefty books over 700 pages for each.

Happy Sweet Sixteen Boo!

Yes people it is time to stay off the sidewalks

Boo is sixteen today!

Happy sweet sixteen

and many many more

Woo hoo! Way to go Boo!

Yes!

It can be done!

That, my friends, is a 4.0

in her first term of High School

Boo, You Rock!

Her Fearful Symmetry and halloween

From Amazon.com

"The endurance of love animates this gothic story set in and around Highgate Cemetery, in London. When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her estate, including an apartment overlooking the graveyard, to the twin daughters of her twin sister, from whom she has been estranged for twenty years. When Valentina and Julia show up to claim their inheritance, they soon discover that Elspeth is still in residence, in ghostly form. Niffenegger’s writing can be wearyingly overblown, but she has a knack for taking the romantic into the realm of creepiness, and she constructs a taut mystery around the secrets to be found in Elspeth’s diaries and the lengths to which she will go to reunite with her younger lover. It’s no small achievement that the revelations are both organic and completely unexpected."

I finished this book last week and it has taken me since then to decide whether or not I really liked it. I read it specifically because I did not like the time travelers wife as much as the popularity at the library would dictate so I wanted to see if the author had improved and that this book would be better. The book was very interesting but it felt like so much time was spent leading the reader up to the big event of the book but then minimal time was spent on the big event and the ending which made it somewhat unsatisfying. It was a ghost story and that part was very interesting, her take on what a ghost could or could not do, and I like supernatural stories. I thought she did make some interesting characters but I did not see the point of one of them. His story felt very out of place within the story. It took me awhile to read the book which in my case is a sign of disinterest, I usually devour books and will finish them very quickly (I read very quickly). This one took me the whole two weeks that I got to have it checked out from the library to actually read it. I let other, less important books pull me away. I am glad I read it as I can give an honest opinion on the book to patrons who ask but I am still on the fence as to whether or not I really liked it.

Halloween was interesting. I have kids getting older and trying to find fun things to do without the trick-or-treating. Boo ended up staying home instead of going out with friends. She often gets frustrated at being the one who gets everyone together and us having to be the driver to all of the activities. She did go to a birthday party on Friday for a friend from school and dressed up for that. G-Bear was a dark reaper, basically a skeleton in a robe. I painted his face and got to get a big sword (I think that is why he wanted the costume). Bee was a ninja, I know no princesses for my girls, so we got her a cool red ninja costume. Ty had to work but she did dress up for work. She was a elf (like lord of the rings, not christmas) with the pointy ears and everything. It was interesting because she bought white hairspray to make her hair white but her hair is so dark it just ended up looking like she had grey hair. She ended up washing it out before work.

The fun part of halloween is that D usually gets soda to hand out to the kids. It is so fun to hear the kids as they run back to mom and dad "I got pop! These guys are giving out pop!" it is really fun.

G-Bear and Bee

Bee as a Ninja Hero!
G-Bear as a Dark Reaper. His face looked really cool. I am improving on my face painting skills. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of Ty as an Elf or Boo as a vampire.