Dec18
and so it grows.
Category Archives: books
Dec14
laugh ’til your meatballs fall apart.
Author, Ermine Cnningham, ( known to wordpress bloggers as: Ermigal from ‘odds and ends from ermigal) https://ermigal.wordpress.com – has written a wonderful and lively romp, “Pretend You Know What You’re Doing – My Voyage From Teacher to Humor Writer.” In this sweet and funny book, Ermine offers up her tale, a mix of prose and blog posts, chronicling the story of how she grew to be the hilarious and well-rounded, (in a positive Italian way), woman she is today. I was lucky enough to have an early read and am happy to invite you to share in the fun.
Her book is available through amazon.com and erminecunningham.com.
Laugh ‘Til Your Meatballs Fall Apart (My Amazon review below)
Ermine Cunningham, retired teacher, and now, humor writer, and woman of the world, has written this hilarious book that will keep you laughing from beginning to end. She chronicles her bumpy journey, through trial and error, into the worlds of teaching, corporate working, dating, being part of an Italian family and beginning her own family. Once she has mastered all of these, she finds herself in a completely new role, as a retiree, feeling her way through the world of volunteering, blogging, writer’s workshops, salsa dancing, and all sorts of new things. If you’re looking to laugh and to follow a positive and creative woman on her road trip through life, I highly recommend this book. You will not regret a second spent reading it, and you might even learn something, even if it’s just what not to do.
Beth
Sep25
just another wild night.
—
image credit: grammarly.com
Aug21
*h2.e.l.p.
we began as a mixed group
of teachers and parents
and
became friends
stayed friends
formed
a book club
had
passionate discussions
about books
but
over time
it became
challenging
to get
everyone
in one place
on a regular basis
for hours at a time
on the same night
so
one day
we had an idea
and
decided
to meet
after work on fridays
at the end of each week
late in the afternoon
just for a bit
on a drop-in basis
whoever could make it was welecome
and we
talked about
books, life, family, loves, our news, the world
and we
listened
to each other
and
asked and answered questions
about things
in our lives
that made us happy
or
that made us sad
or
that we didn’t understand
or just
needed
to tell someone
and
wanted
the perspective
of others
we trusted
as we
shared our personal stories
and we
celebrated each other’s lives
and we all made a point
of being there
on a regular basis
and sometimes
husbands
kids
dates
visitors
popped in
and out
and soon
the books fell away
and
we met
just to
spend time together
so
one day
i had an idea
and
i gave us a name
on a shirt
as a christmas present
*h2.e.l.p.
*(happy hour extra large print)
book club
of ann arbor
and to
make it official
and it seemed
just the right name
for us
for more than one reason
and
a couple of times
each year
we kick it up a notch
when
we go
on an
overnight adventure
to a local hotel
or a cottage on a lake
where it feels
so far away from it all
yet
they’re
just
a
few miles away
no husbands
no kids
no dates
no visitors
and
we stay up
most of the night
with food and drink
and music
sharing our stories
and
our own
good company
and
sometimes
we sneak into the pool or take a dip in the lake
for some
late night swimming
and play games
and
all sorts
of
other antics
and merry-making
happen
it’s a slumber party
of the highest order
after all
and
i may even suggest
that we
read a book
one day soon
one that
that has it all
romance, mystery, action and adventure, travel, suspense, humor, friendship
and no vampires
it’s one of my favorites
and
it’s sure to
inspire a passionate discussion
about its surprise ending
—
“the first rule of book club – is that nobody wants to talk about book club.”
― douglas lewis
Jul18
once upon a time…..
“if you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.
if you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― albert einstein
Jun13
The moon looks upon many night flowers; the night flowers see but one moon. Jean Ingelow
Under the Spell of the Moon: Art for Children from the World’s Great Illustrators
by Patricia Aldana (Editor), Various contributors (Illustrator), Stan Dragland (Translator), Katherine Patterson (Introduction)
The illustrated picture book is one of the most important genres of children’s literature. Great artists have devoted some or all of their working lives to creating art that accompanies a text written for children. While book illustration has been practiced for thousands of years, picture book illustration is a relatively new phenomena. This beautiful book is a collection of poetry from all around the world, illustrated by some of the finest picture book artists working today including Peter Sis, Anthony Browne and Quentin Blake.
IBBY (the International Board on Books for Children), at the heart of whose mandate lies the promotion of books of the highest quality, has been honoring illustrators through the Hans Christian Andersen Awards for nearly forty years. IBBY has also been helping to support the spread of book illustration for children to countries and cultures where such artistic activity is relatively new. In honor of IBBY’s work and to support its future work, many of the world’s greatest illustrators for children have donated art based on a text of their choice drawn from their childhood and culture. The result is a book that celebrates art created for children from around the world. The texts in the book are in both the original language and in English. Noted author and editor Stan Dragland has translated the texts.Groundwood Books will pay a royalty of 15% of all sales to IBBY.
I’ve never seen a moon in the sky that, if it didn’t take my breath away, at least misplaced it for a moment.
Colin Farrell
I didn't have my glasses on.... 