Favourite Hallowe'en Tales

When I'm laid low with a cold (like this week) I like to curl up with a mug of tea and a good book... or snuggle on the couch and watch a movie. This time I got to thinking what are the best horror flicks and books?

Let me qualify that by saying that I'm not into gore so slasher flicks like Hallowe'en and Friday the 13th need not apply. I like the Omen series though...perhaps because I watched the first one on a black & white set alone in my bedroom when I was a young teen. Scared the bejeezus out of me!



I like some good suspense, to get a little scared or creeped out. Here's my list; I'd love to hear what would be on yours!

Books/Authors

• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Stephen King
• Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice
• Flowers in the Attick by V.C. Andrews
• Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Films

1. The Shining
2. The Omen series
3. The Sixth Sense
4. The Amityville Horror
5. Seven
6. The Birds
7. The Changeling (1980 version)
8. Alien

Her Fearful Symmetry

Be careful what you wish for.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger is a perfect example of the perils of going to far to get what we want. With sympathetic characters and the evocative backdrop of London's Highgate Cemetary, Her Fearful Symmetry is a ghostly love story perfect for the season.

Between the gentle yet unrelenting exploration of human flaws and dysfunctional families, and the growing suspense, I found it hard to put down.

You can download the first chapter at Niffenegger's site. You can also see some beautiful pictures of monuments in Highgate Cemetary here. Gorgeous! I'd love to visit.

BTW. I also loved her book, The Time Traveller's Wife.

Summer reading

Hot, lazy summer afternoons should be spent with a cold drink and a good book, in a shady corner where I can admire my efforts at gardening. And definitely not with a view of what still needs to be done cause that just is never going away...

I'm enjoying Talking with My Mouth Full by Bonny Wolf. It's another food memoir, (see Trail of Crumbs), with a focus on how food grounds us.

From the book's introduction:

"And through this baking and breaking bread together, we come to know who we are and where we come from."

This is a warm, chatty book brings us to the table for stories and recipes that anchor of family traditions and life. It speaks to the same need I have to share my love through food. It reminds me that I really need to organize all my clippings and hand-written recipes that I gather from friends, family and media.

While I may not love jello salads and cakes made with instand pudding, I love Aunt Tessa's Poppy Seed Cake and  Sis's Plum Conserve. And I love this book and the spirit in which it was written.

I'm still here

Not up to anything too exciting: gardening, family and reading.

The irises provide a beautiful contrast for the poppies.

Hiking the waterfall trail in Gatineau Park

An intense, intimate memoir anchored by vivid descriptions and recipes of food

Curling up with the gods

It's been a blah week spent getting back to a normal schedule. Highlights included the our kids' open house at school, sorting through books for their book sale and a lovely gift from our daughter.

She borrowed a book from her classroom for me to read. She loves to share books with me and I love to read them, this one in particular: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

It's fantastic. Full of magic, myth and adventure, the story brings characters from Greek mythology into the present. The young hero discovers who he is while on a quest to stop the outbreak of war among the gods. My daughter couldn't put it down and neither could I.

For one thing, I love children's lit and I love mythology. Two, I like to keep up with what she's reading. And it got me excited again. Nothing like a good tale to recharge my batteries and spark my creativity.

Now I just need cross some things of my to do list so I don't feel guilty when I grab the next book in the series...

"It has come!"

It is as if a green mist were creeping over it. It's almost like a green gauze veil.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is one of my favourite children's books and I especially love the edition illustrated by Tasha Tudor. The book speaks of the joy of Spring and renewal that I hope you enjoyed over the Easter weekend.

We had beautiful weather, family visiting from Burlington and lots of good food. And with two egg hunts for the kids (one supplied by generous neighbours), they got more than enough chocolate.

I hope the bunnies don't find the parsley... 

Top 5 lessons from Blogging for Bliss

After months of dithering over having a blog, I finally jumped into the blogosphere with the encouragement and knowledge I got from Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey. Here’s what I learned.

1. Just start blogging – now!
By very definition blogs are dynamic. You can always change layouts, features, and design as you refine your focus and find your voice.

2. Photographs and other visual elements are important. Tara teaches you how to:

• Take better pictures
• Add tweak images with software
• Choose fonts
• Create your own banner or find sources for banners
• Add sidebar fancies

3. Tara covers all the basics for getting started.
In her book, Tara provides:

• Advice on choosing a platform along with set-up instructions for leading blog platforms including Blogger and Typepad
• Suggestions for building traffic for your blog
• An overview of basic blog elements, technical terminology and blog etiquette

4. Blogging for Bliss introduces you to some great craft blogs. Some of my favourites include:

http://housewrenstudio.typepad.com/

http://theblackapple.typepad.com/

http://stitchindye.blogspot.com/

5. Tara’s book gave me tons of inspiration and encouragement.

Blogging for Bliss is full of beautiful images that made me want to create something equally inspiring. I have high hopes for improvement – it’s a work in progress :)! And at the end of the day, I felt like I had someone in my corner, someone who gave me the confidence to get out into the blog world and have my say.

Thank you Tara!

Indulgence

No, not chocolate, books. I can curl up in the chair by the fireplace and read from beginning to...well maybe not end but pretty darn close.

I had a wonderful visit with my parents the other day and not just because I enjoy their company. I mentioned that the kids would have a book sale at their school and out came a couple shopping bags of books that my parents didn't want anymore. So of course, I brought them home and sorted through them. Like Christmas all over again.

Some were a quick pass - old cook books without much charm or interesting recipes. Others though I can't quite pass on yet. Like The Great Garlic Book or Lucy's Kitchen (that one's just a loan anyway). One of the best things about borrowing books from my family is the range in selection.

I highly recommend Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. An interesting memoir chronicling Ms. Nafisi's experience teaching English Literature in Tehran - both for the political and social insight as well as how she relates books and their characters to events in Tehran during the rule of Ayatollah Khomeini. Her book is mine and I'm keeping it!



On a lighter note, I've just started a thriller, The Walking Dead by Gerald Seymour.