I feel like I’ve been among the missing on the blog scene, and in fact, I have. Not because I haven’t ideas for posts, but there’s been just too much on my plate and blogging falls quite a way down the long list. Finally the light is shining at the end of the tunnel. Report cards are done, the spreadsheet with recommendations for middle school math and literacy programs is done, and all the plans needed for after vacation are done. It’s a relief–and the thought of vacation is so exciting–even if the weather forecast isn’t all that one would hope. Aside from school work and getting ready for a week’s vacation on Kiawah Island (our favorite vacation spot), I’ve been trying to keep up with my work for my Photo 101 class. I’m getting more and more comfortable with all the options on my Digital Rebel. This week we were working on depth of field. No pretty flowers or budding trees here so I took a shot of our patio light with my new 50mm/1.4 lens. It, too, has a learning curve, but I know I’m going to love it once I’ve had some more experience.

Tracy has wanted a tree face for a long time, and Sarah and Adam ordered one for him for his birthday. It was nice enough this weekend to put it on the tree beside the patio. Here are two shots of our tree guy:

We leave Friday for Kiawah. Can’t wait. Sarah, Adam, Matt, and my brother will all join us for part of the time and everyone will be there on Tuesday. It’s a rare event to have everyone together and I can’t wait.

I’m taking Barbara Carroll’s photography course on BPS, and I’m loving it. I’ve owned a Digital Rebel XT for a year now, and I’ve learned more about my camera in two weeks than I managed to teach myself in a year. This week I got a new lens and now there’s even more to learn. I’ve managed to complete most of the assignments although the cold, snowy weather has prevented me from talking Tracy into going out to sit in the same spot six different times in the day to evaluate how light affects your pictures. Maybe next weekend. Today I put together two layouts with photos I’ve taken for the course. All the photos are of Matt, who has been an incredibly patient and willing model for me every time he stops by. The first layout is my favorite photograph of Matt so far, and the second is a collage of photos I did for the Designing with the 2007 Calendar Challenge at 2Peas. I have some other photos to upload to the Photo-a-Day blog on the sidebar as well. Maybe later tonight.

Here’s today’s Fancy Word for Simple journaling prompt. It was accompanied by a photograph of a stack of books. My pile of books—partially read, waiting to be read—is considerably higher than the one posted. In fact, it fills a bookcase. I used to feel guilty about it until I read a little volume last year entitled The Little Guide to Your Well-read Life.  Leveen says that it’s important to have books in your library that you know you’ll want to read eventually. The old adage:  too many books, too little time, certainly fits.

“I had just taken to reading. I had just discovered the art of leaving my body to sit impassive in a crumpled up attitude in a chair or sofa, while I wandered over the hills and far away in novel company and new scenes… My world began to expand very rapidly,… the reading habit had got me securely.”

H. G. Wells

Okay. I’ll admit it—today’s Trendy Tuesday is completely selfish on my part. I’m a reading teacher aka a reading nerd, geek, or dork. The picture above is actually my stack of unfinished (in some cases unstarted) books. I’m a chronic non-finisher when it comes to books–especially those I really love. If I don’t finish them, it’s like they never end.

Tell me about who you are as a reader. What are you reading right now? What are some of your habits as a reader? Best book you’ve ever read? Worst book you’ve ever read?

I am always reading a book. Currently I’m reading three—two nonfiction and one fiction. The best of the bunch is a wonderful collection of essays written by famous and ordinary folks for NPR’s “This I Believe” program. I read about a third of the book at Sarah’s while I was visiting last week, and bought my own copy when I returned. I’m reading one essay a day as inspiration during Lent. I’m also reading a collection of profiles and essays by the late Marjorie Williams called The Woman at the Washington Zoo. I’ve learned a fair bit, and find most of her writing thought-provoking and interesting. I still have the last third of the book to go. I think this will be more difficult to read as these are the pieces she wrote as she unsuccessfully battled cancer as a mother with young children.

I’ve read a lot of great books. It would be hard to pick one as a favorite. Recent favorites from the last year would be Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

The worst book I ever read was Tom Wolf’s Bonfire of the Vanities. I couldn’t find one character I liked or anything redeeming about the characters or the plot. Usually if I really dislike a book I abandon it, but I finished Wolf’s because it was a book group selection. Truth is, I don’t always finish those if I don’t like them. My allotment of reading time is so small, that I’ve come to resent time reading books I don’t like.

My book group, by the way, is a group of four couples. We’ve been reading together since 1990, and it’s a diverse and interesting group of people. We go out to dinner and then to someone’s house for dessert, coffee, and discussion. It’s become one of my favorite social events. I’ve read a lot of fascinating books I would never had found if not for this book group. We’ve even taken an overnight field trip to tour the sights of one of our favorite book group books—City of Light by Lauren Belfer. It’s a great historical (mystery) novel about Buffalo, NY, at the turn of the century and the development of hydroelectricity using Niagara Falls. We even got a private, hard-hat tour of the power plant as part of our field trip!

We spent three days in Atlanta, eating one wonderful meal after another with Sarah and Adam, and enjoying the spring weather. Flowers are in bloom and it was warm enough to eat outside on Thursday afternoon. We came back to the same piles of snow we left and bitter cold wind chill temperatures. More snow on its way tonight. It was great while it lasted, but it will be a long time before we see it here.

We had a real SNOW day today–not a cold day. Tracy was inspired to take a few pictures.

A look up our street                                            Our patio

To my #1 Valentine:

Love you.

Well over a year ago, these little lunch boxes were the rage on 2Peas and I bought a couple of them. I had some ideas for them, but they all seemed a bit time consuming so nothing ever happened. Sunday I realized having one to collect all my valentines from my fifth graders could be a good thing. It was a quick and easy project, and I like how it came out. Much better than the construction paper folder I’ve used in the past.

I’ve joined my first ever Circle Journal. I happened to respond to a post on 2Peas about a circle journal based on Ali Edwards’ challenge to choose a word for the year. There are nine of us and based on what little I know about us, we have very different styles so this should be a lot of fun. I ended up making mine since I couldn’t find one the size I wanted. You can see it on the side bar. I’m happy with how it turned out. It gets sent to Ohio this week and will return in nine months. When the first journal arrives here, I’ll be creating a two-page layout for that person’s word of the year.

On my list of things to do was to make a new banner for the blog. The Christmas presents needed to go. Lucky me, my son-in-law does graphic design work and offered to make me a banner. We didn’t even discuss design possibilities–somehow he knew what I’d like. Love the design, the colors and the tagline. Check out his work by clicking on the button for cleave design on the sidebar. Thanks, Adam!