Wacky Wednesday # 26 – Audio Books

Audio Book Appreciation Month

If listening to audio books makes you an old lady then that confirms that I am indeed an old lady.   In the fall of 2010 I signed up for a credit a month plan with Audible.com ( of the Amazon empire) and I have been pleased with it.  When I began I listened to books through my iPod with ear-buds while riding in the car or on the tread mill at the gym.  Once I purchased an iPhone I found that listening via the Audible app was even more convenient.  Now I often have a book going while I cook, especially if my local NPR station does not have an appealing program airing.

I especially like listening to memoirs read by the author.   I am currently in the midst of Diane Keaton’s  Then Again.   Other memoirs I have enjoyed from Audible include Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel, Ann Patchett’s This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle.

(Note — week #26, we are half way through 2012!)

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Travel Tuesday # 26 – Balloon Festival Bristol England

I have never gone up in a hot air balloon but when I was growing up a few landed in my uncle’s field.  While we used Bristol England as a  base for day trips by rail in August 2005 we were able to view many beautiful balloons floating through the sky.  It turns out that Bristol  hosts an International Balloon Fiesta each August.  2012 is their 34th year.

  

Music Monday # 26 – Happy Birthday Ms Simon

Carly Simon was born on June 25, 1945.  Now I have never really been a fan but if you are born at a certain time there are certain songs that are such big hits that they become part of your life whether or not you follow a given performer.  Carly’s “You’re So Vain”  fits into that category for me.  It was a hit in early 1973.  As a 13-year-old I had no clue about male vanity but by my 20s I had encountered a few guys saying  or doing things that would trigger the “You’re So Vain” tune in my head.  And as I do not want to leave you with the wrong impression of my young adult years I should disclose that most of these occasions did not feature anyone I was involved with but friends of friends beaus.  (That should get me off the hook if there ever is anyone bored enough out there to cyber track me — ha, ha!)  Whether or not you are a Carly Simon fan I think you would find her web page devoted to the song entertaining, and perhaps enlightening.

I also have to confess that until I went to her website today it had not occurred to me  that the 67-year-old Carly Simon was the daughter of the co- founder of Simon and Schuster publishing.

Because there is a wonderful video of “You’re So Vain” on the web page I gave a link to above I have decided to feature another Carly Simon classic here.  This one only makes me think of a ketchup  commercial:

Thunder in “her” chair.

I had so much fun preparing a slide show of my black cat Thunder for today’s “Thoughtful Thursday” post that I am going to share another.

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Thoughtful Thursday # 25 – What makes you smile?

What makes you smile like nothing smile like nothing else can?

At this particular point in my life my new cat Thunder makes me smile like nothing else can. She is independent at times, as any cat ought to be.  Yet at other times she is a lap cat or cuddly cat.  She has a habit of rolling on to her back, crossing her front paws, and giving the most longing look.  Playing with her toy on a stick is what she wants when she does that.   

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This Wednesday is the Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice 2012

So today, June 20, 2012,  is the longest day of the year and the North Pole is tipped toward the sun more than on any other day, while the South Pole is tipped away from the sun making it the shortest day of the year for the Southern Hemisphere.   Now the longest day of the year is not expected to be the hottest day of summer but the temperature predicted for an afternoon high today is well above my comfort zone.  It is going to be bad enough that I did make the effort of watering my poor little vegetable plants this morning.  Time will tell whether the plants or I wilt the most.  Actually I know the answer.  I am not going to wilt too much because I am going to indulge in spending most of the day in air conditioning.

My cats, Thunder and Lightning are taking today easy too.

Thunder has her head buried so nothing will disrupt her rest.

Lightening is enjoying the corner office chair while ‘her dad’ is not occupying it.

Travel Tuesday # 25 – Watching a Vintage Steam Train

One morning during our August 2005 trip to England while of walking into the Bristol Temple Station to board an ordinary train we noticed a vintage steam train readying to depart on an excursion.  My husband, the train fan, decided  we should hang around and watch the old-timer take off.