Big News!

I bought a new piano--a real piano. The Clavinova started buzzing for some reason and the music store where I purchased it gave me a full refund, and I applied that towards a very nice Yamaha upright. It's top of the mid-line or bottom of the top-end. Shiny, black. Plays beautifully. I'll have pics up after it's delivered today--probably around 5pm or so.

yea!

Book Review: The Darcy Connection

Elizabeth’s Aston’s books are like a breath of fresh air. I have absolutely loved reading every single one of them. The Darcy Connection follows the lives of Eliza and Charlotte, who are the 20 and 21 year old daughters of Charlotte and Mr. Collins—the cousin of the Bentons who will inherit the estates once Mr. Benton dies.

Eliza must accompany her sister Charlotte to London in order to escape making a bad reputation for herself and potentially ruining her sister’s marriage opportunities. She is carted along as an afterthought without an allowance for clothing and is told not to expect to go out to many dances and balls.

Eliza is actually not unhappy with this situation. She gets to sample the real life of London, finds more characters and circumstances for her parodies of life that she writes secretly under a pseudonym, and she learns that the young man she has been separated from really isn’t a good choice for her husband. And she falls in love with a man who is not only rich beyond her imagination but will also provide her a happy marriage.

Meanwhile, her beautiful sister Charlotte is making the rounds of all the parties and dances and strikes awe in the breast of many a young man. She almost makes a serious misstep, but still manages to make a very good marriage for herself and her family.

Filled with manners, misunderstandings, mores, villains, cranky older women, and mamas without much compunction about putting their daughters “on the market,” The Darcy Connection charms the reader with humor and a feminist perspective of life in early 1800s England. I always enjoy Aston’s books, and this was no exception.

Prelude in b Minor by Chopin

This a moody prelude by Chopin. I've been working on the voicing (making the melody "sing") and think I'm close. Enjoy!

Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach

This is the first piece my new piano teacher introduced to me. I liked it immediately and have been working on getting it perfect. It's difficult to get an entire performance without a mistake, and this one is no exception. One tiny blubber on the keys, but other than that it ain't bad. Hope you like it.

Book Review: A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire

A Lion Among Men continues the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire. Focusing on the character of the cowardly lion who accompanies Dorothy to Oz and is her accomplice in killing the Wicked Witch of the West, the book examines the concept of identity and family and how important it is to have a sense of groundedness in a past that pre-exists us yet defines us by placing us into a set of boundaries.

The Lion, named Brrr, is the baby lion cub who Elphaba saves from a despicable scientific experiment. He grows up in the woods without family, somehow surviving and moving on to find what it means to have companionship. He makes a name for himself by playing dead during a riot—the people of Traum herald him as a cowardly hero, provide him with a handsome purse of money and a train ticket to get out of town. He settles in the university town of Shiz where he makes a name for himself as an art connoisseur. He finances his purse well and also becomes somewhat of a dandy.

Things change for Brrr, however, when he realizes that he is ostracized because he is an Animal. Fearing for his life at one point, he leaves Shiz and embarks on a journey to discover his Animal origins and find a place that will continue to define him. He somehow fails at every attempt to find companionship and ends up in the guise of a government recorder of information in order to stay away from jail. It is, ironically, his cowardly nature and his connection with the Wicked Witch of the West that provide him an escape from prison.

It is during this job that he meets up with Yackl. Yackl is a sort of guardian angel sent to guard over Elphaba and her progeny. She becomes lucid and magical at times when necessary and otherwise seems like a crazy loon other times. Interspersed with Brrr’s story is Yackl’s. We learn that she woke up an old woman and had visions, powerful vision, when pertaining to Elphaba and her family. She is waiting to die but doesn’t know how to. Brrr’s job, she learns, is to help her learn to die and hers is to help Brrr learn to live.

The book is a very nice addition to the Wicked series. I enjoyed the writing: Maguire has a magical way with words, so his books are always a pleasure to read. I highly recommend it to anyone who has read and enjoyed Wicked, though it would be helpful to understanding the sequence of events to also read the 3 books in order.

Red Cotton Chenille Scarf

This scarf is soft and fuzzy and is perfect for that cool late fall or early spring evening. I used a merino wool tape in variegated black to white as an accent running along the right side. It shows up on the front but not the back. Fringe is twisted. The scarf measures 8x60 and sells for $50.

4 cotton towels

I think these turned out nice--not as I expected, but I like them. They are VERY soft, and I like the pattern's holes throughout (not sure if you can see them in the picture...try clicking on it and seeing a close-up). They are woven in green, natural and gold yarns with a rust accent. These are a house-warming gift for my friend Jeff.

Fur Elise by Beethoven

I think Fur Elise is such a pretty song, one of my favorites. It's not perfect, but it's getting there. Hope you enjoy.

L'Arabesque by Burgmuller

This is an easy one, but I like it. You'll have to let me know if you enjoy the music...

L'Orage by Burgmuller

This is me playing a L'Orage by Burgmuller. L'Orage translates to "the storm." I have been working on this piece for about 3 weeks and am almost happy with it. There are still a few tempo changes and some dynamics I need to work on, but I do hope you enjoy.

Update

David and I have decided to make 2009 our year to prioritize diet and exercise. To that end we are getting up and exercising every weekday morning. We are also eating a healthy diet that consists of lots of vegies and fruits, all homecooked meals, and very little sweets and alcohol. To date, I have lost 4.5 pounds and he has lost 11 pounds.

Book Review--Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi

No I didn't finish two books two days apart. I was away last week and finished Hegehog and only had time to do my review yesterday. I finished Lambert Square last night.

And I have to say that I was disappointed. I love Rosina Lippi. I enjoy her writing and have enjoyed every book she's written to date--both as Rosina Lippi and Sarah Donati. That said, my disappointment in this book may be exaggerated because I expected so much more from it and because I've just finished 4 really good books in a row. To me it didn't deliver. Here are a few reasons why:

• I just didn't buy that the main female character could be so agoraphobic, or depressed, or whatever you want to call it, and then just snap out of it in the end. The ending just didn't ring true to me.
• I thought the language fell short of true Southern dialog. She attempted to reach it, but it just didn't sound right. The "might could"'s screamed at me as being mis-placed or mis-used. Overall the language just didn't work, and that was a surprise because Lippi has always done such a good job with language and dialog and dialect.
• I felt like the characterizations of the Southerners in the book bordered on insulting stereotypes. They came across as overly naive, silly and dumb. And that the northerners were so smart and savvy and otherwise worldy just didn't work for me.
• The use of either young of old characters as the "voice of wisdom" seemed trite.
• I'm not a huge fan of dogs, and the dogs in this book annoyed me. Petty I know, but I just don't like it when animals in books seem to think or talk to their humans. It was as if the animals were the psychologists as the older or young characters were, and I also found that trite.
• The plot of the book seemed a little shallow as well. It's almost as if nothing happened throughout, though it did...Julia and Dodge adressed emotional and relationship issues and learned to deal with them in their own way...but other than that, nothing really happened outside of time passing.
• Finally, while I understand that all writers will put in their political stance and viewpoints, and while I don't disagree with Lippi's criticisms of George W. Bush, I did have issues with the two women who were passing along political propaganda against GWB when it didn't seem to have any relevance to the plot of the book or the characterization of these rather minor characters at all. If the characters had sat around at a party and discussed politics and disagreed on GWB and his policies and actions, that would have rung much more truly to me and set some sort of "reason" for the criticisms. It just seemed gratuitous, and I found that problematic.

In short, I didn't hate the book, though my list of complaints does seem rather long. I did enjoy it. I read it through to the end and fairly quickly. However, I just kept waiting for it to get better, to get moving along, to do something, but it never really did anything for me. I'm looking forward to Donati's next book and hope that it doesn't disappoint as well.

Book Review--The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I've really be wracking my brains to figure out how to adequately review this book, and I've been failing every time. I start a review and then realize that it comes up far short of this wonderful book...then I start over only to have the same problem again.

In short, I loved this book. It is up there as one of my favorites ever. I loved the characters, the writing, the structure of the novel, the setting (who wouldn't love Paris), the thought-provoking commentary over class systems, and the emotional connection I made with the characters.

Set in current dayParis, The Elegance of the Hedgehog follows the journals of two narrators. Renee, or Madame Michel, is a concierge at a ritzy apartment building. Paloma Josse, one of the residents, is a 12-year-old girl who has decided that life is futile and in order to avoid the miseries of being an adult will kill herself on her 13th birthday.

Both characters share that they are very intelligent and trying to hide that intelligence--for different reasons. But they connect through their subversion of class expectations and form a bond that is at once touching and illuminating. They are brought together by a new resident in the building, a Japanese man who sees through both of their attempts to "go underground."

I don't want to say more about the plot of the book, but I do want to point out that when I finished it I was crying my eyes out...something I very rarely do with a book.

It's a Southern Miss Scarf!--SOLD

In Southern Miss colors, this lovely bamboo and cotton scarf is both silky and comfy. The gold is variegated to provide depth and a suprise of color. The black sets off the bright color very nicely. Any Southern Miss fan would be proud to wear this scarf. The weave pattern is called a Plaited Twill and looks like a braid running up and down the scarf. It adds to the complexity of the rich colors. The fringe is twisted. The scarf measures 9.5 x 68 and sells for $55.

Navy and Natural Napkins

These napkins are so soft. I really love them. They turned out very nice, too, and provide a very traditional pattern for a very traditional item. They will be sent to my friend Jeff for his attaining tenure this year. Congratulations Jeff!

For those of you who are close readers...

You'll notice that I changed my "what I'm reading" without providing a book review first. That's because I didn't read Pajama Girls of Lambert Square, yet. I decided to go ahead and start the bookclub book for February because with tax prep going on (finished early thank goodness) and my civic duty next week and exercising (M-F for 2 weeks straight) and eating right (everyday for 2 weeks!), I wasn't sure if I'd have time to finish it in time...So, I'm now reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog...and loving it. Few books captivate me with the first couple of pages, but this one did. I'm really really liking it. And I'll definitely finish it in time to do a book review well before book club.

Book Review: Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

Son of a Witch has its good points and bad...I can't decide if I really liked it or not. I guess a few days' reflection will help with that. SOW is the 2nd installment in Gregory Maguire's Wicked series and follows the story of Liir, who is assumed to be Elphaba's son. He has her general temperament--disatisfied with the world and struggling to identify himeslf mostly through rebellion against the government that is wreaking havoc on the citizens of Oz.

We get the story of Liir as he leaves the witch's murder scene and travels to Oz in the hopes of finding his half-sister Nor. He is rejected by the wizard and then struggles to survive as he hunts for a way to locate Nor. He joins the Home Guard and becomes a well-regarded soldier. Eventually, however, he runs away after causing an accident that killed several people. In running away he uses the broom to fly home to Kiamo Ko and ends up being attacked later by Dragons.

He barely survives the attack and determines at this point that he must seek vengence, which is what the latter half of the books is about. We are left with a very enigmatic ending--wondering what could possible come next.

Though I wasn't thrilled with this book, I did enjoy reading it and am looking forward to the third installment in the series: Lion Among Men.

Green and Gold and Peach Huck Lace Scarf

This scarf is a lovely soft green and gold and peach huck lace scarf made with cotton. There is a specialty mohair boucle (bumpy) yarn that adds a little texture and interest. The scarf measures 5.25 x 68", has twisted fringe and sells for $50. Please leave a comment if you are interested.

Happy 17th A&E

Sorry to be late, but here they are in their 17-year-old beauty!

Grey and Blue Alpaca Lace Scarf

This scarf is made using a lace weight alpaca yarn that is variegated from light grey to a medium blue. The overall effect looks like denim, but this scarf is soft and very very light-weight. It measures 8x70 and has loose fringe.