Tag: Photos

Saturday Snapshot: Book Haul

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot15 Comments

Last weekend, I attended my library’s Warehouse Sale, which is exactly what it sounds like–they open up their warehouse and sell books for truly excellent prices.  And I brought home an excellent haul…

Book HaulThe big find was a set of seven volumes of O. Henry short stories, from 1919.  They’re a little yellowed, but in good condition for 94 years old!

In the other stack, The Giver is a wonderfully chilling, insightful book.  Children of the Jedi is one I read earlier in the year for the Sci Fi Experience, and Half Magic is a lovely fantasy.  In movies, I’ve been meaning to buy Bridge to Terabithia forEVER, and I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with Before Sunrise, so both were particularly good finds!  Bagthorpes Haunted by Helen Cresswell is part of a hilarious series I’ve been slowly collecting over the course of various Warehouse Sales.

That bottom book, Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, may seem a little odd if you know me well…I already have two copies (one good translation, one bad), plus a copy I can’t read in the original French.  BUT–this is the Barnes and Noble edition, which just recently I heard has an excellent introduction with background on the Paris Opera House (thank you, Carl).  So I bought another copy for the sake of the introduction.

And the grand total for it all…$22.50.  A new hardback could cost that much by itself.  This is why I love the Warehouse Sale.  The difficulty, of course, is where to put all these books–but that’s a topic for another week!

Have a great weekend, and visit West Metro Mommy for more Saturday Snapshots!

Saturday Snapshot: Growing Tomatoes

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot10 Comments

Remember I shared pictures of my new tomato plants a while back?  Well, as an update, my plants have produced tomatoes!  They’re small and green, but growing.  I’m not certain I’m ever going to wind up with a large quantity of edible results, but I’m having fun watching the plants anyway. 🙂

Tomatoes (3)Tomatoes (1)

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Saturday Snapshot: Knitting Project

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot12 Comments

I have recently (very recently) learned how to knit.  Some of the credit goes to Robin McKinley, who waxes on about yarn occasionally on her blog, and Jessica Day George, whose book Princess of the Midnight Ball featured a hero who knits.  Mostly, though, it’s because of a friend who kindly taught me the basics.  Last weekend we had a “knitting and watch Jane Austen movies” get-together. 🙂

So I bought pretty yarn and knitting needles, and have started a scarf–because it seemed like the simplest of projects to begin with!

Knitting ProjectFor more Saturday Snapshots, visit our new host, West Metro Mommy.  Have a great weekend!

Saturday Snapshot: A Small Foray into Gardening

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot14 Comments

The weather is warming up, and I am attempting to grow things.  Tomatoes, in fact, because I eat a lot of tomatoes…and they seemed do-able.  I live in an apartment and the absolute only place to put plants is on the landing outside my second-story door.  So I went to the farmer’s market two weeks ago (this would have been last week’s post, but Mr. Crawford pre-empted it), and…here we are.

Tomato Plants

I didn’t have the slightest idea what kind of tomato plant to buy.  But the guy at the farmer’s market told me Sungolds are sweet, and I bought a Violet Jasper because, um, I liked the name…  So it’s all rather an experiment.  We’ll see how it goes!

If it goes well, you’ll be seeing more pictures.  And, of course, if it goes badly, we will never speak of this again…  But so far, I’m enjoying my (very) small foray into gardening!

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Saturday Snapshot: With Love, Michael Crawford

On By cherylmahoneyIn Saturday Snapshot16 Comments

I had very exciting mail this week…

But before I get to that, let me tell you a story, if I may.  I’ll give you the short version.  About eight years ago, a friend loaned me a copy of Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, and a CD of Webber’s musical.  I wasn’t all that into the book, but I liked the soundtrack.  And so an obsession was born.

A couple years after that, after a lot of delving into Phantom versions and who-knows-how-many times through the soundtrack, another friend suggested I find Michael Crawford’s other CDs.  Crawford was the original Phantom in London and Broadway, and his is the voice on the soundtrack.  As my friend suggested, listening to his other CDs would be like listening to the Phantom sing other songs–and it was!  And so a new obsession was born.

I now have all of Crawford’s CDs because, well, he’s amazing.  Somewhere along the way I stopped hearing the Phantom when Crawford sang and started hearing Crawford when the Phantom sang…if that makes any sense!

Recently I had an opportunity to mail an item in for a personalized autograph.  And so, exciting mail arrived this week…

Michael Crawford Autograph

I could have had my Phantom soundtrack signed…but I suspect Crawford signs a lot of Phantom CDs!  And I wanted this one anyway, because it’s my favorite.  Or to be more precise, the last song on the CD, “A Piece of Sky,” is mind-blowing, life-altering, unbelievably amazing.

So I’d say that’s the most exciting mail I’ve had in, hmm, a long time.  Couldn’t resist sharing!

Have a wonderful weekend, and visit At Home with Books for more Saturday Snapshots!