For all you church goers ~ "Time Change Song"

(click to enlarge)

I sent this to my Sunday school class and to Braxton Cotton, the pastor at my church, who wrote back to me:  "Are you prepared to lead us in singing this Sunday?"  Sure, I'm perfectly willing to act foolish, if anyone can stand to listen to me.  At least it's a well-known tune.

An alarming beginning

Chapter 1 is a half-page newspaper notice.  Chapter 2 is a two-page letter.  Chapter 3 is the beginning of the narrative itself, so that's what I choose to call the "beginning" of this novel.

"When the alarm went off, three of Julia Darrow's four dogs catapulted themselves off the couch to rush the door" (p. 4).

The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square ~ by Rosina Lippi, 2008, fiction (South Carolina)

Julia Darrow runs a thriving business in South Carolina, has a houseful of foster dogs, and wears designer pajamas all day, every day.   John Dodge makes a living moving around the country, fixing up small businesses on the brink of disaster.  His newest venture takes him to South Carolina, where he's greeted by an odd sight:  Julia Darrow, walking across Lambert Square, in pajamas.  Intrigued, Dodge asks Julia out to dinner only to be refused.  The townsfolk warn him that Julia is an unsolvable mystery, but Dodge likes mysteries.  And he's really good at fixing things.

Sounds interesting to me.  I want to know why she's fostering those dogs, what kind of business she owns, and what will happen between her and this John fellow.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays. Click here for today's Mister Linky.

Roll down the window

Nominate some sayings that will be obsolete -- or already are.  Let's start with this one as I say it:

Roll down the window
Wind up the clock
Clockwise and counterclockwise
Dial the phone number
Get the film developed

Also posted on my Joyful Noiseletter word blog.

Where the pot's not

Colleen @ Loose Leaf Notes posted a Thursday Thirteen called 13: Outside the Box a couple of weeks ago.  Here's number eleven on her list:

11. We join spokes together in a wheel / But it is the center that makes the wagon move / We shape clay into a pot / But it is the emptiness inside that hold whatever we want / We hammer wood for a house / But it is the inner space that makes it livable / We work with being / But non-being is what we use.  Lao Tzu

I left Colleen this comment:  "My favorite chapter of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu is number eleven, the one you chose to quote.  I'm impressed that you even put it as your number eleven.  When I teach religions of the world, I use all my translations (though I especially like Stephen Mitchell's translation), letting the students read it aloud from each version.  Did you know that Ursula K. Le Guin also translated it?  Here's her version of number eleven, with her comment below it."

The uses of not

Thirty spokes
meet in the hub.
Where the wheel isn't
is where it's useful.

Hollowed out,
clay makes a pot.
Where the pot's not
is where it's useful.

Cut doors and windows
to make a room.
Where the room isn't,
there's room for you.

So the profit in what is
is in the use of what isn't.

"One of the things I love about Lao Tzu is he is so funny.  He's explaining a profound and difficult truth here, one of those counter-intuitive truths that, when the mind can accept them, suddenly double the size of the universe.  He goes about it with this deadpan simplicity, talking about pots" (p. 14).

Library Loot ~ March 6-12

This Is Not My Hat ~ by Jon Klassen, 2012, children's, 9/10

A fish has stolen a hat.  And he'll  probably get away with it.  Probably.  In this Caldecott Medal Book, a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), and trouble could be following close behind.  So it’s a good thing that enormous fish won’t wake up.  And even if he does, it’s not like he’ll ever know what happened.

Creepy Carrots ~ by Aaron Reynolds, 2012, children's, 8/10

The carrots that grow in Crackenhopper Field are the fattest and crispiest around and Jasper Rabbit cannot resist pulling some to eat each time he passes by, until he begins hearing and seeing creepy carrots wherever he goes.  In this Caldecott Honor Book, it's like The Twilight Zone comes to the carrot patch as the little rabbit fears his favorite treats are out to get him.

The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and The Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book ~ by Wendy Welch, 2012, memoir, 9/10

This memoir is about the little bookstore that could:  how two people, two cats, two dogs, and thirty-eight thousand books helped a small town find its heart.  It is a story about people and books, and how together they create community.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire @ The Captive Reader and Marg @ The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages us to share titles of books we’ve checked out of the library.  Add your link any time during the week, and see what others got this week.

Book magic

 

This reminds me of my answer to a Booking Through Thursday question recently, when I wrote:

"What I love most about reading is that I'm not limited to discussions with people who live near me in time and space, but can converse with people in different times and places about things we both are interested in."

Monday Salon ~ usually called Sunday Salon

VIDEO TAPING

Here's the same photo I posted Wednesday, but someone improved the lighting.  My raised right arm no longer shows, but at least now we can see faces better.  What's going on, you ask?  We had just finished taping a video to accompany a Bible study of Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs (center front) and were about to leave.  The bright lights had been turned off, so the original photo was rather dark.  It was the only photo taken of the whole group.  I'm on the left, wearing lime green and standing behind my friend Donna.  Read more about it by clicking here.

UPDATE:  Upon closer inspection (sorry, Bookfool), I see that it's a different photo, so I'm adding the previous one for comparison.  People's hands are in different positions.  Maybe it was someone else's camera taking this one, or maybe someone altered the lights ... who knows?  At any rate, it's the latest photo Lizzie has emailed us.

BOOK AWARDS

The One and Only Ivan ~ by Katherine Applegate, 2012 ~ winner of the 2013 Newbery Award

Ivan is an easygoing gorilla.  Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain.  He rarely misses his life in the jungle.  In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.  Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he's seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog.  But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.  Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home — and his own art — through new eyes.  When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it's up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.  Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan's unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope.

This Is Not My Hat ~ by Jon Klassen, 2012 ~ winner of the 2013 Caldecott Award

From the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling and award-winning I Want My Hat Back comes a second wry tale.  When a tiny fish shoots into view wearing a round blue topper (which happens to fit him perfectly), trouble could be following close behind.  So it's a good thing that enormous fish won't wake up.  And even if he does, it's not like he'll ever know what happened.  Visual humor swims to the fore as the best-selling Jon Klassen follows his breakout debut with another deadpan-funny tale.

I've put both of these award winners on reserve at my library, along with Jodi Picoult's new novel The Storyteller, which was just published on Tuesday (the day I was in Nashville with Liz Curtis Higgs).  My library doesn't even have it yet, but I'm 23rd on the list waiting for it.

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