"Your library of a gracious country villa, from where the reader can see the city close by: might you squeeze in my naughty Muse, between your more respectable poems?" Martial’s avid fans will find themselves on familiar ground here, at the suburban ranch of the poet’s aspirational namesake, Julius Martial (4.64).
The post ‘Your fame will be sung all round the world': Martial on the convenience of libraries appeared first on OUPblog.
There was a blurb in the local paper about auditioning for “Wheel of Fortune,” cause yes, they were coming to town! So, we went to the Casino where the auditions were being held. What a hoot! We arrived right on time but the roped off area was empty! Oh no! Where was everybody? Well, we were handed the application forms and told to go ahead and go inside. Everyone was already in the ballroom. The energy was palpable. The room was packed! My husband chose to sit in the back, but I went straight down front and found one empty seat in the second row. I glanced around and saw some friends, which was cool. Our little town had some action in town and everyone wanted to be there!
We filled out the application and they picked names out of a barrel and people went up small groups at a time. It was crazy. It was wild. It was loud!
We didn’t get called, but this was definitely one of the wackier things I did this summer!
The post I Auditioned for Wheel of Fortune! appeared first on Catherine Burr, Bestselling Author.
Simon & Schuster has signed a deal with Country Life magazine to publish a new series of tie-in books, beginning this autumn with Curious Observations: A Country Miscellany.
The book will comprise writings, articles and miscellany from the 114 year old Country Life archives. Twenty five titles will be published during the next five years. Forthcoming titles include The Glory of the Garden, Gentlemen's Pursuits and Letters to the Editor.
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Viking has acquired a non-fiction title by Clive Aslet, editor-at-large of Country Life magazine, detailing the lives behind the names on a village war memorial.
Editorial director Eleo Gordon bought UK and Commonwealth rights in the title, All Quiet on the West Country Front: The Story of A Village War Memorial, through Annabel Merullo at PFD. Viking plans to publish in November 2013.
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Although I grew up in a small city outside of Los Angeles, my entire childhood was filled with everything country and mostly Southern in nature. You see, both of my parents were born in the Ozarks and raised during the Great Depression. They, like so many other young couples of that era, came to California looking for the gold at the end of the rainbow, or at least, a fair paying job. They settled in a post war cookie cutter neighborhood and lived a simple life.
All throughout my young years, I loathed everything about their simpleness. I despised that I had accidentally "inherited" their southern accents and slang words. I was ridiculed relentlessly for the twang in my spoken words. I tried with all my might to dis-own my heritage.
Of course, as time passed and I became an adult with children of my own, I began to see their simpleness as a blessing that was graciously passed on to me. A simple blessing that I am, hopefully, passing on to my own children.
Because of my mom's basic upbringing, she was taught to keep herself busy. Along with her daily doings she made time to can homemade jams and jellies, tend a lovely garden, sew many of my clothes (and my Barbie's clothes) and quilt.
Quilting, I suppose, was her way of relaxing. But...at the same time, she was creating something with a practical use. Of course, when she was a girl, quilting was necessary, as there was no extra money to purchase store bought bedding. By the time I was born, my mom could easily have gone to the local J.C. Penney's and purchased bedding, but she chose instead to invest her time and heart and talent into her craft.
My mom hand-quilted using her mom's old wooden hoops. They looked very much like gigantic embroidery hoops. I remember so clearly the sound of the stitches, and the click of the needle on her metal thimble. Ohhh...and every once in a while, she would let out a quiet naughty word. We all knew what that meant...it meant that mom pricked herself with the needle! I loved seeing the little blood stains on a freshly made quilt. It somehow stood for the heart that she put into it.
I have most of the quilts here in my home. Some are so very tattered that I keep them stored away and some are still in use. These fabrics that are sewn together make a beautiful yet practical hodge podge of memories. I can still pick out blocks of fabric that came from my "Holly Hobbie" short outfit that I wore in first grade, a floral print from one of my mom's dresses and the plaid fabric my mom used to make my Barbie's coat.
My mom is 81 now. She lived with my family and me up until last October. As she is declining with an end stage disease, I was forced to arrange for her to stay at a Board and Care. She is weak and ever so trembly now. Truth be said, she'll never quilt again. She started one several years ago, but was not able to finish it.
Her stitches were not the perfectly timed rows that they were in her younger days, but the heart behind the stitches remained...
I have that unfinished quilt now. It is exactly as she left it the last time she put it down...
The needle is in the same position...
It is still in Grandma's hoops...
I am committed to finishing this quilt. I don't know when, but someday...
Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
Good Evening:
Just a quick entry before I'm off to prepare dinner.
For those of you who read yesterday's post, you may remember that I mentioned the lonely and crumbling state of my garden. It seems that over the course of the last year, as I lost heart, so then did my garden. It appears that with my impending baby-steps back into the richness of everyday life, my garden is striving to take some baby-steps of it's own. As I slowly strolled the pathways of my backyard this morning, I found peek-a-boo hints of breath...
A Geranium here....
A Nasturtium there....
Just as I am becoming aware of a newly animated heart, my dry and parched flowerbeds are popping their heads up, towards the sun.
Cautiously, I taste life again ~
Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
Musty Boxes Ephemera
oh my... This post made me tear up so badly. What a gift your mom gave you. The thriftiness and self reliance is a blessing. I wouldn't finish the quilt, I would leave it as she did and display it. How very precious!!!
A lovely post, Kim, that makes me want to go right now and hug my mom. :)
xo
Di
Beautiful post, Kim. Makes me think of my mom and grandmother, and the several UFOs (unfinished quilts) that I, too, hope to some day complete. They're both gone now and it seems appropriate to some day finish them, in their memory and as a generational heirloom. God be with you as you continue in your dealings with your mother's declining health.
My heart is with you as I know how you are feeling... having lost both of my parents recently I am grateful to be surrounded by knitting projects left unfinished by Mom and carving projects remaining undone by Dad. Give your Mom a big hug for me. xo Deb
What a beautiful post.
I came across your blog and loved it.
My mom is also a quilter and passed it not to me but to my 17 year old daughter.
God Bless