I'm sorry, but I can't talk right now.
Denice's Day
a little quilting, reading, and an occasional cookie
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Halloween
I already told you what I think of Ryan T. Higgins. He started with a book called Mother Bruce (instead of Goose) and it was an instant hit, not only for the story but this guy is a master at illustrations and expressions and making adults laugh. This is his Halloween book and probably, *cringe* the weakest ONLY because I think knowing what the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is about helps with the humor and kids don't know that story. But if you own all of the Ryan T. Higgins books, like I do, this is in the collection.This one, though, has been a Halloween favorite for many years. I can't imagine not reading it just before the holiday. Mr. Wilkerson is a very crabby, mean ol' guy who wants his pumpkin pie perfect. Demands it. Mrs. Wilkerson makes his pie and as he was taking the first bite he dies. She buries him in the pumpkin patch and moves away. A grandma and her grandson move in and unwittingly put a fresh baked pie on the windowsill to cool. Yup, Mr. Wilkerson wants a pie so bad he will rise from his grave to get one. And holy cow, trying to please that old codger isn't easy. But Grandma isn't afraid of an old puff of smoke grump. Again, the illustrations are amazing.
I am within three squares of 20 for the BA quilt for Elizabeth. I debated stopping at 16 but couldn't get my mind around a square quilt for a tall girl and I also didn't want to make four more. Adelaide stopped by Saturday, I showed her what I have, she said Elizabeth will love this quilt and we brainstormed a few more ideas so ok, I'm making four more for 20. I will determine if she looks at the blog before I post any pics because she said even though she gave me some thoughts, she wants it to be a surprise. Since that is the ONLY stitching I am working on there isn't much else to show.
For now, the weather is unusually warm but it's windy so the leaves are all off the trees and the forest has a new blanket of fresh yellow and it's beautiful. Too beautiful to be sitting inside so I am taking my book and tea out to read.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
A Sky High Adventure
Our weather has been spectacularly beautiful lately. Very mild temperatures for October and the colors are peak right this minute. I have been feeling very guilty about not being out there in it so yesterday PH and I drove three hours north to Boyne Mountain. It's a ski resort, there's golf and there are trees. Between two of the highest hills/mountains they built this:
Our son, who grew up on the Indiana Jones movies and can recite every single word of the dialogue of all the movies and relates just about anything to a scene in the movies sent this to me after I told him what we did. He thought I would have the problem with the crossing, not PH.
This one is silly. The animals are afraid of some night noise and thus afraid of the night animals the perceive are making the noises. This one needs close examination of the pictures because the expression on this opossum's face when skunk demonstrates his way of dealing with a threat is hilarious. Not a lot of words in this one, the pictures tell the story so a little one who is learning to read can pretty much handle this one. I love this one!
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Tuesday Titles
It's Tuesday! Here are the two books I read to the kids today. One is silly, one is sweet.
It's coming on to Halloween, if you can push Christmas aside to buy your Halloween candy. I don't know about you who live outside the U.S. but here Christmas started creeping in in late July and its full blown out there now.
This is the silly one. The most important ingredient in a witch's favorite soup is a spoonful of frogs. If you can catch them.This is the sweet one. When it first came out it was almost impossible to get a copy because quilters were buying it like crazy. Who wouldn't want this one if you are a quilter? Lucky for me I follow publishers very closely and knew it was coming before it was published and had my order in. Little ghost wants to be like the other ghosts, light enough to fly easily. But he is a quilt and so he is heavy. As he tries to enjoy Halloween like the other ghosts his life takes a turn toward an adventure the other ghosts can't experience. There is a big "awww" factor here.
Friend Laurie and I went to Shipshewana yesterday. I wanted to find what I needed for new pillowcases for the grands. I found some really good ones! I thought of each of the kids and found something that fits them. We then had lunch and went to the bulk food grocery and stocked up with great prices.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
A Party
We had a party. We were gifted the use of the Showboat for a day and decided to cook dinner for our immediate circle of friends, the ones we see on a regular basis, the ones who live in our stories.
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Chookshed and books
It's October first and there is only one Chookshed Challenge left. I had to give up on doing the challenge per se because I needed to concentrate my time on Elizabeth's BA quilt. Boy, did I. Boy, DO I. It has been an adventure so far. There are 11 blocks done and some of them really give me fits. I'm probably going to be arrested for how I am approaching the blocks but believe me, I'm changing and rearranging them so much they would be unrecognizable to the original. Like the one I'm struggling with now. I get an idea, try to execute it, get part way through and change my mind either with the fabric I chose or the design and rip it apart. Soon I will get them out, lay them out and see how they look. My ideal goal is to have them finished by Christmas so I can start quilting it in January. Until then I keep on. The whole idea and concept is fun because I'm doing things that relate to her so it's a lot of time inside my head with memories.
It's Tuesday and I went to school to read to the kids today. They didn't want me to leave and begged for a third book. I always only read two because they have other things to do besides listening to me read stories. But teacher said ok.
This title ALWAYS stops the fidgeting. Always. Achilles is a little crocodile who decides one day he isn't going to eat what his mother fixed for his breakfast. And no matter how much they try other foods (sound familiar?) or beg he says what he really wants is to eat a child. I like this one so much I have two copies!Ryan T. Higgins is a genius. Or he never grew out of a five or six year old's brain. He knows kids.
The next in the series (and to get his humor I think they need to be read in order) Penelope is very nervous about her turn to bring the class goldfish home for the weekend. Everyone takes turns and she works herself into a lather over the anticipation.
Now, Ryan T. Higgins IS a genius, he gets into the minds of little kids but to adults his illustrations are laugh out loud funny when you really pay attention. I'm not sure how much kids really, really notice but when I first read one of his books and turn a page, I will absolutely laugh out loud. Me, this grey-haired grandma laughs out loud at the humor in his illustrations.
I always tell the kids to pay attention to the pictures. These aren't called picture books for no reason. The words tell part of the story, the pictures tell the rest. Ryan T. Higgins is a genius.
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Therapy
Our retreat weekend has been cancelled. I'm still processing that. Our group is down to six. One chose a different activity for the weekend, and two have injuries that are severe enough they couldn't even think of going. We are all at the age where a sneeze could make us fall out of our chairs and break a hip and that's too close to the truth! We are all devastated to miss this very anticipated time together.
Now, I fully realize there are far worse things happening in the world and within our blogging community right now so having to cancel a retreat seems like small potatoes. And it is. But that doesn't mean it isn't disappointing.
So this morning I went out for some book therapy.
Have you read the Thursday Murder Club books? You haven't??? Oh, my. Do. This is Richard Osmun's newest, it just came out last week and is NOT a TMC book but I don't care. I'm hooked.Yes, I still buy picture books. At my age. But since I am reading to first graders now, I choose even more carefully than ever. I have to love the art, love the story, love the concept, love the telling, and especially love the author's work. This one is new to me but it ticked all the boxes so it came home with me.
Now, this one was on my library list. I took it with me when we were on our trip to the Upper Peninsula thinking it would be a good light read. And it is. But underneath there was more to it than the occasional giggle.