Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Late in the month of February , Michael Buble, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra all go their wish, it snowed and snowed and snowed.  I've lived in Kansas since 1994, and I have never seen snow like this here before.  It almost reminded me of my hometown, Two Harbors, MN, which sits on the north shore of Lake Superior.  Here in Wichita, KS, over the period of 6 days, we had 21.2 inches of snowfall.  The snowfall broke a record of total monthly snowfall that was set in 1913.  

Now I personally love snow, so it was nice to see.  I just wish it would have been in December, right around Christmas.  I think we have only had 2-3 White Christmases since I've lived here.  I didn't get out in the snow too much because with the blowing snow, it was a little hard to see, but on a few occasions I did get out and take a few pictures.  So I thought I would share a couple of them.

The first three photos are around 6:00 am, on the morning of the 21st.  This was the beginning of the first storm we had.

That's my car being hidden by the tree.

I included the icicles because I wanted to show you how big they got later on.

Taken of the "yard" that can be seen from the balcony.

The next ten pictures were taken on the same day, during one of the lulls in the snowfall.  I was getting cabin fever and I wanted to walk along the Arkansas River, which is literally a block from where I live.  The walk didn't last very long, I forgot how much of a workout you get when you are walking in almost a foot of snow.

The icicles are starting to get bigger.

First of nine pictures taken along the Arkansas River.

This is by far, my favorite picture that I took.  I love the way the reddish brown colors come through on  the bare branches.

I fell down the steps of a marina, almost into the river, which is how I found the perfect shelter for David the Gnome.

I was wanting to get more picture of the icicles the next morning, because they got really frickin big.  I forgot to do it, so I had to take this picture later on in the day.  They had already started to melt a bit, so imagine this massive sheet of ice, but a lot bigger.  That's not counting the icicles the way they hung down the other side, well past the floor of the balcony.  Some of them even continued inside, but I didn't want to take a picture of my balcony floor.

The night of Monday, the 25th, we were waiting for the second storm to come, and I get impatient at times.  Especially when I'm waiting for snow.  At one point, while I'm looking out the window, I see a rather odd shaped lump sitting on the railing.  I wasn't sure what it was, so I turned on the light, and saw this little guy sitting and staring at me.  I rushed to get the camera and managed to snap off one picture.  Sadly the window is a little dirty, on the outside, and my flash acted wonky, so I wasn't able to get a really good picture.

And I will leave you with a few pictures I took in Maple Grove Cemetery Wednesday, the 27th.  It's my favorite cemetery in town, don't judge, because it's quiet and I'm able to just sit in the car and read.  There is also a gazebo that is a quiet place to relax.  It's always amazing to me how quiet cemeteries can be, even in the middle of the city.  This one is really close to a hospital and is surrounded by major traffic areas, but you hear none of it once you are inside.  I didn't take many pictures of the monuments themselves, because most of the snow had melted off them and it would have been just pictures of grave stones.  

One of my favorite areas of the cemetery is behind a tree line and creek that run along the back section.  It's the only area that is graveled instead of paved, and there is not much back there, except for two smaller mausoleums.  I took quite a few pictures, but didn't like most of them.  One is of the smaller mausoleum, the others are of the creek area.

The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me - well, actually, my true love, Darcy O'Mara, is spending a feliz navidad tramping around South America.  Meanwhile, Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that droll Noel Coward!  And I'm snowed in at Castle Rannoch with my bumbling brother, Binky, and sourpuss sister-in-law, Fig.

So it's a miracle when I contrive to land a position as hostess to a posh holiday party in Tiddleton. The village is like something out of a A Christmas Carol!  But no sooner have I arrived than a neighborhood nuisance, a fellow named Freddie, falls out of a tree, dead... Dickensian, indeed.

Freddie's merely a stocking stuffer.  On my second day in town, another so-called accident turn up another mincemeat pie - and yet another on the third.  The village is buzzing that a recent prison break could have something to do with it... that, or a long standing witch's curse. I'm not so sure.  But after Darcy shows up beneath the mistletoe, anything could be possible in this wicked wonderland.

I'm so ashamed of myself for not getting this review done before now.  I actually read this book within the first few days of the year, but I never had the energy to write up the review.  Then, I decided to take my little sabbatical from blogging, and here we are, writing/reading a review of a Christmas mystery, in March.  I guess since we always seem to have a freak snow storm in March, that I can claim the idea that at least it's still in the same season.  Additionally, though I'm ashamed to admit this, the Christmas decorations in my bedroom didn't come down until the first few days of February.  I just didn't have the heart to take them down, I guess with everything going on that I just wanted to keep that Christmas feeling going.  So I'm now getting to enjoy Christmas in March, even if it does involved quite a few dead bodies.

I have to say putting Georgie into an idyllic country home during the Christmas season, something I would love to do myself, was perfect for my mood.  And apparently it suited hers as well, come to find out, the home is owned by some relatives of her Darcy, who shows up, to the surprise of them both.  Her mother is just down the lane, and when her grandfather shows up to run that household, things couldn't be more perfect for her.  She has her family around her for Christmas, and the mystery of why so many people seem to be having fatal accidents in the village.  Once Georgie figures out that the deaths could easily fit into the song "The 12 Days of Christmas," Georgie can't help but try to figure out what's going on.

Now like most Georgie books, there is a ton of humor, most of it due to the circumstances she finds herself in, and nothing is ever taken too seriously.  This as just what I needed to read at the time, a light, easy murder romp through an English Christmas.  And the flame on the plum pudding, was that Georgie and Darcy seem to have cemented their relationship, and George seems to have come to a generous understanding with her mother.  As we leave her, things seem to be looking up.  Something else I needed to see in my life at the time.

Challenges:  A-Z, CS

I'm Back

If you couldn't tell by the title of the post, or the lovely image above this sentence, I'm back and I would like to welcome all of you back to Wordsmithonia.

When I decided to take a break in January, I pretty much had it in my mind that I wasn't going to come back.  I was stressed out over how much I had not been getting down on here, I was annoyed by the whole job situation (which still has not be solved), I was just getting over the flu, and I was missing my reading habits and life before blogging.  What I did not count on at the time, was how much I would missing being here and interacting with all of you.

Even the decision to come back, wasn't easy.  For that matter I'm having second thoughts as I'm typing this, but I know that I'm not ready to say goodbye right now.  I can't promise that I'll be here in 5 or 10 years, or even that I'll be here next year.  What I do know, is that I want to be here, in this moment in time, keeping the blog going is the right decision for me to make.

Even though I'm coming back, I'm still going to be cutting down.  I will no longer be doing memes, so Mailbox Monday is gone, and even the feature I started, Favorite Fictional Character, will continue to be on hiatus.  I may, occasionally, still post one of my favorite characters, but it will not be every week.  Tyring to come up with that many characters, week after week, has been a lot of work.  And while I love every character I have highlighted, I still need a break from them.  I am open to resuming it as a weekly feature at some point in time, but I'm not sure when I'll be up to doing that.

For the most part the blog will focus on reviews, mainly of books I want to read for myself, not because I agreed to review them.   I have decided to accept review requests from only two sources, and will be taking fewer of them.  I want to get back to reading the books for the love of reading, which means I will get to reread more often, and spend more time with my favorite authors, genres, and characters.

When I first made the decision to come back, I was not going to write reviews for the books I read over the break, and I read quite a few.  But I figured that since I'm more often to watch a movie right now, over reading, I will go ahead and write those reviews, so you guys have posts to read.  And speaking of movies, it's been a long time since I've done a movie review, and I will probably start doing them again.  Not often, but whenever I watch an old favorite, or see a new movie, that I have something to say about.

So I will stop myself from rambling any further, and would like to finish by saying Thank You.  Thank you for being patient with me, thank you for allowing me the time to find my love of blogging again, and thank you for giving me your support, checking in with me over the last month and a half, and just being there.  It means more to me than I can ever truly express.  Thank you.

Time To Say Goodbye.... Hopefully Not For Forever

I guess there is no easy way to start this post off, so I guess I just have to jump right into the thick of things.  For a while now, I've had a war raging within my head on whether or not to continue this blog after almost 3 and a half years.  I don't love it anymore.  A lot of the time, I'm not enjoying it at all.  It's been feeling like an unpaid job for a while now, but I've been fighting against that feeling.  I kept telling myself that my lack of enthusiasm or enjoyment, were temporary.  That the love would come back to me all at once.  Sadly, that hasn't been the case.  I'm not feeling that love, I've actually been avoiding other people's blogs because of that.  It's hard to read blogs, knowing I have posts to write, posts I almost dread doing.

Then the last 2 weeks happened, which helped cement my decision to do this.  Some of you may know that I got the flu last week so I spent a lot of time in bed, watching Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and just vegging out.  It's been over three years since I've done that.  I didn't realize what other interests I had been ignoring because I had books I needed to read, or felt as if I needed to write reviews for every book I read.  I miss just watching TV, not reading a book.  I miss reading a book for the simple pleasure of reading, not thinking about what I'm going to say about it once I'm done reading.  I miss reading not being a job.

To add to the confusion, I've also just been dealt a blow at work, so I need to get out and start figuring out what I'm going to do.  There are some things going on at home that need more attention and may affect me greatly in the months to come, not in a good way.  I feel as if I need to get my life back, and cutting the blog out for now, is a step in that direction.

Now I'm not willing to say that this is over, that I'm done for good.  The plan right now is to take the rest of this month and all of February off.  Within the first few days of March I'm going to reevaluate the way I'm feeling and what I'm willing to do with the blog, if anything.  If I'm still in a holding pattern, I'll do the same thing for the next two months.  I'm hoping that won't be the case though.  Hopefully, by the end of Feb. I will know for sure, whether or not I want to keep Wordsmithonia going, or hang up the closed for business sign for good.

I appreciate and love the community I have found over the last three years, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.  I have met some wonderful bloggers, many of whom I count as friends now, and I hope to continue those relationships, regardless of the final outcome.  I would love for anyone that I'm not already friend with on Facebook, to send me a friend request.  If you can't find me, email me and I will send you the direct link to my page.

I thank all of you for the support and love you have shown me over the years.  I will never be able to express how much your comments and feedback have meant to me.  I will say you won't be getting rid of me all together though.  I think this decision will allow me to blog read and comment, without feeling guilty about my own blog, so I will be visiting a lot more often.

Hopefully this won't be goodbye for forever, either way I will be back here at the beginning of March to let you know what's going on.  For now, take care of yourselves and I will see you around the blogosphere.

Love you all,

Ryan

Mailbox Mondary for 1/7/13

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme created by Marcia at Mailbox Monday 

I won a paperback of A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey from Bev at My Reader's Block.

A-Z Mystery Author Challenge

The wonderful Michelle of red headed book child, is doing her A-Z Mystery Author Challenge once again.  I never get through them all, but I have fun trying.  So I'll let her explaint he details.

I am going to continue this again this year because I love seeing what my friends and readers are reading in one of my favorite genres.

I only read a handful of mysteries last year but really enjoyed the ones I did. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn blew my mind! Shadow Creek by Joy Fielding was also really fun!

This challenge pretty much runs itself. I thank my three very loyal readers and posters (you know you who are!) for doing such an amazing job last year with this challenge. 

I'm not going to state any goals for myself but really look forward to seeing what folks read this year.

Rules:
A-Z represents the LAST name of the author in the mystery, thriller, suspense, cozy, noir, etc. genre.
Read as many or as little as you want.
Post your links here for your Challenge post and your reviews!
Challenge Runs January 1, 2013 - December 31, 2013
Have fun!

Happy reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

Favorite Fictional Character --- Roy Hinkley

When I did last year's wrap up post, I was thinking that maybe it's time to hang up the feature, that I was running our of characters to highlight.  After some long period of soul searching... okay, I really only thought about it for 15 minutes or so while I was in the shower the other day, I realized that I really doubt I will ever run out of characters to talk about.  Between all the books, TV shows, and movies that I love and entertained me over the last 36 years of existence, that leaves me with so many options, I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to showcase all the characters that mean something to me.  So here we are, another year and month starting, and I've decided to talk about characters from TV shows I grew up with, but were first aired before I was even born.  It seems like this current generation of TV watchers, are missing out on some great shows, shows that in times gone by, would have been in syndication for years.  So for today's featured guest, we need to go back to 1964-1967, when the castaways of Gilligan's Island first captured the nation's attention.

Though I was born nine years after the show first aired, I'm not sure there was any point of my childhood that Gilligan's Island wasn't being played on some channel at some point in the week.  It was on before and after school.  I could watch it on the weekends, or at night when it was time to go to bed.  I would get lost in the same episodes over and over again, never getting bored with them.  I enjoyed Gilligan's antics, the Skipper's loving gruffness, Ginger's sexuality, Mary Ann's flirty innocence, the Howell's endearing arrogance, but most of all, I loved the Professor's brains and levelheadedness.  

The Professor, who is actually Roy Hinkley, was a high school science teacher who held multiple degrees in the sciences.  He was in Hawaii to work on a book, Fun With Ferns, and had joined the pleasure cruise to gather notes for inclusion in the book.  When the castaways were stranded on the island, it was really the Professor who had the knowledge to keep them from starving and allowed them to live in relative comfort.  I'm not sure if his skills came from being an expert scoutmaster, from the numerous books he had on the boat at the time of the wreck, or the vast amount of knowledge that was stored in his head, no matter what, the others owed their lives to him.

Professor Hinkley never rubbed his superiority in their faces though.  He was the one that kept them on course, never getting angry, even when Gilligan screwed up, which was often.  He never put himself first, and was always thinking of the group.  If anyone needed help, or was missing a comfort from home, the Professor would do whatever it took to make their lives better.  Now he would usually do it by combining bamboo and coconuts in a new way, but he would make sure the job was done. 

I've heard his detractors whine about the fact that the Professor was able to make a radio out of coconuts, but couldn't fix the boat or build a raft for them to escape off the island, but I say to them, bite it.  First of all, they did try to build a raft, but when the used it, they discovered the island was surrounded by a ring of sharks that prevented them from using it to escape.  Secondly, the island was a thousand miles from civilization.  Nobody was willing to take the risk that the various attempts the Professor made to fix the boat, would actually work.  It's much easier to trust his skills to make their lives comfortable, than for a repaired, broken vessel that may not survive another storm.  A storm that was very likely to occur during the thousand mile trip.  So for all those who thumb their noses at the Professor, I thumb my nose right back.